Flyers Picked To Finish Third In A Vote Of The League’s Coaches & Selected Media

NEWPORT NEWS, Va.  — University of Dayton senior point guard Jalen Crutcher has been selected Preseason First Team All-Atlantic 10, according to a poll of the conference’s head men’s basketball coaches and selected media.

In the same announcement, the Flyers were picked to finish third in the league’s preseason poll.   Last year, UD was predicted third in the same poll, before winning its third regular season title in the last five years with a perfect 18-0 record.

The Flyers received 318 voting points, and two first-place vote.  Richmond had 380 votes (19 first-place votes), and Saint Louis was second (364/7).  St. Bonaventure was predicted fourth (307).

Duquesne, Rhode Island, Davidson, Massachusetts, VCU, George Mason, George Washington, Saint Joseph’s, La Salle and Fordham rounded out the preseason predictions.

A preseason All-American (Second Team according to Stadium), Crutcher quarterbacked Dayton to a 29-2 overall record and the No. 3 national ranking in the final polls last season.   A three-year starter, he was named First Team All-Atlantic 10. 

Sports Illustrated ranked him 34th in its listing of the Top 50 players of the 2019-20 college basketball season.  He was also First Team All-District 4 as voted on by the members of the National Association of Basketball Coaches.  During the year, he became the first UD player to be named a back-to-back conference player of the week.

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 Atlantic 10 Conference games, he was the only player in the top seven of the guard-oriented stat categories — scoring (7th), assists (7th), 3-pt. FG’s (5th), 3-pt % (4th), FT% (3rd) and A/T ratio (1st). 

He is currently 36th in career scoring at UD with 1,170 points, and ninth with 470 career assists.  Crutcher is third at UD in career assists per game (5.0) and second in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.18).

He is a two-time Flyer White Allen MVP, sharing the honor last season with eventual national player of the year Obi Toppin.

Crutcher is the 11th Dayton player named to the preseason first team in the last 17 years.  The others are Obi Toppin (2019), Josh Cunningham (2018), Charles Cooke (2016), Jordan Sibert (2014), Kevin Dillard (2012), Chris Wright (2010 and 2009), Brian Roberts (2007), Monty Scott (2005) and Keith Waleskowski (2003). 

COURTESY DAYTON MEDIA RELATIONS