Badin Spirit Olympics
Adventure Summit
SWBL wrestling championships
Award-winning columnist Tom Archdeacon — an old-school storyteller in a brand-new venue — writes about sports, the city, southwest Ohio and anything else that catches his fancy… or yours.Home > Blogs > Through the Arch > Archives > 2009 > March
March 2009
blog: “The Gladiator” Juwan Staten Impresses LeBron
COLUMBUS — Akron St. Vincent St. Mary may have defeated Thurgood Marshall, 59-53, for the Division II state title Saturday night, but afterward everyone had praise for the Cougars’ Juwan Staten.
The 5-foot-11 junior guard won a heaping amount of respect from the 11,160 hoops fans at the Schottenstein Center, especially NBA great LeBron James, who was quite animated as he sat courtside at the game, sometimes urging the Irish players to put the clamps on Staten.
James — now the star of the Cleveland Cavs — was a similar headliner when he played for SVSM, leading the Irish to three state titles in four state tournament appearances and becoming the only prep player in Ohio history to be named Mr. Basketball three straight times.
After the game, he sought out the tearful Staten — who had game high 28 points — and as he consoled him, stressed what a “great player” he was.
Throughout the game, Staten had felt a connection to James: “I looked at him a bunch of times during the game and every time he seemed to be looking back at me.”
SVSM coach Dru Joyce — who mentored James through part of his high school career — saw a similarity between the NBA legend and the Dayton Public Schools star who has verbally committed to the University of Dayton.
“Although I didn’t believe it my first year as coach (when the James- led Irish lost their title game), I heard it said that we had a great player, but the other guys had a great team….Well, today they had a great player, but we had a great team.”
But this time the great player — with the help of some over-achieving teammates, especially DeAngelo Gates (15 points, 10 rebounds) — nearly knocked off the stronger team. And the odds certainly were against it because Marshall was without its All-City, 18 p.p.g, big man, Greg Gainey, who was sidelined with two sprained ankles.
“I knew it was a David and Goliath situation, where everyone picked them to beat us… to kill us,” Staten said. “I knew in order for us to win, I had to play a great game.
“And I remembered something my dad preaches. He said, ‘Great players step up in big games. He said you make your name during the season, but you make your fame in the tournament.”
Staten did that, especially in the first half when he made all four of his three point shots and added some tricky driving lay-ups against the bigger Irish players to head to the dressing room with 20 points.
Atintermission, Joyce told his team it would use several different players against the Marshall guard in the second half:
“I told our guys, ‘He’s not going to make those jumpers in the second half that he did in the first if we wear him down.’ And I think that’s what happened at the end when he made just one of five free throws (after making 12 for 12 in the state semifinal against Circleville Logan Elm, Friday). Nothing against him, but a physical being can only take so much.”
Staten played all 32 minutes Saturday evening and he did so with a sprained thumb ligament on his right shooting hand. After the game, he had an ice bag on the injured digit, but refused to use it as an excuse.
That didn’t surprise Marshall athletics director Carolyn Woodley: “He’s a gladiator who hates to lose. Losing is not part of his mentality. He’s a true champion.”
And that’s why James sought him out.
He saw a little of himself in the kid from Dayton.
Tweetblog: Marshall loses, LeBron consoles Staten
COLUMBUS — Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary has defeated Thurgood Marshall, 59-53 for the Division II state title.
Marshall’s Juwan Staten led all scorers with 28 points. After the game LeBron James pulled a crying Staten over to him and talked to him at length on the court, then hugged him.
“He just told me I’m a great pl;ayer and to keep my head up,” a tearful Staten said afterward. “He told me he knew how I felt because he lost a state title game, too. He said I’ve got a great future.”
Tweetblog: Staten Overshadows LeBron
COLUMBUS — Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary might have LeBron James, but Thurgood Marshall has Juwan Staten and once the Division II state final began Saturday, the little guy from Dayton stole the spotlight from the big guy many consider the best basketball player in the world.
Thurgood Marshall leads SVSM — James’ alma mater — 29-24 at the half, thanks to a one-man show put on by Staten, who has 20 points and the Schottenstein Center crowd roaring with every long three pointer and razzle-dazzle move to the hoop he makes.
Throwing his head back and yelping in glee after each of his four three pointers, Staten has the entire crowd buzzing. The 5-foot-11 junior — who has made a verbal commitment to the University of Dayton — is 8 for 12 from the field and has made all four of his three point attempts. He also has two assists and no turnovers. He is carrying the Cougars, who are playing without their All City center Greg Gainey, who has two sprained ankles.
James — who is sitting directly behind the Irish bench in a green SVSM jacket — was honored at midcourt at halftime as one of the Circle of Champion prep greats to play Ohio high school ball.
James led SVSM to three state titles when he played there. He’s now in his sixth year as a Cleveland Cavalier.
Tweetblog: LeBron Gives Thurgood Marshall the Eye
COLUMBUS — LeBron James is giving the Thurgood Marshall basketball team the stare down Saturday as it warms up for its Division II state title game with Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary.
James — the Cleveland Cavalier forward who is the NBA’s Mr. Everything — is a graduate of SVSM and led the school to Ohio high school titles in 2000, 2001 and 2003. He’s the only player in Ohio High School Basketball history to be named Mr. Basketball three times.
From SVSM, he went directly to the NBA as an 18 year old and was the first pick of the 2003 NBA Draft.
Some 40 minutes before tip-off Saturday, James is standing in front of the SVSM bench wearing a green jacket with SVSM emblazoned on the front.
James is being shadowed by a bodyguard bigger than he is and anybody who gets too close — including the press — gets ushered away quickly.
The Marshall players are warming up right in front of him and more than one player has given him the once over. He’s nodded to a few of the Cougars.
James is familiar with Miami Valley teams.
Each of the state titles he and his SVSM teammates won were against Dayton-area teams.
In 2000, the Irish beat Greeneview 73-55. The following year they topped Miami East for the crown, 63-53. And in 2003, they edged Alter High 40-36.
TweetCOLUMN: Thurgood Marshall’s doggone big heart
COLUMBUS — Thurgood Marshall assistant coach Dwayne Chastain looked over at Shawn Robinson and tried to put the junior guard into words:
“He’s the glue of the team. With his quickness and footwork, he’s a freak of nature. He’s…. aaah…”
Chastain started to laugh: “Maybe I shouldn’t say it, but he’s got a dog in him. He gets down and dirty and is relentless. He’s a dog.”
And just what kind of dog would that be?
“Oh, a Cane Corso,” Robinson laughed. “Something scary. Something you can’t run from, can’t get away from.”
A large Italian breed often used as a guard dog, the Cane Corso can be aggressive, tenacious, dominant to strangers.
Kind of like what Robinson was to Circleville Logan Elm in the the Division II state basketball semifinal Friday, March 27, at the Schottenstein Center.
With just 6:24 left, Circleville — which had lost just once in 25 games and was ranked No. 2 in the state — was up by 12 points on a Marshall team playing without injured All City center, Greg Gainey.
“I was prayin’, ‘God, get us though this,’” Robinson said. “‘Help us do something… anything.’”
And then Robinson did everything.
Over that final 6:24, he stole the ball four times, grabbed a pair of rebounds and scored five points, including the pressurized three-pointer with 10 seconds left that tied the game 48-48 and sent it into overtime.
After that — in what will go down as one of the greatest comebacks in recent state hoops memory — Marshall took over and won 62-53. It plays Akron St. Vincent -St., Mary today at 5:15 p.m. for the title.
There were other Marshall stars down the stretch, Friday. DeAngelo Gates had seven of his 15 rebounds and scored five points and point guard Juwan Staten — who finished with a game-high 24 points — owned the overtime with six straight free throws, part of a 12-for-12 day from the line.
“Coach (John Ralph) told us no one in the state had as big of a heart as we do,” Robinson said, “but I didn’t know when it was gonna kick in.”
It “kicked” after four straight pick-pockets by Robinson that melted the Circleville players:
“I believe if you had any question about your own ball handling, seeing Shawn in front of you would be an intimidating experience, said Ralph.
For Circleville, it was said Robinson: “I looked straight into their eyes and I saw fear so I took advantage of it.”
The Braves didn’t cop to fear afterward, but they did admit some late confusion:
“We’d been used to walking the ball up all game and when they threw on the press, they caught us off guard,” said Adam Blake. ” Number 5 (Robinson) changed the tide. You hear more about their other guys (Staten and Gainey,) but he’s great. He was the best kept secret all week.”
Fellow guard Brandon Amann agreed: “That guy’s really quick. Quick as a cat.”
And therein lay the problem.
Robinson is a dog.
Tweetblog: UD coaches keep a protective eye on Staten
COLUMBUS — Dayton Flyers head coach Brian Gregory and top assistant Billy Schmidt were sitting courtside at the Schottenstein Center, Friday, as Thurgood Marshall overcame Circleville Logan Elm, 62-53, in overtime.
Certainly the pair are basketball fans and they may be scouting some talent here from around the state, but you can bet — first and foremost — they were keeping a protective eye on Juwan Staten.
The Marshall junior point guard — who UD began recruiting heavily when he was a freshman — made a verbal commitment to the Flyers last year, which means he’d join the UD team in 2010.
Xavier had battled the Flyers tooth and nail for Staten — and several other big time colleges came after him, too — but the 5-foot-11 prep star said Thursday he thought Dayton was “the right fit” for him.
But he also said, “nothing is set in stone” and admitted a few other colleges are still showing considerable interest in him, especially since he hasn’t signed anything yet:
“West Virginia’s still trying to contact me and Ohio State doesn’t do it directly, but they’ve got their sources, same with UC.”
So while Gregory and Schmidt may have been on a little guardian angel duty Friday, they also had to like some of the things they saw from the future Flyer.
While the sometimes-limping Staten did struggle some from the field — going 6 for 12 overall and 0 for 3 from three-point range — he controlled the game when finally given the chance in overtime, drove, dished off well and was a perfect 12 for 12 from the free throw line for the day.
For a Flyers team that struggled from the stripe this past season, a kid like him would be a godsend.
Tweetblog: Marshall: “Biggest hearts in the state of Ohio”
COLUMBUS — After the game — after Thurgood Marshall launched one of the greatest comebacks in state tournament history — Cougars head coach John Ralph looked at his players and said something none of the 12,415 people at the Schottenstein Center Friday morning would dispute:
“I think our guys have the biggest hearts in the state of Ohio.”
Or, as the still shell-shocked Circleville Logan Elm guard Brandon Amann put it afterward: “Those were the best athletes we’ve faced all year.”
And what do heart and athleticism get you?
They help you come from 12 points down with just 7:36 left in your Division II state semi-final game and win‚ in overtime, 62-53.
In those final 11 1/2 minutes — from the 7:36 mark though overtime — Marshall outscored the No. 2 team in the state 30-9.
The Cougars did it with a withering fill-court press and some great personal performances.
Junior guard Shawn Robinson had 4 steals in that fourth quarter comeback and five points, including the game-tying three pointer with 10 seconds left that sent the thing into overtime.
During that same fourth quarter span, forward DeAngelo Gates — taking up the slack for injured All City center Greg Gainey who could play just four minutes on two sprained ankles — had seven of his game-high 15 rebounds and scored five points.
In overtime, it was all junior guard Juwan Staten, who has verbally committed to the University of Dayton and was watched Friday by Flyers head coach Brian Gregory and assistant Billy Schmidt.
In overtime, Staten made six straight free throws — he was 12 for 12 for the game — had two huge assists and controlled the ball. He finished with a game-high 24 points.
On Saturday, Marshall, now 22-4, will play for the Division II title against the winner of the Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary and Columbus St. Francis DeSales game that is tipping off this afternoon. Circleville finished the season 24-2.
TweetCOLUMN: Marshall playing for all of Dayton
When it comes to Thurgood Marshall High basketball this season, the surprises just keep coming.
No sooner had coach John Ralph stepped out onto the floor of the new gymnasium Thursday afternoon, March 26,, taken hold of the microphone and begun revving up the crowd at the pep rally that would send his team off to the Division II state tournament, than several of his players snuck up behind him.
They raised a big yellow Igloo cooler over his head and poured a blizzard of confetti that swamped the unsuspecting coach. As Ralph had jumped and the students had squealed, the Cougars had added another victim in this surprising season.
Two years ago, the team — then the Colonel White Cougars — won just five games. The year before that, just one. But last year Colonel White became Thurgood Marshall and the students were moved into a new building on Hoover Ave.
“It’s a $25 million facility and the kids have performed and acted like they’re in a brand new facility,” said principal David Lawrence. “They’ve been phenomenal from top to bottom.”
Led by junior point guard Juwan Staten, the Cougars are 21-4 and now play 24-1 Circleville Logan Elm at 10:45 this morning at the Schottenstein Center.
When the team finally boarded its charter bus in front of the school while fellow students cheered, Lawrence talked about the bigger-than-basketball task it’s taken on:
“Dayton has had a very tough go of it with General Motors closing and many of its subsidiaries, too. In many cases when you’re talking about cities that have been devastated by the economy, the high schools tend to take on lives of their own and represent the hopes of a whole town.
“What better way for us to represent this community than to go to Columbus and compete for the state championship.”
Tweetblog: Marshall shows “biggest hearts in the state of Ohio”
COLUMBUS — After the game — after Thurgood Marshall launched one of the greatest comebacks in state tournament history — Cougars head coach John Ralph looked at his players and said something none of the 12,415 people at the Schottenstein Center Friday morning would dispute:
“I think our guys have the biggest hearts in the state of Ohio.”
Or, as the still shell-shocked Circleville Logan Elm guard Brandon Amann put it afterward: “Those were the best athletes we’ve faced all year.”
And what do heart and athleticism get you?
They help you come from 12 points down with just 7:36 left in your Division II state semi-final game and win‚ in overtime, 62-53.
In those final 11 1/2 minutes — from the 7:36 mark though overtime — Marshall outscored the No. 2 team in the state 30-9.
The Cougars did it with a withering fill-court press and some great personal performances.
Junior guard Shawn Robinson had 4 steals in that fourth quarter comeback and five points, including the game-tying three pointer with 10 seconds left that sent the thing into overtime.
During that same fourth quarter span, forward DeAngelo Gates — taking up the slack for injured All City center Greg Gainey who could play just four minutes on two sprained ankles — had seven of his game-high 15 rebounds and scored five points.
In overtime, it was all junior guard Juwan Staten, who has verbally committed to the University of Dayton and was watched Friday by Flyers head coach Brian Gregory and assistant Billy Schmidt.
In overtime, Staten made six straight free throws — he was 12 for 12 for the game — had two huge assists and controlled the ball. He finished with a game-high 24 points.
On Saturday, Marshall, now 22-4, will play for the Division II title against the winner of the Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary and Columbus St. Francis DeSales game that is tipping off this afternoon. Circleville finished the season 24-2.
Tweetblog: Marshall Winning !!
COLUMBUS — Shawn Robinsion is Thurgood Marshall’s new hero.
The junior guard hit a desperation three pointer with 8.7 seconds left to tie the Cougars Division II state semifinal wth Circleville Logan Elm 48-48 nd send the game into overtime.
With 3:25 left in the extra stanza, Marshall now leads 50-48 thanks to a DeAngelo Gates bucket.
The Cougars were down by 12 in the fourth quarter and Robinson made four steals, three off the press to turn the game around.
Tweetblog: Marshall’s Comeback
COLUMBUS — Thanks to a withering full court press, a rattled Circleville Logan Elm team and junior guard Shawn Robinson’s steals, Thurgood Marshall has made an incredible comeback in the Division II state semifinal game.
With 44.8 seconds left, Thurgood Marshall has come from 12 points down in the fourth quarter to trail by one, 47-45..
Tweetblog: Thurgood Marshall’s facing defeat
COLUMBUS — This Division II state semifinnal is over unless Thurgood Marshall can somehow shore up the inside aganst Circleville Logan Elm and manage to get Juwan Staten scoring.
How abour setting some screens for the junior point guard?
With 6:09 left in the fourth quarter Circleville leads Marshall 44-32 at the Schottenstein Center.
Tweetblog: Marshall’s Staten needs the ball
COLUMBUS — Thurgood Marshall and Circleville Logan Elm are tied up 22-22 at the half of their Division II state semi-final game and here’s one observation:
The ball needs to be in Juwan Staten’s hands more. The Cougars junior point guard — verbally committed to the University of Dayton — leads all scorers with 12 points (he’s five for 9 from the floor,) is tied for the game’s leading rebounder with five boards and has two assists.
He sat out three minutes of the second half for a breather — a little long, I thought —and when he came back in with 2:30 left, he took just one shot inside that was blocked by Circleville’s 6-foot-7 Logan Hauserman.
Three other Cougars took four shots and missed them all — badly As Marshall was killing the last 20 seconds or so for a final shot, the ball was not in Staten’s hands.
With All City center Greg Gainey on the bench with bum ankles, Marshall will need Staten to carry it on his small shoulders.
If you are a Marshall fan, you can only hope he gets the chance.
Tweetblog: Marshall’s Gainey On Bench
COLUMBUS — With 4:16 left in the first quarter of their Division II state semi-final game with Circleville Logan Elm,, Thurgood Marshall’s center Greg Gainey — already playing with two sprained ankles — crumpled to the floor in a pile-up for a loose ball.
As he got up, his face contorted in pain, he motioned to the bench for a replacement,
With him gone — and Marshall trying two different big men — Circleville scored six straight points, all inside. Four were by their 6-foot-7 center.
Juwan Staten has kept Marshall in the game and they trailed 13-11 at the end of the first quarter.
Tweetblog: Will Marshall’s Gainey be able to go?
COLUMBUS — Thurgood Marshall’s big man Greg Gainey — that is if you can call 6-foot-4 big — is noticeably limping during warm-ups before today’s Division II state semi final game with Circleville Logan Elm this morning at the Schottenstein Center.
I spent much of yesterday at the school on Hoover Avenue and he was walking on crutches as he went from class to class.
The Cougars need Gainey today to come up big against 24-1 Circleville, the No. 2 team in the state.
Gainey — an All City first team selection who averages 18 p.p.g. — is trying to play on two sprained ankles. One he injured a few games ago and the other in the regional final last Saturday against Columbus Watterson.
Gainey is the tallest player on Marshall’s team. As he was going through lay-up lines today, there was a noticeable grimace on his face. I think it will be asking a lot for a Willis Reed-hobbling-out-of-the-dressing-room-type performance from him, but he’s out there giving it his all now.
Tweetblog: UD Tourney Snub About Fairness
I know a lot of Dayton Flyers fans are upset that the school’s bid to bring the Atlantic 10 tournament back to UD Arena was turned down and instead the post-conference confab will stay in Atlantic City for three more years.
Certainly there was an argument that in the two years the tournament was here, it drew some of the very best crowds in the A-10’s 33-year post conference history. In 2004, UD Arena drew an all-time high 63,694 fans. It’s 2003 totals were fourth best overall.
Comparably, this year’s tournament in Atlantic City drew 28,823.
But the league — and the voting schools — made their decision, in terms of fairness, not just finances. A neutral site was sought, not a host heavy on the home-cookin’.
And, as much as it was fun to have the tournament in Dayton, you can’t say it was a neutral court for the Flyers.
This is a great college basketball town in terms of turn-out and appreciation of the game. Even the NCAA Tournament’s Play-In game — that usually features two teams with no marquee power and no connection to the Miami Valley — draws big crowds.
When the A-10 Tournament was here, most of the crowd was made up of UD fans. And where the Flyers are concerned, the sweet confines of home are like spinach to Popeye.
UD was a perfect 18-0 at home this past season. The two years the A-10 tournament was here, Dayton made the final both times and won the thing once.
No wonder other schools are wary about coming here. Certainly they love the buzz in the Arena, but they want an equal shot at making the NCAA Tournament.
At the A-10 Tournament this year, one athletics director in the conference told me he and a couple of his counterparts like coming to Dayton and would vote for Dayton if the games were played someplace else in town — like the Nutter Center. Even though the arena would still mostly be filled with UD fans, they felt it wouldn’t be a home court to the Flyers and would be fairer to the other teams.
People are griping that the Atlantic City site favors the East Coast — and especially the Philadelphia teams in the league.
Well, it is the Atlantic 10 Conference. It was an East Coast-based league when UD was playing as an independent, when it was in the Great Midwest and the Midwestern Collegiate conferences and when it came shopping for a new league to join.
East Coast bias out there ? UD bias back here?
I think it came down to a choice filling seats and coffers or neutralizing the playing field and not giving one team a distinct edge.
I’ve got no beef with this call.
Tweetblog: Flyers ripped by KC columnist
During Friday’s first round NCAA Tournamenmt game, Charles Little — on a few occasions when he inbounded the ball for the Dayton Flyers — carried on a conversation with Jason Whitlock, the Kansas City Star columnist, who is an ESPN regular and was sitting courtside.
“When you gonna be back on the Sports Reporters?” Little once wanted to know. “I liked you there.”
I’ve known Jason a long time. He’s a decent guy and doesn’t sugar-coat anything. But I don’t think Little — or many UD fans — will warm to the following column he wrote about Dayton after the Flyers were drubbed by Kansas on Sunday.
By Jason Whitlock
McClatchy Newspapers
MINNEAPOLIS — It would be a shame if Kansas basketball players and their relatively small contingent of traveling fans left the Metrodome believing the Jayhawks proved this weekend they’re ready for a rematch against Michigan State.
“Sadly mistaken” doesn’t do justice to how little the Hawks demonstrated in advancing to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet Sixteen with victories over North Dakota State and Dayton.
We already established that Friday’s 10-point victory over the Bison was a product of a ridiculous strategic error by North Dakota State coach Saul Phillips.
Sunday’s 60-43 laugher over the Dayton Flyers simply confirmed what I’ve always believed about the unfairness of the Big Dance. Thanks to a flawed seeding process and an horrendous, first-round performance by Bob Huggins’ West Virginia Mountaineers, the third-seeded Jayhawks were blessed with the privilege of playing the most unskilled team left in the tournament. Honestly, I played on and coached better-shooting intramural teams in college than the 2008-09 Dayton Flyers.
Dayton, the runner-up in the Atlantic 10, might be on par with Colorado, the last-place team in the Big 12. Yes, in November Dayton beat Auburn and Marquette on back-to-back nights. November is college basketball’s exhibition season. The results shouldn’t count.
I’ve never seen anything as pathetic as Dayton’s offense. On Saturday, I spent much of the afternoon wondering how Chris Wright, a big-time recruit, landed at Dayton. Sunday he provided an answer. He can’t finish at the rim, in the paint or on the perimeter. He’s Kansas State’s Dominique Sutton without the defensive intensity.
Wright is so raw that a vegan would put him in the microwave. The Flyers shot 22 percent from the field.
Yeah, you can delude yourself into thinking Kansas played amazing defense. Not true. The Flyers hurled themselves into the lane and threw up shots into the outstretched arms of Cole Aldrich, who recorded what is believed to be the third triple-double in Kansas history.
Young McHale scored 13 points, snagged 20 rebounds and rejected 10 shots. I love Young McHale. If he stays in college four years, he’ll likely be one of the 10 best players in Kansas history and have a chance to be a Young Bill Walton, the last great white NBA center.
After offering that bit of context, let me say emphatically that Aldrich’s triple-double on Sunday was the least impressive I’ve had the pleasure to witness. The Flyers missed so many damn shots that $weet Lew Perkins was credited with five boards. Every time Wright sailed into the lane he gently placed the ball in Aldrich’s hands. Some of Aldrich’s blocks should have been scored as steals.
The truth is Kansas played poorly on Sunday. Oh, the Cole and Collins Show performed to rave reviews. Sherron Collins knocked down 11 of 19 shots, scored 25 points, snatched seven rebounds and avoided a turnover. Mario Little turned in an efficient 16 minutes, hitting three of four shots and hauling in six boards.
The rest of the Hawks were worthless. Brady Morningstar and Tyrel Reed missed eight of their nine three-point attempts. Tyshawn Taylor was a turnover machine (six). The Morris Twins combined for two points and five rebounds in 31 minutes.
The Jayhawks turned the ball over 17 times, missed half of their 22 free-throw attempts and 13 of 16 three-point shots. Dayton is the only team that played on Sunday that would have lost to Kansas.
The Cole and Collins Show won’t beat Michigan State on Friday.
The second-seeded Spartans, who spanked Kansas in January, looked like a national-title threat on Sunday in their close victory over a highly skilled Southern California squad. Michigan State looks better when it plays outside the Big Ten, all the Big Ten teams do. The style of play in the conference is so physical that the teams beat each other up and look bad doing it.
Against USC, an unfamiliar opponent, the Spartans appeared athletic, smooth and tough. They looked a lot better than Kansas.
So did the Missouri Tigers, who slipped past Marquette in the West Regional. Are you getting the picture?
Good teams were tested this weekend and passed those tests. The Jayhawks have yet to be pushed. There’s no reason for the Jayhawks or their fans to get cocky. There’s no reason to believe the Hawks can beat Michigan State.
Tweetblog: All Kinds of Love for the Flyers
MINNEAPOLIS — Except for that little issue with Cole Aldrich and the Kansas Jayhawks on the Metrodome court, the Dayton Flyers learned a lot about love all day Sunday.
At the 8 a.m. Mass at St. Olaf’s — where I saw UD athletics director Tim Wabler and a few red-clad Flyers fans — the Rev. Mr. Thom Winninger, the animated deacon of the downtown Catholic Church, gave an inspirational sermon about practicing the real gift of love with your fellow man.
On my 10-minute walk along S. 3rd Avenue to the Flyers team hotel, I passed the Lickety Split Erotic Pleasures store. The sidewalk sign out front said “Welcome Sports Fans — Don’t be shy, come on in.”
In one of the front windows — moved up ahead of the bondage paraphernalia, the lubricants, sex toys and other apparel — was a collection of leatherwear. Bright red leatherwear. Flyer red leatherwear.
And written on a little index card was “GO FLYERS.”
So in the space of seven or eight blocks — two different ways for Flyers fans to practice their love.
And yet the biggest lovefests were just before — and immediately after — the game.
Late in the morning, as the team left its headquarters — The Depot Renaissance Minneapolis — for the Metrodome, there where some 75 Flyers fans dressed in red (though not red leatherwear) lining the hallway and the open courtyard that led to the team bus.
As the crowd chanted “Let’s Go Flyers,” the players finally came out single file — London Warren with head phones on, singing loudly to himself — and high-fived their loving well wishers before boarding the bus for the police-escorted ride to their second round NCAA Tournament game.
And though the affair didn’t go as planned — thanks to the 6-foot-11 Aldrich’s 10 blocked shots, 20 rebounds and 13 points the Jayhawks eliminated UD, 60-43 — the Flyers received a heartfelt show of love as they left the court.
The red-clad UD backers — just a small oasis in an arena filled with Kansas fans whose traditional Rock Chalk Chant had echoed through the dome in the game’s final minutes — stood and applauded and called out support to tearful senior Charles Little, playing his last game as a Flyer, an equally melted Warren and the rest of the downcast Dayton players as the walked off the court.
In the dressing room afterward, Mickey Perry was able to see the bigger picture and he spoke for his teammates:
“We know our fans love us. We felt it all year and we’re grateful for it. They’re a big reason we had the kind of season we did…and why we want to get ready for next year.
“We want to feel that love again.”
Tweetblog: Flyers’ NCAA Tournament Dream Ends
MINNEAPOLIS — Thanks to cold shooting and Kansas big man Cole Aldrich — who slapped many of their shots half way back to Ohio — the Dayton Flyers NCAA Tournament dream came to an end Sunday with a second-round loss to Kansas, 60-43 at the Metrodome.
Aldridge, ther Jayhawks 6-foot-11 center, was a monster inside. Allong with 10 blocks, he had 13 points and 20 rebounds. Kansas’ All American guard Sherron Collins had 23 points.
Several Dayton players struggled from the floor. Marcus Johnson was 1 for 11. Chris Wright was 4 for 16. Mickey Perry was 4 for 12 and Charles Little, was 2 for 10.
UD was led by Wright and Perry, both who had 10 points.
The Flyers great season ended at 27-7. Friday’s victory over West Virginia in the first round game was UD’s first in the NCAA Tournament in 19 years.
As the game ended, the Flyers — several in tears — congratulated Kansas and headed to the dressing room. They’ll return to Dayton by a charter flight scheduled to land at Wright Aero at 8:30 p.m.
Tweetblog: Flyers Fading Fast
MINNEAPOLIS — Unless the Flyers find the reincarnation of Roosevelt Chapman or Donnie May in the next seven minutes, this one is over.
With 7:41 left, Kansas leads Dayton 48-34. The Flyers have scored just 11 points in the first 12 minutes of the second half.
Tweetblog: Flyers trying to channel Rocky
MINNEAPOLIS — After a shaky start that caused them to fall behind by 10 midway through the first half, the Dayton Flyers shook their jitters and have clawed their way back into their second round NCAA Tournament game with Kansas at the Metrodome.
They trail 29-23 at the half.
The Flyer playing the best so far is Luke Fabrizius, who came off the bench for just six minutes and hit two three pointers.
Chris Wright has six points — including one huge dunk — seven rebounds and a blocked shot. But he also has three of the Flyers seven turnovers.
The Flyers are shooting just 22.5 percent from the floor. They’ve made just 9 of 40 shots. Mickey Perry is 0 for 6. Charles Little is 0 for 5 and Marcus Johnson is 1 for 6.
Kansas is being led by All American point guard Sherron Collins, who has 14 points. The most dominant player in the game so far has been the Jayhawks 6-foot-11 center, Cole Aldrich, who has nine points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots. He’s altered a few other Flyer shots, as well.
Kansas is shooting 36.4 percent from the floor (12-33) but has hurt itself at the free throw line, making just three of 10.
As the Flyers are taking the floor for the second half, the UD pep band is playing the theme song from “Rocky.”
Tweetblog: Flyers Struggle Early
MINNEAPOLIS — This isn’t the same Dayton Flyers team that took control of Friday’s first round NCAA Tournament game with West Virginia.
With 9:00 left in the first half of Sunday’s game against Kansas, the Flyers— trailing 19-11 — are playing tentative, throwing the ball away way to often and coming up short on their shots.
Except that is for Luke Fabrizius, who came into the fame at 13:54 and drilled a three-pointer 29 seconds later. And Chris Wright who just slammed a monster dunk at 10:42. Unfortunately, those, and a London Warren steal and score, have been about Dayton’s only highlights.
Granted Kansas, the defending national champs, are better than West Virginia — which finished in the middle of the pack in the Big East — but much of the Flyers early demise here is self-inflicted.
Although I think the Flyers will shake the jitters and play their way back in it, if they don’t they’ll be done.
Tweetblog: Embracing UD — Heavenly and X-rated
MINNEAPOLIS — The Dayton Flyers learned about love this morning.
At the 8 a.m. Mass at St. Olaf’s — where I saw UD athletics director Tim Wabler and a few red-clad Flyers fans — the Rev. Mr. Thom Winninger, the animated deacon of the downtown Catholic Church, gave an inspirational sermon about practicing the real gift of love with your fellow man.
On my 10-minute walk along S. 3rd Avenue to the Flyers team hotel, I passed the Lickety Split Erotic Pleasures store. The sidewalk sign out front said “Welcome Sports Fans — Don’t be shy, come on in.”
In one of the front windows — moved up ahead of the bondage paraphernalia, the lubricants, sex toys and other apparel — was a leatherwear. Bright red leatherwear. Flyer red leatherwear.
And written on a little index card was “GO FLYERS.”
So in the space of 7 or 8 blocks — two different ways for Flyers fans to practice their love.
And yet the biggest lovefest was back at UD’s headquarters — The Depot Renaissance Minneapolis — where maybe 75 Flyers fans dressed in red (though not red leatherwear) lined a hallway and the open courtyard that led to the team bus.
As the crowd chanted “Let’s Go Flyers,” the players finally came out single file — London Warren with head phones on, singing loudly to himself — and high-fived their loving well wishers before boarding the bus for the ride to the Metrodome and today’s NCAA Tournament game with Kansas.
Tweetblog: Drinking in the Dayton Flyers
MINNEAPOLIS — They are drinking in the Dayton Flyers in this town.
Literally.
John Southworth, the bartender at the Stone Arch Bar inside the Depot Hotel Minneapolis — which happens to be where the UD Flyers team is staying for the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament — has concocted a multi-colored drink called the Dayton Flyer.
It comes in a tall glass — a layered red, white and blue creation — has almost as many ingredients as the Flyers have contributing players and is about as potent as was its namesake when it overwhelmed West Virginia in Friday’s first round game.
That was Dayton’s first NCAA Tournament victory in 19 years — and set up Sunday’s showdown with defending national; champion Kansas — and so for two nights now the Flyer fans here in Minneapolis have been celebrating.
“I used to make a drink similar to this — a vodka collins with raspberry — so this one I just had to tweak some to get the school colors,” Southworth said.
The drinks are selling for $10 and that’s a bargain when you hear what they have in them.
“My God, they’re selling like crazy,” said Southworth.
And what has he noticed about Flyers fans?
“They’re nice people and there aren’t any issues at all with them,” he said. “And…they do like to drink.”
As for making a Dayton Flyer, here is Southworth’s recipe:
Step 1 — Using a shaker with ice: 1/8 oz. Grenadine and 1/4 oz. Chambord. Shake and strain into glass. Then fill glass with ice.
Step 2 — Using a shaker with ice: 1/2 oz. vodka, 1 oz. sweet-n-sour, 2 oz. Sprite. Lightly shake and strain on top of the renadine -Chambord mix.
Step 3 — Using shaker with ice: 1/4 oz. Absolut Kurrant, 1/2 oz. Blue Curacao, 1/4 oz. Chambord and splash with pineapple juice. Shake vigorously. Very carefully strain into glass to allow it to float.
Creates a red, white and blue Dayton Flyer.
Tweetblog: Flyers get some R-E-S-P-E-C-T
MINNEAPOLIS — There was a nice little touche’ touch after the Dayton Flyers upset West Virginia, 68-60, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Minneapolis, Friday.
Charles Little was sitting at the podium in the post-game press conference when someone asked if he had gotten much motivation from hearing all week how superior the Big East is.
“I really don’t draw much from it,” the Flyers senior forward said with a shrug. “I think we’re like 4-1 the last couple of games we played the Big East.”
Marcus Johnson, sitting next to Little, leaned over and with a grin said quietly: “Correction, 5-1.”
The Flyers took it to West Virginia from the opening tip and except for a 3-2 Mountaineer lead, UD led the entire game.
Early on, West Virginia tried unsuccessfully to muscle UD:
Flyer freshman Chris Johnson ran unsuspectingly into a Mighty Hulk pick set by the Mountaineers 6-foot-7, 230-pound Wellington Smith. It stopped Johnson face-first for just a moment, then he shook it off.
The Mountaineers trumpeted freshman — 6-foot-9 Devin Ebanks — swung an elbow at Kurt Huelsman after the Flyers’ big man fouled him on a shot underneath. A couple of words were exchanged and Huelsman held his ground. The message was clear.
“Just because it’s a Big East team,” Huelsman explained later, “we weren’t going to show we are inferior or afraid by any means. We’ve played teams that are just as good or better than them. That’s the type of mentality we had coming in. We never step back for anybody. We always step up and play as hard as we can.”
Flyers guard Mickey Perry said he thinks UD’s game-long aggression surprised the Mountaineers:
“Yeah, we are 5-1 versus the Big East, but I don’t think they respected us like that. And that’s kind of sad, you know what I’m saying?
“We try to compete against anybody and earn respect like everyone else, but I don’t think they had that respect early on.”
They did in the end.
Tweetblog: Flyers Stun West Virginia, 68-60 !!!
MINNEAPOLIS — Chris Wright put on a one-man show. Charles Little played his best game of the season and Kurt Huelsman, so often maligned by some, grabbed one key rebound after another down the stretch as the Dayton Flyers upset West Virginia 68-60 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday at the Metrodome.
With a small but vocal band of Flyers fans dressed in red and waving white towels in the stands — and the rockin’ UD pep band blaring away while wearing their “Go Crazy or Go Home” shirts — the celebration began when the clock drained to zeroes and Marcus Johnson flipped the ball skyward.
This was the first NCAA Tournament game UD has won in 19 years The last victory was March 16, 1990 when the Flyers beat Illinois, 88-86, in Austin, Texas.
Wright finished with 27 points and Little had 18.
The Flyers, now 27-7, meet defending national champs Kansas, 26-7, on Sunday.
Tweetblog: Flyers About to End 19-Year Tournament Streak?
MINNEAPOLIS — It’s been 19 years since the Dayton Flyers have won an NCAA Tournament game, but I think that streak is going to come to an end today.
With just under 12 minutes left in the second half of their first round game with a surprisingly out-of-sync West Virginia team, the Flyers lead, 48-44.
The Flyers, so far, have shined on the big stage like few imagined. Chris Wright is putting on a show , especially with some monster dunks. He has 20 points.
The last time the Flyers won an NCAA Tournament game was March 16, 1990 when they beat Illinois, 88-86, in Austin, Texas.
Tweetblog: Flyers Not Bowed by West Virginia in First Half
MINNEAPOLIS — The Dayton Flyers lead West Virginia 33-28 at the half of their NCAA Tournament opener in the Metrodome. Here are some observations from the first 20 minutes of play.
— The Flyers — an 11 seed and 9-point underdogs going in — aren’t cowed one bit by their Big East rivals..Especially not Marcus Johnson, who has hit a couple of big threes and battled for loose balls. He’s out-hustling West Virginia and has 8 points.
— Chris Wright is really heating up.He has 11 points. And Charles Little is also very active and has 6 points.
— West Virginia can’t shoot from the outside, at least not today.
— The Mountaineers have tried to muscle UD, but it hasn’t worked. other that maybe give Chris Johnson a sore nose, The UD freshman ran unsuspecting into a pick set by West Virginia’s 6-foot-7, 230 pound Wellington Smith. It stopped Johnson face-first for just a moment, but he shook it off.
The Mountaineers trumpeted freshman — 6-foot-9 Devin Ebanks — swung a little elbow at Kurt Huelsman after the Flyers big man fouled him on a shot underneath.
A couple of words were exchanged and Huelsman held his ground. The message was clear from UD:.
“We’re giving no quarter to you.”
Tweetblog: A UD Fairy Tale Story in Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS — The Dayton Flyers glory days of NCAA Tournament past and present came together in a pretty cool little story here just before UD’s first round game with West Virginia today.
UD put on an alumni pregame event at the University of Minnesota and among the 100 or so alums in attendance was Carol Sue Gallagher.
If you followed the Dayton Flyers back in the 1966-1967 season — when they made their greatest NCAA Tournament run ever and finished as the national runner up to UCLA — you would have known her as Carol Sue Hengesbach.
She was a UD cheerleader then, one whose picture appeared a few times in the Dayton newspapers during the tournament run.
Her married named is Gallagher and she’s one of about 370 Dayton alums in Minnesota, said Justin Bayer, the Director of Athletic Development at UD and, by the way, one of the most enthusiastic, hard-working guys you’ll find.
Anyway, Carol Sue showed up at the event and she brought a couple of newspaper photos, plus some snapshots from that 67-68 season. There were pictures of her doing a high-flying splits and one of her on campus in her cheerleader’s uniform, which was a white sweater with a blue D on the front, full red skirt and white shoes.
She showed her memorabilia to some of the current cheerleaders and that’s when someone found out she didn’t have tickets to today’s game.
Thanks to James Brothers, the director of the UD Campaign, two were found.
And as the game is ready to tip off, there is Carol Sue and her son Scott sitting in the middle of a bunch of UD fans, seven rows up from courtside.
Tweetblog: The Metrodome Crowd is all Green & Gold
MINNEAPOLIS — North Dakota State — in just its first year as a Division I school — isn’t just a Cinderella team on the court — where, by the way, they’re giving defending nation champion Kansas all it can handle with just 8:00 left in their NCAA Tournament first round game here, Friday.
The Bison are also box-office Cinderallas.
If it weren’t for NDSU’s green and gold clad minions — estimated to be 10,000 strong here today — this Metrodome would be a morgue.
As of this morning, only 15,500 tickets had been sold for the first round session here that also includes the Dayton -West Virginia game later this afternoon.
The place holds, 32,000 capacity for basketball.
North Dakota State played — and beat — Minnesota in this same building two years ago and its estimated the Bison brought 30,000 fans to that game.
That’s from a school of about 12,000.
By the way NDSU is representing the Summit League, of which Wright State was once a member
Tweetblog: Bob Huggins loved and loathed by UD fans
MINNEAPOLIS — When it comes to opposing coaches, there is no one who gets more wildly diverse reactions from Dayton Flyers fans than Bob Huggins
Some can’t stand the West Virginia coach, who also spent 16 years growling on the Cincinnati Bearcats sideline. A lot of those folks just loathe him.
Others really like him.
Before we go any farther let me tell you I’m in the latter group. I like the guy. So does Bucky Bockhorn. And Don Donoher. And Thursday here in Minneapolis, Brian Gregory had nothing but praise for the Mountaineers coach, whose team the Flyers meet in the first round of the NCAA Tournament this afternoon in the Metrodome.
But when West Virginia went through a public workout Thursday, one Flyer fan who I respect and who works in the sports world came up to me, nodded toward Huggins walking across the court and said:
“I’ve got no use for that guy. Every time I see him he looks like he should have a handful of dollar bills in his fist.” I don’t know if he meant that Huggins was a snake-oil salesman or looked like a guy headed into a strip club or what,. I know it wasn’t flattering..
But I think he’s a great coach and — no matter what Nancy Zimpher and some Flyers fans say — a decent guy.
Don Donoher recruited him hard to come to UD, and although Huggins chose Ohio U. — then transferred to West Virginia where he was a two time Academic All American and graduate magna cum laude — he always speaks highly of Dayton.
He praised Gregory Thursday as he often has in the past. And he holds special affection for Donoher.
“I have great respect for Coach Donoher. He’s become a friend. And you know, he used to come down and watch to our practices when I was in Cincinnati. And Bucky (Bockhorn) and I are close. I’ve got some very dear friends that are very close to the Dayton program. And we played most every year when I was at Cincinnati and had some great games.”
Actually, he played Dayton 13 times and won 11, including three by 53, 39 and 29 points. That’s part of what made him Public Enemy No. 1 with some Flyers fans. The fact that he had some hard-nosed players, a couple of whom ran afoul with the law, caused some to say he recruited renegades..
Usually those folks were people who knew him from afar.
When Huggins had his heart attack in 2002, Donoher, Bockhorn, Milt Kantor and then UD coach Oliver Purnell were some of the first people to call him.
“I like Dayton,” he once told me. “They run the program with class and it’s a great place to play. It’s not like some places where we go and they find the 50 biggest degenerates in town and sit them behind our bench.”
Tweetblog: Big night for two former Flyers
MINNEAPOLIS — As the first full day of the NCAA Tournament was coming to an end Thursday night, two former Dayton Flyers were having impressive nights in close, but losing, causes.
Anthony Grant — one of the next BIG NAMES in college coaching and a stand-out Dayton Flyer in the mid-1980s — was guiding his 11th seeded Virginia Commonwealth team to a near upset of No. 5 UCLA . Eventually VCU lost, 65-64.
Seeing the TV broadcast of him calmly working the sidelines in Philadelphia reminded me of two years ago, when I watched him in person lead VCU to a shocker win over Duke.
Also last night, former UD point guard Trent Meachem — one of Brian Gregory’s first recruits before he transferred after one season as a Flyer — almost single-handily lifted Illinois back from a 17-point deficit in the final 14 minutes before losing, 76-72, to Western Kentucky in Portland.
Meachem, in his final college game, led the Illini with 24 points, including hitting four of seven three-point attempts.
The other day Gregory admitted: “Obviously, I’ve never said it, but the loss of Meacham hurt us. It set us back a little bit. That year, it set us back, and then it set us back the next year because he would have been a junior, and now you have to bring in a new point guard. Think if he was in the program and London Warren got to play with him for two years.”
If Meachem was short lived at UD, Grant played 105 games for the Flyers and went to a pair of NCAA Tournaments and one NIT. He was the team MVP his senior season, leading UD in scoring and rebounds.
He became especially tight with his former coach Don Donoher. Every time Grant’s had a major event in his life — when his mother died, when he and his wife lost a child, when he was interested in the open UD job six years ago — he’s sought out Donoher by phone or in person.
“I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for him,” Grant once told me of Donoher. “I wouldn’t be in the position I am right now — not only as a coach, but as a man — if not for my experiences with Coach Donoher, his wife, Sonia, and their family. They’ve been there for me in all the good times and bad times.”
Donoher said “Any time Anthony’s had a big decision to make, he’s called and we talk. He always thinks everything through thoroughly. It’s no surprise to see him succeed. He’s a great one, a guy of real quality and integrity. Just a jewel of a guy.”
And he’s one heck of a coach, too.
Tweetblog: UD did “whatever it takes” to keep Gregory
MINNEAPOLIS — What a difference 17 years, 124 victories — and another NCAA Tournament bid — makes.
Back during the 1992 NCAA Tournament, Brian Gregory found himself standing in the UD Arena visitors tunnel after his Michigan State team — where he was a second-year graduate assistant coach for the Spartans — had just been beaten by Bob Huggins’ Cincinnati Bearcats.
“At that point you could only stay two years as a GA and I didn’t have any kind of coaching job lined up,” he said. “I was getting my masters degree and I had stuff in for law school, so standing there in the tunnel, I wondered if I’d ever coach college basketball again.”
Now he’s here in Minneapolis, the head coach of a Dayton Flyers, who have won 26 games this season and are preparing to meet another Huggins-coached team — the West Virginia Mountaineers — in Friday’s first round of the NCAA Tournament at the Metrodome.
It was first reported last night by Doug Harris, the UD beat writer for the Dayton Daily News, that the university had reached an oral agreement with Gregory to extend his contract five more years through the 2017-18 season.
Last week at the Atlantic 10 Tournament in Atlantic City, UD president Dan Curran stood with me just off the court at Boardwalk Hall and talked about what a perfect fit Gregory was for the university and said the school would do “whatever it takes” to keep him at the school.
During the NCAA Tournament two years ago, Charity Navigator, America’s largest charity evaluator, posted a list of 20 college basketball coaches’ salaries, whose pay was listed on the schools’ IRS Form 990.
At the time, Gregory was said to be making $484,342 a year.
According to HoopCoach.org, 17 of the 65 coaches in the 2006 NCAA tournament made over $1 million in annual pay. There likely are more than that in this year’s tournament.
Terms of Gregory’s new contract — which still needs to worked out and signed — were not announced by UD athletics director Tim Wabler, who confirmed the oral agreement to Harris. A hefty buy-out clause supposedly will be included on both sides of the new deal.
In six seasons, Gregory has 124-67 record and has taken his team to two NCAA Tournaments and the NIT.
But Curran said it wasn’t the won-lost record that was the guiding factor in the university’s embrace of Gregory. He talked of how Gregory has brought high-character athletes into the UD program, graduates his players, has made huge inroads recruiting the top talent from the city of Dayton, lives the Marianist ideals in his own life and how he is visible and active in the Dayton community.
“We want to make sure we keep him,” Curran said.
And now it looks as if the university will.
Tweetblog: No college hoops town any better than Dayton
Folks here just love to watch college basketball.
In the 40 years the Arena has been open, basketball crowds have averaged 11,761 fans per game and UD has never been ranked worst than 35th in the nation in attendance. Usually it’s in the Top 25.
Then there are the NCAA Tournament games that UD Arena has hosted in 23 of the 40 years it’s been open. When the first and second rounds end here Sunday night, UD will have had 84 NCAA Tournament games played here. That’s more than any arena in the nation. And next year the women’s NCAA Tournament returns when UD hosts a regional.
Tweetblog: Best Name in College Hoops in Dayton
The best name in college basketball has come to to Dayton.
The starting center for Alabama State — which plays Morehead State in the NCAA Tournament’s play-in game Tuesday night at UD Arena — is 7-foot-1 Grlenntys Chief Kickingstallionsims, Jr.
That’s right there’s a Sr., too.
Junior — known as Chief — was picked by Sports Illustrated a while back as having the best name in all of college sports. He’s part Navajo and his name means “Strength of Fallen Rocks.” He played at Blanche Ely High in Boyton Beach, Fla. and then at Stetson University before transferring to Alabama State.
I’ll have more on him in my sports column in the newspaper on Tuesday.
In the mean time I’ve been trying to think of the best college hoops names I’ve heard over the years.
One of my all time favorites was was Baskerville Holmes, who played for Memphis State in the mid-1980s. Another was God Shamgod, who led his Providence team to the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight in 1997.
Then there were the Mapp brothers. Scientific Mapp played for Florida A & M and Majestic played for Virginia and West Georgia.
The Atlantic 10 Conference had a few good ones: George Washington had Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Leemire Goldwire was at Charlotte and Parfait Bitee played for Rhode Island. And the Charlotte women had Ivana Mandic.
Then there was Elon’s Chris Porn.
And CS Northridge’s Austen Powers.
Some other cool names include: Beloved Rogers, who played at Oral Roberts, Wyoming’s Fennis Dembo Georgetown’s Ya Ya Dia and Boubacar Aw, Maryland had Exree Hipp and Indiana had Uwe Blab.
Finally, the Xavier’s women’s team has a guard from Cleveland named Special Jennings. Her two sisters are named Treasure and Wonderful.
[an error occurred while processing this directive] Tweetblog: London Warren “the heart and soul” of Flyers
Coach Brian Gregory was sitting next to London Warren on the make-shift stage at the Frericks Center on Selection Sunday, facing 2,000 Flyers fans, national TV cameras and the all-consuming expectations that held both of them so tightly.
And when the nervous waiting suddenly ended — when Dayton’s name was finally added to the NCAA Tournament to face West Virginia Friday in Minneapolis — both the coach and his point guard were overcome by tears.
That’s when Gregory — who was about to get up to address the crowd — leaned over and asked Warren to play point once more for the team.
“Coach looked at me and said, ‘London, I want you to go up there and say something.’” Warren explained later. “I told him, ‘Coach, I’m going to be crying one way or another.’ And he just said, ‘London, you earned (those tears).”
Afterward, Gregory explained why he asked Warren to speak: “If he’s not our MVP — which I guess Chris (Wright) and Marcus (Johnson) are — he is DEFINITELY the heart and soul of this team.
“He symbolizes what this program is all about: The improvements he’s made on and off the court. The passion he plays with every day — not just in games — every day. He doesn’t care one thing about what he does, for him it’s all about the team.”
Gregory was moved by Warren’s emotion Sunday because he knows what this means to his junior guard:
“We took this kid out of Jacksonville, Florida and he didn’t have a lot there. No not a lot at all. And look at what he has done.”
Warren is the first to go to college in his family and his mom, Renee, has talked about what it means not only for her son to have found a home in Dayton, but to have made it out of his tough Jacksonville neighborhood unscathed:
“He and his grandmother were real close, and she and I did everything we could to keep him away from trouble on the street.
“He had a hoop in front of his grandma’s house, and he kept a ball going out there sometimes from six in the morning ‘til dark. We were always afraid of the drugs and shooting, but me and my momma sat right there in the window watching.”
There was a rough and tumble park across the street where Warren played and any ball that bounded off the playing surface landed in a nearby ditch.
Still the place was salvation. As he has said: “In my neighborhood you could see anything going down — drugs, shootings. I had a couple friends murdered.” Some of those incidents he still carries with him either in memory or in the ink of the some dozen and a half tattoos he has.
With the Flyers this season, he has emerged as a behind-the-scenes leader as much as their frenzied maestro out front — a job that has taken on far more weight late in the season with the loss of platoon-mate Rob Lowery.
While some, at times, have lamented his turn-overs and lack of long-range shooting, no one can question the fire and hustle Warren brings to the court. Then there are his contributions. He has almost twice as many assists as anyone on the team — he had 12 last Friday night against Duquesne — and he leads the team in steals.
And getting his team to the NCAA Tournament was a dream that began in Jacksonville, a town, by the way, of which he is very proud:
“As a kid, this is what you dream of — March Madness. Every kid dreams of playing in the NCAA Tournament. This is why I signed up to come here. And now to have our name called, it’s just a dream come true.”
Gregory was happy to see this happen for all his players — and especially for Warren:
“For a coach, this is why you’re in this business. Every kid sits around dreaming about a moment like this and for him to have to go from Jacksonville all the way up to Dayton to get it done, he gave up a lot…And then he gave just as much when he got here.
“London Warren is the heart and soul of our team.”
Tweetblog: The Downside of Dayton Flyers Success
ATLANTIC CITY — Dayton’s basketball success is also its greatest drawback:
At least when it comes to hosting the A-10 Tournament again.
The A-10’s three-year tournament deal with Atlantic City is up. Five cities — Atlantic City, Pittsburgh, Springfield, Mass, Cincinnati and Dayton — have put in bids for the next contract.
Dayton hosted the tournament in 2003 and 2004 and drew the No. 1 and No. 4 best crowds in the tournament’s 33 years. In 2004, UD drew an all time high 63,694 fans. This year the tournament in Atlantic City drew 28,823.
Next year first-round games will be played at campus sites and then the remaining teams will come together for three days with the finals televised by CBS on Sunday just before bids come out.
The league doesn’t want empty seats showing up on the CBS national broadcast, but that wouldn’t necessarily favor UD.
Most A-10 coaches and athletics directors believe — and rightfully so — that the Flyers have a real home court advantage at UD Arena. The two years it hosted, Dayton made the final, winning the tournament one year. This year at home, UD was 18-0.
So in these tough economic times will the A-10 go for filling seats and as a result, the coffers or neutralizing the playing field and not giving one team an edge?/
I think the new Pittsburgh hockey arena will be the league’s choice, but it won’t be ready until 2011. So for one year, Atlantic City or Dayton might host.
A-10 Commissioner Bernadette McGlade said the decision will come in two weeks.
Tweetblog: Flyers still an NCAA lock — right?
ATLANTIC CITY — Friday night’s game had been over for a while — the Dayton Flyers had been upset by Duquesne 77-66 in their Atlantic 10 Tournament semi-final — and along press row one question suddenly popped up.
“You think they’re in?” asked WHIO color commentator Bucky Bockhorn.
I hadn’t even thought of that. I was sure the Flyers — with their victory over Richmond in the A-10 quarter-final and now a 26-7 record — would be in the NCAA Tournament field for sure.
But their loss Friday night, coupled with Xavier’s upset loss to Temple, means if all the scenarios hold true, the A-10 would have three teams in the tournament.
Some folks think the A-10 isn’t a three-bid league.
“The committee isn’t supposed to look at that,” offered WHIO play-by-play man Larry Hansgen.
Would they?
I don’t think so, but Friday night’s loss did some fizz out of the champagne.
Afterward, UD coach Brian Gregory was cautiously optimistic:
“Hopefully next week we get a chance to do something special. This is a special team and I hope we’ll get the opportunity to show that again.”
Tweetblog: Xavier Couldn’t Grinch Christmas
ATLANTIC CITY — Xavier couldn’t play the role of the grinch who stole Christmas.
In the final minutes of Friday night’s other Atlantic 10 Tournament semi-final game, the Muskies all but put out milk and cookies for Temple’s Dionte Christmas.
In the final 1:50, the Owls senior guard — a first team All-A-10 selection — hit two, pressurized three pointers and a free throw to lift Temple to a 55-53 upset of top-seeded Xavier.
Christmas finished with a game-high 20 points. That’s the same total he had against UD this season in the Owls’ 70-65 loss. He single-handedly lifted his team back into that one, hittng four three-pointers in the game’s late stages.
About all Xavier could do Friday night was frustrate his early shooting efforts and then get him in foul trouble in the second half. When he picked up his third with 14:05 left in, Owls coach Fran Dunphy brought him to the bench and that brought on an unspoken drama between the player and the coach over the next several minutes.
Christmas wanted back in the game, Dunphy wasn’t considering it:
“There’s no conversation there, but when one of your players looks at you the whole time you’re talking — and that never happens by the way, they’re never that attentive — what he wanted to do was catch my eye so I’d say, ‘Get back in there again,’ I purposely did not look at him.
Dunphy started to laugh: “It was the first time he ever looked at me in the face when I was giving my great time out talk,”
In the postgame dressing room at Boardwalk Hall, Christmas agreed with his coach’s assessment:
“As game was winding down, I wanted to get in so bad. It was killing me to see my teammates out there battling without me. As coach would turn his head, I was trying to get in his view so he’d put me back in.
“I was talking to the assistant coaches — telling them how I felt — but, no, I didn’t say anything to Coach Dunphy. Sometimes talking isn’t the best thing in that situation.”
Sometimes it’s better to let your shooting speak for you.
Tweetblog: London Warren Writhes In Pain
ATLANTIC CITY — “Oh Sheeeeet!….SHEEEEEET….Owooooooo.”
That’s all I got out of London Warren in the Dayton Flyers dressing room late Thursday night after UD edged Richmond, 69-64, to advance to tonight’s Atlantic 10 Tournament semi-final game with Duquesne.
Warren — who had played 30 frenzied minutes at point guard — had just come from the more official postgame media session where he had shared the stage for a few minutes with teammate Marcus Johnson and Coach Brian Gregory.
Now he was in the back corner of the Flyers cramped dressing quarters at Boardwalk Hall — shirtless and stripped down to his compression shorts — ready to make a quick change, catch the bus and then shower back at the team hotel.
“Can you talk a couple of minutes?” I asked.
Warren nodded, so I knelt down next to him and, as I was going to say something, he reacted like he had just been tasered.
He yelped in pain, grabbed his left leg, slid off the bench and began flopping on the floor next to me in total agony:
“Sheeeeet….Owoooooooo….Sheeeeet!!”
The three other players left in the room turned and looked. Assistant coach Billy Schmidt yelled in my direction: “Get back. Get away from him. … That’s it.”
I agree with his concern, though he probably should be yelling at Richmond’s Kevin Anderson.
As much as anybody, the Richmond guard was responsible for this. Warren had guarded him all night and the Spiders sophomore — who scored a game-high 24 points — had given him a real workout.
Add in everything else Warren did Thursday night — eight points, five rebounds, five assists. a block, two steals — and you can see why he was hit with a painful cramp afterward.
As he writhed on the floor, I backed up, the trainer and a helper ran in and as they attended to Warren. They coaxed him to gulp some of the electrolyte drink they handed him and though he would be the last to leave the dressing room, he walked out okay.
Warren’s non-stop, throw-caution-to-the-wind play is one reason the Flyers are now 26-6 and a lock for the NCAA Tournament.
Another big reason for Thursday night’s success — along with the play of Luke Fabrizius (three key three-pointers, 11 points) and Chris Johnson (10 points, nine rebounds) — was Marcus Johnson.
He hit two huge three-pointers down the stretch to keep Richmond at bay, finished with 15 points and guarded the Spiders’ David Gonzalvez, who went 1-for-7 from the floor and finished with seven points, nine below his average.
After the game Gregory praised the defensive play of Johnson who almost always draws the other team’s biggest scorer.
The coach told how Johnson had one stretch where he guarded Xavier’s B.J. Raymond, Rhode Island’s Jimmy Barron, Temple’s Dionte Christmas and Duquesne’s Aaron Jackson — all of them first team, All A-10 Conference selections this year.
“Holy Cow,” Gregory said as he thought about that murderers’ row. “That’s enough to make you sick. … But he’s stepped up each and every game.”
Johnson shrugged: “We’ve got great guards in the league and if you’re not ready for them, they’ll have big nights on you. You’ve just got to commit to it 100 percent and put everything you got into it. Our whole team plays that way.”
That gets victories.
And sometimes it brings some writhing “Oh Sheeeeet!” moments on the floor afterward.
Tweetblog: CBS wants Flyers on Selection Sunday
ATLANTIC CITY — Although CBS wants to televise the Dayton Flyers reactions when the NCAA Tournament field is announced this coming Sunday evening, the TV boys will have to wait until late tonight to see if UD will go along with the idea.
Coach Brian Gregory is all for it — as long as the Flyers beat Richmond in their Atlantic 10 Tournament quarter-final game that tips off tonight around 9 p.m. at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall.
A Flyers’ victory would put them at 26-6 and into the A-10 semi-finals and Gregory feels they then should be a lock to make the NCAA Tournament Field.
They may be already, but a loss in their first tournament game might take a little bloom off the rose and he doesn’t want any discomforting moments Sunday night.
The last thing a team wants are national TV cameras watching them as they are passed over. Every year you see the excruciating wait for some bubble team and — for those finally passed over — all those dejected faces afterward.
That’s not the national pub you want.
So Selection Sunday’s national exposure hangs on tonight’s game..
And the task got more difficult for the Flyers with the injury to back-up point guard Stephen Thomas, who caught a Chris Wright elbow in the side during practice, Tuesday, and had a rib dislocated.
Thomas walked around with the painful injury for a day — now that’s a tough kid — until an Atlantic City chiropractor finally popped the rib back in place Wednesday.
I watched the Flyers shoot-around late practice Thursday morning and while Thomas took part in drills and shot the ball, he had trouble bending over and I saw him grimace — a lot.
He’s still in a lot of discomfort and pain.
Gregory said using him against Richmond — whose strong suit is its guards — is still up in the air:
“It will be a game-night decision. He’s been getting ‘round the clock treatment. He moved pretty well today and (the injury) is doing a lot better than it was yesterday.”
The Flyers already are thin at the point guard spot. London Warren — provided he’s not waylaid by fouls again — is the main option, especially since Rob Lowery, whom he shared the position with much of the season, is lost for the year with a knee injury.
With Thomas ailing, the Flyers will use Mickey Perry as an option.
“Mickey will move over to the point spot,” Gregory said. ‘We’ve been able to work on that for a few days. Obviously it’s not exactly how we planned things, but one of the things with having a lot of guys is now you can put them in some different spots. And hopefully you’ll be OK.”
Flyers back-up big man Devin Searcy — who has missed the past two games with a knee injury — took part in the shoot around. He had a knee brace on, but when the other players changed sides of the court Thursday, he walked while they jogged. He’s a game time decision, as well.
As for Richmond, Gregory has some concern:
“They’re really good. They’re playing probably as well, if not better, than anybody in our league right now. They were 6-2 in the second half (of the conference season). They had the best record of anybody. And then they won again last night.”
Gregory had special praise for the Spiders sophomore guard, Kevin Anderson:
“He is probably playing the best of any player in the league.. He’s had six straight 20-plus nights so it will be a tough challenge because they are so good off the dribble. They’ve got pretty good size inside too.
“It’s just they play differently than anybody you face all year.”
But if UD is up to the task tonight, one thing is certain.
It’s face will be beamed around the nation on Selection Sunday.
Tweetblog: UD Flyers Launch Tournament Videos
ATLANTIC CITY — The start of post-season play is still a day away for the Dayton Flyers — with a No. 3 seed UD has a bye into Thursday’s second round of the Atlantic 10 tournament — but the school already has thrown on the full-court press:
— It has launched a Tournament Central page on its website — daytonflyers.com — that is highlighted by eight fascinating videos about the Flyers players, coaches and fans.
— UD’s also posted some new videos on YouTube. One that stands out — called Dayton Flyers Storm the Crowd — features both the players wading into the crowd at UD Arena last Saturday night and head coach Brian Gregory standing on the court, addressing the fans and telling them about the connection between his blue-collar team and the like-minded town it represents.
— By the time the NCAA Tournament rolls around next week, UD will have 300 DVDs it will hand out to media members, national broadcasters and some of the movers and shakers in the college game who might help promote UD’s name.
— Throughout the basketball season, UD has been sending brochures and e-mails with comprehensive data on the Flyers team — and how it compares with other tournament-hungry programs — to everybody from select members of the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee to others of influence in the college game.
“Our goal is to have more of a national presence,” UD athletics director Tim Wabler said Wednesday afternoon while visiting Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall, where, later in the evening, Richmond and St. Bonaventure will play their opening round game, with the winner meeting UD Thursday night at 9 p.m.
“The way to increase our presence it is to be unique enough to grab people’s attention in a way similar to what Brian (Gregory) and his team are doing on the court,” Wabler said.
The national presence theme was one of the main points Wabler brought up when he took over the AD’s job in January. Now some of that philosophical discussion is coming to concrete fruition thanks especially to associate athletics director Dave Harper and Michael LaPlaca, UD’s assistant director of communications.
“We want to be unique. to stand out, to enhance our brand,” Harper said. “We shot eight hours of video with the players, then we edited it down to to eight or so subjects — things like the impact of a dunk, overcoming adversity, the impact of Brian Gregory, a Chris Wright highlight reel, a thank you to the Flyer Faithful— and put them on our Tournament Central page. That way fans and media can access it right now.
“From those clips, you get a sense of the personality of our kids, a sense of the pillars of our team, our coaches and you get a better understanding of our program, too.
“This isn’t a one year phenomena. It’s been a work in progress and now Brian’s getting to the height of it.
“We’ve got a lot of good stories to tell about our program and I think when people see some of these videos — hear the kids put it into their own words — they’ll go, ‘Wow, this is different. They really do have something special there.’”
Tweetblog: Some Ghetto Love for “Luuuke!”
The most popular thing in the UD Student Ghetto Monday was not a tapped keg, a sun-kissed front porch or some spring break sign up sheet.
It was Luke Fabrizius.
“I was walking from my dorm into the Ghetto — going to my English class at ArtStreet on Kiefaber — and I had a group of people walking behind chanting my name,” the Dayton Flyers freshman gunner said with a laugh before Monday’s practice. “All of ‘em chanting “Luuuuke’. …it was pretty cool.”
Fabrizius, on the other hand, had been red hot Saturday night at UD Arena. It the final 8:13 of the first half — in what had been a tight game with Duquesne — the 6-foot-9 Fabrizius made five three-point shots in a row and that had the Arena crowd — “the greatest fans in the country,” he called them — greeting him with “Luuuke!” as well.
From the Dukes players came a different greeting. As soon as he came into the game, he heard them warning each other: ‘Here comes 23….. Get a hand up ….. Watch the shooter…watch the shooter.”
They watched all right — as Fabrizius made a career-high 17 points.
“Coach had been emphasizing I should get my feet set before I shoot,” he explained. “That way I turn a 40 percent shot into a 60 percent shot. It’s called being shot ready.”
He admitted he hadn’t been this on target since his second last game at Hersey High School in Illinois last season: “It was the regional championship game and I hit six or seven three pointers against Newtrier. I finished with 32.”
Saturday’s performance reminded some of his old friends of those days long past.
“After the game, I got a bunch of text messages from some of my former high school teammates, from some friends back home and from my AAU coach ” he said
“I called my grandma and aunt They had watched the whole game on the internet. And they were ecstatic.”
And then there were his folks. They were at the game and afterward they all went out to dinner:
“Wendy’s,” he said with a laugh. “The drive through.”
Tweetblog — Brownell: “I couldn’t be more proud of our guys”
Here are coach Brad Brownell’s thoughts after No. 22 Butler edged his Wright State Raiders, 62-57, in the Horizon League semi—final Saturday night at Hinkle Fieldhouse:
“I couldn’t be more proud of our guys. We did it all year, we just kept fighting . There were three or four times in the game they had a chance to knock us out and our guys just wouldn’t give in.
“They came back after every time out when it looked like we were on the ropes and made a stop and brought it right back to a one-possession game.
“That’s the story of the season.”
Although the Raiders started the year 0-6 and lost their two top guards — Vaughn Duggins and John David Gardner — to season- ending injuries, they won 20 of their last 27 games.
“This group of kids clung together, got better and I think we improved as much as anybody in the last portion of the season — both mentally and physically,” Brownell said.
“Our kids came in here believing they were going to win. We played well enough the last couple of weeks to beat anybody and we showed that tonight….And when you get to this point of the tournament, you start to think about winning it. That’s where we were at.
“I’m competitive, so I leave here with a little sour taste in my mouth, but my heart is filled with pride.”
And it should be.
Tweetblog: Norris Cole Has Arrived
Norris Cole put on a one-man show Friday night to lead Cleveland State to a come-from-behind, 67-64 victory over Illinois-Chicago in the quarter-finals of the Horizon League Tournament at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
The Dunbar High grad had a game-high 26 points, including seven down the stretch as the Vikings overcame a 9-point deficit in the final five minutes. They will now play Wisconsin-Green Bay, while Wright State faces Butler in the other bracket.
“Coach wanted me to play and I came to play, especially down the stretch,” said Cole. “We focused this week on late-game situations, so this was the result of hard work and practice.”
Friday night, no one was prouder of the sophomore guard — who has started all 33 of the Vikings’ games and is the team’s second-leading scorer at 12.9 p.p.g. — than his family, who had made the drive over from Dayton.
“Norris has arrived,” Cole’s father, Norris Sr. gushed after the game. “All the training, all the preparation, it all came out tonight. He showed leadership by example. He didn’t break under pressure and he persevered. Like a Cole, he came out on top.
“I’ve seen him do this on teams when he was a youth, but to take it to the next level like this and see it all come together is pretty special for all of us.”
Joining him was his wife Diane, their daughter Deoanna, a Wright State student, and a cousin.
“I’m just so excited, I don’t know what to say,” said Diane.
If she was at a loss for words, CSU coach Gary Waters was not:
“Norris did a fabulous job. Not only was he guarding their best player, but he was out there scoring for us.
“Being a sophomore, he’s growing in leaps and bounds. He’s intelligent — he was the salutatorian of his (Dunbar) high school — and he’s game savvy.
“He doesn’t know what horizon he’s going to go over. He’s just beginning to understand how to play this game of basketball. I can’t wait for the future of this young man.”
Tweetblog: A Conversation with Paul Biancardi
When I heard the about the All-Horizon League honors Wright State got the other day — Todd Brown on second team and Will Graham on the All-Defensive team — I thought back to former Raiders coach Paul Biancardi.
These two guys are the last of Biancardi’s recruits still at WSU — and each, in his own right, is a good one.
I got on the phone with Biancardi — who now works for ESPN — and as it turned out, he was about to go to lunch with former Raiders’ player Jaron Taylor.
Taylor is now an assistant coach at his old junior college team, Catonsville, in Baltimore and Biancardi was in nearby North Bethesda, Md. to do ESPN2 commentary work on Thursday night’s super-prep showdown between Oak Hill Academy and Montrose Christian, ranked No. 3 and No. 6 in USA Today’s Super 25 poll.
Interestingly, Saturday night Biancardi will be in-studio at ESPN to do commentary work on the two Horizon League semi-final games on ESPNU.
He left Wright State three years ago and was replaced by Brad Brownell, but he still keeps an eye on the Raiders and especially on his former players.
Brownell is a heck of a coach and so was Biancardi. And it was with almost all Biancardi players that Brownell guided the Raiders to the NCAA Tournament his first year at WSU.
For WSU to get to the NCAA Tournament this year, it would mean winning three tournament games, beginning with tonight’s match up with Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Then Saturday night, WSU would have to beat No. 22 Butler to get to the title game.
Biancardi, by the way, beat Butler six times in seven games while at Wright State.
He admitted he thinks about Wright State and what could have been “almost every day.”
He’s got a good job with ESPN and he and his family live outside Charlotte, N.C., but he said “I could have lived in Bellbrook the rest of my life. The people back there were great and a lot of them are still our close friends.”
What a nice phone call with an old friend.
Tweetblog: UD lament: “It ain’t about fightin’”
CINCINNATI — No blows were thrown, but the Dayton Flyers still managed to knock themselves out thanks, in part, to their pre-game pugnaciousness.
At least that’s what a couple of UD players thought after a nose-to-nose, on-court confrontation between some Dayton and Xavier players before the game turned into a 76-59 Muskie romp Thursday night at the Cintas Center.
It was the Flyers 24th straight loss to Xavier in Cincinnati, a streak that goes all the way back to Jan. 10, 1981.
An hour before the game, a few of the Flyers — most noticeably London Warren and the injured Devin Searcy, crutch and all — had an in-your-face jawing session with Xaviers players, Terrell Holloway, C.J. Anderson and a couple of other Muskies.
The macho posturing continued after the national anthem when the the two teams didn’t shake hands — though the coaches did — and was there again just before the opening tip when most of the starters bypassed the usual acknowledgement of their opponent.
The Flyers unveiled their new black uniforms for the game, then got some quick black and blue treatment.
Xavier’s Dante Jackson opened the game with three three-pointers and a lay-up in the first 2:43 of the game and instantly UD — which turned the ball over three times in that same time span — was down, 11-2.
After that, if Dayton wasn’t rushing shots outside, it was taking ill-advised ones inside and either bowling over Muskie players and getting the charging foul or having their lay-up attempts swatted by the X big men in what was a 12-block night for Xavier.
If the Flyers were out of sync early on, Chris Wright thought he knew why:
“That stuff that happened before the game had us too excited when the game started. We were so hyped up to go out there and go against them, but we weren’t worried about the game, we were worried about what happened before hand. We weren’t poised.”
Give him credit, he used the word “we” — and didn’t single any teammates out — even though he wasn’t really involved in the pre-game tiff.
But the more he talked, the more you could tell it ate at him afterward:
“I was actually shooting and I turned around and I saw all the guys over there. I didn’t know what was going on, but I figured it had something to do with somebody saying something.
“I don’t pay attention to that stuff before the game. It means ABSOLUTELY nothing ‘til you step on the floor and do what you got to do. It ain’t about fightin’ or none of that You still gotta play the game.”
Although UD coach Brian Gregory would later downplay the incident as just two teams who know each other well letting their competitive juices flow, he did admit the Flyers aggressive, take-no-prisoners attitude on the court that has helped the team win 24 games this season can also cause it to stumble now and them:
“There’s no question this team plays extra hard. We fight and scrap and don’t back down. We haven’t all year long. But at times, our greatest strength can be our greatest weakness.”
If the tiff caused some of the Flyers to initially lose their focus, it seemed to dial the Muskies right in. And ,of course, it only further stoked the Xavier student section, which gave the Flyers a double- decibel razzing and taunted them throughout the game with a variety of signs.
The most prevalent were the big posters of Jimmy Carter, his toothy smile aimed right at the UD bench. The last time Dayton won in Cincinnati, Carter was president.
“Their fans were really into the game and it was hard for us to stay composed,” said Marcus Johnson, who led the Flyers with 19 points.
With 1:44 left in the game, the Xavier students began that familiar chant: “You can’t win here!”
In the dressing room afterward, Charles Little — with 10 points, the only other Flyer in double figures — was asked about the black uniforms which Xavier students mocked as being “five years too late” on the fashion scene.
“I still love ‘em, they didn’t effect how we played,” Little said. “It ain’t what color the jerseys are, it’s the person in them.”
Tweetblog: UD-Xavier — First Half Observations
With Xavier leading Dayton 40-27 at halftime Thursday night, here are a few observations.
— Game after game Chris Wright keeps getting sidelined for the same charging fouls: Drive through the lane and go up, then go straight through the defender.
It happened at a crucial juncture Thursday. Charles Little had just dunked to cut the X margin to 9 and then London Warren stole the Muskies inbounds pass and flipped to Wright, who instead of cutting the margin to 7, picked up his second foul and was exiled to the bench at the 7:06 point of the half. He has three turnovers, but just two points and one rebound.
— Charles Little is the one Flyer who always seems to rise to the cause against Xavier, He’s got nine points at the half and is one of the few guys who continues to take it at the Muskies. He had a career high-28 two years ago against Xavier and as a freshman here at the Cintas Center, came off the bench for 13 points,
— Luke Fabrizius is being eaten alive on the baseline by Jamel McLean, who has driven around him twice and dunked.
— If I saw something correctly from London Warren, I don’t like it. He has been chippy all night with Xavier’s freshman point guard Terrell Holloway, who he abused in the Flyers 71-58 win over the Muskies three weeks ago at UD Arena,.
Thursday night Warren and Holloway were in a nose to nose confrontation on the court nearly an hour before the game. Late in the second half, Holloway stole the ball from Warren out front and went down for a lay-up.
Soon after that, Holloway went down the lane and went sprawling beneath he basket. As he kind of half lay there, Warren came through and sent a knee close at the kid’s face.
Maybe it wasn’t intentional, but it looked as if Warren could have avoided it. And the ref, who saw it late, went over and put an arm around Warren’s waist and talked to him.
I hope I’m wrong on this one.
Tweetblog: UD-Xavier — Taunts and a Near-Tussle
As the Dayton-Xavier game tipped off Thursday night, the Muskies students section became the Hall of Presidents. To taunt the Flyers — who haven’t won in Cincinnati since January, 1981 when Jimmy Carter was president — the X fans are holding up big color posters of all six U.S. presidents who have been in office since Dayton last won here.
And the ill will between players continues. London Warren and the injured Devin Searcy — crutch and all - had a nose-to-nose on-court confrontation with Terrell Holloway and C.J.. Anderson an hour before the game. After the national anthem the two teams didn’t shake hands, though the coaches did. Nor did they starting players shake hands just before the tip.
Tweetblog: UD to go black?
So word is leaking out that yes, the Dayton Flyers will almost certainly be wearing their long-under-wraps black uniforms tonight against Xavier at the Cintas Center.
Two months ago Charles Little described them to me: “They’re black with baby blue and red trim….We’ve been waiting to pull them out.”
He hoped the team would wear them when Flyers played at George Washington two days after Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration, but admitted the Flyers might be waiting for something even bigger.
So that tells you where the Xavier game rates on UD’s Richter Scale.
The Flyers haven’t beaten Xavier in Cincinnati since Jan, 10, 1981. Jimmy Carter was president, Brian Gregory was a 15-year-old kid and players like Chris Johnson wouldn’t be born for another nine years.
Although the teams haven’t played every year since, UD has lost 23 straight to the X men in Cincinnati. And last year’s 69-43 drubbing was the fourth worse in the 146-game history of the rivalry.
UD came into the Cintas Center ranked No. 16, but top scorer Brian Roberts had the flu and both Little and Chris Wright were on crutches and in fancy sweats on the bench.
I know some folks are saying nothing else has worked in Cincinnati, so why not try something different.
But the Flyers wore their regular colors at UD Arena three weeks ago and overwhelmed the Muskies, 71-58.
I’m Old School — I like tradition and don’t much like change — so I say stick with your regular colors — blue and red.
What does black have to do with UD? When I think of black, I think of the Cincinnati Bearcats. I know some other teams where black on the road even though it’s not their school color. Butler comes to mind and they certainly have been doing pretty good with it.
But in wearing some form of blue and red, UD has an 81-67 record against Xavier.
Once again the Flyers will be short-handed as they go into Xavier tonight with Rob Lowery lost for the season and now Devin Searcy out for two games with a knee injury.
Maybe the Flyers think they need some kind of psychological boost. If the Flyers win — and they well could — a lot more will be made out of the black uniforms than should be.
A Flyers victory will come because of guys like Marcus Johnson, Chris Wright and London Warren — not because of a wardrobe makeover.
Besides, remember last year when Little and Wright sat on the bench, silver crutches at their feet, wearing those fancy warm-ups?
Know what color they were?
Black.
Tweetblog: Athletic firings continue at Central State
The purge of the Central State athletics department continues.
After a 16-7 season, women’s basketball coach Pat Tramble has been fired by athletics director Kellen Winslow Sr.
In seven seasons as the Lady Marauders coach, Tramble compiled a 152-68 record. In the mid-1980s, she was one of the stalwarts of then-coach Theresa Check’s teams. After that, she became Check’s long-time assistant.
In January, Winslow fired head football coach Al West — who had given up his Dean of Students job to take over in football. Offensive coordinator Henderson Mosley, a former All America quarterback who led the Marauders to two national titles, was dumped, as well.
Tramble’s firing surprised many people. While the football team — which competes without scholarships even though its now an NCAA Division II scholarship program — has been struggling in the four years since its rebirth at the school, women’s basketball has been the most successful program at CSU for years.
And in Tramble, the Marauders had a devout Christian who did a lot of volunteer work in the community — especially with senior citizens and children — and involved her players in much of the same Samaritan service.
“We thank Coach Pat for her years of service and dedication to CSU women’s basketball,” Winslow said in a statement released by the university. “As we continue to move forward in the revitalization of CSU athletics, I thought it best to make this move at this juncture of our growth.”
As she regroups, Tramble has accepted a temporary offer to rejoin Check, the former Central State athletics director and longtime Lady Marauders coach, who suffered similar fate at CSU eight months ago. Wednesday afternoon Check was taking her new Cincinnati State team to the NJCAA Region XII tournament at Ancilla College in Plymouth, Indiana.
Check’s team — ranked No. 8 in the nation — is 22-5 and seeded No. 1 in the regional tournament.
“Pat’s right here with us on the team bus headed to the tournament,” Check said by cell phone. “She’ll be on our bench for the the tournament and I can’t tell you how happy we all are to have her. With her here, it will be like old times for me She’s a good coach.”
A weary Tramble declined comment.
Last July, Check — for 24 years a cornerstone of Central State University sports as the women’s basketball coach and more recently the athletics director — was let go by CSU.
Over 17 seasons as the Lady Marauders coach, Check — a CSU grad herself — won 387 of 496 games, graduated nearly 100 percent of her players and was elected to the NAIA Hall of Fame. As the AD, she led the school from NAIA to NCAA Division II status, orchestrated the reinstatement of football, added sports and upped graduation rates.
She was replaced by Winslow, the NFL Hall of Famer, whose name and connections were figured — by some at the school — to raise the profile of CSU sports and attract donors.
It also made it convenient for Winslow that his son - Kellen Winslow Jr., - was playing for the nearby Cleveland Browns.
Now Kellen Jr. has been traded to Tampa Bay. Kellen Sr. — who lives in downtown Dayton apartment while serving as the CSU sports boss — has his main residence in Florida.
It will be interesting to see what develops next on all fronts and how CSU comes out of this.
Tweetblog: Flyers looking to “make some new history.”
T. J. Houshmandzadeh is headed out of Cincinnati just about the time the Dayton Flyers are headed in.
Both have something in common.
They’ve each done a lot of losing in Cincinnati.
T.J. — who is headed to Seattle and a $40 million contract — was a Bengal and that’s all you need to say. And yet, the Flyers’ span of ineptitude in the Queen City — at least when it comes to playing Xavier — trumps even the floundering by the pro football team there.
UD hasn’t beaten a Xavier team in Cincinnati since Mike Kanieski banked in a 10-footer at Riverfront Coliseum to give UD a 74-72 victory Jan, 10, 1981. Jimmy Carter was president then and most of these current Flyers wouldn’t be born for another 7, 8 or 9 years.
Although the two teams didn’t play every year since then, UD has lost 23 straight to Xavier in Cincinnati.
But bring that streak up around UD coaches this week — as they prepare to bring the 24-5 Flyers into the Cintas Center for Thursday night’s ESPN game against the 23-5 Musketeers — and they’ll liken you to that flu that had Brian Roberts hugging the commode before, during and after last year’s game.
Publicly, Xavier’s coach Sean Miller —who has been kind of prickly of late — has said he doesn’t put much thought into that streak. But privately — at least in years past — he’s hammered that point home his players have said.
And you know he’ll be stoking the fires this time after the way the Dayton handled his team, 71-58, at UD Arena three weeks ago.
But the drive down I-75 always seems to do something to the Flyers. And few trips were lousier than last year’s.
Although UD was ranked No. 16, Roberts was sick and both Charles Little and Chris Wright were on crutches. The resultant 69-43 drubbing was the fourth worst in the 89-year, 146-game history of the rivalry.
As the game came to an end last year, the same gnawing chant rose up from the Xavier students section: “You can’t win here…You can’t win here.”
I’ve got to say, the Muskie students have needling Dayton down to an art form. Little, the lone Flyers’ senior, agreed.
“Some of their signs make me laugh,” he admitted. “They might be against us, but they’re funny. And I’ll tip my hat to the creative ones.”
In years past. their sings have targeted, everybody from Jimmie Binnie to Keith Waleskowski to Brian Gregory, who used to be their prime target.
Especially those Mini-Me posters where they had the UD coach’s head super-imposed on the body of 2-foot-8 Verne Troyer.
“I laughed,” Little said.
Tongue-in-cheek is the best way to take that stuff, but that’s easier said than done.
Although he’s got a different attitude this time around, UD center Devin Searcy has said his first trip into the Cintas last year is one he won’t forget:
“Man, I was so nervous. They’re crowd was yellin’ — ‘How ya’ doin’ lady? Hey, little girl!’ — and I was paying too much attention to that. It woke me up: ‘These people here really don’t like us.’
“I’ll be truthful, I couldn’t get my breath when I first got in there. I actually had to hit my inhaler once.”
Searcy played 15 minutes and had two points.
Little, on the other hand, had a different experience in his first game there.
He had 13 points including a second-half tip dunk.
“Sometimes when it’s your first game some place, you don’t know what’s going on — that’s how it was for me,” he said. “Sometimes you’re better off not knowing the history.”
And then he smiled: “But making some new history — that’s the best.”
And that’s what the Flyers believe they can do Thursday night.
Tweet
