Shon Abaev, a top-50 2025 recruit from Fort Lauderdale, visits Dayton Flyers

The Dayton Flyers coaching staff rolled out the red carpet — or, more accurately, their best golf cart — for a top-50 recruit in the class of 2025 over the weekend.

Video shared by fans on social media showed Shon Abaev, a 6-foot-7 forward from Calvary Christian Academy and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., being driven down Lowes Street as students partied on both sides of the street. Assistant coach Sean Damaska drove the golf cart with another assistant coach, James Kane, next to him. Second-year graduate assistant Andre Watson was also in the cart.

At No. 46 in the Rivals.com rankings, Abaev is one of the highest-ranked recruits Dayton has targeted in the class of 2025. He visited Georgia, Arizona State, Oregon and Tennessee earlier this year, according to his Instagram account, and has scheduled visits to Syracuse, Southern California, Auburn, Cincinnati and Maryland, according to Jamie Shaw, of On3.com.

Abaev shared photos on Instagram of himself in Dayton’s chapel blue uniforms. He posed for photos with UD head coach Anthony Grant and Kane. Former Dayton star Obi Toppin provided an assist in recruiting by commenting on the photos with three fire emojis.

Earlier this month, Abaev was named MVP at the UA Elite 24 showcase in Brooklyn, N.Y. He had 22 point points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.

Abaev averaged 18.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists last season as a junior at Calvary Christian. He has spent the last two years at the school after starting his high school career at Miami Country Day.

Abaev was the third 2025 recruit to receive a scholarship offer from Dayton. UD made the offer in March 2023.

Abaev attends the same school Dayton redshirt freshman Marvel Allen attended for two years. Like Allen, he knows Kane well. Kane is from the same area of south Florida.

“He’s from Oakland Park, which is like 20 minutes from me,” Abaev told ZagsBlog.com earlier this month. “Being able to see the connection that we’ve been able to build over the last few months while talking to him has been amazing. He’s from there and he’s seen how people are from down here, so he knows how it is.”