Let's Pretend We Love Hockey for Three Hours!

So I was doing what all good Midwestern Hayseeds do best last night, eating dinner at Outback Steakhouse, when I got a text from Blackburn.  It said, "Hey fucktard!  Pull your weight on the blog or you are fired."  I texted him back and said, "Fuck off and let me enjoy my vegetable medley (steak is for pussies)."  He then said, "Seriously, you got the recap."  So as I sat there watching my wife eat a Bloomin' Onion by herself, I tried to figure out how I was going to write a recap of a game that I would not see one minute of and would most likely have to rely on Doogie or the Ice Road Trucker to get information.

What can one really say about a 28 point blow out for the Flyers?  They were playing a home game that they had to win (WE WILL NOT LOSE AT HOME!!!) versus a team that had only won 10 games all year.  Dayton had a season high six players in double figures and shot 55% from the field.  Granted the Flyers lost the turnover battle but when you almost double your opponent in rebounding, you will be in very good shape. 

What I watched instead of Villanova/SyracuseHonestly, I really don't know what to say about this game.  I've been told by friends and family that were in attendance that it was a boring game, but they did see a nice white out at the end of the game.  I also got a text from a friend that said, "Flyer fans are so racist!"  I asked him what he meant and he said, "They go nuts for Luke Fab when he shoot 3's (and misses) but they HATE Rob Lowery when he misses 3's."  My friend is just NOW realizing this?  Dayton probably has a fucking statue of Kurt being made as we speak to put out in the middle of the West Concourse so the fans can drink beer under it and remember the intangibles he brought -- like my grandpa saying that Huelsman doesn't block many shots but alters at least 10 a game. 

Let's not dwell on this game too much.  Dayton needed to win and I think everyone assumed they would win big.  Despite what John says, Thursday's game against Richmond is a MUST win.  If the Flyers somehow beat the Blackburn Spiders, they could win one game in Atlantic City and make the tournament.  If they lose, the Flyers need to go all Major League on us and "win... the whole... fucking thing."  John, I love ya buddy, but you haven't really been the most accurate/realistic fan this year.  Who do you all trust more?  John/Swampy Meadows who predicted a 14-2 conference record or the men here at the Blackburn Review that predicted a minimum of 5 losses with a minimum of a 3rd place finish (except for O'Brien who foolishly picked them to win the league)?  That's what I thought. 

So why is Thursday so important?  I crunched some numbers and went back to the 1999-2000 season (10 years ago) and looked at Dayton's record in the Atlantic 10 Tournament.  The Flyers went 13-9 in that A10 Tourney over that span.  Pretty good right?  Well, take away the two years (2003 and 2004) when the tournament was at UD and the Flyers are 8-8.  In the past 10 years, the Flyers have never made an A10 Final unless playing at UD Arena.  I will make a prediction here and if I am wrong, you all can rip me all summer long.  But unless the Flyers beat Richmond, they are not making the NCAA Tournament.  Heck, they won't even make the A10 Finals.  I am 95% sure that the only team that has ever won four games in the A10 Tournament is Xavier (of course they did!), so don't expect Dayton to do the same.

So that's the "recap" for ya.  I wanted to point you all toward a surprisingly excellent article written by Marc Katz in today's DDN.  Now you all are probably too young to remember the Jim O'Brien years (except that Neville commenter who is 21 years old but claims to remember being 4 years old and watching the Chip Hare era).  The article at first made me feel kind of sad that O'Brien does not follow Dayton basketball (the program that gave him his first big time coaching chance).  The article makes you think that O'Brien was not angry when he got fired and saw it as "business" but I remember him storming off the court after a loss, refusing to come back out on the court for his post-game radio show, and then throwing a temper tantrum in the locker room.  I know this because my grandfather was close with the Frericks family and knew what went down that last season for O'Brien.  Then something struck  me.  Take a look at Don Donoher (the real one, not me).  Since Donoher is a classy guy, he doesn't talk shit about Dayton, but he really does not want to have anything to do with the school that unceremoniously fired him.  He has almost all together separated himself from UD.  So in a way, I don't feel sorry for O'Brien, I just totally understand.  Should he have been fired after 2 horrid seasons and the way he acted at the end? Of course.

Don't forget to pretend you care about hockey today!  Go USA and all that jazz.

Massachusetts vs. Dayton

Effective Field Goal Percentage (eFG%): adjusts for the fact that a 3-point field goal is worth one more point than a 2-point field goal.
Turnover Percentage (TO%): is an estimate of turnovers per 100 plays.
Offensive Rebouning Percentage (OR%): measures a team's ability to get offensive rebounds.
Free Throw Rate (FT Rate): is a measure of both how often a team gets to the line and how often they make them.

		S	MIN	PTS	FGM	FGA	FG%	2PA	2PA	2P%	3PM	3PA	3P%	FTM	FTA	FT%	OR	DR	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	+/-	RR
	R. Harris	*	34	9	3	15	20.0	2	9	22.2	1	6	16.7	2	4	50.0	0	2	2	1	0	0	3	2	-26	-24
	F. Riley	*	26	12	4	6	66.7	0	0	0.0	4	6	66.7	0	0		0	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	-26	-24
	T. Vinson	*	21	16	6	10	60.0	5	8	62.5	1	2	50.0	3	4	75.0	2	0	2	3	0	0	2	5	-14	0
	J. Farrell	*	21	9	3	7	42.9	3	7	42.8	0	0		3	4	75.0	1	1	2	0	2	0	1	5	-21	-14
	S. Carter	*	20	0	0	5	0.0	0	5	0.0	0	0		0	2	0.0	3	3	6	0	0	1	0	3	-24	-20
	S. Carter		25	10	3	6	50.0	3	6	50.0	0	0		4	6	66.7	3	3	6	0	3	0	0	2	-15	-2
	A. Gurley		23	10	3	9	33.3	3	5	60.0	0	4	0.0	4	4	100.0	0	2	2	1	0	0	2	0	-6	16
	G. Correia		16	0	0	1	0.0	0	0	0.0	0	1	0.0	0	0		0	1	1	3	0	0	0	1	-2	24
	M. Hill		10	0	0	0		0	0	0.0	0	0		0	0		1	3	4	0	0	0	0	0	-6	16
	T. Lang		3	2	0	0		0	0	0.0	0	0		2	2	100.0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	34
	L. Mongo		1	0	0	0		0	0	0.0	0	0		0	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	-3	22
	MASS		200	68	22	59	37.3	16	40	40.0	6	19	31.6	18	26	69.2	11	19	30	8	5	1	11	21
		S	MIN	PTS	FGM	FGA	FG%	2PA	2PA	2P%	3PM	3PA	3P%	FTM	FTA	FT%	OR	DR	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	+/-	RR
	UD		200	96	34	62	54.8	21	34	61.7	13	28	46.4	15	22	68.2	14	30	44	25	4	3	11	22
	C. Wright	*	26	14	5	10	50.0	5	8	62.5	0	2	0.0	4	5	80.0	0	6	6	3	1	1	3	3	17	6
	R. Lowery	*	24	13	5	8	62.5	2	3	66.6	3	5	60.0	0	1	0.0	0	2	2	5	1	0	2	2	12	-4
	K. Huelsman	*	18	4	2	4	50.0	2	4	50.0	0	0		0	0		4	1	5	0	0	0	2	3	22	16
	L. Warren	*	17	6	2	2	100.0	2	2	100.0	0	0		2	4	50.0	1	7	8	8	1	0	0	1	28	28
	M. Johnson	*	17	11	5	7	71.4	4	5	80.0	1	2	50.0	0	1	0.0	0	3	3	5	0	0	0	3	20	12
	C. Johnson		21	11	3	9	33.3	1	1	100.0	2	8	25.0	3	3	100.0	1	1	2	1	0	2	0	0	5	-18
	M. Perry		19	15	5	7	71.4	0	0	0.0	5	7	71.4	0	0		0	1	1	1	1	0	2	2	11	-6
	P. Williams		18	6	2	3	66.7	0	1	0.0	2	2	100.0	0	0		0	3	3	1	0	0	1	2	15	2
	D. Searcy		14	10	3	5	60.0	3	5	60.0	0	0		4	4	100.0	5	1	6	0	0	0	1	3	15	2
	J. Benson		11	3	1	1	100.0	1	1	100.0	0	0		1	2	50.0	0	4	4	0	0	0	0	1	12	-4
	L. Fabrizius		4	0	0	2	0.0	0	0	0.0	0	2	0.0	0	0		1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	-4	-36
	D. Fox		3	0	0	0		0	0	0.0	0	0		0	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	-5	-38
	M. Kavanaugh		3	2	1	3	33.3	1	3	33.3	0	0		0	0		1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	-1	-30
	P. Zestermann		2	0	0	1	0.0	0	1	0.0	0	0		0	0		1	1	2	0	0	0	0	0
	L. Hendrick		2	0	0	0		0	0	0.0	0	0		0	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	-5	-38
	L. Nourse		1	1	0	0		0	0	0.0	0	0		1	2	50.0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	3	-22
		S	MIN	PTS	FGM	FGA	FG%	2PA	2PA	2P%	3PM	3PA	3P%	FTM	FTA	FT%	OR	DR	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	+/-	RR

Comments

[John]

In all my predictions since Duquesne I have said I do not expect them to win but IF they do this is what could happen.

I agree, I was a little over zealous entering the season with my expectations but they have tempered. The fact that this fucking team has lost every game by 8 points or less is astounding. The fact that they could not get 2 of those 9 is ever more astounding. It literally is the difference of three long ass three pointers from everyone going man, this team has lived up to expectations ... or fuck, this team sucks dick and BG should be gone.

Donoher, loved the article ... but I do believe if Dayton gets to 22 wins no matter how they do it they will not be denied from the NCAA Tournament based on all the other teams on the bubble.

We will see what happens and IF this Dayton team can get to 22 wins. But, I will agree with you on one thing the Richmond game is a massive, massive game. If Dayton can get a fifth top 50/2nd top 25 win it would be nearly impossible to keep them out compared to the shit show below them.

The only reason I have any confidence that 22 wins gets the job done is because teams like Cincy 16 wins and Minnesota 17 wins are still in the discussion.

[Adam]

Katz wrote a better non-Trucker article than the DDN usually gives, but what was the point of it? Dayton doesn't care about O'Brien and he doesn't care about Dayton...ok. And? Guy has made millions babysitting overpaid and overgrown children. I need to be an NBA coach. Could there be an easier job than what Mike Brown does?

"Hey Lebron, what should we do here?"

"Get me the ball"

"Ok, I'll stand here and look important in my suit."

[Tom Blackburn]

Just read the Katz article and had the same impression that Adam did. I am assuming that Katz was hoping to get a rise out of O'Brien, rehash the Dayton years and come to some profound conclusion. Instead, Katz got an indifferent reaction from O'Brien. Give OB credit, he could have taken the opportunity to say he's in a better place, etc. but he didn't.

If I was O'Brien I would have taken a cheap shot or two, but that's just me.

[Matt]

First time seeing the Richmond Fightin' Blackburns today against X. They can't rebound worth shit, but damn they've looked pretty good so far.

[Don Donoher]

@Adam and Blackburn...I agree. Just didn't know how to word it like you both did (do I ever?). I just reading waiting for OB to say, "You know what? Fuck Ted Kissell. Tom Frericks would have never pulled that shit" but he didn't. Like I said, OB didn't do any favors to himself the last few weeks on the job, but he...like Don Donoher...are class acts who got shit on the administration at UD.

[Kingo]

I cant believe that there was no mention in the recap of the Winter Weather Advisory inside the UD Arena.

Heres your proof:

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs387.snc3/23653_592863679490_21906176_35526263_4134561_n.jpg

[Matt]

@ Kingo I'm sure Bucky and Larry mentioned enough on the radio broadcast for everyone.

[John]

Richmond looks good. But man are they tiny.

If Big Dog and Benson get serious minutes on Thursday Dayton will score inside and out rebound the fuck out of them. At the least, that strategy will keep them in the game.

Should be a really fun game, we already know it will be close since UD never is blown out.

My bet is it comes down to the last two minutes.

[Tom Blackburn]

@John: you make me laugh, you know we are gonna see Huelsman plodding around out there, right? Searcy has continually outplayed Kurt over the last part of the season, and it hasn't changed BG's philosophy in any way.

Glad you brought up the word "bet." I've been waiting all year to get my $50 back. What do you say to a little wager for Thursday's game?

[Kingo]

@Matt: I don't know what Larry and Bucky said since I was there, but I imagine it was good. Hopefully there are more whiteouts in our future although I would say unlikely.

[John]

@ Blackburn ... I know we will see Kurt doing his gay shit on offense out there ... I guess I am holding on for a glimmer of hope that BG will change his plan even if it is for just one game.

Honestly he needs to fucking do something different. If Searcy and Benson don't combine for 37-42 minutes against Richmond BG should be shot, because there is no one who can stop those two in the paint.

As for the bet ... I am always listening, but I am also not a retard. I have said they are going to lose since Duquense and that mantra hasn't changed ... I am just laying out options in case they shock us all.

What did you have in mind for a bet?

[Tom Blackburn]

@John: the ball's in your court since you are 1 up on me. Wanna wait for the spread to come out?

[rosemasw]

huelsman will of course get the majority of the playing time. bg and his fucking system blah blah blah. have the balls to break it once in a while bg and maybe this team could have 3 less losses

[John]

I remember watching Amanda Bynes on Nick at Nite as a kid ... even when she was doing all that goofy shit and acting nerdy I knew she was going to be hot and thought she was hot then.

And I have an "in" like Kramer thought Jerry did with Jerry Lewis ... I have the same birthday as her!

Nothing better than to celebrate it with a little P in the V!

[Daddy D]

@ Donoher: "That's gold Jerry, gold!" I agree with you 100%, UD has got to beat Richmond to have a shot. If the tourney were at UD arena, I would say just pencil the Flyers in right now for the champs, unfortunately however, it is in a convention/dance hall by a crappy beach in a town known for its organized crime influence and "legal" gambling. (How did the A10 come to the conclusion this was a good idea? Somebody get down to....Newport News...oh, well, nevermind).

Also, Donoher, give us a small snippet of what you speak of in your last section on JOB and the real Donoher. I knew little of Dayton before going to school there soon after my wildly successful Millennium Party, so some of this is foreign to me. I see Donoher at all the games (gets a beer at every halftime) and obviously know that the adjoining facility is named after him. I know the the basics, Donoher was a long time coach, JOB was hired, had two horrendous seasons and was fired under new AD Kissell. Fill some of us in that weren't born Flyer fans, but were converted later in our lives.

[Jim O'Brien]

is there a reason we made john sound like an asshole in this post?

[rosemasw]

so what is the consensus? does richmond losing help or hurt our chances on thursday? or neither?

[Don Donoher]

@Daddy D...People were saying Donoher had lost it. He didn't make the NCAA in 4 years and had 3 straight losing seasons. Was that a fireable offense? Probably. But the man, I believe, is currently in the College Basketball Hall of Fame (and coached on the 1984 Olympic team) and he was being shown the door. It didn't sit right with him and he basically walked away from the program. They have asked him to come back and help out a lot but he only does it as favors to certain people (ie: Yuanta Holland's family). He is still very bitter.

As for JOB, he knew he was going to get fired. Not sure if you knew or not, but the post-game interview with Larry and Bucky is IN the coach's contract. That is mandatory win or lose. JOB didn't show up for one and that was the last straw. From what I heard, when told he was fired but could finish out the season, he flipped out and started throwing shit in his office. Of course, this will probably make people's heads explode over at UDPride but that is just what I've heard.