Saturday’s game
Duquesne (7-12, 0-5 Atlantic 10) at Dayton (11-7, 1-3), 4 p.m., Time Warner Ch. 311 and 1311, 95.7, 1290
Jordan Sibert may have played at the top level of college basketball for two years, but he doesn’t see a drastic drop-off in talent after transferring from Ohio State to Dayton.
The 6-foot-4 guard from Cincinnati Princeton has been practicing with the Flyers while waiting to become eligible next season and has been stretched by the caliber of competition he faces each day.
“These boys can ball,” he said of his new teammates.
Sibert can, too, of course. The 2010 Gatorade player of the year in Ohio will be a junior next year and believes he’s improved since his days as a sub for the Buckeyes.
Although he appreciates his time at OSU, which included a trip to the Final Four, he felt he was pigeonholed into strictly being a shooter when it was his explosiveness to the basket and all-around game that made him a top-50 national recruit.
“Honestly, I feel like I’ve gotten better from a confidence standpoint — not feeling like I have to do one certain thing,” he said. “I feel like I’m being who I am and who I was in high school. My teammates and my coaches believe the same thing.”
UD coach Archie Miller was once an assistant at OSU and was the chief recruiter for Sibert. And that relationship was a major factor in the Flyers landing a player who otherwise might have been out of their reach.
“I’ve always loved him — as a player and a kid,” Miller said. “Every day in practice right now, he shows signs of a guy I saw as a 16-year-old. Now, he’s got to keep working. He’s got a lot of things to do. But he’s in a good place right now from a confidence perspective.
“He’s practicing every day and makes us better. And if he was on our team right now, you’d have a hard time keeping him off the floor.”
The Flyers will lose senior point guard Kevin Dillard next year, but they return guards Vee Sanford and Khari Price, who are major contributors this season. They’re also bringing in two backcourt recruits in Kyle Davis and Dayshon Smith who are ranked among the top-150 prospects in the nation.
“Jordan and Vee should be a very, very good duo at times,” Miller said. “With our young guys coming in, we should be able to play more of those guys and (Sibert and Sanford) will be able to play lesser minutes and be more fresh. He’s going to be key. And he knows that.”
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