“Coach Ostrom, when I told him I was ready to be a Flyer, he said that’s the best thing he heard since his wife said, ‘I do,’” Pollard told the Dayton Daily News at the time.”
Entering the 2016-17 season, Ostrom can look back on the recruitment of Pollard and Davis with fondness. Those two, along with senior guard Scoochie Smith, can end their careers as the winningest class in UD history. Dayton has won 78 games in the last three seasons. No class has won more than 97. Senior Charles Cooke, who practiced with UD two seasons ago and debuted last season, also gets a big share of the credit.
"It's a credit to the three kids as much as anybody," Ostrom said. "They're every-day guys. They rarely miss a practice, if ever. Scoochie has missed maybe one practice in his entire career, Kyle maybe two or three. Kendall had serious injuries last year, which derailed him, but they never have little stuff that keeps them out. They come to practice every single day. None of them are going to leave here as the all-time leading scorer or all-time leading rebounder or all-time leading assists person most likely, but they're going to leave here winning and that's what they're going to be known for, as winners at the highest level.
PHOTOS: Best shots of Kendall Pollard
Pollard, a 6-6 forward from Simeon Career Academy in Chicago, enters his final season with 806 career points. He's tied for 65th in school history with Allen Elijah (1972-75). He won the A-10's Most Improved Player award as a sophomore as his scoring average jumped from 2.2 to 12.7 and his rebounds jumped from 1.3 to 5.3
"Kendall came here kind of quiet and kind of shy," Ostrom said. "He's very close with his mom. Him more than Kyle got homesick early. He wasn't sure and away from home and on his own the first time. Now he's come into his own. He's a man and a leader on the team. He's really grown up. His sophomore year, toward the end of the year, he was as good as anyone in the league. He was playing with unbelievable confidence. You could rely on him so much. Unfortunately last year, he was hurt for about half the season."
Time will tell how Pollard’s injury and the offseason training time he missed affects him. The coaching staff has been cautious with him, which is why it was such a good sign that he played Saturday in the scrimmage.
“For four weeks, we had him on the court and really started to wear him out conditioning wise,” Miller said at A-10 Media Day on Oct. 18. “We got his weight down to about 230, which is the goal to practice. I’m going to try to get him about 5 more pounds if we can. I want him to play as light as we can as since he’s been in Dayton. I think it’s good for his body, and I think he’ll be quicker. Just in watching him play, he’s not the Kendall we’re accustomed to seeing, but he is Kendall, and it’s been a big jump in practice having him around.”
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