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The War Room (08/31/2017)

Matt Schwade

Well-Known Member
Aug 17, 2002
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Welcome to the 9th installment of The War Room for the off-season of 2017. 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 9th edition of the War Room for the 2017 off-season!

OFFICIAL VISIT

A person close to the program tells me that Dayton will host an official visit this weekend when Saint Petersburg (FL) combo guard Serrel Smith will visit campus. This will be Smith’s second visit he has taken in as many weeks and the middle of three consecutive trips.

Last week, Smith made the trip to Kansas to view Wichita State. He’ll also visit Ole Miss next weekend when the Rebels host UT-Martin in football.

"Smith is a shot-making guard with a good handle," Rivals.com Contributing Basketball Recruiting Reporter Russ Wood told FlyerHoops. "In the spring, while playing for Nike South Beach, he averaged 11.5 points per game on 40.3% shooting in the EYBL. He also shot 35.2% (32-for-91) from three-point range, giving him a top ten percentage for any player who attempted more than 90 threes."

He has offers from Charleston, Dayton, Florida Gulf Coast, James Madison, La Salle, Massachusetts, Memphis, Murray State, New Mexico, Ole Miss, Rhode Island, South Florida, Temple, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, VCU, Wichita State, Winthrop, and Wyoming under his belt.

COHILL MOVED UP

As I mentioned last night in the Red and Blue forum, Dayton fans that are anxiously awaiting Dwayne Cohill’s official visit got a gift last night. His much anticipated visit was moved up a week and will now take place next weekend at UD.

Cohill told me that he will arrive on campus around 4 p.m. or so on Thursday afternoon. Accompanying him on the visit will most likely be his mother and his AAU coach, Dan Urban.

From what I understand, the decision to move it up was a mutual decision and worked best for both Dayton and Cohill. I see it as a positive for Dayton as he’ll have the visit in the books and the Flyers will have two weeks to work on him before he’s scheduled to go to Ohio State.

He told me as recently as this weekend that Ohio State and Virginia Tech are the only other two visits he has setup, but Vanderbilt, Missouri, and/or New Mexico still remain a possibility. I think it’s clear that nobody values him as much as Dayton does at this point and I think he feels that as well.

ANOTHER PG TARGET

I talked earlier this week with St. Raymond’s senior point guard, Omar Silverio. He confirmed that Dayton is one of a few schools that are recruiting him hard at this point. Rhode Island, UMass, and Fordham are also on him.

“I’m a smooth, big point guard that can pass and score and shoot it really, really good,” he told FlyerHoops on Tuesday. “I take defense to another level.”

Outside of the Atlantic 10 offers, he also has a couple from Santa Clara and Monmouth. He also added that he has been hearing a lot from from UCONN, Mississippi State, Pittsburgh, but no offer received from that trio yet.

He doesn’t have any visits setup yet, but did note that being able to play right away in a winning program is going to be very important when it comes to decision time for him.

YOUNG VISITOR

The Flyers hosted Moeller’s Jaxson Hayes over the weekend for an unofficial visit and stayed down a little south to find another unofficial visitor this week. According to a source, Dayton played host to 2020 Middletown Madison small forward Grant Whisman.

The 6-5 wing was one of the top freshmen in the state of Ohio last season. He averaged 18.7 points and 7.7 rebounds per game on a team that was young. His high school coach went out of his way to say Grant was the only reason the young team was even respectable.

Whisman is working on his strength, but he’s a very polished player already and can play both inside and out. He shot 43.2% FG, 33.7% from the arc (26-77), and was over 82% from the free throw line as well last season in his first year of varsity.

There are plenty of folks excited about this kid and it’s just a matter of time before his recruitment blows up. I’ve heard Purdue already mentioned with him, but Dayton’s new staff is trying to get in on him early.

CLOSING

That does it for this edition of the War Room. Reminder, what’s posted on the Red and Blue Forum should stay on this forum. It’s been a quick summer, but glad the basketball season is right around the corner. I told you in the last war room that once the calendar flipped to September, the recruiting would really intensify. I wasn’t lying! It’s go time!

As always, welcome to the new subscribers and thank you as always for the continued support from everyone else. You guys are ALL the reason why this is the best site for Dayton basketball, so thank you again!
 
Matt Is there a possibility of one the recruits committing on there visit? What's your gut feeling on the recruits who are visiting in September?
 
Matt, can you clarify this quote?

"His high school coach went out of his way to say Grant was the only reason the young team was even respectable."
 
Matt, can you clarify this quote?

"His high school coach went out of his way to say Grant was the only reason the young team was even respectable."

Grant is the player's first name. I thought he was talking about AG at first when I read that, but the coach was simply saying that his young player (Grant Whisman) was leading the team to respectability.

Hope that helps!
 
I love Cohill and I do think he is better than Nelson... but Anthony is still a big time player, would be a heck of a "get" to get the package deal.

Agreed. I've been wondering how long UD would wait for a player like Cohill. Not sure how Smith fits into the timeline, but I think Cohill will have the 2 weeks between his visit and the Nelson/Rhoden visit to commit. If Nelson/Rhoden wanted to commit and fill the 2 available spots I'd think the staff would do that during/after their visit and not look back. Would be too good to pass up for future considerations of Cohill or any one else. Wonder if they'd take either individually on that timeline?

Nelson doesn't bring the national ranking Cohill does (but Rhoden is highly ranked in a couple of places). I think that's attractive to the staff trying to build on Dayton's recent success and translate on court success to an uptick in recruiting. A player of Cohill's rating might open the door for other highly ranked guys that were on the fence. It would certainly turn some heads at least.

In terms of actual talent between Cohill, Nelson and Smith everything seems to indicate all three are very, very good. Matt has reported the staff thinks that as well. Schools that have offered each guy might be more telling, and each guy's list is really impressive.
 
I think that they take any two of the four guards that have officials scheduled and would also take Jaxson Hayes if he decides to commit. It seems like AG is recruiting at a higher level - especially with having a staff for only 4 months - but these guys still need to commit
 
Smith's visit is more or less "officially official" on the internet now:


As usual, the War Room/Matt had the info first. Too bad the remnants of the hurricane are hitting Dayton today and tomorrow... can't get the full Ghetto, err, Student Neighborhood experience.
 
That's good news!

This may already be somewhere, but is there a list of players we are in on and what is believed to be our plan A's and B's by each position?

If Smith commits, does that mean Cohill goes away? What about the package pair visiting in a few weeks? Good problem to have, but just trying to understand the staffs best options.
 
I am guessing that Serrel's visit was scheduled before the 23rd because he is one of the staff's top two priorities and is too good to wait for Cohill. I don't know if Cohill cancels his visit if Smith were to commit but UD would still need another guard IMO. They take both without hesitating.
 
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Wowza. Smith would be a huge get. I went back and watched some of his videos again. Kid is an all around monster. Athleticism, strength, ball handling, shooting, defense. He's got it all. I'm surprised he isn't rated higher.

Not sure if Smith and Cohill could thrive together or not. But if Smith decides he wants to commit there is no doubt the staff takes him no questions asked and calls it a huge win.
 
I really believe we need to take two guards in this next class. You could develop both of those guys at the 1 and 2. We need at least 4 young guards in our rotation. Jordan Davis, Jalen Crutcher and 2 others. You could have some super quick and athletic 3 guard lineups also.
 
Oh, I'd take Smith and Cohill too. If they develop together and learn to compliment each other they might be the best backcourt on the A10 in a few years. Few teams have one guy that could guard either on-ball, let alone two. They just seem to both be most comfortable with the ball in their hands.

I guess I was thinking a guard in 2018 and some other position. Get another strong guard in 2019. But if the staff can go get both now, more power to them.
 
That's good news!

This may already be somewhere, but is there a list of players we are in on and what is believed to be our plan A's and B's by each position?

If Smith commits, does that mean Cohill goes away? What about the package pair visiting in a few weeks? Good problem to have, but just trying to understand the staffs best options.

No, take them both.
 
If Smith and Cohill were to commit, the back court going in to 2019 would be those two as soph's plus Jordan Davis and Jalen Crutcher as juniors and a 2019 recruit. The 2019 class is loaded. I think that I am getting a little ahead of myself
 
You can never have enough good players. You get them when you can and don't look back....
If you can get both Smith and Cohill in 2018, even though 2019 is loaded, you take Smith
and Cohill. Nothing is promised in 2019 guard wise.
Agreed 100%... the question to me is whether Cohill would still be interested in us if Smith commits (rather than the other way around). Let's hope we are asking this question soon - we need another Smith to go with our Davis.
 
You can never have enough good players. You get them when you can and don't look back....
If you can get both Smith and Cohill in 2018, even though 2019 is loaded, you take Smith
and Cohill. Nothing is promised in 2019 guard wise.

I believe that i said you take both. You do need to be aware of balance - position and class. Are they lead guards or combo guards?
 
I believe that i said you take both. You do need to be aware of balance - position and class. Are they lead guards or combo guards?
Lead guards or combo guards? Doesn't matter. The question is can they play. If they can play a good coach will figure
out how to use them. Good coaches don't over think it. Talent always wins out.
Give Grant talent and I think he will figure the rest out.
 
He is a 2* but has a few good offers. You think he is a Plan 'C' type option behind Cohill, Smith and Nelson?
 
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