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Home > Blogs > Flyer Connection: University of Dayton sports > Archives > 2009 > March > 14 > Entry
Gregory knows Flyers let opportunity slip away
For Dayton coach Brian Gregory, this one stung.
He knows how tough it is to earn a bye in the Atlantic 10 tournament and then win a game to reach the semifinals.
You’re one victory away from playing for the league crown on national TV, and instead of seizing the moment, you end up turning in one of your worst performances of the year.
The Flyers suffered a 77-66 loss to Duquesne in the semifinals Friday night, dropping their record to 26-7. Is that good enough to make the NCAA tournament? The experts say it is. We’ll find out Sunday whether their prognosticating powers are working.
That was little consolation to Gregory immediately after the game, though.
“At the end of the regular season, you have a great opportunity, and we just didn’t take advantage of it,” he said. “That’s hard because I know how hard those opportunities are to get. … But hopefully we can move on and learn from it. When you get into these situations, you have to respond better.”
The Dukes — who changed their strategy after losing to the Flyers twice in the regular-season, going to a deliberate pace — scored on seven of eight possessions in one first-half stretch to take a 28-19 lead, the last coming on an emphatic dunk from first-team all-league guard Aaron Jackson. They made 13 of their first 23 shots, including five 3’s.
The Flyers cut the deficit to four, but Jackson gave Damian Saunders a nifty assist on the last play of the first half as the Dukes took a 35-29 lead at the break.
“To be honest, I felt pretty good at halftime. … we were only down six,” Gregory said. “Again, we weren’t playing the way we should be playing. We weren’t pressuring the ball offensively. We took some ill-advised shots. And so now you need to do some things defensively better.
“We got off to a good start. But we had some fastbreak opportunities where we took some quick, bad shots, and now you’re down 10 or 11 again.
“You look at the pace of play, they still scored 77 points. Our defense just wasn’t good enough.”
The Flyers cut the lead to three early in the second half before the avalanche hit.
“We got the lead back down, but we took some quick shots,” forward Charles Little said. “When you take quick shots against a team as good as they are, they’re going to make you pay in transition.
“(Melquan) Bolding got out there and hit some 3’s, and Aaron (Jackson) got to the rim and took advantage of our quick shots and turnovers.”
When UD and Duquense met last Saturday, the Flyers shot 23 free throws, making 11. In the A-10 tourney game, UD shot just 11, hitting seven.
What that told Gregory was his team didn’t play with its usual aggressiveness in taking the ball to the rim.
“Give Duquesne credit,” he said. “They played extremely well today and have for the last half of the season. We played pretty well last week to beat them. And I knew tonight was going to be a tough battle. We didn’t respond very well.”
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Comments
By Jerseyflyer
March 14, 2009 8:33 AM | Link to this
Limping to and from Convention Hall was bad enough for this wounded Flyer.Place had it’s far share of east coast Flyer Fans but it was not enough. UD played flat in this crucial game and now we wait for the NCAA seating gods to cut us a break. From my vantage point, with LW&KH on the floor at the same time you can expect points from only the 3 other guys. These 2 are soooo offensively challenged it’s scary. Devin had some nice put backs but he was used very little in 2nd half. Plus, Thomas goes diving into scorers table after an errand pass and tweaks ribs. Smart? NOT!By jeff
March 14, 2009 9:11 AM | Link to this
this team simply got outplayed, it happens, don’t make more of it than that. Alot of those 3’s were contested and they hit em. It is no secret how you beat UD. You slow the pace, zome them, and force them into a half court game and you see that they are offensively challenged. On defense you spread them out penetrate force them to help and then kick out for three’s. If you’re hitting them you will beat Dayton. UD should still be in, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.By Jim
March 14, 2009 10:08 AM | Link to this
The Flyers were over confident and overlooked Duquesne. This was the attitude that led to the losses at UMass and Charlotte. I thought they were past that, so last night’s poor performance was surprising and disappointing. Where was the “leadership” from the players who were congratulated for their excellent performances during an outstanding year?By clh323
March 14, 2009 10:29 AM | Link to this
Duquesne is a very underrated team. UD will have many, many more games with these Dukes that Ron Everhart has built. They’re young and gaining alot of experience very quickly.By Flyer'72
March 14, 2009 11:19 AM | Link to this
This is one of the rare intelligent threads that gives hope to use of the Internet. All the comments are on target. We had great opportunity, but we were outplayed. Tough to win three straight against another team. The Dukes studied the last game and adjusted. We just have to focus on executing well in the NCAAs. Go Flyers!By CJ
March 14, 2009 11:57 AM | Link to this
Question…why can’t our coach adjust at halftime? I’m tired of hearing how good he is. Duquesne is an okay team….not a great team. A very bad loss for us considering Xavier had lost already. UD doesn’t get too many opportunities to win these championships. On another note….how much longer do we stick with KH in the middle? We miss layups against a great opponent in the tourney it will be lights guys.By sonomamac
March 14, 2009 2:00 PM | Link to this
A successful year-yes, but put this same team in the ACC or Big East and they would have maybe 4 league wins and in the mid 150’s RPI. A good defense means little if you cannot put the ball through the hoop.By FaithfulFlyer65
March 14, 2009 2:22 PM | Link to this
Chris Johnson played 14 minutes against Richmond, and 11 minutes against Duquesne. He is one of the best players on the team. Why doesn’t this kid play more? The Dukes lost to us twice, and they were able to adjust and adapt. Why can’t UD do that?By JeffB
March 14, 2009 3:32 PM | Link to this
The basis for measuring a good sports team is not getting punped up for playing a higher ranked opponent(anybody can do that). It’s how a coach gets his team up to play against teams they are expected to beat. Basically, UD should be excused for just two losses this year-Xavier and Creighton. With such a weak schedule the other losses would never have happened under a coach that had more disciplane, more control of his players. I can’t even imagine a Knight, Huggins or a ton of other coaches letting their players run around with such little organization. Gregory’s answer is to punish the player for a stupid decision by yanking them out immediately. The only problem is their replacement usually make an even dumber move on the court and he has to put the first player back in again. I think they will get an NCAA bid but, an NIT bid is more deserving.By Steve
March 14, 2009 3:33 PM | Link to this
UD’s current situation can be summed up as follows: Both the team and the coach are above average, but they’re not elite. This is a process, people. Xavier has methodically built their program, and have continually improved the quality of their coach and their recruits. UD is getting there, but is still a step behind. That’s not a put-down. It’s simply the facts. We have reached the point where we are able to recruit great athletes. And Gregory is coaching as best he can with athletes. The next step will be to start recruiting great basketball players, and a great tactical game coach to go with them. There’s a difference between athletes and true basketball players, and the games where UD can’t buy a bucket (like last night) show this vividly. UD and its fans need to be both patient and optimistic. Today isn’t too bad, and tomorrow is looking even better.By bub
March 14, 2009 4:17 PM | Link to this
Steve’s comments are on the mark. I consider UD an adolescent level team, where they haven’t yet found that focused intensity and control of mature teams. There is a consistent problem that has evinced itself over the last 6 years - lack of offensive effectiveness and strategy. This falls clearly on BG’s shoulders. He has kids that absolutely burned up the nets in HS, and somehow he finds a way to castrate them once they get into the program. He spends far too much time chastising his players rather than communicating a clear strategy. His body language on the sideline is also very negative—this directly translates to his players. Chris Johnson and Luke F. should have played more last night… Huelsman is going backwards in his development and should be replaced next season by Kavanaugh, Searcy, and Benson. London Warren MUST start shooting.. I would rather see him TRY and miss than to stand there wide open at the top of the key and be too afraid to shoot. How insulting. Gregory needs some help on offense — please call someone!! Ask for help!! Get some pointers from someone… Present some discipline through structure and clarity, not through yelling. Process of shoot arounds, free-throws, repetition=muscle memory=grace under pressure. BG doesn’t show grace under pressure, so how can we expect the team to show that in spite of him? Watch the elite players and coaches… Dayton is just a few steps away from that, and the issues are simple and fixable. Patience and optimism—certainly. The future looks bright. There are things that can happen immediately to tighten up ship. Let’s hope they get a good seed and can play at least 2 games into the tourney. Stop focusing on identity, recognition, and “selling the brand” —win some games and play smart basketball. THAT is how you get recognized. Smart coaching, smart basketball, mature approach. Go UD.By Steve
March 14, 2009 4:41 PM | Link to this
bub brings up a Gregory trait that also bothers me a lot; namely, that he seems so negative on the sidelines. I saw the Lasalle game in person and witnessed two issues that really bothered me. First, there was a possession in the 2nd half where LW brought the ball downcourt but stopped because he couldn’t get direction from the bench. He was panicked and UD eventually took a shot clock violation. I couldn’t help but wonder why LW seemed so bothered. Second, I saw Gregory just yell and yell at KH. Huelsman frustrates me, too, but Gregory actually called him over to the sidelines during foul shots and reamed him out. KH looked like an abused puppy during the episode. And Gregory just yells and paces and flaps his arms during games. Many other coaches do that, too, but when you see players frozen in fear on the court, you start to wonder just how negative things really are with the team. Coupled with the lack of player development (e.g. KH), it’s easy to see why Gregory can only take UD just so far.By Borges
March 14, 2009 4:48 PM | Link to this
Hey, Bub. The future looks bright? I think I heard that a few years ago. Huelsman, in his tenure at UD, has averaged 4 ppg., and nothing has changed. Warren has been a joke offensively for the longest time! We saw the same problems with players like Binnie who were wothless offensively. The problem is that UD does not or cannot recruit quality players, otherwise some of them would be playing in the NBA, like players they recruited when I attended. Players like May, Paxson, Davis, Chapman…. we just don’t recruit players like that anymore.I’m tired of waiting!By Steve
March 14, 2009 5:29 PM | Link to this
Hey, Borges. “NBA quality recruits?” You’re kidding me, right? With all due respect, Borges’ post is a great example of the attitude that hampered UD for so long and is mostly responsible for the position in which it now finds itself; namely, behind. Old-timers at UD (yes, YOU, athletic dept and old-timers like Borges) were so convinced the world shared their deep admiration for UD’s long Bball tradition that they basically missed the switch to TV and power conferences and very nearly got totally left behind. MCC, anyone? How about getting dissed by Conf USA? It’s a good thing Xavier threw us a bone. Will they do it again if they get a chance to bolt the A10? Paxson, May, and Chapman are as relevant to current UD Bball as a ‘55 Chevy is to the current GM (and the current Dayton, OH). Our recent history is Jim O’Brien and 4 wins a season. Purnell stopped the bleeding, and Gregory has improved it another step. They might not be NBA quality, but Johnson, Johnson, and Wright are quality recruits for what UD currently is. Like you, I have grave concern that Gregory will not be able to develop them, but we’re back to the comments bub and I have already posted.By Runfasteve
March 14, 2009 9:28 PM | Link to this
I agree with the comments on BG’s coaching, he does not appear to have the ability to help develop players. He is a good recruiter, which I think is the main reason the team has improved over the last few years. What we need here is a combination coach, let BG recruit, and then have Don Donaher (old-school as you call it) coach game time. I would not be too unhappy to see BG leave, I think someone like Anthony Grant (old-schooler too) would jump at the opening here and lead the program to a higher level. I am not trashing BG, he just appears to lack the game-time coaching. Does not adjust well.By Dana
March 14, 2009 10:02 PM | Link to this
I’m actually a little bit glad about the Xavier and Dayton losses. I’ve thought for some time that the A-10 deserved more than 2 bids and now it’s going to happen. Also, we’ll be seeded lower, meaning we’ll have more of a chance at advancing in the NCAA tourney. When UD loses, it’s not the end of the world. Mistakes get made and losses happen, but this team has had a great run and been very exciting to watch. Next year and the year after will be even more fun! Good luck, Flyers. Can’t wait to see you in the Dance!By BJ
March 14, 2009 10:04 PM | Link to this
BG has done a good job this year…but he’s playing way too many guys. He needs to only play 8 if he wants to win a game or two in the tourney. Look at Temples box score today….played only 7 players….and 5 got most of the playing time. What the hell??? Why can’t UD do the same?By Honest UD Fan
March 14, 2009 10:25 PM | Link to this
With our RPI of 25, we should get a 6-8 seed. I do not think Joe Lunardi is accurate with our 10 seed. It makes no sense, we have beaten Marquette and split with Xavier. I think we are in for a pleasant surprise tomorrow when they announce that we are a 6 seed. I agree that we would not compete well in a conference like the ACC or Big East, but we are who we are. We are a force in a pretty good mid-major conference.By JJ
March 15, 2009 7:59 AM | Link to this
I believe that we have created unreasonable expectancies for our UD basketball program. We are a fairly small school in a division one pool that now has over 340 teams. We seem to envy Xavier who has done an exceptional job hiring coaches and recruiting. We have had a good year for what we have to work with-Dayton is a great school, but is situated in a seemingly dying town with nothing on our side to recruit but good facilities and a good education-unfortunately, the best recruits look for more glorious things than we have to offer-on the average, this may be about as good as we can expect to be given the competition we have to deal with.By NCAA Commitee insider
March 15, 2009 9:36 AM | Link to this
UD is locked in as a 7 seed. Tune in at 6:00.By Jerseyflyer
March 15, 2009 10:58 AM | Link to this
Regarding BG’s coaching/recruiting.On recruiting he get’s a B. Coaching a lowly C grade. Here’s why. From my spot @ CC in AC Gregs is flailing his arms and screaming stuff at his athletes. Not to mention the dreaded QUICK HOOK.Good players know all too well when they’ve made mistakes. What benefit is it to demean them in front of the entire crowd. BG. Chill out and learn to adjust at halftime instead of frickin screaming all the time.Players detest screamers. Ever see Wooden scream. No. BG needs to ink Staten and Payne. And another thing. Get a road map of the NYC Metro area and recruit some studs out East . Roosevelt Chapman=Bronx, NYC.. That’s all I need to say.Lincoln HS Lance Stevenson is a BEAST and we have never contacted him.By CJ
March 15, 2009 12:04 PM | Link to this
NO way a 7 seed! At best a 9 seed…probably a 10 or 11. Good RPI and all but Dayton won’t get any respect as usual. Better hope we see Dayton on the board early or the palms will start to get sweaty!!!By CJ
March 15, 2009 7:06 PM | Link to this
As usual…no respect from the committee. If this doesn’t fire up our Flyers nothing will!!! Maybe Huelsman will come down with the flue!!!By Steve
March 15, 2009 7:31 PM | Link to this
JJ’s comments are on the mark. UD is fighting the good fight, but they’re swimming upstream. It’s only a matter of time before a power conference tries to grab Xavier, or vice versa. When only 4 non-BCS schools get at-large bids, the mid majors have to do something. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. And since the BCS is now the judge, jury, and executioner…we should as heck can’t beat ‘em.