Welcome to the 8th installment of The War Room for the 2023 offseason! As always, I'll begin this session with the ground rules for those that may be new. Everything that is reported in The War Room must stay in The War Room. Sometimes the info is sensitive enough that it simply doesn't need to be passed on beyond the doors of this message board thread. This is a special feature for our subscribers only. The reason why it is posted on the premium board is because that's the only way to ensure that the info stays exclusive to Dayton Flyer fans. Thanks for your cooperation. Without further ado, here it is.... The 8th edition of the War Room for 2023!
KEEP THE FAITH
Classes began on Monday at the University of Dayton, including for my freshman softball playing niece! With that, though, usually brings official visits for the basketball team. This weekend will be one of the best weekends to host one of your top targets as everyone is back on campus and you have one weekend until a Labor Day break.
I was told a month ago that Dayton’s top target on the 2024 Hot Board was Harlan County (KY) wing Trent Noah. There was some concern that Dayton might be on the outside looking in a month ago when he released a schedule of visits and talked about other schools and the Flyers were not included on that list. According to multiple sources, it’s looking like UD will host him for this big weekend coming up for an official visit—backing up that statement of him being Dayton’s top target as they made him a top priority. Keep the faith!
Jermaine Henderson is in charge of his recruitment and has been relentless in his pursuit. Along with Dayton, he holds offers from Belmont, Butler, Cal, Coastal Carolina, ETSU, Eastern Kentucky, FGCU, George Mason, Illinois State, Indiana State, Loyola Chicago, Marshall, Miami (OH), Morehead State, NKU, Richmond, Seton Hall, South Carolina, Stanford, UCF, VCU, and Western Kentucky. From what I've been told, the entire Dayton staff is extremely high on him and thinks he would thrive in this system.
According to a tweet from Jamie Shaw, he has taken visits already to Richmond, Loyola, and Seton Hall. He will also visit WKU, Butler, South Carolina, and St. Louis in September. Dayton is definitely in the mix for him and, with his versatility, would make for a huge addition in the 2024 recruiting class.
EURO RECAP
From everybody I’ve talked to, the European trip was a huge success. Three things they wanted to accomplish: three wins, no injuries, and build chemistry. From what I was told, they had two 20 point wins and one 30 point win. Everyone that was healthy, stayed healthy (besides a virus), and the group is all on the same page including the coaches.
I was told Nate Santos, Javon Bennett, and Enoch Cheeks stood out among the newcomers. All three of them had terrific summers once they arrived and “it definitely translated on the trip.” There wasn’t much of an update from the returners except that they were pleased with Kobe Elvis’ progression and DaRon Holmes continues to look like a professional and a first round draft pick. So much so, I think that centers are going to be a prominent position targeted in 2024—including with some big names this spring in the portal.
Petras Padegimas met up with the team in Spain for most of the trip, but as I said before, was not cleared medically so he was unable to take part in basketball activities. I was told that he did get cleared late last week and has been participating now. I’ve also been told that he absolutely loves Dayton already and the feeling is that he’s going to have an immediate impact on this team.
As noted before, Dayton showed a lot of versatility and depth on the road trip. I think the overwhelming take away from the Europe trip discussions I have had, was how cohesive they played as a unit and how well they shared the basketball—especially with so many new faces. Gets you amped about watching this group come together.
BIG EAST
As it appears this round of expansion is done after the PAC 12 was raided and left for dead, I’ve been constantly reminded that it’s never really completely done. As it was put to me, “The B1G was not ready to expand this summer, but the Big XII forced their hand. They had to call an emergency meeting to add both Oregon and Washington.” Things can change quickly!
Some sources have told me that the ACC is likely to lose Clemson and either Florida State or Miami (FL) next summer. That would leave the potential of the ACC grabbing two new schools. UCONN football coach Jim Mora has made no bones about it, he wants to get in the ACC. Here’s the thing as a conference commissioner: do you want to sit back and wait how this shakes out because it could be too late to react by the time you’re ready. That, in my opinion, goes for both the ACC and the Big East.
I could see a scenario where conferences expand just to be in a better position to absorb the future impact, knowing full well they may shrink within 12 months of that expansion. I can tell you from the people I have talked to, Dayton feels a lot better about their chances this time around because they finally feel like their proposals have been heard and the ear on the other end is actually listening and open. They also feel like FOX and Val are wanting expansion.
An interesting comment made in Gary Parrish’s article by one of the 100 coaches he polled was a quote that UCONN should stay in the Big East because “Rivalries Matter.” I can’t help but think how much of a win it would be for the Big East to get the Xavier-Dayton rivalry in house and on FOX Sports. I’ve been told that Dayton feels like this season is a big opportunity to showcase what they bring to the table entering the next big round of realignment talks.
OHIO STATE EXHIBITION
Speaking of FOX, what a missed opportunity it’s going to be to not have this exhibition on one of the stations on the FOX family of networks. From the sounds of it, it’s going to be tough sledding to get any TV network to pick it up because it’s right in the middle of college football and NFL football so the need for inventory will not be there.
It sounds like there was even discussions about possibly not having it televised. The most likely scenario, as I am hearing now, is this game will most likely be streamed on ESPN+. Not the greatest option to view this game, but not bad either especially for those out-of-towners.
Dayton wanted to go big with this first exhibition and Ohio State was their first choice for an opponent. From what I’ve been told, Chris Holtmann has been awesome and was all for it. In fact, Ohio State was the one pushing to have this on the same weekend that the football team was playing Penn State and make it a huge weekend.
There’s hope that one day this can be as big as the Jimmy V Classic where you have a doubleheader during the regular season that Dayton hosts each year. Both are opportunities to raise a good amount of money in spaces where its needed. This exhibition event obviously means a lot to Anthony Grant and his family. It’s going to be pretty special having Makai Grant, coached by their dad, participate in this inaugural game in Jayda Grant’s honor.
ONE MORE THING
It was really unfortunate that Vasilije Erceg felt the need to emotionally and mentally take a break from basketball because they were really excited about him after just a couple workouts on campus. While I feel like they addressed the quality of depth in a big way since March, they’ll again go into the season without a full roster of scholarship players. Just looking at the roster, though, I feel a lot different about Next Man Up on this roster as opposed to last year’s.
CLOSING
That does it for this edition of the War Room! Thank you to all of you… You are what makes this board so special and the best place to talk Dayton basketball all year round! A special welcome to all of those that have signed up for FlyerHoops recently, hope you’re enjoying all the nuggets, tidbits, etc that the site and forum provides. If you can’t tell, I am so excited my niece is now officially a Flyer! Can’t wait to run into her at all the basketball games : ) Until next time… WE ARE!
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