Serving youth

TV commentators last year repeatedly called attention to how young the men’s basketball Flyers were. The team had a number of pandemic and redshirt freshmen as well as some totally new faces: transfer forward Toumani Camara and true freshmen DaRon Holmes II (forward) and Malachi Smith (point guard).

This coming year there will be a lot of familiar faces returning from the 24-11 team of 2021-22 including guard Koby Brea, the Atlantic 10 sixth man of the year, and all five starters. Three of those starters — Camara, Holmes and Smith — were the team’s co-MVPs; Holmes (the A-10 rookie of the year) and Smith are the first freshmen in program history to be named MVPs.

Other returning players include redshirt sophomore forward/guard R.J. Blakney, who was named the team’s top defender, and redshirt sophomore guard Kobe Elvis, winner of the Uhl Family Scholarship, given to the UD player who best exemplifies sportsmanship and character.

There will be two new faces: 6-foot-10 forward Tyrone Baker, whose season at Georgia last year was shortened by illness and a broken hand, and 6-foot-9 guard Mike Sharavjamts (SHAR-uv-jaumts), a four-star recruit and the first Mongolian citizen to earn a Division I basketball scholarship.