Week in Review 12.23.09

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.

Merry Chris(Wrigh)tmas
Short holiday week means a short week in review. It also means you get this post on Wednesday this week and next because, as much as I love FlyerNation and all of its readers, I can guarantee you I won't be writing for the blog on Christmas Day and New Year's Day. So let's get to it.

2 More W's
Presbyterian and Appalachian State: program changing wins, they are not. However, the Flyers did manage to put up 19- and 16-point wins respectively. I know we've complained about not putting inferior teams away and letting teams hang around too long and playing down to the level of competition, but these last two games have been pretty stress free from a fan's perspective.

I was especially impressed with the second half performance against App State. Down a Fabrizius, two Johnsons, and with London Warren sitting on the bench with foul trouble (more on this in a second), UD played arguably its best half of basketball of the season. The Flyers held ASU to just 20 points in 20 minutes on 32% shooting (and 25% from three). Dayton committed just one turnover in an entire half of basketball. Don't be surprised if you fail to see that again the rest of the season.

A disturbing trend?
It seems like, and this could just be me, UD gives up way too many open looks -- especially from the perimeter -- early in games. It's almost like the team is saying, "Okay let's see if you can make a few of these and then we'll think about stepping out and guarding you." I don't have any stats in front of me, but the games against Towson, Presby and ASU all started out this way. UD's opposition made three or four pretty wide open 3-point shots before UD started to hunker down on the defensive end. This is all well and good againt those three schools, but try it in a game against New Mexico or a worthy A10 foe and we'll be singing a different tune. With its inability to score points in bunches, UD can ill-afford to fall behind big early because of poor defense. Look for this to be addressed or to come back and bite the Flyers down the road.

London's Fouls
London Warren is a senior point guard, one of this team's leaders, a guy who is relied upon game in and game out, a player who is trusted with the ball in his hands on nearly every possession. If you're this guy, you have to play smarter than LW did on Monday night. London knew that CJ, MJ, and Luke were all sidelined against App State. He knew the team was shorthanded and did not have its usual deep bench, so what does he do? Commits four fouls in his first nine minutes on the court. If Josh Benson does this and has to sit on the bench most of the night with fouls, okay, I can get over that. For a senior PG to do it is simply unacceptable. Thankfully, UD has one and a half other senior point guards it can turn to and, as mentioned, was playing ASU.

Hey Mickey
Since having probably the worst three game stretch of any Flyer this season in San Juan, Mickey Perry sure has turned things around, hasn't he? The most obvious reason why: The Mickster is playing more minutes at his natural position. Put a guy out of position against the likes of Villanova and K-State and he's gonna get eaten alive. Mickey did in Puerto Rico. With Rob Lowery's return, Perry is playing more at his natural 2-guard spot and is thriving. He scored 15 points apiece in a pair of wins this week, going 5-10 from behind the arc and 11-11 from the free throw line. (That's 50% and 100%; I calculated it all in my head too.)

Being Kurt to the opposition
I talked about Kurt Huelsman's value to this year's Flyers here and here, and I still contend that he will be missed by next year's squad more than any other current senior. Don't look now but Kurt is playing the best basketball of his UD career. KH is now averaging 4.5 and 3.2 on the year, and he's shooting 59% from the field and a stellar .786 from the line. Being so right feels good. (Unrelated note: In the preseason podcast, I picked Marcus Johnson to have a breakout season for UD. How's that going so far?)

Injury Plagued
Looks like Luke Fab is out a couple more weeks and Chris Johnson is a big fat question mark after his concussion. We are getting reports though that Marcus Johnson will return for UD's next game against Boston U. I said when he got hurt that having Paul Williams in the starting line-up for a few games wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen to the Flyers. I think we'll see the three guard line-up of London, Mickey and Paul to start the BU game. I also think that bringing MJ off the bench might spark him to get his act together and start playing like he's capable of playing. When CJ gets back, I wouldn't mind seeing London, Mickey or P-Will, CJ, CW, and Kurt as your starting five. Prediction: Another double-digit win for the Flyers over Boston.

That's it for me, folks. Told you it would be a short one this week. Next week I'll have BCS bowl predictions and why you should be following the Iron Sheik on Twitter. Merry Christmas.