The rumors have finally been confirmed that Jordan Sibert will transfer to UD from Ohio State this season, and play two seasons with the Flyers starting in 2013. The prevailing thought after Sibert had announced he would transfer was that Dayton had an excellent shot at getting him, but the fact that it came true is no less big a deal just because we were pretty sure it would.
Sibert represents the type of physically imposing and gifted guard that Dayton has not had in years. At 6-4, he'll have the size to play above many of the guards in the Atlantic 10, and his athleticism will be a game-changer, too. Dayton has had 6-4 shooting guards in the past; that's where Paul Williams was listed. But Sibert should be expected to be significantly more aggressive going to the basket and as a finisher; PW never really had that in his arsenal. Marcus Johnson was an amazing athlete and a great defender, but only really against smaller players. MJ is listed at 6-3 at DaytonFlyers.com, but that is probably giving him an extra inch. Not to mention Marcus really struggled with his jump shot later in his career. With Sibert, UD will supposedly have a guard who can do all of those things--shoot the three, slash to the basket and have some nice size to create mismatches. Of course, Chris Wright was supposed to be the same thing at the small forward/power forward position, and that only worked out every once in awhile. But I'm going to err on the side of positivity here. Anytime a guy who was the No. 37 rated recruit in the country coming out of high school is coming to your school, you've got to be excited about it.
The interesting thing here is that Sibert will not get a chance to play with most of the guys who are going to be a factor on this year's team. He would figure to be a major player in year four of the "crazy amounts of changes" era of UD basketball. After losing seven seniors following the 2009-10 season, Dayton lost two more to graduation, two to transferring and its coach after '10-11. Now after the most recent season, Dayton lost three more seniors (plus Ralph Hill to transfer), and will have four new additions to the team; two transfers who are now eligible, and two incoming freshmen. Those four will all be around for Sibert's first year of playing in Dayton. But Kevin Dillard, Josh Benson and Matt Kavanaugh will not. The only guy who might still be around who figures to play a decent role on this year's team is Devin Oliver (I use might because if the freshmen or Matt Derenbecker play well, they just might take Devin's spot, and he might decide to transfer).
So what kind of impact will Sibert have at UD? Unfortunately, it's hard to imagine him having a huge one, given the volatility of the time he's coming to the program. Guys who would be committing over the next year notwithstanding, Sibert would be playing his first year alongside Oliver, Derenbecker, Vee Sanford, Khari Price, Jalen Robinson, Devon Scott and Alex Gavrilovic. Is it just me, or does that seem a really rag-tag group of players? It is a necessary evil for Archie Miller and crew to make the best of its situation, but I hope they start invest a lot more time recruiting and less looking for transfers in the next couple years. Sometimes, a transfer can be an awesome addition to a team, and provide a spark (see Rob Lowery's first year with UD). But in the grand scheme of things, getting just two years out of a player is a difficult way to build a program (unless of course you're operating with the recruiting abilities of John Calipari). Having Jordan Sibert come to Dayton is a great thing, and it should provide the program with even more talent. If a couple other players pan out, UD might be very good again much quicker than we imagined. But while this is a great pick-up for UD in the short term, it's time for Miller to start looking long term, big-picture. Three freshman coming in next year is not bad, but that needs to keep happening. Having four year players that are there from the beginning is how to build a foundation for a good program. Rob Lowery provided an awesome spark, especially in his junior year, to the Dayton offense, but he was never a pillar of that team in the way that Chris Wright, Marcus Johnson or even Kurt Huelsman were.
