Dayton’s Mike Sharavjamts is a freshman making history for Mongolia

You wouldn’t know the eyes of an entire nation were on Mike Sharavjamts. The 6’8” true freshman for the Dayton Flyers caught a pass right in front of Lindenwood’s bench mere seconds into the Flyers debut game of the 2022-23 season, raised up, and hit nylon.

Sharavjamts, ranked as this year’s No. 91 overall recruit per 24/7 Sports, finished with a totally respectable 10 points, five assists, and three rebounds in his first college game. For his thousands of fans across the world, the confident debut was cause to celebrate. Sharavjamts is the first Mongolian athlete to earn a Division 1 scholarship, and he’s just the second true freshman to start for Dayton in a decade.

In attendance was Mike’s father Sharavjamts Tserenjankhar, better known as Shark. Shark was a star in local leagues in Ulan Bator at 7-feet tall until he was discovered by former LSU coach Dale Brown (who also discovered a 12-year-old Shaquille O’Neal at a German military base). Brown thought Tserenjankhar could be one of the best players in college basketball, until he found out he was 27. Instead, Tserenjankhar signed a contract with the Harlem Globetrotters and became the first professional basketball player from Mongolia.

Basketball has slowly been growing in popularity in Mongolia in the decades since. A recent estimate claims that 20,000 kids are playing organized basketball in the capital now. Three-on-three is the preferred format; the Mongolian men’s team has finished in the top 10 in two of the last three FIBA 3x3 World Cups, and the women’s team qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics.

All that buzz means that Mike Sharavjamts has more fans than your average mid-major freshman. There’s the Dayton Flyers Mongolian Fans Facebook page with 15,000 followers. A major Mongolian news network flew a film crew to Ohio to make a documentary about him, the trailer got 250,000 views.

The attention seems well warranted. Through exhibitions and his first real game Sharavjamts has shown deft handles and a solid outside shot for someone his size. But his most impressive trait has been his passing ability and playmaking. On several occasions in the season opener, Sharavjamts brought the ball up the court and created offense himself, either by driving to the rim, kicking out to a shooter beyond the arc, or posting up and forcing defensive help.

The Flyers just barely missed the NCAA Tournament last season, and are entering the 2022-23 campaign ranked, with aspirations of a deep run for the first time in 9 years. With a potential young star on hand, they might just make that leap.