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.