Those who watched the one-sided first half were no less surprised than Cronin. And it only got worse.
The Flyers have played some poor offensive games in recent seasons — the 49-41 loss at Temple last year when they scored 13 first-half points comes to mind — but they reached a new low in the Gregory era in a 68-34 defeat to Cincinnati on Saturday.
Utter disbelief was the prevailing opinion among the 6,000-plus witnesses. A solid throng of UD fans turned — out-numbering the UC faithful probably 2-to-1 — and they witnessed a depressing night all the way around.
UD made 7-of-30 shots in the first half and 5-of-30 in the second half, shooting 20 percent overall.
But while there may be a tendency to write this team off, I’d caution against it. As abysmal as their performance was, the Flyers are still trying to get five newcomers to mesh with seven returnees. And there’s plenty of time yet to make that happen.
I was talking about the Atlantic 10 with UD coach Brian Gregory before the team left Friday night for Cincy, and he pointed out that the league has a chance to be better than it was last year, although it will take time because many teams are working in new players. UD is one of them.
It’s a cliché, but that debacle still only counts as one loss. The Flyers have not only made three straight postseason appearances, but have had successful runs each time. I went into this season thinking this team will be better than the previous three, and I’m not ready to change my opinion just yet.
Contact this writer at (937) 225-2125 or dharris@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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