Dayton loses second player to transfer portal

The departures of Weaver and Sissoko, who made his decision last week, mean two of Dayton’s 13 scholarships are open for the 2022-23 season. UD coaches could elect to add a player from the transfer portal or someone from the 2022 class or leave one or both scholarships open, adding flexibility for recruiting in the future. As of now, Dayton has one newcomer joining the program: 6-foot-7 forward Mike Sharavjamts, of Mongolia and the International Sports Academy in Willoughby, Ohio.

According to a source, UD does not expect to lose any more players to the portal as of now. If Dayton loses no one else, it will return all five starters and seven of its top eight scorers.

There have been a couple of transfer decisions made late in the spring over the years. Dwayne Cohill announced his decision to leave last May. Khari Price left the program in June 2014. However, for the most part, players make their decisions close to the end of the season because that gives them more time to find a new school.

A 6-foot-6 guard from Cocoa, Fla., Weaver was the only fourth-year player on the Dayton roster in the 2021-22 season. He was considered a redshirt junior because the 2020-21 season didn’t count against anyone’s eligibility. He has one season of eligibility remaining and will have to graduate or get a transfer waiver to play right away next season.

Players can now transfer once and not sit out a season. Weaver played his first two seasons at Southern California and the last two at Dayton.

Weaver announced his decision to transfer to Dayton from USC in May 2020 and made his UD debut in December of the 2020-21 season after the NCAA made all transfers eligible. The original plan was for him to sit out the season as a transfer.

Weaver averaged 5.4 points in 18 games in his first season at Dayton and started 10 games. This season, he averaged 6.6 points in 22 games. He did not travel with the team to several road games late in the season but was on the bench when Dayton lost to Vanderbilt in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament.

Weaver was averaging a team-best 11.0 points per game when he suffered a wrist injury during the 62-57 victory against Virginia Tech on Dec. 12.

“I did a spin move in the lane, and I went to do a layup and somebody was under me,” Weaver said. “I went to catch myself, and I just stuck my hand straight up. When I landed, I just kind of messed up everything in my left wrist.”

Weaver played through the pain in the weeks ahead, but his production declined. He said later he was not 100 percent. He then rested the injury for four games before returning Feb. 9. He scored seven points on 3-of-9 shooting against Duquesne.

“It was just a matter of getting back right and helping my team,” Weaver said then. “That’s what it’s all about.”

“He’s had a rough go of it,” Grant said. “Obviously, he’s worked really hard to get himself back out on the court. The mental and the physical piece of it for him, it’s been a challenge. It was great to see him back out there. It looked like he was having fun. We’ve just got to get back in his rhythm and back to what he’s capable of.”

Weaver played in three more games but then didn’t play the rest of the season. He underwent season-ending surgery March 4.

Weaver is the 12th Dayton player to enter the portal since the end of the 2017-18 season. Here’s who preceded him: John Crosby (Delaware State); Xeyrius Williams (Akron); Jordan Pierce (Tennessee-Martin); Frankie Policelli (Stony Brook); Jordan Davis (Middle Tennessee State/Jacksonville); Jhery Matos (Charlotte); Rodney Chatman (Vanderbilt); Dwayne Cohill (Youngstown State); Luke Frazier (Ohio); Lynn Greer III (Saint Joseph’s); and Sissoko.