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Dayton center Matt Kavanaugh suspended for the entire 2012-13 season

Kenny Frease, Matt Kavanaugh

Xavier’s Kenny Frease defends against Dayton’s Matt Kavanaugh during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012 in Dayton, Ohio. Dayton defeated Xavier 87-72. (AP Photo/Skip Peterson)

AP

With Dayton losing three of its top six scorers from last season’s 20-win team and center Josh Benson returning from a torn ACL, much was to be expected of senior center Matt Kavanaugh in 2012-13.

But the Flyers will have to make do without Kavanaugh’s services this season, as it was reported that the 6-9 Centreville, Ohio native was suspended for violations of the University of Dayton Standards of Behavior and Code of Conduct.

As a result of the suspension, which covers the remainder of the academic year, the player who was named a co-captain will have to miss the entire 2012-13 campaign.

“When something like this happens, it’s a very serious matter,” athletic director Tim Wabler said. “Our student-athletes are students first and athletes after that and are expected to live as part of the community of the University of Dayton.

“This is quite a jolt to the program. But what we really need to focus on are the student-athletes who are left in the program and coaches to make sure they know they have our full support.”


Kavanaugh averaged 9.0 points and 5.9 rebounds per contest last season, with the latter number leading the returnees.

This is a big loss for the Flyers, but as it was noted above at least head coach Archie Miller has Benson back in the fold.

Benson, who is also a senior, played just 14 games last season before going down with the season-ending injury against Ole Miss.

6-9 sophomore Alex Gavrilovic and 6-9 freshmen Jalen Robinson and Devon Scott will also factor into the rotation, with Gavrilovic averaging 4.0 points and 2.8 rebounds in 12.9 minutes per game last year.

Clearly the Flyers will have bodies to call on this season with Kavanaugh out, but they became a much younger team in the paint.

And given how strong the Atlantic 10 will be, that may prove to be a problem for Dayton.

Raphielle is also the assistant editor at CollegeHoops.net and can be followed on Twitter at @raphiellej.