Friends of Flyer Nation, today is a sad day. It's January 26th and already your UD Flyers have been all but eliminated from contention for an at-large berth. It's gonna take 3 wins in Atlantic City if the Flyers want to go dancing in back-to-back seasons. What's the only thing worse than blogging angry after a one-point loss to Rhode Island?
Saying I told you so.
Unfortunately, I saw this coming. Here's what I wrote all the way back on October 6, 2009. Number 3 is looking especially pertinent, no?
3. Bad Luck
You may see this and think that predicting bad luck sounds like the most ludicrous thing you've ever read. To that I say, read on friends. This blog is only a few weeks old; I can come up with stuff that's far more absurd.
Here's my point, though. The Flyers were something like 10-1 in games decided by five points or fewer last season. (I'm too lazy to look up the actual stat.) A lot of fans saw that as the mark of a gritty, hard-nosed team. One that knew how to get the job done by any means necessary and come out on top in a close one. Others saw that stat in a less positive light. They said the Flyers don't seem to be able to pull away and beat teams by large margins. That squad after all wasn't built to blow out its opponents.
I, on the other hand, saw the 10-1 record in close games as this: an incredible run of good luck. If you played out the 2008-'09 season again, there's no way UD would rack up a 10-1 record in those games. These things even out over time, especially when you have a team that far too often let inferior teams hang around deep into games. Play with fire enough times, and you're bound to get burnt, which leads me to...
2. A razor thin margin for error
This has been chronicled throughout the offseason basically since the non-conference schedule was released. It's a problem that is very easy to identify and far more difficult to solve.
Outside of Puerto Rico, the Flyers really have no chance to pick-up a marquee OOC victory. Match-ups with fellow mid-majors Creighton, George Mason and New Mexico have their benefits but aren't exactly head turners come Selection Sunday. If UD goes 1-2 in Puerto Rico or even if the team loses to Ga Tech and wins its next two, the chance for a resume padding non-conference W (a la Marquette last season and Pitt and Louisville two years ago) has slipped through its fingers.
And let's face it, the A10 itself is always a crapshoot. Other than Xavier, which team can you really rely on to be good? You could have a situation where Dayton's "signature" OOC wins are Creighton and George Mason, and that means the Flyers would have to be almost flawless in the A10 to secure an at-large bid.
UD pulled this feat off last year, I know. But even with 26 wins heading into Selection Sunday, the Flyers were on thin ice. Playing the "what if" game is pretty pointless after the fact, but one can't help but wonder: What if Fordham doesn't let Rob Lowery go coast-to-coast for a game winning lay-up? What if Karl Hobbs knows you're only allowed to play five guys at a time? That's why reasons #2 and #3 are so inter-related. A little dose of bad luck against a conference foe or two combined with such tiny room for error could spell the recipe for disaster ... or at least for an NIT bid.
1. The hunted, not the hunter
In recent memory the Dayton Flyers have never been the hunted. They've always been the hunter - hunting down some big-time BCS schools in the last few years and taking aim at Xavier which consistently sat atop the A10 standings.
Now the shoe's on the other foot. Your own Dayton Flyers are pretty much the concensus pick to win the league this season. They're in almost everyone's preseason top 25 rankings. Xavier has lost players to graduation, one left early to go to the NBA, and its coach abandoned ship for greener pastures.
Suddenly, UD is the team on top looking down at the rest of the league. It's a great spot to be in when you think about it. However, the Flyers had better be ready for a dogfight (not the Mike Vick kind) in every single conference game next year. Be ready to take your opponent's best shot game in and game out. Can the '09-'10 Flyers live up to being the hunted and not the hunter? I, for one, say this will slowly take its toll on this UD team and ultimlately cause it to miss the 2010 NCAA tournament.
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Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
Week in Review 1.23.10
Every Friday I'll break down the week that was in Flyers basketball, as well as whatever is else is on my mind at the time. It'll be my chance to overreact to the UD's most recent game as well as renege on everything I said in the podcast earlier in the given week. Or, at the very least, it will give you something distracting to read when you should be working on a Friday.
1-1 on the week
It feels like the game at Xavier has been covered ad naseum, so much so that the game seems like it must have taken place much more than just six days ago. I will reiterate one thing I said in the game recap though: Dayton took the game to Xavier. The Flyers didn't sit back and wait for X to take it to them. They didn't look like a bunch of deer in the headlights nor did they look scared or intimidated (or any other adjective) of Xavier simply because it's Xavier. For this reason, I think UD wins in the rematch and it might not even be as close as everyone expects.
It's difficult to predict how a team will react coming off a big rivalry game, especially a tough road loss. It's easy to fire up the troops for a game at X on ESPN2; it's not so easy to do the same thing for a week night game against a middle of the road George Washington team. UD responded well and cruised to a win without the services of Luke Fabrizius and Paul Williams. Sure, GW is a pedestrian team with a who coach who seemingly cannot grasp the concept of playing only five men at a time, but the Flyers needed a bounce back win and got it Wednesday night. Dayton also remained perfect on the year at UD Arena and stretched its home winning streak to 30 games. (Chris Wright is 37-0 in his career at home.)
The road ahead
If UD ever makes it to the Elite Eight in my lifetime, I really hope the program, the administration, and the coach at the time do not take one out of St. Joseph's playbook. The Hawks, led by current NBA-ers Jameer Nelson and Delonte West, did just that back in 2004 and, best I can tell, the basketball program has done nothing to build upon or parlay that success. In fact, if you aren't a college basketball fan who pays attention to these things, you'd probably never know this happened. I'm a huge Phil Martelli fan, but I'm very surprised SJU has failed to cash in on past successes with better recruits or more national exposure or ... something.
The Hawks are in a rebuilding phase and sit at just 6-11 overall (1-3 in conference play). This is a game Dayton must win and, in my opinion, should win handily. Will it be pretty? It never is. Will it be a blowout? It almost never is. I look for the boys in red to win by ten.
But if games again George Washington and St. Joe's provide a respite of sorts for UD, it will be a brief one. The Flyers return home for a Tuesday, January 26, bout with Rhode Island. The Rams are an impressive 15-2 (3-1) and sport a quality victory against Oklahoma State as well as a decent road win over Boston College. URI's lone conference loss game is in a 4-point affair with Temple. The good news for UD fans may be that Rhody will be coming off a big game at Xavier just three days prior to taking on the Flyers. The Atlantic 10 schedule makers seem to have done the Rams no favors this season, as URI plays the league's toughest out (Temple) twice and arguably its next two best teams both on the road.
How close is it?
I think this Dayton team is close. I feel good about where the Flyers stand right now and about the progress the team has made thus far in 2009-'10. UD is capable of playing stellar defense and has put on a rebounding clinic in its last two games. Really, the only thing you can say the Flyers do at a below average level is put the ball in the basket (if only that were not the object of the game).
As long as the Flyers continue to ratchet up the D and crash the glass as they have been, I think these guys are a forced to be reckoned with, at least in the A10. Plus, I honestly believe UD will have a game or two where shots start falling, a game or two in which the Flyers knock down half of their wide open jumpers and 80% of their free throws. If these games come against the right opponents (Xavier, URI, or at Richmond), UD could reel off a bunch of W's and even finish as high as 13-3 in the league. Even if it doesn't go down like that, I think UD can score just enough points and lean heavily on that D to win every home game and go 12-4 in A10 play (which would all but lock up an at-large bid.)
The Rotation
With Luke and P-Will on the bench last night, UD's rotation was smaller and Brian Gregory was forced to be much less liberal with his substituion patterns. And guess what? UD won in blowout fashion. Of course, one would have to attribue that more to GW being not good at basketball and less to substitution issues, but it does raise a question. Is it time for Brian Gregory to tighten up his rotation?
For the first half of the year, I was on board with the whole "play 11 guys and wear down the opposition over 40 minutes" strategy ... mainly because it worked so well last season. But that, as they say, was then and this is now. I think it's time for Paul Williams, sick or not, to see a lot more bench time. If you can't outplay Mickey Perry on a regular basis, you just don't deserve a regular spot in the rotation. I'd tell P-Will that he's still a big part of the plan here at UD and that I fully expect him to start at the 2 next season, but that there are two seniors (Mickey and MJ) in front of him right now and he might be seeing a cutback in his PT down the home stretch.
The other move I'd suggest is going to a 3-man platoon at the center position. Basically, Huelsman and Searcy (Kurtcy) have been averaging 36 mpg at the 5 with UD "going small" (or playing Kavanaugh and the walk-ons) for the other four minutes. Huelsman starts and sees 20 minutes a night; that part is a given. What I'd do is cut back on Searcy's minutes and have him split time with Benson. Benson's too skinny to be a traditional 5 but there are so few legitimate post presences in the A10 that the Flyers can get away with it for ten minutes an outing.
This means Searcy and Benson are getting ten apiece at the 5-spot; Wright and Luke are splitting 30/10 at the 4; CJ is in the game as often as possible without him collapsing on the court; MJ and Perry are dividing up minutes at the 2; and London Warren is getting the bulk of the minutes (let's say 26 to Lowery's 14) at the point. This still leaves you with a ten man rotation, but it really acts as nine since Searcy and Benson are both serving as one back-up center (Ben-cy? Searson?).
Speaking of...
Rob Lowery has not been good for the Dayton Flyers this season. There's really no other way for me to say it. Rob needs to step his game up and soon. If you take out his 23-point performance against Boston, Lowery has shot just 22-78 from the field and 13-50 from 3 in his other 11 games. Obviously, it's not fair to Rob to eliminate only his best game of the season, but those numbers certainly are telling. Roughly 7 shots per game is way too many for a guy playing a shade under 20 mpg. Those percentages, by the way, are a less-than-stellar 28 and 26. Shoot less and those numbers have nowhere to go but up.
Guard Play
I had a chance to watch a good chunk of Temple and Xavier the other night, and one thing is abundantly clear. Juan Fernandez and Ryan Brooks are by leaps and bounds the best backcourt duo in the conference. Fernandez has come a long way since that scared little pup of a freshman we saw at UD Arena late last season, and Brooks leads the Owls in scoring and is second in rebounding from the shooting guard position. Add in Luis Guzman off the bench and Temple might have best backcourt the Atlantic 10 has seen since the aforementioned Nelson and West.
Ghosts in the post?
Did anybody else catch this quote from Chris Wright in the Dayton Daily News? He was talking about playing at UD Arena:
"There's just all the energy and all the great players who played on that floor before. Everybody in spirit is out there with us — the ones who are still living and even the ones who have passed. It's fun being out there."
Yeah, that's not creepy at all, Chris. Nice to know the Flyers' homecourt is haunted. No wonder it's so tough to win there.
Around the Nation
Is it me or are there no great teams in college basketball this year? A month ago, I probably would have told you that Kansas is a cut above the rest of D-I and a clear favorite to win the national championship. In that time, the Jayhawks squeaked past Cornell by 5 and Baylor by 6, both at home, and got beat by an undermanned Tennessee team. I'd still have to say Kansas is the most complete basketball team in the country, but I can no longer say with certainty that they're this season's favorites.
Texas was looking strong until Monday's game against (friends of the blog) K-State. Frank Martin's men made the Longhorns look very beatable and downright average at times. And that leaves Kentucky as college basketball's only unbeaten team. A month ago, I would have told you I could see UK making the Final Four but that there's no way a team which starts three freshman and a sophomore could win the national title. Now, I'm not so sure about that.
In my opinion, the Big East is once again the best conference in the country. It's a weird league, though, in that it has 5 or 6 teams that could make a run to the Elite Eight if the chips fall, but it doesn't have a real national title contender. Villanova and Syracuse are close but not real threats in my eyes.
A sleeper team to go all the way -- well, as much of a sleeper as the #6/#7 team in the country can be -- is Michigan State. The Spartans stumbled a bit early but have won 11 of their last 12 and are a quiet 6-0 in Big Ten play. Plus, Tom Izzo flat out gets it done in March. With no elite team in college hoops, could MSU take advantage this year?
That's it for this week. My back and shoulders are getting a little tired from carrying this thing, but I'm gonna keep on truckin'. Live tweets from @UDFlyers during the St. Joe's game Saturday, which is on ESPNU.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Dayton-Xavier Recap
First of all, let me say that I'm never very happy after a loss and that I don't really do moral victories. That said, I think there are a lot of encouraging things about today's game. I'm so used to watching the Flyers come out sluggish, especially on the road. It almost always seems like UD is content to let its opponent be the aggressor. Dayton's opposition acts while the Flyers spend the opening minutes of a game reacting. This morning at the Cintas Center that was not the case. UD dictated play to Xavier instead of vice versa. The Flyers came to play, and the Muskies came out flat (but not for very long). If UD could knock down free throws, it would have been a 6-0 lead for the good guys right off the bat.
The bottom line, however, is another loss to Xavier in Cincinnati. You all know the drill: Dayton has not won at XU since 1981 before I (and probably most of you) was even born. Let's recap it:
The bottom line, however, is another loss to Xavier in Cincinnati. You all know the drill: Dayton has not won at XU since 1981 before I (and probably most of you) was even born. Let's recap it:
- As a Flyers fan you're probably saying, "If we make just one or two more shots, either from the field or at the line, we win this game." If you're a Xavier fan (and why would you be?) you're probably saying, "If we could get a freakin' rebound, we beat those guys by 15." Both sides are probably right.
- The rebounding, the hustle, and the energy were phenomenal. The boys in red played as hard as I've seen them play all year long. They beat Xavier's players to loose ball after loose ball and dominated on the glass. In case you've yet to see the numbers, the Flyers outrebounded XU 51-34 and had a ridiculous 25 offensive rebounds. This allowed UD to attempt an equally ridiculous 70 field goals.
- Chris Johnson's jumper wasn't falling today, which is shame because the dude played an incredible game. Not sure how it comes across on TV but after being there in person, I can tell you that CJ was absolutely everywhere on the court today. He had 10 points and 16 boards, 10 of which came on the offensive end. Ten offensive rebounds is unheard of; I'm surprised he didn't play more than 26 minutes.
- Speaking of minutes, Luke Fab continues to make the most of his. 2-4 from downtown for 6 points and 3 rebounds on the afternoon. Maybe more importantly, he didn't force any bad shots. He did pick up two first half fouls, but I didn't see him playing much more than 12 minutes anyway.
- Hopefully Marcus Johnson is officially out of his funk. He played great today on both ends of the floor. He continues to be a tenacious defender and was taking the ball strong to the bucket on O. MJ led the Flyers with 17 points and 3 steals. He also went 4-for-4 from the stripe which was a welcome surprise.
- I didn't think Chris Wright played all that well. Why CW was on the floor with 8:00 left in the first half to even have the opportunity to pick up his third foul is beyond me, but that's another story. It looked like Jason Love went to the Cole Aldrich/Kansas school of defending Chris Wright: play way off of him daring Wright to shoot jumpers, favor his right hand, let him dribble into your chest and then swat his shot. Love had six blocks while Wright was just 2-7 from the floor.
- For a guy who is supposed to be UD's "energy guy," its "spark plug," London Warren was virtually nonexistent today. LW only played 11 minutes while Rob Lowery continues to try to make up for lost time by chucking it early and often. The numbers show a solid game for Rob Low (13 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 0 TO's), and he did have a really nice floor game. But 3-17 FG (0-9 inside the arc) shooting just won't do.
- Honestly, all that analysis (okay, rambling) is moot because this game came down to two key possessions. On the first, Jordan Crawford hit a back breaking 3 from about 30 feet out with the shot clock winding down. On the second, the same Crawford hit a fadeaway J from 15 with about 12 seconds left to put Xavier ahead by five and virtually end the game. I'm not mad about either one because, in both instances, UD got exactly what it wanted. If the fadeaway 2-pointer doesn't drop, UD is a defensive rebound away from having the ball and needing a 3 to send it to overtime. Sometimes good players just make superior plays. Crawford did that, and the Flyers came up just two plays short.
- UD continued its trend of letting one of XU's less heralded role players have a career game. In the week in review post, I highlighted Will Caudle's game in '05. In 2010 it was Dante Jackson scoring a career high 19 points on five made 3-balls.
- Kurt Huelsman's breakaway slam and the foul and the hang on the rim was nasty. Wouldn't have believed if I wasn't in the building.
- Josh Benson was forced to play a dozen minutes due to foul trouble by Wright and Devin Searcy, and the freshman acquitted himself nicely. He had 8 points on 4-7 including a dunk in traffic over Kenny Frease. Didn't see that one coming.
- I was in the third row under the hoop (opposite of XU's students section). If you were watching ESPN2 and saw a guy who had painted his entire upper body blue except for a white "X" across the top of his bald head, then you probably saw me as well. I was one of the dudes standing behind him wearing a red Flyers t-shirt. At one point early in the second half, the Musketeers were on a little run and they showed that guy on TV. I immediately got two texts, one of which read, "Slap the X off that douche bag's head." Good advice that I just didn't take.
- I didn't think the officiating was bad. There were some tough calls on both teams, and I still think travelling should be called way more frequently than it is; however, there is just no excuse for all of the timekeeping issues. I can't argue that affected the outcome of the game, but it makes it really hard for the game to have any flow whatsoever. If you're Xavier and you had to endure that debacle against Butler, wouldn't you be extremely sensitive to this? The game was stopped at least four times for clock issues (including twice in the final 4:00 of the game).
- It's been an interesting season in that the Flyers have really won every game they're supposed to and lost all of the ones they weren't expected to win. In recent memory, we've been treated to a few UD upsets (Pitt, Louisville, Marquette) as well as a game or two where the Flyers lay an egg and lose to an inferior opponent. This year, it's been pretty much all chalk (with Ga. Tech as the lone possible exception because nobody, including Paul Hewitt, knows what to expect out of the Jackets).
Conclusion: I'm not thrilled but it's hard to be too upset about losing at a place where you haven't won since 1981. Especially since the Flyers manhandled X on the glass and did not back down at any point.
Prediction: Your Dayton Flyers reel off five straight wins culminating with a W in the rematch against XU at UD Arena. This moves the good guys to 18-4 and back into the top 25 come Monday, February 8th.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Week in Review 1.15.10
Every Friday I'll break down the week that was in Flyers basketball, as well as whatever is else is on my mind at the time. It'll be my chance to overreact to the UD's most recent game as well as renege on everything I said in the podcast earlier in the given week. Or, at the very least, it will give you something distracting to read when you should be working on a Friday.
2-0 in the league
Okay, so it's 2-0 with a home win against Duquesne and a roadie over Fordham, one of the worst teams in all of college basketball, but it is 2-0 nonetheless. A loss at home to the Dukes may not have derailed UD's entire season, but it would have - at the very least - been a major stumbling block on the road to an NCAA at-large bid. Avoiding that near-catastrophe was key.
Luke is back
A few weeks back, Blackburn Review commenter John (when's he gonna get his own weekly feature, fellas?) said that if the Flyers have Luke Fab, they win the game at New Mexico. I called him crazy - and don't get me wrong, he is - but maybe there was something to that. I'm not saying UD would have pulled that particular game, but let's just say it's a heckuva lot harder to play zone against the Flyers when Fabrizius is on the floor.
Box-and-One?
Wednesday night Dayton saw what I'm fairly sure was its first look at a box-and-one defense with four Fordham players playing zone and one guy manning up on Chris Johnson. It wasn't a major factor in the game because, let's face it, the Rams are terrible. But I feel like this could be the beginning of a trend. If I'm Brian Gregory, I would start drawing up some offensive answers to this in case the Flyers see it again down the road.
Shoot More 2's
After the 33 attempted 3-pointers debacle against the Lobos, there was one thing every UD fan, from the worst UD Pride poster to the most knowledgable follower (probably me), could agree on: The Flyers needed to shoot fewer 3's.
That message was received for all of one game. UD attempted a season-low ten 3-balls against Ball State in its next outing, even connecting on five of them. But old habits die hard apparently as the Flyers chucked 21 and 19 times from deep in their next two games. Now, an average of 20 attempts is not disparagingly high (especially if you can connect on 8-19 like UD against Fordham), but when you shoot just 34% as a team, that number could and should be smaller.
As a point of reference, Dayton has two players who are shooting 40% or better from the land of plenty: Luke (49%) and CJ (40%). Three players are shooting in the 20's (Williams, M. Johnson, and Wright). Also, does it bother anyone else that Mickey Perry and Paul Williams both have attempted more 3's than Fabrizius? I get that they play more minutes, but still... And finally, Rob Lowery has already attempted 47 shots from beyond the arc in just ten games. Guess he's making up for lost time.
Xavier on Saturday
The 2009-'10 Xavier Musketeers are good but not great. The Muskies played a pretty brutal non-conference schedule with games against Marquette, Baylor, Kansas State, Cincinnati, Butler, LSU, and Wake Forest. The problem (for them) is that they've failed to win many of these games, and Xavier's best W to date is a double OT game over Cincinnati, a win that'll be worth about as much as a Luke Hendrick autograph come March.
Jordan Crawford is the Xavier player you've heard of. He gets all the pub and fanfare (did you guys hear he dunked on LeBron in the offseason?), but I would probably argue that he is not XU's best player. (Sound familiar?) I'd instead make the case for sophomore PG Terrell Halloway. Halloway averages 10.6 a game while leading the team in assists. He also shoots a Brian Roberts-like 90% from the free throw line. Put him on the line down the stretch Saturday, and UD is asking for defeat. In my mind, Halloway vs. UD's two headed, dreadlocked PG monster will be key.
Speaking of Crawford, the dude has two big-time flaws in his game. He talks too much trash and he takes some horrible shots. The two go hand-in-hand at times too. Crawford seems like the kind of player whom, if you can get in his head, you can talk into trying to take over a game playground-style and get him to shoot a rash of ill-advised jump shots. He's actually a pretty decent passer when he wants to be and XU is at its best when he's sharing the ball and all five guys are contributing on the offensive end. I'm not suggesting any UD player get T-ed up or anything, but I wouldn't mind trying to talk to him a little bit and bring out Crawford's selfish side during Saturday's game.
One match-up in this game favors the Musketeers hands down: Jason Love against Kurtcy. Love is averaging 10 and 9 and can be an absolute beast on the boards for the Muskies. Plus, Xavier's big men always seem to have a big game against the Flyers. I need not remind you of David West's 47 point, 18 rebound peformance in 2003. But even lesser known XU post players have made Dayton their bitch. Perennial bench player Will Caudle put up career numbers (18 and 13) against the Flyers back in '05. I really do like Kurt's defense but Love could be in for a big day against the Flyers Saturday.
In Attendance
I will be attending the UD-XU game in Cincinnati for the seventh time in the last eight years. I missed last year because I had eye surgery on the morning of the game. One of my friends (actually Tim's brother) has always said that as a UD alum living in Cincy, attending the XU game down here is not something you do for fun. You do it because you're a Flyer and it's your duty as a fan. It's almost a badge of honor in the sense that you know exactly what you're in for but you go anyway. You take one for the team, and you hold out the tiniest glimmer of hope that maybe ... just maybe ... this is the year. And oh how sweet it would be to sit in those stands wearing red when it finally does happen. If it finally does happen.
I do hold onto that hope, but if ever there were a game for a UD fan to be pessimistic about, it's this one. To say history is not on the side of the Flyers is the understatement of understatements. With that in mind, if I had to make a prediction, I'd say Xavier by six. Halloway goes 11-12 from the stripe and Love is the player of the game with 17 and 11.
Mick Cronin can't coach
A week or two ago, Tim and I had a chance to go see Cincinnati take on UConn here in Cincy. It was a pretty decent game, and UC actually upset the Huskies (ranked #10 at the time) that night. But Tim and I both walked away saying the same thing: how glad we were that Mick Cronin is not the coach of the Flyers. His team has some talent - enough to beat UConn and to come an overtime period away from winning the Maui Invitational - but the dude can't coach a lick, especially when it comes to offense. Ninety percent of Cincinnati's "plays" consist of giving the ball to Lance Stephenson and having the other four guys stand still. Cronin makes Brian Gregory look like the Mike Leach of college hoops (you know, minus all that shed stuff).
CW Draft Status
I checked nbadraft.net earlier today to check out Chris Wright's projected NBA Draft status. That particular site has him going as the 35th overall pick ... in the 2011 draft. If CW goes pro after the season he's having, it'll only be because he got some BAD advice. I look forward to having him back as a senior.
Blog Link
My buddy Owen does a blog. On it he has the rules for storming the court.
And I'll leave you with this. It's the Kansas Jayhawks making four consecutive half court shots, and it's supposed to be legit. Check it out.
2-0 in the league
Okay, so it's 2-0 with a home win against Duquesne and a roadie over Fordham, one of the worst teams in all of college basketball, but it is 2-0 nonetheless. A loss at home to the Dukes may not have derailed UD's entire season, but it would have - at the very least - been a major stumbling block on the road to an NCAA at-large bid. Avoiding that near-catastrophe was key.
Luke is back
A few weeks back, Blackburn Review commenter John (when's he gonna get his own weekly feature, fellas?) said that if the Flyers have Luke Fab, they win the game at New Mexico. I called him crazy - and don't get me wrong, he is - but maybe there was something to that. I'm not saying UD would have pulled that particular game, but let's just say it's a heckuva lot harder to play zone against the Flyers when Fabrizius is on the floor.
Box-and-One?
Wednesday night Dayton saw what I'm fairly sure was its first look at a box-and-one defense with four Fordham players playing zone and one guy manning up on Chris Johnson. It wasn't a major factor in the game because, let's face it, the Rams are terrible. But I feel like this could be the beginning of a trend. If I'm Brian Gregory, I would start drawing up some offensive answers to this in case the Flyers see it again down the road.
Shoot More 2's
After the 33 attempted 3-pointers debacle against the Lobos, there was one thing every UD fan, from the worst UD Pride poster to the most knowledgable follower (probably me), could agree on: The Flyers needed to shoot fewer 3's.
That message was received for all of one game. UD attempted a season-low ten 3-balls against Ball State in its next outing, even connecting on five of them. But old habits die hard apparently as the Flyers chucked 21 and 19 times from deep in their next two games. Now, an average of 20 attempts is not disparagingly high (especially if you can connect on 8-19 like UD against Fordham), but when you shoot just 34% as a team, that number could and should be smaller.
As a point of reference, Dayton has two players who are shooting 40% or better from the land of plenty: Luke (49%) and CJ (40%). Three players are shooting in the 20's (Williams, M. Johnson, and Wright). Also, does it bother anyone else that Mickey Perry and Paul Williams both have attempted more 3's than Fabrizius? I get that they play more minutes, but still... And finally, Rob Lowery has already attempted 47 shots from beyond the arc in just ten games. Guess he's making up for lost time.
Xavier on Saturday
The 2009-'10 Xavier Musketeers are good but not great. The Muskies played a pretty brutal non-conference schedule with games against Marquette, Baylor, Kansas State, Cincinnati, Butler, LSU, and Wake Forest. The problem (for them) is that they've failed to win many of these games, and Xavier's best W to date is a double OT game over Cincinnati, a win that'll be worth about as much as a Luke Hendrick autograph come March.
Jordan Crawford is the Xavier player you've heard of. He gets all the pub and fanfare (did you guys hear he dunked on LeBron in the offseason?), but I would probably argue that he is not XU's best player. (Sound familiar?) I'd instead make the case for sophomore PG Terrell Halloway. Halloway averages 10.6 a game while leading the team in assists. He also shoots a Brian Roberts-like 90% from the free throw line. Put him on the line down the stretch Saturday, and UD is asking for defeat. In my mind, Halloway vs. UD's two headed, dreadlocked PG monster will be key.
Speaking of Crawford, the dude has two big-time flaws in his game. He talks too much trash and he takes some horrible shots. The two go hand-in-hand at times too. Crawford seems like the kind of player whom, if you can get in his head, you can talk into trying to take over a game playground-style and get him to shoot a rash of ill-advised jump shots. He's actually a pretty decent passer when he wants to be and XU is at its best when he's sharing the ball and all five guys are contributing on the offensive end. I'm not suggesting any UD player get T-ed up or anything, but I wouldn't mind trying to talk to him a little bit and bring out Crawford's selfish side during Saturday's game.
One match-up in this game favors the Musketeers hands down: Jason Love against Kurtcy. Love is averaging 10 and 9 and can be an absolute beast on the boards for the Muskies. Plus, Xavier's big men always seem to have a big game against the Flyers. I need not remind you of David West's 47 point, 18 rebound peformance in 2003. But even lesser known XU post players have made Dayton their bitch. Perennial bench player Will Caudle put up career numbers (18 and 13) against the Flyers back in '05. I really do like Kurt's defense but Love could be in for a big day against the Flyers Saturday.
In Attendance
I will be attending the UD-XU game in Cincinnati for the seventh time in the last eight years. I missed last year because I had eye surgery on the morning of the game. One of my friends (actually Tim's brother) has always said that as a UD alum living in Cincy, attending the XU game down here is not something you do for fun. You do it because you're a Flyer and it's your duty as a fan. It's almost a badge of honor in the sense that you know exactly what you're in for but you go anyway. You take one for the team, and you hold out the tiniest glimmer of hope that maybe ... just maybe ... this is the year. And oh how sweet it would be to sit in those stands wearing red when it finally does happen. If it finally does happen.
I do hold onto that hope, but if ever there were a game for a UD fan to be pessimistic about, it's this one. To say history is not on the side of the Flyers is the understatement of understatements. With that in mind, if I had to make a prediction, I'd say Xavier by six. Halloway goes 11-12 from the stripe and Love is the player of the game with 17 and 11.
Mick Cronin can't coach
A week or two ago, Tim and I had a chance to go see Cincinnati take on UConn here in Cincy. It was a pretty decent game, and UC actually upset the Huskies (ranked #10 at the time) that night. But Tim and I both walked away saying the same thing: how glad we were that Mick Cronin is not the coach of the Flyers. His team has some talent - enough to beat UConn and to come an overtime period away from winning the Maui Invitational - but the dude can't coach a lick, especially when it comes to offense. Ninety percent of Cincinnati's "plays" consist of giving the ball to Lance Stephenson and having the other four guys stand still. Cronin makes Brian Gregory look like the Mike Leach of college hoops (you know, minus all that shed stuff).
CW Draft Status
I checked nbadraft.net earlier today to check out Chris Wright's projected NBA Draft status. That particular site has him going as the 35th overall pick ... in the 2011 draft. If CW goes pro after the season he's having, it'll only be because he got some BAD advice. I look forward to having him back as a senior.
Blog Link
My buddy Owen does a blog. On it he has the rules for storming the court.
And I'll leave you with this. It's the Kansas Jayhawks making four consecutive half court shots, and it's supposed to be legit. Check it out.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Dayton-Fordham Tonight
The Flyers play in one of the most hallowed arenas in all of sports tonight, or so I'm told. UD takes on Fordham in Madison Square Garden this evening. Brian Gregory was kind enough to tweet this pic of the venue. Sadly, I have a feeling you'll see almost as many empty seats at around 9:30 this evening as you do in this photo.The week in review post doubles a Xavier preview. Look for it first thing on Friday morning. Until then, follow us on Twitter @UDFlyers.
And then there's this:
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20336323,00.html
From the week in review on 12/11/09, I gave you:
I will say this, though, and you can bank on it. Tiger Woods will at some point go into rehab for sex addiction like that dude from the X-Files did. Think about it: If you cheat on your wife with one chick, you just made a mistake and maybe she gets over it, maybe not. If you're having dozens of ongoing affairs with women all over the country, if not the world, it's a little tougher to backpedal your way out of that. So does he admit he's a scum bag and a downright despicable human being? No way, he's Tiger; his image can't take that hit. But if you're addicted to something, if you physically and psychologically have to have it, if you've lost all control of yourself, it makes it easier for us, the public, to stomach. Some time in 2010 Tiger Woods tackles his "addiction to sex."
What can I say? I'm that good.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Dayton/Duquesne Preview (or, A Test Drive for the "KenPom-to-English" Dictionary)
Hey, everybody: this is Your Favorite Internet Semi-Star "The" Rick Scaia, stepping up and ready to prove I'm every bit as ingenious and insightful when it comes to Flyer Hoops as I am when it comes to well-oiled men rolling around with each other on national TV every Monday night. Which is to say: very ingenious and insightful.
If you heard my first appearances on the UDFN Podcast (here and here), you know I'm gonna get pegged as something of the "stats guy" for UD Flyer Nation, and it's a role I'll fill gladly, if for no other reason than because -- in any debate or discussion -- I feel it's disrespectful and downright retarded to not be able to back up your punditry with facts and truths, and present nothing but bluster and BS in their place. Unlike much of what passes for sportstalk radio or political commentary or almost any form of discourse in this day and age of the intarwebs and "democratized intelligence," I don't believe arguments are won by shouting your "opinion" the loudest or most number of times in a given hour.
Repetition and decibel levels don't make you right. Being RIGHT makes you right. Anything else is a load of crap to me. If you're objectively and factually wrong, but still feel the need to express yourself with the defense that "Hey, it's my opinion, and you can't prove me wrong. Respect my opinion!", I assure you, I will be wanting to punch you in the throat more than I care to debate you. "The sky is green," "Obama is not an American citizen," "the Earth is 6000 years old," and "Kurt Huelsman is the worst player ever to don a Flyer uniform" are not Valid Opinions That Must Be Respected: they are demonstrable falsehoods that must be ignored, marginalized, and perhaps even mocked.
Ergo: if I'm "Stat Boy" around here, so be it. I'll tell you a number, or inform of you an actual factual event, which cannot be disputed, and THEN maybe I'll tell you what I think it means. I will delineate between fact and opinion, the former being bulletproof, and the latter being open for discussion.
"UD shoots almost 40% of its FGA from three" is a fact; "That's wayyyyy too many" is my opinion. In this case, we probably all agree on that little fact/opinion synthesis... it's the sort of rational thing you'll be seeing out of me. I'll leave the "UD lost to UNM" (fact) followed by "BG is horrible coach and must be fired" (opinion) caliber of syntheses to others. And boy howdy, are there enough of those others out there if that's the sort of insight you're in the market for... so go ahead, by all means ditch out now and ignore all my future postings if any of this rubs you the wrong way. Trust me: I won't be offended if you leave UD Flyer Nation, never to return again. Secaur will be, since this is his baby and he wants to be famous. But I'm already famous enough, baby, and can afford to antagonize the audience!
I digress.
So, "What are we gonna be doing here today, Rick?" I hear you asking... well, we're gonna look at tomorrow's Duquesne/Dayton game, using a specific set of numbers and data as our baseline, and see if we can't come up with some predictions and "Keys to the Game" that are a little better than Derrick Dukes stumbling over the concept that "For Dayton to win, they must score 10 points more than the opposition." Or whatever Harry-Carey-esque gem it was along those lines that he uttered during the GMU game.
That set of numbers/data? Ken Pomeroy's, from his profile pages for both teams, and the source for his own Pomeroy Rankings (which currently place Dayton as the 58th best team in the nation). I figure this is a worthwhile exercise because KenPom really does include some pretty cool figures that go FAR beyond a player's points per game or team rebounding or other things like that which most fans are most used to hearing about. I compare the stats and factors used by Pomeroy to the increasingly common use of stats like OPS in baseball circles. If you really think batting average fully encapsulates what makes a player productive in baseball, you're probably the sort of baseball dolt who thinks Tim F. McCarver brings a lot to a TV broadcast; there are now a few other stats which (when applied properly) cut more to the core of How You Win Baseball Games. Similarly, KenPom puts some numbers out there that are NOT the ones that show up on ESPN or in box scores, but which are very illustrative in terms of what causes teams to score points (or prevent points on defense).
Pomeroy takes all those numbers, and just spits out his ratings and a predicted outcome for every game. For him, that's where it ends. He has his numbers, and for tomorrow's game, he spits out "Dayton 66, Duquesne 56," and that's the extent of it. We can do better. Or at least: I can TRY to do better. And thus, I present my embryonic "PomPom-to-English" translation filter! Take what information Pomeroy has collected, synthesize it, and see if we can't figure out what's gonna go down at the D-Rena tomorrow afternoon... it's worth a try, at least, no?
Let's start by making sure we're all looking at the same numbers. KenPom's profile pages for Dayton and Duquesne are here:
http://kenpom.com/team.php?team=Dayton
http://kenpom.com/team.php?team=Duquesne
Glance through them. What do you see (besides a lot of gibberish, if this is the first time you've ever visited KenPom)?
In a nutshell, I'll tell you what I see: what I see here is a potential -- or even a need -- for Dayton to win a game "BG Style." With defense and rebounding.
Less of a nutshell, and a bit more in-depth:
Thus ends my first public attempt at using my "Pomeroy-to-English" Dictionary. KenPom takes his little numbers, and spits out the following analysis of the Dayton/Duquesne match-up: "Dayton 88% favorite; game tempo 68." Which is all well and good, but I like my Word Picture lots better. I hope you do, too.
Now: to wait and see if that picture ends up bearing any resemblance to reality, or if my dictionary needs tweaking before my Highly Anticipated Podcast Showdown versus Ken Pomeroy (allegedly coming soon to an mp3 near you)! Till next time, kids....
Rick
If you heard my first appearances on the UDFN Podcast (here and here), you know I'm gonna get pegged as something of the "stats guy" for UD Flyer Nation, and it's a role I'll fill gladly, if for no other reason than because -- in any debate or discussion -- I feel it's disrespectful and downright retarded to not be able to back up your punditry with facts and truths, and present nothing but bluster and BS in their place. Unlike much of what passes for sportstalk radio or political commentary or almost any form of discourse in this day and age of the intarwebs and "democratized intelligence," I don't believe arguments are won by shouting your "opinion" the loudest or most number of times in a given hour.
Repetition and decibel levels don't make you right. Being RIGHT makes you right. Anything else is a load of crap to me. If you're objectively and factually wrong, but still feel the need to express yourself with the defense that "Hey, it's my opinion, and you can't prove me wrong. Respect my opinion!", I assure you, I will be wanting to punch you in the throat more than I care to debate you. "The sky is green," "Obama is not an American citizen," "the Earth is 6000 years old," and "Kurt Huelsman is the worst player ever to don a Flyer uniform" are not Valid Opinions That Must Be Respected: they are demonstrable falsehoods that must be ignored, marginalized, and perhaps even mocked.
Ergo: if I'm "Stat Boy" around here, so be it. I'll tell you a number, or inform of you an actual factual event, which cannot be disputed, and THEN maybe I'll tell you what I think it means. I will delineate between fact and opinion, the former being bulletproof, and the latter being open for discussion.
"UD shoots almost 40% of its FGA from three" is a fact; "That's wayyyyy too many" is my opinion. In this case, we probably all agree on that little fact/opinion synthesis... it's the sort of rational thing you'll be seeing out of me. I'll leave the "UD lost to UNM" (fact) followed by "BG is horrible coach and must be fired" (opinion) caliber of syntheses to others. And boy howdy, are there enough of those others out there if that's the sort of insight you're in the market for... so go ahead, by all means ditch out now and ignore all my future postings if any of this rubs you the wrong way. Trust me: I won't be offended if you leave UD Flyer Nation, never to return again. Secaur will be, since this is his baby and he wants to be famous. But I'm already famous enough, baby, and can afford to antagonize the audience!
I digress.
So, "What are we gonna be doing here today, Rick?" I hear you asking... well, we're gonna look at tomorrow's Duquesne/Dayton game, using a specific set of numbers and data as our baseline, and see if we can't come up with some predictions and "Keys to the Game" that are a little better than Derrick Dukes stumbling over the concept that "For Dayton to win, they must score 10 points more than the opposition." Or whatever Harry-Carey-esque gem it was along those lines that he uttered during the GMU game.
That set of numbers/data? Ken Pomeroy's, from his profile pages for both teams, and the source for his own Pomeroy Rankings (which currently place Dayton as the 58th best team in the nation). I figure this is a worthwhile exercise because KenPom really does include some pretty cool figures that go FAR beyond a player's points per game or team rebounding or other things like that which most fans are most used to hearing about. I compare the stats and factors used by Pomeroy to the increasingly common use of stats like OPS in baseball circles. If you really think batting average fully encapsulates what makes a player productive in baseball, you're probably the sort of baseball dolt who thinks Tim F. McCarver brings a lot to a TV broadcast; there are now a few other stats which (when applied properly) cut more to the core of How You Win Baseball Games. Similarly, KenPom puts some numbers out there that are NOT the ones that show up on ESPN or in box scores, but which are very illustrative in terms of what causes teams to score points (or prevent points on defense).
Pomeroy takes all those numbers, and just spits out his ratings and a predicted outcome for every game. For him, that's where it ends. He has his numbers, and for tomorrow's game, he spits out "Dayton 66, Duquesne 56," and that's the extent of it. We can do better. Or at least: I can TRY to do better. And thus, I present my embryonic "PomPom-to-English" translation filter! Take what information Pomeroy has collected, synthesize it, and see if we can't figure out what's gonna go down at the D-Rena tomorrow afternoon... it's worth a try, at least, no?
Let's start by making sure we're all looking at the same numbers. KenPom's profile pages for Dayton and Duquesne are here:
http://kenpom.com/team.php?team=Dayton
http://kenpom.com/team.php?team=Duquesne
Glance through them. What do you see (besides a lot of gibberish, if this is the first time you've ever visited KenPom)?
In a nutshell, I'll tell you what I see: what I see here is a potential -- or even a need -- for Dayton to win a game "BG Style." With defense and rebounding.
Less of a nutshell, and a bit more in-depth:
- Duquesne's defense profiles as being quite formidable, and a poor match-up for us: it looks like they play a tough, mostly-zone style which causes (a) an above average number of steals, and (b) an even MORE above average number of poor shots by the opposition. Duquesne ranks in the top 20% in the nation in Opponent's EffFG%, seemingly driven by an incredibly high percentage of blocked shots (poor shots forced up in the paint) and attempted 3pts (or other long jumpers forced late in the shot clock). They do all this without sending other teams to the line (one of the lowest FTA-against rates in the nation). This is not an easy team to score against in the half-court game.
- The only weakness in Duquesne's defense is that they allow WAY more offensive rebounds by opponent's than they should (likely a result of being one of the most-undersized teams in the nation, 300th or so in KenPom's "Effective Height" metric).
- KenPom's paints a picture of our offense as a team that shoots a lot of 3's (but not particularly accurately) and that doesn't get to the FT line nearly enough. Obviously: these two things are related to each other... but when we do shoot 2pt shots, we're one of the best shooting teams in the nation, which means we'd be best served to try to emphasize that while shying away from the treys early in the shotclock. We need to play AWAY from our KenPom profile a bit, as the chinks in our offensive armor (too many 3's, not enough FT's) so far this year are EXACTLY matched up with things that Duquesne's D has done well (force tough shots, commit few fouls) so far this year. This is somewhat worrisome.
- Synthesis: our offense may end up looking as impotent as ever outside of our transition baskets (or defense-caused transition game is no doubt a huge part of our high 2pt FG%, and the source of our highlight reel dunks, too)... Duquesne will make us take less-than-premium shots, and won't just send us to the line for a ton of freebies, either. But if we stay patient, don't get into one of our UNM-esque spells of hoisting stupid 3's (keep our 3FGA at 30% or less of our total FGA, even if Fabrizius is back in the line-up), loosen up for a little more one-on-one with our superior athletes driving to the hoop (and getting to the line as Duquesne's smaller interior players are forced to foul), and hit the offensive boards nice and hard, we should still be able to squeeze out more than enough points to win.
- Duquesne's offense profiles as slightly below average: they are a horrible 3pt shooting team (one of the bottom 25 teams in the nation), yet for some reason they still take 37% of their FGA from three-land (that's the 78th highest percentage in the nation, but STILL less than what Dayton has averaged). This seems the defining characteristic of an otherwise nondescript offense. It could once again tie into Duquesne being under-sized, relying heavily on the perimeter game and transition baskets forced by their tenacious defense. The fact that they are one of the 100 most-blocked teams in the nation probably backs up this notion that they don't really have the front-line size to convert easy buckets in the paint out of their half-court sets.
- Our defensive profile is strong, and improving... a month ago, we were an average defensive team according to KenPom's metrics (leaving us to usually rate in the 70s or 80s); now, we're a top level defensive team (and rated in the 50s, even after another loss at UNM). This is because of our steadily improving EffFG% and our always formidable number of steals and rebounds. Just do what we do, and all should be well: nothing in the numbers indicates that Duquesne has any kind of kryptonite to weaken our D. On the contrary, the numbers suggest that our strengths and their weaknesses correspond, and could result in an afternoon of offensive futility for them.
- The end result could be a game not unlike Ball St.: if we bring that same 40 minutes of killer defense, Duquesne is a team that will have trouble scoring 50 against us. Or even 45. So let's bring that killer defense, let's augment a possibly impotent half-court game with some transition buckets off that D, and even if Duquesne is superior BSU on the defensive end and holds us in the 50s (a possibility, since BSU kept us to just 60), we can still win comfortably. That's the formula to victory tomorrow, in my eyes; well, to a convincing and heartening victory. We simply shouldn't lose in ANY situation... but if we bring that defense, there really oughta be enough offense to win a game by double digits and with little drama. Even if you're a compulsive gambler type who cares more about beating the spread than about winning the game. [Note to those sickos: I'd bet the under, if I were you. If UD/DU combine for much more than 115 points, something will have had to go horribly, horribly wrong for one or both teams.]
Thus ends my first public attempt at using my "Pomeroy-to-English" Dictionary. KenPom takes his little numbers, and spits out the following analysis of the Dayton/Duquesne match-up: "Dayton 88% favorite; game tempo 68." Which is all well and good, but I like my Word Picture lots better. I hope you do, too.
Now: to wait and see if that picture ends up bearing any resemblance to reality, or if my dictionary needs tweaking before my Highly Anticipated Podcast Showdown versus Ken Pomeroy (allegedly coming soon to an mp3 near you)! Till next time, kids....
Rick
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
A Trip to the Pit (Part 2)
A big thank you again to our friend "Gooch." He attended UD's game at New Mexico and concludes the tale of his legendary journey as follows: (For part one, click here.)
Because of me the Flyers lose the game by two instead of four. There I said it. I don’t mean to brag, but I do make a difference. I immediately make my presence felt in the first minute of regulation. UNM wins the tip, drives down the court and feeds their big man Hardeman. And guess what? He gets fouled. That will be the first of 33 team fouls that the Flyers allegedly commit. London gets him on the arm and he goes to the line. At this point in the game, the crowd is still getting settled and those paying attention just anticipate the rest of the night being this easy, so they don’t feel as though they need to cheer. That leaves the door wide open for me.
I've been blessed with a good arena voice. For some reason it carries well, even in the most hostile environment. Or at least I think it does. This time I'm sure it matters. Hardeman goes to the line. . I anticipate that this galoot will 1. Be a weak foul shooter and 2. Come to the line at an important point later in the game. I know he is one of their most important players, so I feel that his is a head into which I would like to get. He ambles to the line, the big tree of a man. He is at the basket nearest us and in front of the student section. The students of course do the old "home town hush," quieting down the crowd. The fools. I still can see it.
The basketball looks like a melon in his oversized hands. I try to note any Shaquillian hitch in his first free throw stroke, just to judge how easy it will be. It seems fairly smooth. He makes the first, hitting nothing but the net. The crowd cheers briefly and quiets quickly for the second one. My plan has worked; they have been lulled into a false sense of security.
The crowd is hushed. Hardeman draws his right wrist back so the ball is parallel to the floor. He then begins the ball on its path to the basket. “Just like in practice, just like in practice,” I can almost hear him thinking. As the ball moves from the palm of his hand to his fingertips, out comes one voice penetrating the silence:
"BRICK!"
The ball, originally intended to roll off of the middle finger instead rolls off of his right ring and pinky fingers, making a line drive toward the rim. It glances sharply off of the right side of the rim and hits the backboard, line driving into the arms of Chris(t). In unison, the half of the student section closest to us pivots on their heels and shakes their thumbed fists at me. I immediately point to Knachel a la Chevy Chase in "Spies Like Us." I don't think they buy it.
One point for us and Hardeman can suck it. He ends up going 2-5 from the free throw line. You’re welcome.
Unfortunately, that was the Flyer highlight of the first half. The first ten minutes are:
UNM- 4/10 FT; 3/7 FG; 1/2 3-PT; 4 Fouls; 1 BLK; 8 REB (2 OFF); 2 ASST; 1 TO; 3 STL
UD- 4/6 FT; 2/4 FG; 0/5 3-PT; 10 Fouls; 2 BLK; 12 REB (3 OFF); 2 ASST; 6 TO; 1 STL
The score ten minutes in is 13-8, but the feeling in the crowd is that we are lucky to be so close and if UNM could make free throws, it would be a different story. Hard to disagree with that.
I would like to point to Rob Lowery’s play from the first time he entered the game at 18:10 until he is pulled at 16:02 - He runs fourteen seconds off of the shot clock and then hoists up a 20 foot three that misses the basket entirely. He would be serenaded with the old air ball chant from this point forward. UD gets the ball back on a steal and then fourteen seconds later, Lowery turns the ball over. UNM drives and Lowery blocks Hobson and gets the rebound (way to go Rob!). Then he assists Marcus on one of his two field goals on the night. Seeing a Marcus Johnson field goal is like seeing a unicorn with a two dollar bill swimming in Atlantis. Then Lowery commits a foul and gets pulled.
I only highlight Rob's struggles because they are a microcosm of how the team struggled overall during the first ten minutes. A lot of fouls, not many field goal attempts, a lot of turnovers, not many assists and horrendous three point shooting. But at least we made some free throws. Yet we’re only down by 5 and holding UNM to 13 points. Our defense has to be the highlight of the game as they kept us in it until the end. Our offense, however, BLOWS!
One more word before we speed along through the rest of the game, the fouls. For the game, UD fouled UNM 33 times to UNM’s 21 fouls of Dayton. In retrospect, that shouldn’t have been surprising given that two of the officials - Rick Batsell and Kevin Brill (12520 263rd Ave Se, Monroe, WA 98272) call an average of 38.8 and 37.5 fouls per game respectively. They are also Mountain West refs, so they have incentive to, let's say, keep it even in favor of the Lobos. There were spells during the first half where they just took over.
The second ten minutes of the first half were more of the same:
UNM: 7/8 FT; 3/9 FG; 1/2 3 PT; 5 Fouls; 0 BLK; 10 REB (3 OFF); 3 ASST; 8 TO; 4 STL
UD: 2/2 FT; 4/10 FG; 1/8 3 PT; 4 Fouls; 1 BLK; 12 REB (7 OFF); 1 ASST; 6 TO; 3 STL
Halftime score: 29 University of New Mexico- 23 University of Dayton
The highlight of the half is a Josh Benson put back dunk and CJ stepping it up at half's end. Also Paul Williams played well in his limited playing time.
It seems like we have a lot more fouls called on us than do the Lobos, however it is because of the 10 fouls during the first ten minutes that all four times the Lobos go to the line in the second quarter of the game, they are in the double bonus. UNM only committed 9 Team fouls in the half to our 14. That being said, we do well on the glass, especially the offensive glass at this point. We are forcing turnovers. If we could just make some shots, we'll be in business.
The halftime show is pretty lame. Sumo wrestling and some award goes to a has been for doing something only a few people care about. The people sitting around us begin engaging us in conversation. We see that they are starting to take our Flyers seriously. They didn't expect the game to be as close and competitive as it is. They are also appreciative of our enthusiasm, what with our yelling "Defense Flyers" and "Let’s go now Flyers" at opportune lulls in the cheering. Because I'm in the zone, I didn't notice it, but I found out later that the student section was getting more and more agitated with us throughout the first half. If I knew that then, I would tell them the same thing I will tell them now. Suck it.
The first 10 minutes of the second half go like this:
UNM: 1/1 FT; 3/7 FG; 2/2 3 PT; 5 Fouls; 2 BLK; 6 REB (1 OFF); 4 ASST; 6 TO; 1 STL
UD: 1/2 FT; 5/10 FG; 2/7 3 PT; 4 Fouls; 0 BLK; 8 REB (5 OFF); 3 ASST; 1 TO; 5 STL
Score with 10 minutes to go is 44-40 UNM
Clearly this is the best quarter of the game. We actually had the lead on the offensive prowess of London Warren. Within 1:30 seconds, London got 1 steal, a dunk, a layup (after a steal from Chris[t]), and an assist on a dunk to Chris(t). It is at this point in the game where the Flyers have the most hope. It is also here that the Lobo fans start to recognize LW as one of our best players. More than three different people say as much to us as we file out of the game.
Alas, our hope is short lived. After the London run, Roman Martinez hits a three, Lowery misses a jumper, Chris(t) misses a layup, Martinez hits another three, Paul Williams misses a three. And it all commences to go to hell. Finally, the last 10 minutes shape up like this:
UNM: 14/22 FT; 5/10 FG; 0/0 3 PT; 6 Fouls; 1 BLK; 13 REB (5 OFF); 2 ASST; 2 TO; 2 STL
UD: 7/10 FT; 2/4 FG; 5/7 3 PT; 14 Fouls; 0 BLK; 15 REB (6 OFF); 4 ASST; 3 TO; 0 STL
Final Score: 68 New Mexico- 66 Dayton
Unfortunately for us, the last 10 minutes look a lot like the first. A lot of fouls and a lot of three point attempts. We do make more this time, but that is mostly thanks to CJ, whom I think we can all agree is special.
I do give the Flyers one more point when Hardeman misses a free throw at the 4:58 mark. I made a point not to overdue my "Brick" call throughout the game, knowing that using it too much would just make it cliché, so I sit on it for many, many free throws until a time when I think it will work. At 4:58, I yell Brick for a second time and Hardeman obliged. For the record this is much more difficult than the first time because the crowd is much louder than before and I have to pick the split second of silence before he shoots to yell. It works again and Knachel will verify its effectiveness if no one believes me. It’s the least I could do.
Overall, we rebounded well (43-32). We defended adequately to win (UNM shot 47%). We just sucked on offense except in two short bursts (London and CJ in the second half). We ended the game shooting 34% from the field and 24% from three (7% in the first half). But you know what, at the end of the game, Knachel and I weren’t really that disappointed.
Could Lowery have played point guard better? Sure. Maybe a good point guard shouldn't hoist 11 threes. Could Marcus Johnson have woken up from his season long slumber? Yeah, I guess he could have. A lot of teams would expect a senior in a big game to attempt more than four shots. But we had some people step it up. The fact is that we played a really tough team in a really tough environment close.
Going into this game, we knew that it was a can't lose proposition as far as our long term tournament goals. The loss actually raised our RPI, the closeness of the score may mean something to the tournament committee in March and our players know that they could have won if they only made one more three pointer or if they only committed two fewer fouls. It is definitely something they can build on. I don’t think a lot of recent Flyer teams could have come into the Pit and played a team this balanced and confident this well.
Dark, is this what Father Barletta called “sweet lemon?”
A few things that stick out now that it’s over are:
1. The Pit can get loud and it gave us a feeling of what fans of other teams feel when they come into the D-rena. However, it was only loud for about the last 10 minutes, but at those times, my eyes were bouncing in my skull like when I’m at a really loud rock concert. The Flyers did a good job of holding their composure.
2. The UNM fans are pretty cool. They seem knowledgeable about basketball and they had no problems with us making asses out of ourselves. At the end of the game, we shook hands with all of those around us, wished each other's team a good year and wished each other a Happy New Year. It was very cordial. Knachel mentioned that it is something we would never see on the east coast.
3. As we were leaving Knachel and I both got stopped by different people who wanted to express how impressed they were with the Flyers. The man I spoke with said he heard we would be tough, but he didn’t think we would be "the toughest team they played all year." He also mentioned that it is impossible to believe we aren’t ranked. I agreed. I blamed ESPN.
4. The next day as we were walking around historic Old Town Albuquerque, we were stopped a few more times by more UNM fans who wanted to talk about the Flyers. They may still be talking about us.
It was altogether a pleasant experience seeing a game there. Even though some parts could have been better than others.
Because of me the Flyers lose the game by two instead of four. There I said it. I don’t mean to brag, but I do make a difference. I immediately make my presence felt in the first minute of regulation. UNM wins the tip, drives down the court and feeds their big man Hardeman. And guess what? He gets fouled. That will be the first of 33 team fouls that the Flyers allegedly commit. London gets him on the arm and he goes to the line. At this point in the game, the crowd is still getting settled and those paying attention just anticipate the rest of the night being this easy, so they don’t feel as though they need to cheer. That leaves the door wide open for me.
I've been blessed with a good arena voice. For some reason it carries well, even in the most hostile environment. Or at least I think it does. This time I'm sure it matters. Hardeman goes to the line. . I anticipate that this galoot will 1. Be a weak foul shooter and 2. Come to the line at an important point later in the game. I know he is one of their most important players, so I feel that his is a head into which I would like to get. He ambles to the line, the big tree of a man. He is at the basket nearest us and in front of the student section. The students of course do the old "home town hush," quieting down the crowd. The fools. I still can see it.
The basketball looks like a melon in his oversized hands. I try to note any Shaquillian hitch in his first free throw stroke, just to judge how easy it will be. It seems fairly smooth. He makes the first, hitting nothing but the net. The crowd cheers briefly and quiets quickly for the second one. My plan has worked; they have been lulled into a false sense of security.
The crowd is hushed. Hardeman draws his right wrist back so the ball is parallel to the floor. He then begins the ball on its path to the basket. “Just like in practice, just like in practice,” I can almost hear him thinking. As the ball moves from the palm of his hand to his fingertips, out comes one voice penetrating the silence:
"BRICK!"
The ball, originally intended to roll off of the middle finger instead rolls off of his right ring and pinky fingers, making a line drive toward the rim. It glances sharply off of the right side of the rim and hits the backboard, line driving into the arms of Chris(t). In unison, the half of the student section closest to us pivots on their heels and shakes their thumbed fists at me. I immediately point to Knachel a la Chevy Chase in "Spies Like Us." I don't think they buy it.
One point for us and Hardeman can suck it. He ends up going 2-5 from the free throw line. You’re welcome.
Unfortunately, that was the Flyer highlight of the first half. The first ten minutes are:
UNM- 4/10 FT; 3/7 FG; 1/2 3-PT; 4 Fouls; 1 BLK; 8 REB (2 OFF); 2 ASST; 1 TO; 3 STL
UD- 4/6 FT; 2/4 FG; 0/5 3-PT; 10 Fouls; 2 BLK; 12 REB (3 OFF); 2 ASST; 6 TO; 1 STL
The score ten minutes in is 13-8, but the feeling in the crowd is that we are lucky to be so close and if UNM could make free throws, it would be a different story. Hard to disagree with that.
I would like to point to Rob Lowery’s play from the first time he entered the game at 18:10 until he is pulled at 16:02 - He runs fourteen seconds off of the shot clock and then hoists up a 20 foot three that misses the basket entirely. He would be serenaded with the old air ball chant from this point forward. UD gets the ball back on a steal and then fourteen seconds later, Lowery turns the ball over. UNM drives and Lowery blocks Hobson and gets the rebound (way to go Rob!). Then he assists Marcus on one of his two field goals on the night. Seeing a Marcus Johnson field goal is like seeing a unicorn with a two dollar bill swimming in Atlantis. Then Lowery commits a foul and gets pulled.
I only highlight Rob's struggles because they are a microcosm of how the team struggled overall during the first ten minutes. A lot of fouls, not many field goal attempts, a lot of turnovers, not many assists and horrendous three point shooting. But at least we made some free throws. Yet we’re only down by 5 and holding UNM to 13 points. Our defense has to be the highlight of the game as they kept us in it until the end. Our offense, however, BLOWS!
One more word before we speed along through the rest of the game, the fouls. For the game, UD fouled UNM 33 times to UNM’s 21 fouls of Dayton. In retrospect, that shouldn’t have been surprising given that two of the officials - Rick Batsell and Kevin Brill (12520 263rd Ave Se, Monroe, WA 98272) call an average of 38.8 and 37.5 fouls per game respectively. They are also Mountain West refs, so they have incentive to, let's say, keep it even in favor of the Lobos. There were spells during the first half where they just took over.
The second ten minutes of the first half were more of the same:
UNM: 7/8 FT; 3/9 FG; 1/2 3 PT; 5 Fouls; 0 BLK; 10 REB (3 OFF); 3 ASST; 8 TO; 4 STL
UD: 2/2 FT; 4/10 FG; 1/8 3 PT; 4 Fouls; 1 BLK; 12 REB (7 OFF); 1 ASST; 6 TO; 3 STL
Halftime score: 29 University of New Mexico- 23 University of Dayton
The highlight of the half is a Josh Benson put back dunk and CJ stepping it up at half's end. Also Paul Williams played well in his limited playing time.
It seems like we have a lot more fouls called on us than do the Lobos, however it is because of the 10 fouls during the first ten minutes that all four times the Lobos go to the line in the second quarter of the game, they are in the double bonus. UNM only committed 9 Team fouls in the half to our 14. That being said, we do well on the glass, especially the offensive glass at this point. We are forcing turnovers. If we could just make some shots, we'll be in business.
The halftime show is pretty lame. Sumo wrestling and some award goes to a has been for doing something only a few people care about. The people sitting around us begin engaging us in conversation. We see that they are starting to take our Flyers seriously. They didn't expect the game to be as close and competitive as it is. They are also appreciative of our enthusiasm, what with our yelling "Defense Flyers" and "Let’s go now Flyers" at opportune lulls in the cheering. Because I'm in the zone, I didn't notice it, but I found out later that the student section was getting more and more agitated with us throughout the first half. If I knew that then, I would tell them the same thing I will tell them now. Suck it.
The first 10 minutes of the second half go like this:
UNM: 1/1 FT; 3/7 FG; 2/2 3 PT; 5 Fouls; 2 BLK; 6 REB (1 OFF); 4 ASST; 6 TO; 1 STL
UD: 1/2 FT; 5/10 FG; 2/7 3 PT; 4 Fouls; 0 BLK; 8 REB (5 OFF); 3 ASST; 1 TO; 5 STL
Score with 10 minutes to go is 44-40 UNM
Clearly this is the best quarter of the game. We actually had the lead on the offensive prowess of London Warren. Within 1:30 seconds, London got 1 steal, a dunk, a layup (after a steal from Chris[t]), and an assist on a dunk to Chris(t). It is at this point in the game where the Flyers have the most hope. It is also here that the Lobo fans start to recognize LW as one of our best players. More than three different people say as much to us as we file out of the game.
Alas, our hope is short lived. After the London run, Roman Martinez hits a three, Lowery misses a jumper, Chris(t) misses a layup, Martinez hits another three, Paul Williams misses a three. And it all commences to go to hell. Finally, the last 10 minutes shape up like this:
UNM: 14/22 FT; 5/10 FG; 0/0 3 PT; 6 Fouls; 1 BLK; 13 REB (5 OFF); 2 ASST; 2 TO; 2 STL
UD: 7/10 FT; 2/4 FG; 5/7 3 PT; 14 Fouls; 0 BLK; 15 REB (6 OFF); 4 ASST; 3 TO; 0 STL
Final Score: 68 New Mexico- 66 Dayton
Unfortunately for us, the last 10 minutes look a lot like the first. A lot of fouls and a lot of three point attempts. We do make more this time, but that is mostly thanks to CJ, whom I think we can all agree is special.
I do give the Flyers one more point when Hardeman misses a free throw at the 4:58 mark. I made a point not to overdue my "Brick" call throughout the game, knowing that using it too much would just make it cliché, so I sit on it for many, many free throws until a time when I think it will work. At 4:58, I yell Brick for a second time and Hardeman obliged. For the record this is much more difficult than the first time because the crowd is much louder than before and I have to pick the split second of silence before he shoots to yell. It works again and Knachel will verify its effectiveness if no one believes me. It’s the least I could do.
Overall, we rebounded well (43-32). We defended adequately to win (UNM shot 47%). We just sucked on offense except in two short bursts (London and CJ in the second half). We ended the game shooting 34% from the field and 24% from three (7% in the first half). But you know what, at the end of the game, Knachel and I weren’t really that disappointed.
Could Lowery have played point guard better? Sure. Maybe a good point guard shouldn't hoist 11 threes. Could Marcus Johnson have woken up from his season long slumber? Yeah, I guess he could have. A lot of teams would expect a senior in a big game to attempt more than four shots. But we had some people step it up. The fact is that we played a really tough team in a really tough environment close.
Going into this game, we knew that it was a can't lose proposition as far as our long term tournament goals. The loss actually raised our RPI, the closeness of the score may mean something to the tournament committee in March and our players know that they could have won if they only made one more three pointer or if they only committed two fewer fouls. It is definitely something they can build on. I don’t think a lot of recent Flyer teams could have come into the Pit and played a team this balanced and confident this well.
Dark, is this what Father Barletta called “sweet lemon?”
A few things that stick out now that it’s over are:
1. The Pit can get loud and it gave us a feeling of what fans of other teams feel when they come into the D-rena. However, it was only loud for about the last 10 minutes, but at those times, my eyes were bouncing in my skull like when I’m at a really loud rock concert. The Flyers did a good job of holding their composure.
2. The UNM fans are pretty cool. They seem knowledgeable about basketball and they had no problems with us making asses out of ourselves. At the end of the game, we shook hands with all of those around us, wished each other's team a good year and wished each other a Happy New Year. It was very cordial. Knachel mentioned that it is something we would never see on the east coast.
3. As we were leaving Knachel and I both got stopped by different people who wanted to express how impressed they were with the Flyers. The man I spoke with said he heard we would be tough, but he didn’t think we would be "the toughest team they played all year." He also mentioned that it is impossible to believe we aren’t ranked. I agreed. I blamed ESPN.
4. The next day as we were walking around historic Old Town Albuquerque, we were stopped a few more times by more UNM fans who wanted to talk about the Flyers. They may still be talking about us.
It was altogether a pleasant experience seeing a game there. Even though some parts could have been better than others.
Monday, January 4, 2010
A Trip to the Pit (Part 1)
UD FlyerNation has a friend (of the blog) who was lucky enough, if you want to call it that, to attend Dayton's game against New Mexico at the Pit. He is a diehard Flyers fan and a UD alum. He was kind enough to recount the adventure that is a Dayton Flyers road game. For the sake of anonymity, we'll call this friend Gooch. Here is Gooch's retelling of his trek to Albuquerque.
The first problem is figuring where to begin a tale like this — one so dependent on the chronology of the events.
I easily could start at the beginning of the 18 hour train ride to Albuquerque, delayed at Chatsworth station, waiting for the police to clean up the body of the guy who jumped in front of the train going the other way and my swearing to myself that it wasn’t an omen of things to come. Because it wasn't. Of more interest is probably my pacing up and down the aisles of the train, wearing my Flyers sweatshirt and trying to make eye contact with everyone wearing a New Mexico Lobos sweatshirt in the hope of some recognition. But nothing came of that, either.
It's better to start at the beginning of the game — where all good tales should, at Chris(t) acknowledging our existence. I am in the company of 2 ½ other Flyer fans (the ½ is a Michigan State fan who loves seeing Tom Izzo’s protégé succeed, but who has lived in Albuquerque for 7 years). We assume our seats here:
Old folks to the left, student section to the right and the Flyer bench right in front of us. Immediately when we get to our seats, we see the Flyers conducting lay-up drills on the opposite side of the court. They swoop, they lay it up and sometimes dunk, then run to the end of the line and gain a practice rebound.
The rebounder returns to the end of the opposing line ready for his chance to attack the rim. In this case the rim attacker is He himself. On his way to the end of the line, he looks toward the crowd, toward us. Jeff (MSU fan) sits down, Haskins to his right, Knachel and then me closest to the students’ section. Immediately upon seeing our mighty Flyers warming up, Knachel and I break the lethargic New Year’s day hum of the Lobo fans finding their seats by yelling, "Go Flyers!" toward our squad. Heads turn as most are initially shocked that any Flyers fans made the trip and that they would have the temerity to debase their cathedral with heretical yells. Of course we have no reverence for their home as we hail from a better church. On his way to the end of the line Chris(t) looks up to the crowd, spots Knachel (1969 CJ throw back jersey [the one in which he was concussed]) and me (Rob Lowery nee Ryan Perryman jersey) pointing to the Dayton emblazoned on our chests. Chris(t) sees us, unsheathes his mighty right arm and points once at Knachel and once at me. I wonder what this omen portends. In retrospect, looking at his stat line (8 points, 10 rebounds) it probably does no more than negate the suicide on the tracks earlier in my journey.
A Flyer fan we located earlier — a stick thin man dressed in red and Columbia blue sitting on the edge of his seat cheering every Flyer player (and Fabrizius in street clothes) — witnesses our anointing. His face that was in profile turns toward us and we see that he is boldly mustachioed and most likely is one of the UD graduates from the late '70s, early '80s whose picture can be found on the wall in the Deli. He points at us. I believe at that point, Knachel realizes he is the mouthpiece of Flyer fanaticism. I know I did.
We gain more acknowledgment from Josh Benson, yet I am snubbed by Rob Lowery, even though I’m wearing the exact same jersey he wore when he played a very sound game against St. Joe's last year. His lack of awareness seems significant now that we know how he finished the game (0-10 from three) No matter, Knachel and I are starting to understand our roles.
The Flyers finish their warm ups and head to the locker room for a spell. The arena begins to fill in, but it becomes apparent that even though it is billed as a sell-out, the arena won’t be full. Going into the game, I felt that Dayton had quite a few things going their way: 1. We got done playing one of our best offensive games against a lowly Boston University club while UNM had a marquee game against Texas Tech. Of course all Flyer fans know that we are better than TXTech, but the pollsters are simpletons. 2. The preparation that UNM needed to put into the TXTech game most likely precluded their preparations for us, while we could afford to look a little beyond BU toward the UNM game. 3. Oral Roberts already laid out the blueprint for how to beat UNM. We just had to do what they did. And 4. We have Chris Johnson.
Most importantly, however, was the fact that we would take the fans by surprise and neutralize the Pit. Prior to the game, Steve Alford needed to go on a media blitz to let the fans know that we were to be feared, calling us the most dangerous team they faced all year. Where the Texas Tech game sold out two weeks prior, our game still had 600 tickets available the day before. All of this translated into the fans coming into the arena, somewhat catatonic from their New Year ’s Eve celebration (which takes the form of an alarming amount of gunfire in ABQ for some reason). They expected a cake walk and certainly didn’t think that they would have to deal with rival fans. To the Flyers benefit, it took the UNM fans most of the game to warm up.
All of that being said, don’t believe UNM fans are ignorant. They bear many similarities to Flyer fans in their knowledge of their team and their love of the game. While we were walking from the car, I was stubbing out a joint we had smoked when a Lobo fan in full attire walked next to us. He noted Haskins and Knachel in full Flyer outerwear and began asking them about our team. He said to Knachel, "So, is Chris Johnson back from his concussion?" Knachel, shocked that he would not only recognize CJ, but that he would know he suffered a concussion replied, "Yeah, he came back last game. He should get a lot of minutes tonight." The man then said, "That stinks. I was hoping he’d be out this game. That guy is good."
Knachel looked at me dumbfounded. "Wow. That’s pretty cool that that guy knows about CJ."
We consistently encountered UNM fans who had paid some attention to our Flyers. They knew we had consistently been screwed out of the rankings and legitimately feared us. That wasn't the case for everyone, however. Especially the students.
My friend Jeff has one shining moment of repartee during the game. While I stand up and yell support for the Flyers during their pregame huddle, a young UNM student full of piss and vinegar makes his way down the aisle with two underclasswomen on each arm. He is wearing a New Mexico jersey and feels as though he needs to call me out. I'm in my zone, focused only on the Flyers, so it takes his biggest voice to get my attention. He points to his jersey. He tells me that his is the type of jersey that I should be wearing. He then mentions that his team is the one ranked and my team is just a bunch of nobodies. He lets me know that they will make shorter order of us than they did of Texas Tech (90-75). And that we might as well get our yelling out of the way now as there will be nothing to yell about at the end of the game. The two girls on his arms nod their heads in approval, even though they are clearly uncomfortable with the fight he was picking.
Distracted out of my focus, my mind is reeling with possible comebacks to the boy. Jeff then speaks up. Up until this point he has just sat with a sheepish grin watching the three Flyers he came with make spectacles of themselves. Coming from Detroit, he has an admiration for true fans, even though he doesn't feel very strongly about either team on this day. During the game he would clap for the Flyers, but this was the only time he raised his voice. He turns, and yells at the arrogant fan: "Your hubris is amusing!"
It ends up being the perfect comeback. The boy is so shocked at it, the fact that it is artful and that he isn"t positive what it means, that he has nothing more to say. In one fell swoop, it stops the student section from wanting to taunt us (for now) and gets the older fans surrounding us more on our sides. They appreciate true fans and I think they welcome fans who don’t resort to base vulgarities. We are UD.
There really isn't a lot more to say about the pregame events. I could bore you with our feelings eating green chili cheeseburgers at a pro UNM restaurant and the shabby service that our jerseys led to. I could also tell you about the Knachel-led expedition to meet Larry and Bucky which ended up with us yelling "Go Flyers" across the Miami Valley airwaves. But I won't. That would be tiresome.
The rest of the pregame looks eerily similar to a pregame at the D-rena. The visiting team runs on the court and gets lightly booed. Then the home team runs on, preceded by flag runners with the UNM logo accompanied by the team’s fight song. Player announcements:
And then tip off.
Check back later today or first thing tomorrow for part 2 of the trip to the Pit.
The first problem is figuring where to begin a tale like this — one so dependent on the chronology of the events.
I easily could start at the beginning of the 18 hour train ride to Albuquerque, delayed at Chatsworth station, waiting for the police to clean up the body of the guy who jumped in front of the train going the other way and my swearing to myself that it wasn’t an omen of things to come. Because it wasn't. Of more interest is probably my pacing up and down the aisles of the train, wearing my Flyers sweatshirt and trying to make eye contact with everyone wearing a New Mexico Lobos sweatshirt in the hope of some recognition. But nothing came of that, either.
It's better to start at the beginning of the game — where all good tales should, at Chris(t) acknowledging our existence. I am in the company of 2 ½ other Flyer fans (the ½ is a Michigan State fan who loves seeing Tom Izzo’s protégé succeed, but who has lived in Albuquerque for 7 years). We assume our seats here:
Old folks to the left, student section to the right and the Flyer bench right in front of us. Immediately when we get to our seats, we see the Flyers conducting lay-up drills on the opposite side of the court. They swoop, they lay it up and sometimes dunk, then run to the end of the line and gain a practice rebound.
The rebounder returns to the end of the opposing line ready for his chance to attack the rim. In this case the rim attacker is He himself. On his way to the end of the line, he looks toward the crowd, toward us. Jeff (MSU fan) sits down, Haskins to his right, Knachel and then me closest to the students’ section. Immediately upon seeing our mighty Flyers warming up, Knachel and I break the lethargic New Year’s day hum of the Lobo fans finding their seats by yelling, "Go Flyers!" toward our squad. Heads turn as most are initially shocked that any Flyers fans made the trip and that they would have the temerity to debase their cathedral with heretical yells. Of course we have no reverence for their home as we hail from a better church. On his way to the end of the line Chris(t) looks up to the crowd, spots Knachel (1969 CJ throw back jersey [the one in which he was concussed]) and me (Rob Lowery nee Ryan Perryman jersey) pointing to the Dayton emblazoned on our chests. Chris(t) sees us, unsheathes his mighty right arm and points once at Knachel and once at me. I wonder what this omen portends. In retrospect, looking at his stat line (8 points, 10 rebounds) it probably does no more than negate the suicide on the tracks earlier in my journey.
A Flyer fan we located earlier — a stick thin man dressed in red and Columbia blue sitting on the edge of his seat cheering every Flyer player (and Fabrizius in street clothes) — witnesses our anointing. His face that was in profile turns toward us and we see that he is boldly mustachioed and most likely is one of the UD graduates from the late '70s, early '80s whose picture can be found on the wall in the Deli. He points at us. I believe at that point, Knachel realizes he is the mouthpiece of Flyer fanaticism. I know I did.
We gain more acknowledgment from Josh Benson, yet I am snubbed by Rob Lowery, even though I’m wearing the exact same jersey he wore when he played a very sound game against St. Joe's last year. His lack of awareness seems significant now that we know how he finished the game (0-10 from three) No matter, Knachel and I are starting to understand our roles.
The Flyers finish their warm ups and head to the locker room for a spell. The arena begins to fill in, but it becomes apparent that even though it is billed as a sell-out, the arena won’t be full. Going into the game, I felt that Dayton had quite a few things going their way: 1. We got done playing one of our best offensive games against a lowly Boston University club while UNM had a marquee game against Texas Tech. Of course all Flyer fans know that we are better than TXTech, but the pollsters are simpletons. 2. The preparation that UNM needed to put into the TXTech game most likely precluded their preparations for us, while we could afford to look a little beyond BU toward the UNM game. 3. Oral Roberts already laid out the blueprint for how to beat UNM. We just had to do what they did. And 4. We have Chris Johnson.
Most importantly, however, was the fact that we would take the fans by surprise and neutralize the Pit. Prior to the game, Steve Alford needed to go on a media blitz to let the fans know that we were to be feared, calling us the most dangerous team they faced all year. Where the Texas Tech game sold out two weeks prior, our game still had 600 tickets available the day before. All of this translated into the fans coming into the arena, somewhat catatonic from their New Year ’s Eve celebration (which takes the form of an alarming amount of gunfire in ABQ for some reason). They expected a cake walk and certainly didn’t think that they would have to deal with rival fans. To the Flyers benefit, it took the UNM fans most of the game to warm up.
All of that being said, don’t believe UNM fans are ignorant. They bear many similarities to Flyer fans in their knowledge of their team and their love of the game. While we were walking from the car, I was stubbing out a joint we had smoked when a Lobo fan in full attire walked next to us. He noted Haskins and Knachel in full Flyer outerwear and began asking them about our team. He said to Knachel, "So, is Chris Johnson back from his concussion?" Knachel, shocked that he would not only recognize CJ, but that he would know he suffered a concussion replied, "Yeah, he came back last game. He should get a lot of minutes tonight." The man then said, "That stinks. I was hoping he’d be out this game. That guy is good."
Knachel looked at me dumbfounded. "Wow. That’s pretty cool that that guy knows about CJ."
We consistently encountered UNM fans who had paid some attention to our Flyers. They knew we had consistently been screwed out of the rankings and legitimately feared us. That wasn't the case for everyone, however. Especially the students.
My friend Jeff has one shining moment of repartee during the game. While I stand up and yell support for the Flyers during their pregame huddle, a young UNM student full of piss and vinegar makes his way down the aisle with two underclasswomen on each arm. He is wearing a New Mexico jersey and feels as though he needs to call me out. I'm in my zone, focused only on the Flyers, so it takes his biggest voice to get my attention. He points to his jersey. He tells me that his is the type of jersey that I should be wearing. He then mentions that his team is the one ranked and my team is just a bunch of nobodies. He lets me know that they will make shorter order of us than they did of Texas Tech (90-75). And that we might as well get our yelling out of the way now as there will be nothing to yell about at the end of the game. The two girls on his arms nod their heads in approval, even though they are clearly uncomfortable with the fight he was picking.
Distracted out of my focus, my mind is reeling with possible comebacks to the boy. Jeff then speaks up. Up until this point he has just sat with a sheepish grin watching the three Flyers he came with make spectacles of themselves. Coming from Detroit, he has an admiration for true fans, even though he doesn't feel very strongly about either team on this day. During the game he would clap for the Flyers, but this was the only time he raised his voice. He turns, and yells at the arrogant fan: "Your hubris is amusing!"
It ends up being the perfect comeback. The boy is so shocked at it, the fact that it is artful and that he isn"t positive what it means, that he has nothing more to say. In one fell swoop, it stops the student section from wanting to taunt us (for now) and gets the older fans surrounding us more on our sides. They appreciate true fans and I think they welcome fans who don’t resort to base vulgarities. We are UD.
There really isn't a lot more to say about the pregame events. I could bore you with our feelings eating green chili cheeseburgers at a pro UNM restaurant and the shabby service that our jerseys led to. I could also tell you about the Knachel-led expedition to meet Larry and Bucky which ended up with us yelling "Go Flyers" across the Miami Valley airwaves. But I won't. That would be tiresome.
The rest of the pregame looks eerily similar to a pregame at the D-rena. The visiting team runs on the court and gets lightly booed. Then the home team runs on, preceded by flag runners with the UNM logo accompanied by the team’s fight song. Player announcements:
And then tip off.
Check back later today or first thing tomorrow for part 2 of the trip to the Pit.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Week in Review 01.01.10
Every Friday I'll break down the week that was in Flyers basketball, as well as whatever is else is on my mind at the time. It'll be my chance to overreact to the UD's most recent game as well as renege on everything I said in the podcast earlier in the given week. Or, at the very least, it will give you something distracting to read when you should be working on a Friday.
Holiday Hiatus
Loyal readers may have noticed our output here at UD FlyerNation has come to a screeching hault in the past week or so. We apologize for that; the holiday season is an eventful one for all of us. Tim was out of town for a few days spending time with family, and I was busy trying to pack on 20 extra pounds in a three week span. (Fell juuuuuust short.)
Anyway, we promise bigger and better things in 2010. More posts, more podcasts, more interviews, more swag. Hell, Internet legend Rick Scaia might even grace us with his presence.
A New Year
I've heard a lot lately about what people are going to call this new year i.e. "Twenty-Ten" versus "Two Thousand Ten." To answer your first question, yes, the people I work with and am friends with are that boring. Secondly, let me go on record as being firmly in the twenty-ten camp. I'm sick and tired of "two thousand and whatever."
New Mexico Tonight
Yeah, I didn't watch the Boston game. From everything I've heard and read it sounds like the Flyers played a pretty solid game all around. Obviously, the big story was Rob Lowery's 23 points on 7-9 from beyond the arc.
I think Rob Low is one of two keys to tonight's game for the Flyers. It's not likely that he'll score 23 again, but I think he has to play well for UD to have a chance. The offense is so much more dynamic when Rob's at the point, plus it's just nice to see the other team have to defend all of UD's players instead of just three or four.
The other key for me is the ability to deal with the crowd. It's going to be loud at New Mexico, a notoriously difficult place to play. The Flyers have a history of getting off to slow starts and letting the crowd become a huge factor. If UD can settle into the game early and, at the same time, settle down the home crowd, I think the Flyers have a chance. Otherwise, I think this one could get ugly.
Prediction: Dayton has played only two road games this season against teams with a combined record of 9-15. To say this is the team's first true road test would be a huge understatement. No Luke Fab, Marcus Johnson not playing well, not sure how many minutes Chris Johnson can go ... add it all up and it doesn't sound great for the good guys. I'm going with New Mex by a baker's dozen.
Friendly Advice
A word to our younger readers out there. Don't ever get a job in a media industry, specifically radio or television. It sounds like a great idea until one day you find yourself at work at 1:00 on New Year's Day writing a long-winded, half coherent blog post, watching the Outback Bowl out of the corner of your eye and not paying attention to the work you're supposed to be doing.
BCS Time
As promised, here are your BCS bowl picks. Keep in mind I'm an SEC homer and I hate the Big Ten.
Oregon (-4) over Ohio State
Total hater pick here. I like Ohio State's defense and I like the fact that no one is giving the Buckeyes a chance. But it's been so long since anyone in the Big Ten has won a big game that I can't pick 'em. Ducks by a TD.
Florida (-13) over Cincinnati
Sucker's bet because the spread is so high. The Gators could easily get up by 17-21 points and then take their foot off the gas and let UC lose by only 10 points or so. I'm still taking Florida because there's no way UC can stop the run tonight.
Boise State (+7.5) over TCU
Because I gotta pick one underdog, I'm taking Boise to lose the game but still cover the spread.
Georgia Tech (-4) over Iowa
Because the Big Ten is a fraud.
Alabama (-4) over Texas
Bama should be a 14-point favorite minimum.
Enjoy the games today and Happy New Year fools.
Holiday Hiatus
Loyal readers may have noticed our output here at UD FlyerNation has come to a screeching hault in the past week or so. We apologize for that; the holiday season is an eventful one for all of us. Tim was out of town for a few days spending time with family, and I was busy trying to pack on 20 extra pounds in a three week span. (Fell juuuuuust short.)
Anyway, we promise bigger and better things in 2010. More posts, more podcasts, more interviews, more swag. Hell, Internet legend Rick Scaia might even grace us with his presence.
A New Year
I've heard a lot lately about what people are going to call this new year i.e. "Twenty-Ten" versus "Two Thousand Ten." To answer your first question, yes, the people I work with and am friends with are that boring. Secondly, let me go on record as being firmly in the twenty-ten camp. I'm sick and tired of "two thousand and whatever."
New Mexico Tonight
Yeah, I didn't watch the Boston game. From everything I've heard and read it sounds like the Flyers played a pretty solid game all around. Obviously, the big story was Rob Lowery's 23 points on 7-9 from beyond the arc.
I think Rob Low is one of two keys to tonight's game for the Flyers. It's not likely that he'll score 23 again, but I think he has to play well for UD to have a chance. The offense is so much more dynamic when Rob's at the point, plus it's just nice to see the other team have to defend all of UD's players instead of just three or four.
The other key for me is the ability to deal with the crowd. It's going to be loud at New Mexico, a notoriously difficult place to play. The Flyers have a history of getting off to slow starts and letting the crowd become a huge factor. If UD can settle into the game early and, at the same time, settle down the home crowd, I think the Flyers have a chance. Otherwise, I think this one could get ugly.
Prediction: Dayton has played only two road games this season against teams with a combined record of 9-15. To say this is the team's first true road test would be a huge understatement. No Luke Fab, Marcus Johnson not playing well, not sure how many minutes Chris Johnson can go ... add it all up and it doesn't sound great for the good guys. I'm going with New Mex by a baker's dozen.
Friendly Advice
A word to our younger readers out there. Don't ever get a job in a media industry, specifically radio or television. It sounds like a great idea until one day you find yourself at work at 1:00 on New Year's Day writing a long-winded, half coherent blog post, watching the Outback Bowl out of the corner of your eye and not paying attention to the work you're supposed to be doing.
BCS Time
As promised, here are your BCS bowl picks. Keep in mind I'm an SEC homer and I hate the Big Ten.
Oregon (-4) over Ohio State
Total hater pick here. I like Ohio State's defense and I like the fact that no one is giving the Buckeyes a chance. But it's been so long since anyone in the Big Ten has won a big game that I can't pick 'em. Ducks by a TD.
Florida (-13) over Cincinnati
Sucker's bet because the spread is so high. The Gators could easily get up by 17-21 points and then take their foot off the gas and let UC lose by only 10 points or so. I'm still taking Florida because there's no way UC can stop the run tonight.
Boise State (+7.5) over TCU
Because I gotta pick one underdog, I'm taking Boise to lose the game but still cover the spread.
Georgia Tech (-4) over Iowa
Because the Big Ten is a fraud.
Alabama (-4) over Texas
Bama should be a 14-point favorite minimum.
Enjoy the games today and Happy New Year fools.
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