Welcome to the 5th installment of The War Room for 2019. 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 5th edition of the War Room for 2019!
2019-2020 SEASON
A couple big question marks remain for the 2019-2020 edition of the Dayton Flyers. First and foremost is whether or not Obi Toppin will be back. From what I am hearing, it’s a 50-50 thing right now. He had a solid workout for Atlanta, I am told, and the Hawks have five picks in this year’s draft.
As one source told me, this is a top 25 type of team next year. With Obi, it’s a Top 15 team vying for the second weekend of the NCAA tournament. Just to put a bow on the Jacob Toppin recruitment, I was told that they did offer, but their plan was to redshirt him next season so playing with Obi if he returns wasn’t really an option. There doesn’t seem to be any urgency to add any more to the roster just for the sake of filling a scholarship—that leads me to believe that only sit-out transfers are likely options at this point.
Back to the subject at hand, folks around the program are quietly optimistic about Chase Johnson getting a waiver. They’ve told me they do not expect to hear anything from the NCAA, however, until the end of the summer at the earliest. “It would be a big boost to the frontcourt to have him for Maui,” one source said.
Lastly, I wanted to note that I spoke to one source the other day who was absolutely raving about UTC transfer Rodney Chatman. He will be a big boost to Dayton’s perimeter defense, particularly on the ball. The biggest thing I took away from the conversation, though, was they said he may be the most tough-minded kid that Anthony has had at Dayton—remember that was their biggest worry about last season’s team. So add Chase Johnson and Chatman’s toughness, and my encouragement meter for the upcoming season just went up another notch.
SCHEDULING
I’ve been told that the concern is real. The power conferences going to the 20-game league schedule is killing Dayton. I’ve told they can’t get an SEC team to play a home-and-home, like in years past, because of the limited opportunities in the non-conference.
It’s got so bad that the Flyers are still having a problem finding a “splash” opponent for the opening of the arena following the renovations. I’ve been told that a couple prominent Catholic schools, including Notre Dame, have said thanks, but no thanks. I don’t believe they have approached DePaul, but the time might be now.
For those that said go on the road and play the high majors then. A lot easier said than done. Dayton is not like any other school that doesn’t participate in a power conference. The University of Dayton highly relies on the gate receipts from their non-conference home games.
You better believe that with the seat license costs rising, the pressure on scheduling is boiling. Nobody wants to pay more money to see the same level of schedule that they had previously. That leads to the need to get out of the Atlantic 10 Conference as soon as possible, in my opinion.
CONFERENCE
The latest I’ve heard is that Dayton is still in heavy pursuit of the Big East Conference. It’s been a relentless effort by both Neil Sullivan and Eric Spina since they came to Dayton and continues to be their main objective. I continue to hear that the Big East remains quiet about everything, and we may not know of any expansion until right at the time of an announcement.
With the 20-game scheduling modeling taking over power conferences and pinching smaller programs, Dayton might not be able to sit around and wait much longer. They have a newly renovated arena they invested in (and I’ve heard is ahead of schedule!) and rising seat costs, Anthony Grant’s team is going to have a lot of pressure to win this season and make itself as attractive as possible to courting conferences in 2020.
I know we’ve been hearing for the past two season’s that it is Big East or Bust, but the time to have a backup plan may be now. The more pressure that leadership feels from the donors, the more consideration a conference like the AAC has to be given.
One other option that I’ve heard recently is that Neil may be meeting with other ADs about possibly forming a new conference to combat the high majors. Lastly, and I don’t think this is a sustainable option with the landscape of college basketball changing, is to stay put and try to improve the Atlantic 10. The A10 knows of Dayton’s unhappiness with the La Salle’s and Fordham’s, if they really want to keep one of their top programs happy, they better be innovative and creative. I don’t think the agreement with the Mountain West Conference did anything to move Dayton’s needle.
TEAM CAMP
One word to describe this year’s version of Team Camp: LOADED. There are approximately 30 teams, with top prospects from the 2020, 2021, and 2022 recruiting classes. The Camp will take place this year on June 15th and June 16th.
2020 Lake Catholic point guard Lukas Frazier picked up an offer from Dayton a month ago. He has become a focus of the coaching staff since they evaluated him at the end of April. There also seems to a connection between Frazier and Dwayne Cohill’s AAU coach that could help place Frazier at UD. Dom Penn and Dublin Coffman will be there, but his recruiting stock took a hit in April.
Lutheran East shooting guard EJ Farmer and Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary’s Malaki Branham headline the 2021’s that will be attending. Branham received offers from MAC level schools last summer, but was just offered by Ohio State a couple of weeks ago.
The 2022’s include Worthington Christian shooting guard DJ Moore, North Canton Hoover combo guard Sencere Harris, and Gahanna Lincoln point guard Sean Jones.
Another 2022 prospect expected to be at the camp is Cincinnati Woodward’s Paul McMillan IV. If you’ll recall, McMillan was hosted for a game this season too so they’ve had their eye on him for some time. That’s just some of the key names that Dayton is after at present time, there’s so much more talent that will be there and I’ll post a complete list in the next couple of weeks.
CLOSING
That does it for this edition of the War Room! We should find out more on Obi Toppin’s plans for next season pretty soon. The Dayton baseball team can take a huge step under Jayson King today with a win to advance to the A10 Final (and have to be beat twice) with a win today. They’ll play Fordham at noon on ESPN+. Top seed VCU was eliminated last night by Richmond, so the tournament is definitely there for the taking. A formal welcome to the new subscribers and a thank you to you long, loyal subscribers. You all are the reason why this site is the best place to talk Dayton basketball all year round. Happy and safe Memorial Day weekend—I’m off to the baseball fields
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 5th edition of the War Room for 2019!
2019-2020 SEASON
A couple big question marks remain for the 2019-2020 edition of the Dayton Flyers. First and foremost is whether or not Obi Toppin will be back. From what I am hearing, it’s a 50-50 thing right now. He had a solid workout for Atlanta, I am told, and the Hawks have five picks in this year’s draft.
As one source told me, this is a top 25 type of team next year. With Obi, it’s a Top 15 team vying for the second weekend of the NCAA tournament. Just to put a bow on the Jacob Toppin recruitment, I was told that they did offer, but their plan was to redshirt him next season so playing with Obi if he returns wasn’t really an option. There doesn’t seem to be any urgency to add any more to the roster just for the sake of filling a scholarship—that leads me to believe that only sit-out transfers are likely options at this point.
Back to the subject at hand, folks around the program are quietly optimistic about Chase Johnson getting a waiver. They’ve told me they do not expect to hear anything from the NCAA, however, until the end of the summer at the earliest. “It would be a big boost to the frontcourt to have him for Maui,” one source said.
Lastly, I wanted to note that I spoke to one source the other day who was absolutely raving about UTC transfer Rodney Chatman. He will be a big boost to Dayton’s perimeter defense, particularly on the ball. The biggest thing I took away from the conversation, though, was they said he may be the most tough-minded kid that Anthony has had at Dayton—remember that was their biggest worry about last season’s team. So add Chase Johnson and Chatman’s toughness, and my encouragement meter for the upcoming season just went up another notch.
SCHEDULING
I’ve been told that the concern is real. The power conferences going to the 20-game league schedule is killing Dayton. I’ve told they can’t get an SEC team to play a home-and-home, like in years past, because of the limited opportunities in the non-conference.
It’s got so bad that the Flyers are still having a problem finding a “splash” opponent for the opening of the arena following the renovations. I’ve been told that a couple prominent Catholic schools, including Notre Dame, have said thanks, but no thanks. I don’t believe they have approached DePaul, but the time might be now.
For those that said go on the road and play the high majors then. A lot easier said than done. Dayton is not like any other school that doesn’t participate in a power conference. The University of Dayton highly relies on the gate receipts from their non-conference home games.
You better believe that with the seat license costs rising, the pressure on scheduling is boiling. Nobody wants to pay more money to see the same level of schedule that they had previously. That leads to the need to get out of the Atlantic 10 Conference as soon as possible, in my opinion.
CONFERENCE
The latest I’ve heard is that Dayton is still in heavy pursuit of the Big East Conference. It’s been a relentless effort by both Neil Sullivan and Eric Spina since they came to Dayton and continues to be their main objective. I continue to hear that the Big East remains quiet about everything, and we may not know of any expansion until right at the time of an announcement.
With the 20-game scheduling modeling taking over power conferences and pinching smaller programs, Dayton might not be able to sit around and wait much longer. They have a newly renovated arena they invested in (and I’ve heard is ahead of schedule!) and rising seat costs, Anthony Grant’s team is going to have a lot of pressure to win this season and make itself as attractive as possible to courting conferences in 2020.
I know we’ve been hearing for the past two season’s that it is Big East or Bust, but the time to have a backup plan may be now. The more pressure that leadership feels from the donors, the more consideration a conference like the AAC has to be given.
One other option that I’ve heard recently is that Neil may be meeting with other ADs about possibly forming a new conference to combat the high majors. Lastly, and I don’t think this is a sustainable option with the landscape of college basketball changing, is to stay put and try to improve the Atlantic 10. The A10 knows of Dayton’s unhappiness with the La Salle’s and Fordham’s, if they really want to keep one of their top programs happy, they better be innovative and creative. I don’t think the agreement with the Mountain West Conference did anything to move Dayton’s needle.
TEAM CAMP
One word to describe this year’s version of Team Camp: LOADED. There are approximately 30 teams, with top prospects from the 2020, 2021, and 2022 recruiting classes. The Camp will take place this year on June 15th and June 16th.
2020 Lake Catholic point guard Lukas Frazier picked up an offer from Dayton a month ago. He has become a focus of the coaching staff since they evaluated him at the end of April. There also seems to a connection between Frazier and Dwayne Cohill’s AAU coach that could help place Frazier at UD. Dom Penn and Dublin Coffman will be there, but his recruiting stock took a hit in April.
Lutheran East shooting guard EJ Farmer and Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary’s Malaki Branham headline the 2021’s that will be attending. Branham received offers from MAC level schools last summer, but was just offered by Ohio State a couple of weeks ago.
The 2022’s include Worthington Christian shooting guard DJ Moore, North Canton Hoover combo guard Sencere Harris, and Gahanna Lincoln point guard Sean Jones.
Another 2022 prospect expected to be at the camp is Cincinnati Woodward’s Paul McMillan IV. If you’ll recall, McMillan was hosted for a game this season too so they’ve had their eye on him for some time. That’s just some of the key names that Dayton is after at present time, there’s so much more talent that will be there and I’ll post a complete list in the next couple of weeks.
CLOSING
That does it for this edition of the War Room! We should find out more on Obi Toppin’s plans for next season pretty soon. The Dayton baseball team can take a huge step under Jayson King today with a win to advance to the A10 Final (and have to be beat twice) with a win today. They’ll play Fordham at noon on ESPN+. Top seed VCU was eliminated last night by Richmond, so the tournament is definitely there for the taking. A formal welcome to the new subscribers and a thank you to you long, loyal subscribers. You all are the reason why this site is the best place to talk Dayton basketball all year round. Happy and safe Memorial Day weekend—I’m off to the baseball fields
