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Home > Blogs > Flyer Connection: University of Dayton sports > Archives > 2009 > March > 02 > Entry
Gregory explains decision to protect lead
When Dayton took a 13-point lead with about eight minutes to go against Temple on Saturday, UD coach Brian Gregory had his team run off some clock each possession after that, which I thought was sound strategy at the time. But the move almost backfired because Dionte Christmas put on a show down the stretch.
The Flyers led by 16 after a jumper by Chris Wright with 5:55 to go, but the Owls scored 21 points in the final 5:31, getting five 3-pointers in that span, four of them by Christmas.
“It wasn’t necessarily our offense (that allowed Temple to come back),” Gregory said. “In our last 16 possessions, we scored on 10 out of the 16 and had 19 points, which would make you about as efficient an offense as anybody in the country. If you’re scoring more than one point per possession, you’re doing a heckuva job. It was them making shots and us having defensive breakdowns more than anything.”
Coming off two adrenalin-zapping losses at Saint Louis and Rhode Island also persuaded Gregory to take a cautious approach.
“For the first time, too, I thought we were a little drained… I think we lost a little bit of concentration in some coverages, and give them credit, they’ve got to make those shots. And even those where we didn’t have perfect coverages, those weren’t easy shots,” he said.
Even with the split of two games last week, the Flyers were a nine seed today in Joe Lunardi’s mock tournament bracket on ESPN.com. They also continue to get recognition in both national polls. They have the 30th-most votes in the Associated Press Top 25 and the 32nd-most in the ESPN-USA Today coaches ratings.
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Comments
By Jerseyflyer
March 2, 2009 6:27 PM | Link to this
NCAA Ratings are a joke. Not worth the paper their printed on. Lets stay off the polls a just plain win games. Who cares where we’re ranked.Take down X @ X and that’s all the polling we’ll need.By FaithfulFlyer65
March 2, 2009 7:01 PM | Link to this
I second what Jerseyflyer said. I’ve said in the past on this blog that the polls are more popularity contest than anything and I don’t believe that many of those who vote even follow what most of the teams do each week. With few exceptions they vote for the same big name schools year after year.By doug
March 2, 2009 9:16 PM | Link to this
they play better when not getting national attention.By Ben
March 3, 2009 2:02 AM | Link to this
What happened to the stock market today?? I can’t even afford to go to a high school basketball game, let alone a UD game! Once we become a socialist country, will the government take over selecting the NCAA tournament teams too? They seem to want to do everything else…By Andy
March 3, 2009 7:54 AM | Link to this
I wish that Gregory would have taken a more cautious approach to some of the earlier games…would have taken the drama out of the game (Fordham, LaSalle). Sometimes when you build a big lead midway through the second half, you should start draining the clock and limiting the number of possessions your opponent gets.By OSU Joe
March 3, 2009 8:00 AM | Link to this
UD is not even in the mid-major top 10. What a joke. 1 Memphis, 2 Gonzaga, 3 St Mary’s, 4 Xavier, 5 Butler, 6 Utah, 7 Davidson, 8 Creighton, 9 BYU, 10 Rhode Island. rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=jn-nonbigsix030109&prov=yhoo&type=lgnsBy Tom
March 3, 2009 8:06 AM | Link to this
The biggest thing to overcome is our weak non-conference schedule. I’d like to see us play WSU home-and-home starting next year. We are natural rivals with the Raiders and it would be a game I’d look forward to.By Bhoops
March 3, 2009 8:43 AM | Link to this
Tom, you just stated the biggest thing UD needs to overcome is their weak non-confrence schedule. How is playing WSU, a mediocre team in the Horizon league, going to help UD overcome a weak non-confrence schedule?By Sharpie
March 3, 2009 8:43 AM | Link to this
Tom, with WSU RPI. I don’t think that is going to help UD.By UD Joe
March 3, 2009 8:51 AM | Link to this
osu < UDBy FlyerGuy
March 3, 2009 11:01 AM | Link to this
With our RECORD we should be ranked. With wins over Marquette and X we have good wins. Our problem continues to be a weak schedule outside of one or two games. Even though so many of us fight it playing WSU, at team who the last 4 years has had a decent RPI and could potentially be a home game even on the road is a good game for us to boost our non-conf. SOS. We cant continue to think that teams in the 75-125 in the RPI are bad games when we are playing games in the 150-200 range. It just doesnt make sense anymore. This season is proof positive of what the country thinks of us. Yeah, WSU may not be IDEAL but they are better than most of our out of conf. opponents. and would definately have helped us had we beat them on the road this year as opposed to one of our other patsies at home.By OSU Joe
March 3, 2009 12:12 PM | Link to this
I rethought things and i would now like to declare that i am a moron.By Critic#1
March 3, 2009 12:19 PM | Link to this
I know this is looking ahead, but it makes me wonder? Dayton plays Xavier on Thursday. This is not a must win game as far as making it to the big dance. However, after Xavier, they have to turn right around and play a decent Duquesne team only two days later on Saturday. Should they not beat Xavier, the Saturday game could be very important. What idiot scheduled those games only two apart? If they lose both games, I could already hear the excuses that they had tired legs on Saturday. If they beat Xavier and lose to the Dukes, I could hear the excuse that they had tired legs and a let down after the Xavier game. Both excuses probably make some sense. Who made this schedule?By CJ
March 3, 2009 1:30 PM | Link to this
Too many idiots out here anymore. Once in the conference tournament the potential is there to play four (4) games in a row. Two in two days shouldn’t be a problem. Probably because it’s been moved to national TV. OSU (gay) Joe…OSU wouldn’t even make that list you provided of mid-majors. I’d love for Dayton to be included and they are close. Please stop embarassing yourself okay?By wrc
March 3, 2009 2:57 PM | Link to this
I love Dayton too,but I’m tired of this let the air out of the ball crap. It’s seem every time Dayton get up by ten or more it slow down time.The coach seems to think the team can turn it on any time he asked.This attitude as lead to way to many close games and to many of the teams loses.As far as playing two games in three days,people what do you think they’ll have to do in the NCAA tournament.Only then will you see Dayton inability to put teams away due to the way he coaches late in games, as better teams will beat us cause of this.By Jim
March 3, 2009 5:33 PM | Link to this
I agree with not having a home and home with Wright State, but it looks like we need to keep proving ourselves against the Horizon League and Butler. Butler has been in the top 25 much more than UD has. So I ask why doesn’t the UD scheduling dept see the writing on the wall. Duh! Just schedule Butler for a home and home for an out of conference matchup. What are we afraid of? Can we not beat the best of the Horizon League. Maybe UD officials do not have enough faith to take on a home and home against an out of conference top 25 opponent from a weaker league or are we just nieve. Come on!!! Lets get Butler on a home and home schedule!!! What are we waiting for!!!