Winter weather photos
SI cover features area model
Madison vs. Waynesville
Flyers hope meeting among players works
UD men's basketball players want to turn things around after two straight woeful performances.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
DAYTON — Charles Little and his University of Dayton teammates put the responsibility on themselves for having delivered two straight flat performances, and they've taken some initiative to make sure it doesn't happen again.
A day after scraping by woeful Fordham, which came on the heels of a 13-point loss at UMass, the Flyers held a players-only meeting before practice Thursday, Jan. 15, inviting the coaches back to the locker room only after everyone had a chance to speak his mind.
"We had to air some things and get everybody on the same page, get back to the way we were playing in '08, get back on the right track," Little said.
"It's bad we had to do that in the first place, but to nip it in the bud was the best thing for us."
Chris Wright thought the Flyers needed to remind themselves about what they can still attain this season.
"Like in a household, you have a family meeting — that's what it was, a family meeting," he said.
"We were just talking about the energy we had the first 10 games of the season, the love and passion we played with, and how we have to reestablish that. We all know that's still inside of us, each and every one of us. In the meeting, everyone let their feelings out."
The Flyers needed a driving layup by Rob Lowery with 5.4 seconds left for a one-point win over Fordham, which has spent the season in the bottom regions of the RPI standings. Although the victory pushed their record to 15-2, the Flyers mustered about as much enthusiasm for the game as they would a pop quiz.
But they had a spirited practice Friday before leaving for Pittsburgh to play resurgent Duquesne tonight, suggesting the powwow had done some good.
"We want to continue to improve because it's there," Wright said. "Just as fast as we lost our edge, we can get it back. But you can't keep turning it off and on. You've got to maintain it if you want to be great and accomplish great things. That's what the meeting was about. I called it 'The Get Right Meeting.' "
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2125 or at dharris@DaytonDailyNews.com.
Today's game
Who: Dayton (15-2, 1-1 A-10) at Duquesne (12-4, 3-0)
When: 7 p.m.
TV: None
Radio: WHIO-AM (1290), WHIO-FM (95.7)
