Four Flyers named to men’s, women’s basketball pre-season All-A10 teams, polls released
Araion Bradshaw (#1) and Kyla Whitehead (#5) were both named to the preseason A10 Third Team, with Bradshaw also garnering All-Defensive honors. Photo courtesy of Keegan Gupta, Flyer News.
Peter Burtnett
Sports Editor
The A10 released their all-conference teams for men’s and women’s basketball this week, with four Flyers (3 women, 1 man) named to the teams. The pre-season polls were also released, with the Flyers women tabbed to finish second and the men to finish third.
Three University of Dayton women’s basketball players were named to the teams, and the Flyers were tabbed to finish second in the A10. Jalen Crutcher was the only men’s basketball player named to an all-conference team, while the team was picked to finish third.
Of the three women’s basketball players, redshirt senior Erin Whalen was named to the First Team Preseason All-Conference team, while fellow redshirt senior Araion Bradshaw was named to the Third Team and All-Defensive teams. Junior forward Kyla Whitehead joined Bradshaw on the Third Team.
Whalen led the returning players from the 2019-20 team in points per game with 12.2 points, and added 4.8 rebounds per game. Bradshaw averaged 5.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.8 steals per game, while Whitehead averaged 7.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 1 block per game in the Flyers’ A10 regular- and post-season championship season.
With two first-place votes, the Flyers women are predicted to finish behind favorite VCU, who received 10. The Flyers are favored just ahead of third place Saint Louis, and a 3-way tie for fourth (Davidson, Duqesne and Fordham).
Meanwhile, senior guard Jalen Crutcher was named to the First Team All-A10. Crutcher already holds an All-American preseason honor, named to the Second Team by Stadium. Crutcher also ranks 34th in Sports Illustrated’s listing of the Top 50 players in the 2020-21 season.
Crutcher led Dayton in minutes (33.7), assists (4.9) three-pointers (2.4 per game), 3-pt. FG% (.468, 147-314) and FT% (.869, 86-99), and was second in scoring (15.1) in the Flyers’ historic 2019-20 season.
The men’s team was picked to finish third with 318 voting points, behind Richmond (380 votes, 19 first-place) and Saints Louis (364, 7), and just ahead of St. Bonaventure in fourth (307).
The 2020-21 season in set to begin Nov. 25, but an official schedule is yet to be released for either team.
For more sports news like Flyer News on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (@FlyerNews & @FlyerNewsSports) and Instagram (@flyernews)