Dayton’s Anthony Grant reflects on winning gold, talks about offseason plans for Flyers

Dayton’s entire roster on campus for second summer session, which begins Monday

Dayton Flyers coach Anthony Grant returned to Dayton earlier this week after helping coach the United States U-18 team to gold in the FIBA Americas Championship.

Grant spoke on Thursday about his experiences at the tournament in Saint Catharines, Ont., and his thoughts on Dayton’s offseason.

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Here’s a quick recap of the conversation. There will be more to follow this weekend.

On winning gold: "I had a blast. It was a fun group to work with. Coach (Danny) Manning and coach (Bill) Self were awesome, just really down-to-earth guys who did a really great job with the team. I told the guys, 'To me, watching the way they came together within two and a half weeks, it was like a team that had been together for five or six months.'"

On spring workouts: "The first summer session was really for our returning players to continue the improvements and get better in the weight room. We used the time on the court for skill work and individual development."

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On upcoming second summer session: "All of our guys are here now. We've got all 11 scholarship players here. Obviously, we've had some transition with our strength coach and with one of the assistant coaches (Casey Cathrall and James Kane leaving the program), so now it's a matter of as we move forward not only the individual development in terms of skill but also introducing the new guys and returning guys to each other, trying to get them familiar with some of the basics of what we do offensively and defensively."

On losing Kane and Cathrall: "Those guys were great pieces to our staff, and certainly — I speak on behalf of our players and our staff — we'll miss them because they were great people first and foremost, and I think they did a great job, which created the opportunities that they felt were best for them at this stage in their careers. We wish them luck. We'll move forward."

On his impressions of newcomers: "They're great kids. I think we've got a really good group. You've two freshmen coming in who will play (Dwayne Cohill and Frankie Policelli), and then Jhery (Matos), the junior college guy coming in, and the two transfers (Ibi Watson and Rodney Chatman). So we've got five new pieces, three of which will be eligible to play next year, but all five of them will have a strong impact on our team."

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On whether Dayton will add any players to the roster for the 2018-19 season: "I wouldn't rule anything out. Obviously, you're always keeping your eyes and ears open for what's out there. we'll see what happens."

On Kostas Antetokounmpo's draft chances Thursday: "We'll get a chance to watch it, and hopefully he'll have a good outcome for himself, whether that be the opportunity to hear his name called or just to get in a good situation where he has a great chance to make a roster and pursue his goals and dreams. We'll keep our fingers crossed for both he and Darrell (Davis) that they get a good situation to pursue the chance to make money playing the game."

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