Bellbrook graduation 2012
Fairfield Senior 2012 graduation
Kroger Aquatic Center opens
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 > December
December 2009
All-Decade Teams: Dayton, WSU, Miami
If you were naming All-Decade basketball teams from the University of Dayton, Wright State and Miami, here are possibiliities from each school.
I didn’t adhere strictly to the five typical positions on a team — I went more with overall talent and impact — and still I struggled with each squad. Specifically, I waivered on whether to elevate Mark Ashman at UD, Jordan Pleiman and Israel Sheinfeld at WSU and Kenny Hayes and Nathan Peavy at Miami.
In the end, here’s what I came up with.
DAYTON FLYERS
First Team:
G — Brian Roberts
G — Tony Stanley
F — Brooks Hall
F — Chris Wright
F — Keith Waleskowski
Second Team:
G — Ramod Marshall
G — Marcus Johnson
F — Monty Scott
C — Mark Ashman
C — Sean Finn
WRIGHT STATE RAIDERS
First Team:
G— DaShaun Wood
G — Vernard Hollins
G — Vaughn Duggins
F — Kevin Melson
F — Todd Brown
Second Team:
G — Will Graham
F — Seth Doliboa
F — Drew Burleson
C — Jordan Pleiman
C — Israel Sheinfeld
MIAMI REDHAWKS
First Team:
G — Juby Johnson
G — Chet Mason
F — Michael Bramos
F — Tim Pollitz
F — Danny Horace
Second Team:
G — Kenny Hayes
G — Rob Mestas
G — William Hatcher
F — Nathan Peavy
C — Mike Ensminger
TweetBrian Gregory Gets It
Brian Gregory gets it.
After Tuesday night’s game — after his Dayton team had beaten Boston University, 74-60, and notched the program’s 500th victory in 40 seasons at UD Arena — the Flyers coach held the game ball at mid-court while surrounded by his joyous players, grabbed a microphone and addressed the sellout crowd that, both proud and often adoring, hung on his every word.
Gregory put the victory into perspective and went out of his way to pay tribute to the Flyers coaches of the past — singling out Tom Blackburn, whose early success at the Fieldhouse built the program’s foundation, Don Donoher’s quarter-century of excellence that put UD basketball on the map and also the work of both Jim O’Brien and Oliver Purnell.
He saluted the Flyers players over the years who went out and won those 500 games and he made special note of the fans, who make UD Arena one of the more fabled arenas in college basketball.
Some coaches who experience the kind of success Gregory is experiencing now — his 10-2 team is close to cracking a Top 25 ranking again and comes on the heels of last season’s brief splash in the NCAA Tournament — try to distance themselves from their predecessors and make the good times all about them.
At the least, some guys just don’t seem to appreciate the tradition and the accomplishments of those who paved the way for them.
I’ve seen that happen to a certain extent here at UD in the past and once over at Wright State, too.
But Tuesday night that was not the case with Gregory.
Just as he had done on the court, he tipped his hat to those who came before him when he began his post-game press conference:
“On the 500th win, it’s great to be a small part of it…I think the former players of those great teams of the past and the coaches, too, would be proud of how hard our guys played tonight.
“In particular, if you look at the last two minutes of the game, you have London Warren diving into the fourth row (actually, as he attempted a steal, he dove over the scorer’s table and a metal railing and landed in the lap of a woman, whose drink went flying ) and Mickey Perry getting on the floor.
“The game’s over but those guys take a great amount of pride when they put on that uniform and the pride is because of that unbelievable tradition we have here.
“Today we just added another small chapter to it. But when you look at it nationwide, what a tremendous accomplishment. Just so many people, (coaches, players and fans) all working together to get that done. It’s great to be a part of that…
“It also was great to get it done the first time because otherwise you guys who be writing articles about it over and over and over and over again. So it was good.”
And what made it even better was the way Gregory handled it.
The guy gets it.
TweetBengals: Looking toward the playoffs…and a better gift from Ced.
CINCINNATI — My column in Monday’s newspaper — also found on this web page — offered the thoughts of a few Cincinnati Bengals players who see a difference between the 2005 team that made the playoffs and the one that made them Sunday by defeating the Kansas City Chiefs, 17-10, at Paul Brown Stadium and, in the process, winning the AFC North crown.
Here are a few other things I heard or witnessed in the dressing room afterward:
— Talking about that late game, 14-play, 98-yard drive to win the game — it ended with a six-yard TD pass from Carson Palmer to Chad Ochocinco — running back Cedric Benson shrugged:
“Yeah, it was pretty cool, pretty neat. But it would have been even sweeter to have 40 points on ‘em and everybody having a wonderful day and (back-up quarterback) Jordan Palmer playing.”
— A couple of players admitted the team has to play better if it doesn’t want to be a one-and-done team in the playoffs. They seem to see the big picture this time around compared to 2005 when the team celebrated its AFC North crown with so much hoopla that head coach Marvin Lewis — who got a Gatorade bath from them after that game in Detroit in 2005 — was seething afterward. He realized his players were to satisfied with a stepping stone victory.
— Carson Palmer, quite candidly, admitted he didn’t fully understand back in 2005: “That was my second year playing — I wasn’t a veteran I know that — and at that point I figured we’d do this every year and we’d probably win the Super Bowl that year or maybe the next or definitely the third.
“I was just young and didn’t understand that it doesn’t happen every year. It’s a rare opportunity and you’ve got to take advantage of it. That’s why we’re not gonna pound our chests over this. We’re not thinking we conquered the world or that we’ve figured it out.”
— Before Sunday’s game, offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth got a bit concerned when the stadium’s big overhead scoreboard played a tribute to wide receiver Chris Henry, who was buried last Tuesday after falling from as truck a few days before:
“It was rough for us to see that Chris thing right before the kick-off. Some of the guys were pretty emotional, you could see it. But this team hung in there. It’s been well documented this team handles adversity very well.”
— Receiver Chad Ochocinco had Henry on his mind all day. After he caught the winning touchdown while diving backward, Ochocinco regained his feet and used his fingers to flash Henry’s No. 15: “I was good. I threw up the 1 and 5 for Chris…Then I saw someone (in the stands) with a sign and I went over and touched (a picture of Chris) and said a real, real short prayer. My same little thing: ‘85 plus 15 equals 100 ways to be great.’ And then I went to the sidelines. It was pretty cool.”
As he was recounting this after the game, Ochocinco’s eyes filled with tears.
— Across the dressing room, Tank Johnson was asked how it feels to be the AFC North Champion. The veteran defensive tackle stood at his locker and shrugged: “It feels like a sore ankle and a sore knee, but it feels good. The (AFC North Champion) hat fit and I hope the next one does, too.”
— And finally, guard Bobby Williams had a little tongue-in-cheek fun with Benson, whose 133 yards against the Chiefs was his sixth 100-yard rushing game this season, a Bengals record.
Asked what it meant to block for a back like that, the massive 10 year vet grinned:
“It means a lot…It means we must be doing something right up front. We should get a Christmas gift for that.”
With a laugh, he added: “I’m just messing with Ced, he took care of us…But I’ll take a better gift.”
TweetMy Favorite Cinema Santas
When it comes to Santa Claus, it’s the old saw about beauty being in the eye of the beholder.
You might like like your old boy in the red suit drinking milk and munching cookies or you might find a breath of fresh holiday air in stale-smelling Santa who boozes it up, spews profanity and screws everything in sight.
I’ll go with the latter.
Here’s a short list of my all-time, red-suited film favorites:
No. 4 — Jeff Gillen — “A Christmas Story” (1983) — Little Ralphie Parker, thwarted by mom and dad in his quest for a Red Ryder Air Rifle, goes to every kid’s last resort, Santa Claus himself. But when he plops down in the lap of the disgruntled department store Santa, he freezes up and is quickly dispatched down a Christmas slide with the promise of a football. In the classic scene, Ralphie claws his way back up the slippery slope to beg for his gun. That’s when Santa repeats the famous line — “You’ll shoot your eye out, kid,” — and literally gives him a good-bye boot to the face.
No. 3 — Ed Asner — “Elf” (2003) — From Lou Grant to this movie featuring Will Ferrell as Buddy the Elf, Asner has always been a master at playing a crusty old man with a heart of gold. In this tale he’s raises a human child as one of his not-so-little helpers and as he prepares the innocent Ferrell for his trip from the North Pole back to New York City to discover his roots, he gives him some sound big-city advice, stuff like “a sign that says Peep Show doesn’t mean that they’re letting you look at the new toys before Christmas,” and “if you see gum on the street, leave it there. It isn’t free candy.”
No. 2 — Edmund Gwenn —“Miracle on 34th Street” (1947) — Gwenn is the ONLY Santa ever to win an Academy Award and he deserved it. I love this movie. As he works to make little Natalie Wood’s dream come true — and at the same time prove in court he really is Kris Kringle — he shows he is a Santa Claus who loves not only children, but all humanity.
No. 1 — Billy Bob Thornton— “Bad Santa” (2003) — First off, this isn’t Miracle on 34th Street. It’s pure Coen Brothers with Thornton worthy of a Jingle Bell Oscar himself. He’s a con man Santa, who smokes, drinks, swears and has sex from every angle with gals of every size. He (supposedly) hates kids and only puts on the red and white uniform each year in order to rob department store safes on Christmas Eve. And then comes the catcher, his endearing relationship with a wonderfully open-hearted, overweight kid.
It’s one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen and while it might not be for everybody it sure is for me. I could — and do — watch it every year.
TweetAt Wright State — An Emergence Like No Other
FAIRBORN — No Wright State player — unless you want to argue Todd Brown — has blossomed any more from last basketball season to this than junior guard Troy Tabler.
A 5.9 p.p.g. scorer last season, he’s averaging 12.5 this season and has had some huge offensive games for the Raiders.
He scored 24 against Youngstown State earlier this month. Last week he had 23 against Miami and 22 against Mississippi State.
He led the Raiders again Tuesday night with 16 points as they clobbered Arkansas Little Rock, 69-47, at the Nutter Center.
“This year I feel more confident about my game than at any time I’ve ever played,” Tabler said afterward. “A lot of it has to do with the hard work I put in this summer.”
He worked out twice a day in the gym at his alma mater — Moeller High — sometimes playing one-on one with Michael Davenport who plays for St. Bonaventure, and sometimes just shooting with his dad — former Major League Baseball All Star, Pat Tabler — rebounding.
“Our staff is not surprised by Troy’s offensive play,” WSU coach Brad Brownell said. “He’s done some nice things here. He’s a tremendous shooter …He creates offense for himself because he moves without the basketball better than anyone on the team.
“As a coach you’re proud when your guys emerge. Not every guy’s going to emerge that way as a scorer, but you need 1 or 2 to do that from every class.
“We thought Troy was the guy in this class who’d emerge as more of a scorer…We thought N’Gai (Evans) would be a very good defender and a guy who would provide a little bit of offense…and we thought Cooper Land would be able to provide some offense…Those guys have improved as well, but Troy is the guy who is geared more for offensive basketball.”
While he acknowledged his son’s commitment over the summer, Pat Tabler also credited Brownell and his coaching staff:
“Brad’s been here four years and all the players who have played for him get better. You see it season after season. By the time they leave. the players are better. It’s a tribute to the coaches’ hard work. It’s really paying dividends here.
And this year it’s paying no bigger dividends than with his own son.
TweetChris Henry — NFL’s turn-around story becomes tragic tale
»Update: Police: Bengals’ Henry dies day after dispute
What looked like the greatest turnaround tale in the NFL earlier this season now has become one of the league’s most tragic and maybe senseless stories.
Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chris Henry suffered “life-threatening injuries” today after, police say, he got into a “domestic dispute” with his fiance — Loleini Tonga — while visiting her parents’ home in Charlotte, N.C.
Police there report she got into a pick-up truck and started to drive off. Henry — who has been on injured reserve since Nov. 9 with a broken forearm — jumped into the bed of the truck and later, somehow, fell out.
He was found lying in the roadway a half-mile from the house with a serious head injury.
Early this season I stood at Henry’s locker after a game and listened to him talk about how Tonga had helped him change his life around. They lived in a home in the Wyoming section of Greater Cincinnati with their three kids — her three-year-old daughter and his two sons, one who was two and another who is close to a year old now.
Henry seemed relaxed when he talked about his new life. He smiled easily and even showed me a picture of his kids. What a switch from some of our previous conversations. For once he didn’t seem to want to end our interview after one of two questions.
Of course now the questions were different.
In the past, the conversation usually was about problems he had had In 2007, he was suspended eight games for a disciplinary matter.
In April of 2008, he was finally released by the Bengals after his fifth arrest in 28 months. His rap sheet was gaudier than his stat sheet: drug charges, gun charges, DUI, drinking with underage girls in a hotel room.
Against coach Marvin Lewis’ wishes, team owner Mike Brown took Henry back after four months. But lately it seemed as if Henry warranted the team’s gamble on him.
He no longer seemed to be a distraction to the team. Although he was under-used in my book early this season, he didn’t pitch a public snit. Off the field he talked about how his fiance always was there for him and how she was “the love” of his life. He said they were going to get married.
You wanted to believe all this — you pull for a guy trying to turn his life around — but with Chris Henry you were never quite sure.
Now comes this and all you can do is shake your head and say a prayer.
I remember Henry showing me the NFL logo tattooed across the entire back of his hand. He said it now signified his commitment to football and life and everything that’s important.
He said it stood for better days ahead.
TweetCharlie Coles on UD, WSU and the place that could “save” him
OXFORD — Charlie Coles was at his best Sunday.
Not just coaching — when he guided his Miami RedHawks from seven points down in the final minutes to beat Wright State, 56-55, Sunday at Millet Hall — but afterwards during his post game press conference.
The conversation eventually had gotten around to neighborhood rivals.
Sunday, Xavier and Cincinnati also squared off in the Crosstown Shootout with the Muskies winning in two overtimes.
And this month, Miami already has played Dayton, Wright State and Cincinnati and next week ventures into Xavier.
Meanwhile this coming Saturday night — at the same time in the same town — the Dayton Flyers play Presbyterian College at UD Arena while Wright State squares off with Maryland-Eastern Shore at the Nutter Center.
Of the 347 teams playing Division I college basketball, Maryland Eastern Shore — at 3-5 — is ranked No. 310 in the Sagarin ratings and Presbyterian — 2-8 — is rated 306.
Coles was asked how Wright State — which can’t get Dayton, Xavier or Cincinnati on its schedule — could follow Miami’s lead. Coles expounded on it quite candidly and our Mark Katz will be writing about that soon, so you can read it from him.
In the process — expounding on one of his points while veering down a different path — Coles was at his best:
“There are three places I love to be:
— “Millet
— “The second greatest place I want to be is Xavier. In their gym and that’s only because my cardiologist is there. He’s a Xavier guy. Seriously. I know if something goes wrong, he saved my life before, he can save me again.
— “And the third place is that U of D Arena. There is nothing like it. We had our team play at Kentucky, but there is NOTHING like (UD Arena). That place is great.”
TweetHere’s how to help Lebanon horsemen
LEBANON — All of them are trying to handle it differently.
Charlie French, who would bring his little granddaughter to Lebanon Raceway and always ask her if she wanted to first go to the track kitchen or go back to Barn 16 to see his horse, finds himself hedging now.
“He can’t bring himself to tell her what happened,” said Kathy Prickett, who runs the track kitchen. “I think he’s just going to say their horse is off racing.”
Victor Gray, who had three horses in Barn 16, isn’t sure what to do either: “It’s a bad, empty feeling. I normally come and feed my horses every morning and in the week since it happened, I find myself still coming here to the track every morning. It’s like I’m imagining they’re still here. That nothing happened.”
In the predawn hours of Dec. 5, the football field-sized Barn 16 at Lebanon Raceway caught fire and burned quickly to the ground. Forty five horses and two grooms, James “Turtle” Edwards and Ronnie Williams died inside.
No one has been more devastated than the Williams family, whose story I tell in detail in today’s newspaper and elsewhere on this web page.
Long time Lebanon horsemen, they’ve been associated with the track for nearly 50 years.
Ronnie’s brother Skeet also died at the track, suffering a heart attack while in the sulky before a race in the late 1970s.
Two of Ronnie’s sisters, Diane and Donna, now work in barns on each side of Barn 16. And while they find it especially tough coming to work, Diane said there’s no place she’d rather be right now:
“I figure we can remember Ronnie best staying right out here doing what we do each day. It’s the same thing Ronnie did. He loved being around the horses — so it’s kinda like keeping his love alive.”
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Two ways to help
Along with the two grooms who were killed, 25 owners lost horses in the fire. Some lost their entire livelihood.
Here’s how to help the Lebanon horsemen:
— A BARN 16 MEMORIAL FUND has been established at LCNB: Lebanon Citizens National Bank. Donations can be made at any bank branch. The routing number is 042205708.
— THE BARN 16 MEMORIAL BENEFIT featuring music by the Richard Lynch Band, food furnished by Gary Maginnis of Kickers Restaurant and Kathy Prickett of the Track Kitchen, a live and silent auction — will take place at the Lebanon Raceway lower grandstand Saturday night, Dec. 19, when the track’s fall meet closes. Admission/donations are $10.
Any questions, contact Donna Campbell at the track. Her phone number is 513-377-3203.
TweetBearcats players deserved better
Brian Kelly certainly lifted Cincinnati Bearcats football to new and glorious heights in his three years at the school, but his quick, ill-timed exit to Notre Dame leaves a stain on his legacy there.
In the end, the Bearcats players deserved better. But then isn’t that always how it is when a coach breaks a contract, not just with his school, but the kids he recruited and cajoled and promised so much to?
Today, Kelly will be introduced as Notre Dame’s new head football coach. He’ll have a lucrative five-year contract to go along with one of the highest profiles in college sports.
Back in Cincinnati, the 12-0 Bearcats — who knew nothing of their coach’s decision when they showed up for their football banquet Thursday evening — are left reeling as they prepare for their Jan. 1 Sugar Bowl game with Florida under an interim coach.
Players claim just a few days ago Kelly told them he was going nowhere, that he “loved” it here. They believed him, just as when he told them about loyalty and building UC football for the future.
He had pressed UC to upgrade its football facilities and the school is borrowing nearly $10 million to build a new practice facility and begin upgrades on Nippert Stadium.
As it turns out Notre Dame is where he wanted to be and it didn’t matter what UC did. An East Coast, Irish Catholic charmer who has football’s golden touch — his three Bearcats teams went 34-6 and were nationally ranked each season — he’ll be a good fit in South Bend. He’ll certainly be better than Charlie Weiss.
But still the UC players deserved better.
After the banquet, Kelly met with his players to tell them he was gone. Star receiver Mardy Gilyard burst out of the meeting as soon as Kelly dropped the “I’m leaving” bombshell.
“He went for that money, that wasn’t no time for me to be in there,” the team MVP told reporters. “I don’t want to hear it. I’m thoroughly disgusted with this situation…”
Some UC players said they felt he had lied to them and had deserted them. The latter he certainly did. He chose to follow his dream. Never mind those promises of just a few days ago.
I imagine many of the Central Michigan players felt the same way when Kelly left their program to come to UC just before the Chippewa’s bowl game after the 2006 season.
Because he bolted early on his UC contract, Kelly must repay the school $1 million within a year. I’m sure that’ll be taken care of by fatcat ND alum or the sum was simply tacked onto his new contract.
Not that that does anything for those recruits who just signed with UC or the underclassmen who came to the school because of Kelly or anybody on this team who believed him when he said he’d let nothing get in their way of greatness this entire season.
Too bad the NCAA doesn’t have the same sit-a-season penalty for coaches who bail on their players that it does for athletes who transfer from one school to another.
That won’t happen, so year after year more players will end up with that same disgusted, empty feeling that Marty Gilyard now has.
TweetCollege Basketball’s Best Player
Right now, the very best player in college basketball is Kentucky freshman John Wall.
He’s already being called one of the greatest point guard prospects off all time and he’s projected as the No. 1 pick in the next NBA draft.
Before we let Kenny Hayes — the Miami guard from Northmont High opine on him — here’s what Wall did Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.
In an oft-repeated theme this young season, Wall took over the game against UConn in the final minutes and lifted his Wildcats to victory.
This time, with Kentucky trailing 61-60, the 6-foot-4 guard — who’d finish with 25 points — drove for a lay-up with 30.8 seconds left and though getting knocked to the floor by the Huskies’ 240 pound Alex Oriakhi he made the basket and then the foul shot to put the Cats in front for good.
Against Miami — in his very first college game ever — he hit the game-winner at the buzzer. He had a huge basket in an overtime win against Stanford. And last Saturday he made two crucial free throws in a two-point victory over North Carolina.
He’s averaging 18.9 points, seven assists and 3 steals a game through eight games.
Across the board, those early season numbers are better than the first year starts of other recent freshman phenoms like Memphis’ Tyreke Evans and Derrick Rose, USC O.J. Mayo and Indiana’s Eric Gordon.
“I’m not sure you could compare him to anybody,” former Duke assistant and ESPN assistant Jay Bilas told the Wall Street Journal’s David Biderman. “I can’t recall anybody who’s wowed me like this.”
After last Saturday’s game North Carolina coach Roy Williams called Wall the best point guard prospect since Jason Kidd.
Wall — who sat out Kentucky’s home opener because of a minor violation — made his debut against Miami at Rupp Arena.
Kentucky overcame an 18-point deficit, then took the lead until Hayes tied the game with a three-pointer with 8 seconds left.
That’s when Wall took over and hit the game winner at the buzzer.
“Before the game I checked him out on YouTube because everybody had been hyping him, but now I can say he more than lives up to the hype,” said Hayes, who had 16 points and fives assists to Wall’s 19 and 5.
“I remember when I hit my shot and then I just saw him flying down the court. He’s fast and I just knew he was going to hit that shot. He wanted to take over the game. You don’t see many freshman with that kind of attitude, but he’s not like anybody else.
“That dude is really, really good.”
TweetLess love for Staten and Payne; Tiger becomes John Daly
Here are a couple of points of interest:
HOOP SCOOP … POOP
The top two boy’s basketball recruits from the Dayton metro area this year — Juwan Staten, who’s headed to UD and Adreian Payne, who has signed with Michigan State — didn’t get as much love from the well-known, on-line recruiting website Hoop Scoop as they did from other basketball publications this year.
Ranking the players from the Class of 2010, Hoop Scoop — whose ratings also commanded a full page in the recent issue of Basketball Times, which goes to every member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association — curiously had Staten ranked No. 109. The senior point guard — who transferred from Thurgood Marshall High to Oak Hill Academy for this final season —was ranked in the mid 40s in a couple of other publications.
Payne, the 6 foot-10 Jefferson High senior, just as surprisingly, is ranked No. 100 by Hoop Scoop. He had been ranked as high as No. 8 by another publication last summer and had been hovering around No. 20 recently.
DALY MAY HAVE PENNED TIGER’S THEME SONG:
Who would have thought Tiger Woods would morph into John Daly and vice versa?
Well, the latter may be a stretch, but one thing Daly is not stretching these days is the seams in his waistband.
Pro golf’s No. 1 party animal has shed 115 pounds in the past year after having lap-band surgery and now he’s a a nearly trim 185.
At a press conference Tuesday before the start of the Australian PGA, he said he’d like to see a movie made about his wild, roller coaster life on and off the golf course.
He said he’d like to see his buddy Kevin James play the the puffy hell-raiser he once was and — after seeing the way he swings a golf club — he wants Matt Damon to play the “now’ version.
“The problem is, who is going to play all the ex-wives?” Daly laughingly told reporters. He has four ex-wives whom he immortalized in a song, “All My Exes Wear Rolexes.”
During his press conference, Daly was critical of other tour players — most notably Jesper Parnevik — who have criticized Woods for the spectacle his life has become away from the course.
“I’m not too happy with what some of the players have said,” Daly told reporters. “Without him, our tour would not survive as what it is when Tiger plays.”
That said, if the tabloid tales keep spilling out, you might soon hear Mrs. Tiger whistling Daly’s Rolex refrain.
TweetMy Heisman Ballot: McCoy, Gerhart, Ingram
After a bit of waffling on my part, I cast my Heisman vote for Texas quarterback Colt McCoy late Monday morning.
I put Stanford running back Toby Gerhart second on my ballot and had Alabama running back Mark Ingram third.
Each of the 925 voters submits just their top three choices. On my totem pole of picks, I ended up with Florida quarterback Tim Tebow fourth and Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh fifth.
Heisman voters had to have their ballot submitted by 5 p.m. Monday Twice that morning I got phone calls from Heisman reps reminding me my vote still wasn’t in and I only had a few hours left.
My problem — and that of a lot of the other voters I know — is that no one candidate stood head and shoulders above the others. That’s why I think there’ll be considerable suspense Saturday night in Manhattan where the New York Athletic Club will announce this year’s Heisman winner.
For the first time since 2004, five players — the five I named above — have been invited to the Heisman ceremony.
Although I’m not especially strong on my conviction, I believe McCoy will win.
And yet I would have no beef if any of the other four took the honor. A valid argument for each of them can be made.
Even though McCoy stumbled last Saturday night in the Big 12 title game against Nebraska — throwing three interceptions without a touchdown pass and nearly letting time run out with a final-seconds scramble that came within one second of preventing the kicker from getting on the field to boot the game-winning field goal — he managed to keep the Longhorns unbeaten this season and put them in the national title game against Alabama.
Regardless of Texas second-half swoon against Nebraska, McCoy is a great senior leader and this award is about an entire season, not just one game.
McCoy is one of college football’s best passing-running threats. He threw for 3,512 yards and 27 touchdowns this year and ran for 348 yards and three more scores. His 45 wins as a starter are the most in FBS history.
Gerhart — a big, blue collar bulldozer of a running back — is the nations’ leading rusher with 1,736 yards and 26 touchdowns. A lot of those yards came after contact. Proof of that came against Notre Dame, who he dismantled almost single-handedly.
His chances may be hurt because he plays for a non-traditional power that went 8-4 and because a lot of voters probably haven’t seen much of him.
Ingram had a huge game against Florida in the SEC championship match-up, rushing for 113 yards on 28 carries and three touchdowns. He added 76 yards on two receptions, including a 65-yarder that helped break the game open. Rushing for 1,542 yards and 15 touchdowns, he’s led the unbeaten Tide to the national title game.
His chances might be lessened a bit because he’s a sophomore — only Tebow won the Heisman as a pure sophomore — because he had a less than stellar game against Auburn and because he and the Florida quarterback might end up splitting the Southern vote.
As for Tebow and Suh, they still might be the two most dominant players in the game.
Tebow has guided a team that — when you take his four years combined — has been the best in college football. And he is the epitome of what you want in a student-athlete — with emphasis on both words.
What hurts Tebow is that he won the award already and his team lost to Alabama.
Suh is the best defensive player in college football. Case in point: Against Texas he had 12 tackles, 4 1/2 sacks and 7 tackles for a loss.
The problem is that only one guy who primarily played defense — Michigan’s Charles Woodson in 1997 — has won the Heisman.
TweetFlyers different team with Lowery
When London Warren picked up his second foul early in the game against Miami last Wednesday night, two different Dayton Flyers assistant coaches — at separate times — sidled up to Brian Gregory on the bench and asked the head coach “You want to play Rob?”
Although doctors and Gregory had agreed beforehand that Lowery should not make his long-awaited return to the line-up — following surgery last January for a torn patellar tendon in his right knee — until the Leheigh game three days later, trouble was brewing in Oxford.
Both coaches thought Lowery could be the answer.
Gregory said he nixed the idea, but admitted he toyed with the possibilities for a while.
So what is it about Lowery — a guy who hadn’t played in 10 months — that so tempted the coaches?
It’s the same thing that made the UD Arena crowd giddy — even applauding him when he simply changed position on the bench — Saturday against Leheigh. And when he finally entered the game, he got a standing ovation.
Sure people were applauding the hard work the senior guard had done to get back to the court, but it was a lot more than that.
The Flyers are a different team with Lowery in the line-up.
He doesn’t have the lateral movement he once did — that likely will come once his knee gets more fit and doesn’t hurt like he admitted it did Saturday — but he does have something no other UD guard has.
He can score from the outside and can penetrate and create a shot — he had eight points in just eight minutes Saturday — but the two things I like best are the swagger he brings to the floor and his court vision.
Plus the team feeds off his energy.
Because of him players seem to move better away from the ball. Probably because they know he can get them the ball from almost anywhere. Saturday, he had an alley-oop pass from midcourt.
“Man, that’s my style, ” Lowery said afterward. “I watched the games when I was out and maybe we had about three alley-oops. Today we had three, maybe four of them. I think I bring a different style to the team and I think it can help us.”
Chris Wright agreed the Flyers take on some of Lowery’s personality when he’s on the court and Gregory seemed to agree:
“He plays with a little bit of an edge that we can use. No doubt about it, he’s good for our positive energy.”
TweetGregory: Flyers’ affair close to Tiger’s
OXFORD — Here are a few things from the Dayton Flyers’ 65-58 victory over Miami Tuesday night at Millett Hall:
— As shocking affairs go, Brian Gregory thought he had witnessed one Tuesday night. When told his team had shot 48.9 percent against the always sticky defense Charlie Coles’ teams play, he gushed:
“It should be on World News Tonight that Dayton shot 49 percent against Miami. That’s unheard of….Just unheard of.”
But, he was asked, was it enough to knock Tiger Woods from the headlines?
“Probably not,” he laughed. “But close. It would go right underneath that.”
— Chris Johnson, once again, showed that — right now — he is UD’s best all-around player. Against Miami he scored 13 points, made three of five three-point attempts, pulled down a team-high eight rebounds and had four steals and three blocked shots.
— Kurt Huelsman was more active offensively than usual and it paid off. The senior center made three of five shots — including a sweet baby hook — and added seven rebounds. He went to the the hoop the first two times he got the ball and scored. I just wish he’d do it more often.
— Josh Benson, the little-used freshman redshirt, came off the bench and surprised everyone. He wasn’t hesitant about going to the basket. Playing just three minutes, he made both shots he took.
— Falling far behind again at the start of the game — this time down 18-6 to the RedHawks — the Flyers handled themselves well, Gregory said:
“This is a tough environment to play in. We got down early but our guys didn’t panic. I liked the way we were playing…Our defensive intensity…our defensive pressure..I liked the pace we were playing. We had to take a couple of better shots and take a little better care of the ball….We did and all of a sudden we were back in it.”
— Miami’s depth doesn’t match Dayton’s, but I agree with Gregory: ‘I think (Miami) is a real good team. I think they’re going to be really good. They’re hard-nosed and smart. Every time you make a mistake, they take advantage of it. And they’re so well coached it’s scary.”
— Julian Mavunga — the RedHawks 6-foot-8, 245-pound sophomore center — is going to develop into a great Mid-American Conference player.
— Kenny Hayes, the Northmont High product who is back for his fifth season after missing most of last year with a severe wrist injury, is a guy everyone can root for. Not just for the way he plays, but for the kind of person he is off the court. I spent an hour with him the other day. You’ll not find a nicer, more engaging guy. He is a delight.
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