Big Dog Still Eating

With his collegiate eligibility past its due date, Big Dog Searcy has decided to take his talents to the intramural level. I heard his team lost, old habits are hard to break.

Sharpen the Sickle

Call me crazy, but I’m looking forward to tomorrow's game against Xavier. Nothing to lose, everything to gain. As Dayton fans, we are not emotionally invested in the outcome. We all know that even a good Flyer team would struggle to win four games in a row on the road (I’m not even sure UD has even come close to doing so since joining the A10). In times like these, you reach for the little things. A victory over the Muskies would certainly be the highlight of this train-wrecked season, a respite from the crushing uppercuts this year has doled out over and over again.

So, join us tomorrow at 11:45 a.m. for a live chat. Let's mourn a season wasted and celebrate what could have been.

The Good is the Beautiful

Felix Dies Nativitatis!

CCSU Recap: Another Bullet Dodged

We are in good handsYou thought you couldn't possibly feel any worse about a UD victory than you did after a 2-point win against mighty Savannah State. The Dayton Flyers laughed in the face of that sentiment tonight with an impossibly unimpressive 63-61 win over Central Connecticut State.

When an opposition comes into UD Arena to face this team, you know someone is leaving with a career night under his belt. Tonight that person was Markeys Deans, who lit up the Flyers to the tune of 22 points and 8 rebounds. The most notable element of Deans' performance was, although Deans stands just 6'5", he did most of his damage in the paint. Alas, young Markeys' star burned out a few seconds too early as his potential game-winning three point attempt drew back iron and came up empty. The ball fell into the waiting arms of a CCSU player (after what looked like a pretty obvious push in the back) who proceeded to miss the putback and, quite literally, hand the Flyers a win that was neither earned nor deserved.

I read in the recon that CCSU returned four starters, and I sort of chuckled to myself. Four starters back from a 12-18 team, I thought, lotta good that'll do. But it was actually a factor tonight. CCSU looked poised and in control throughout despite playing on the road in a hostile environment. How many times did the Blue Devils patiently run their offense only to get a very good look late in the shot clock? Contrast that to the numberous occasions when UD would make one pass and jack up a three with 27 seconds left on the shot clock, and it turns out that having upperclassmen on whom you can rely in tight games is actually a pretty valuable thing.

Try as it might, UD just could not give this game away. I'll try to cover all of the ways the Flyers could have -- and should have -- lost, but I'm bound to miss a few. Feel free to add your own in the comments section. Now, on with the bullets...

First Half

• "Fluid" is not an adjective I would use to describe Dayton's offense even when Juwan Staten is playing and playing well. He sat out tonight's game with a foot injury, and UD's O was downright pathetic. I can't think of a game in which I've seen more unforced turnovers. That was simply brutal to watch.
• Did Chris Johnson really airball a finger roll?
• Chris Wright picked up two fouls in the first 2:58 of the game. Nice half out of our best player.
• Parker started the game at the point, and Paul Williams ran the show when JP headed to the bench. It was every bit as horrifying as I'd imagined it.
• Does this team ever get off to a quick start? Do they know they're allowed to score more than a point per minute in the first half? CCSU held the Flyers to 11 points in the first 11:45 of this game.
• We've gotta be close to putting the Luke Fabrizius Experiment to an end, right? Right!?!? Luke was 0-2 from deep in 10 minutes of action tonight. He can't defend; hell, he can barely run up and down the court. It was a nice run, Lucas, but there comes a time when you just have to cut bait. Pull up a chair next to Ralph Hill and enjoy the rest of your free ride.
• Watched the game with my brother tonight (as if living with me isn't bad enough, he gets subjected to this shit twice a week), and I said to him: "They don't have a guy taller than 6'6" in the game, so why do we keep settling for threes?" His replay: "You guys aren't settling for threes, you're actively seeking them out on every possession."
• The Flyers finally went inside and let the Big Dog eat. Searcy got back-to-back easy ones in the paint to cut a six point deficit to two. What happened next? BG substituted for Big Dog at the next dead ball ... Obviously.
• Some more shit happened, most of it not good, and then CCSU hit a long two to end the first half. The Flyers trailed 29-23 at the break.

Second Half

• Chris Johnson started to come to life here in the second half. CJ (8 points) and Wright (2) combined on a 10-2 run to give UD a one-point lead, its first in quite a while.
• Speaking of Wright, is it possible his jump shot has regressed? I mean, I've given up on it improving at this point, but I didn't really expect it to get any worse. His jumper from just outside the elbow was about 18 inches long; it hit the backboard and drew no iron.
• Benson's alley-oop was straight-up nasty. He pointed to the sky, Parker held on to the ball until just the right moment, and Benson caught it and threw it down with authority.
• I never really thought, "Holy shit we might lose this thing," until CCSU grabbed a 49-42 lead with 7:42 to play and forced BG to burn a timeout. That was the first time that thought crossed my mind, and it would not be the last.
• If Josh Parker's shot was ruled a two-pointer on the court, I certainly did not see "indisputable video evidence" to overturn it and make it a three. Someone on the officiating crew apparently did, though, and the change made it a one-point advantage for the Flyers.
• When I played basketball in the sixth grade, our coach instructed the team to always, always, always play a 2-3 zone when the other team is inbounding the ball underneath our hoop. The reasoning behind this was that, in man-to-man, it's too easy to get picked and let your man score an easy lay-up. Maybe my sixth grade coach could give BG and co. a call.
• CJ airballed another shot inside five feet, his second of the game, but to his credit he stuck with the play. Great effort to get the ball back and get fouled. Johnson canned both free throws to put the good guys up 61-59.
• Why in the name of Chris Wright's Lord and Savior is Paul Williams bringing the ball up the floor when UD is up by two with under 30 seconds to play? I just want to personally thank the CCSU dude who panicked and turned the ball back over. If he stays calm and pump fakes a pass there, P-Will jumps in the air and goes flying by. Then he can throw the ball ahead for an uncontested, game-tying lay-up.
• After Parker knocked down two free throws with 15.9 seconds left, I let out a nice big sigh of relief. Turns out that was premature.
• Fouling before the inbounds pass and letting CCSU score points while the clock stood still was bad.
• CJ's traveling violation was worse. (By the way, what was BG lobbying the official about on that one? That Johnson clearly committed a carrying violation before he walked?)
• Leaving CCSU's hottest player wide-fucking-open for the game winning three was worse still. Just pathetic.

Post Mortem

• How about the announcer declaring that we're headed for overtime before the Blue Devils player even shot the putback? He said he was assuming a make. What the ... I'm pretty sure he thought the game was tied and was just covering his ass after the fact.
• Big Dog had a pretty solid game - 8 points and 7 boards. However, I'm pretty sure that even if UD played a 6-foot and under team, Searcy still wouldn't get double-digit shot attempts.
• Johnson and Parker led the way with 18 and 16 points respectively. Most important was the pair's free throw shooting. They combined to go 13-of-14 from the charity stripe.
• The Flyers turned the ball over 20 times; it felt like 40.
• Parker dished out 8 assists and had 4 turnovers and was forced to play 35 minutes in Staten's absence. I thought he was serviceable, but let's hope for a speedy return to the line-up for Juwan.
• CCSU outplayed Dayton in every category save for rebounding (-10 differential) and free throw shooting. Count your blessings, Flyers fan, this is a game the home team loses on the majority of nights.

Enjoy the box score and the win, no matter how hollow it really is. My advice to you: try not to think about how long Brian Gregory is under contract. That shit'll keep you up all night.

The Four Factors

 

Miami Recap: Marshalls 70, J. Crew 58

It's Big Dog's choice tonightFirst off, I want to give a big middle finger to the Ohio State women’s volleyball team. Not only did the Lady Buckeyes take out UD’s women’s soccer team, they tore asunder the hopes and dreams of the UD volleyball squad. Couldn’t you big-timers save some postseason scraps for the little guy girl? I know what you all are thinking, is it time to make a change? Rest easy, I think that Kelly Sheffield has the program in the right direction. Who the fuck is Kelly Sheffield you ask? Don’t worry about it.  

Now then, let’s move onto tonight’s 70-58 victory over the RedHawks of Miami.

This win certainly won’t turn any heads, and it definitely doesn’t indicate that the ship has been put back on course. What it means is that the Flyers were able to stop the bleeding, gushing from every orifice at this point, resulting from the past two losses. UD broke out a little zone, hit some foul shots down the stretch, and make enough plays to hand Miami its fifth loss of the season.

Chris Wright damn near went the whole way tonight, logging 36 minutes. Kountry Chris scored a game-high 18 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. And it wasn’t on dunks and put-backs either. CW was hitting floaters, jumpers from the elbow and looking like an all-conference player. That is when he wasn’t turning the ball over. Miami picked up on Wright’s one offense move – get the ball at the top of the key, dribble once or twice to the right and try to hit a runner off the glass – almost instantaneously, and were able to poke the ball away from behind on several occasions. KC finished the game with seven turnovers, a blight on an otherwise complete game from UD’s version of Felipe Lopez.

Juwan Staten’s ability to drive and dish paid dividends once again, as he doled out eight assists (to go along with twelve points). More importantly, Staten showed competence from the charity stripe, hitting eight-of-ten, including six in a row over the last two and a half minutes. Several of Staten’s penetrations created wide-open looks for Paul Willie (15 points), who hit three three-pointers on the night – increasing his season percentage to 46% from behind the arc.  

Donoher's unsupportive lady-friendBig Dog was allowed to eat tonight, going a perfect five-for-five from the field, scoring ten points. Searcy was in a bit of foul trouble and was limited to just seventeen minutes against the RedHawks. When Big Dog scores, UD wins, it’s an inscrutable fact. It’s a good thing Big Dog stepped up, as Josh Benson turned in a shit show of a performance and Matt Kavanaugh was…Matt Kavanaugh.  

The Flyers were finally able to create some havoc defensively against an opponent, forcing the RedHawks into 20 turnovers. Not coincidentally, the Flyers outscored Miami 20-4 in fastbreak points. The Flyers were actually outrebounded by the Redhawks, usually a negative indicator for UD, and still managed to pull out a 12 point victory. Give the Flyers credit, they turned up the intensity in the second half and outscored Miami 41-25, earning a much-needed pat on the back. Most importantly, the Flyerz didn't cover the 13 point spread (I apologize to those who got in at 8 or 7.5, my prayers are with you.)

Some quick notes:

• Luke Fab turned in a three-trillionaire performance. Good on ya, Fab.
• If you immediately said to yourself, “Hey, UD beat Miami by 12. Miami beat Xavier by 11. We are totally going to kill Xavier,” go to the mirror and say slowly, “I’m a fucking idiot.” Repeat if necessary.
• Devin Oliver put on clinic in misdirected freshmen exuberance. The kid forced the issue at every turn and was a real detriment. BG rewarded him with 10 minutes. Go figure.
• Brandon Spearman just seems to disappear into the background. He played over eight minutes, yet I don’t remember him being on the court at all tonight. Dude actually scored a basket too.
• Josh Parker on the season: 32.3% from the field, 28.6% from three. Are we still in love with him? He’s like a busted chick with huge tits. Eventually you get past the fact that she is smuggling cannons and you move on with your life.
• UD had its first sellout of the season tonight. Best fans in the nation!!!

The Four Factors

Battle of the Flange

Let him eat!!After a very sluggish opening half, in which Mount Saint Mary's actually held the lead with around six minutes to go, the Flyers opened things up and took care of business against a very young and inexperienced Mountaineer team. UD emptied the bench and walked, possibly skipped, out of the Arena with a 67-52 victory to open its 2010-11 basketballing campaign.

For the most part, UD was the same old UD we have come to love and loathe. The Flyers shot 24% from three and an abysmal, if not typical, 46% from the charity stripe. The defense is certainly not at previous levels, but that was to be expected as Brian Gregory is bringing in five newcomers to the fold. Dayton was not able to get out on the break as much as I thought they would, scoring only twelve fast break points on the day.

Nevertheless, a win is a win. Let's fire 'em off:

• It’s official, if you preferred last year’s starting center over Devin Searcy you are either a heavy mouth breather or an abhorrent racist, possibly (probably) both. I’m looking at you Brian Gregory and He Who Shall Not Be Named apologists. The Big Dog finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds. I repeat, a Dayton center grabbed 12 boards and was actually a factor on the offensive side of the floor. Good thing he only played fourteen minutes a game last season, right? What a goddamn waste.
• Chris Wright was his usual steady and predictable self, registering a double-double (11 pts, 11 reb) against the Mount. His outside game is always going to be lacking, and today was no different as he went 0-3 from outside the arc. Kountry Chris finished the day shooting just 4-of-15 and 1-of-4 from the foul line. Wright did have a couple of nice drives to the basket, showing the ability to put the ball on the floor and blow by his defender. Not sure how pliable that scenario will be against tougher opponents, but at least we know it’s in his repertoire.
• I’ve been critical of Paul Willie since his freshman year, but today he was as efficient offensively as he’s ever been. PW hit a couple of three pointers and even a few stop-and-pops from about fifteen feet out. Williams’ last two outings have been 14 and 16 point affairs. As long as Staten, et al. can create open looks for PW while he stands in the corner he has the chance to have a very productive year.
• Chris Johnson has seen better days. CJ seemed to rush shots, on bad looks no less, from the jump. But, we know today was merely an anomaly. Absolutely no need to rush to judgment. He still did some of the little things that make him invaluable to this Flyer squad – eight rebounds, four assists and two blocks and a fucking ridiculous put-back jam that had to have creamed a fair share of jeans.
• If Josh Parker was in a shootout with the cops, he would make sure to empty every single magazine he put in his assault rifle. JP doesn’t leave shots on the table; he goes out in a blaze of glory. Parker hit a few shots, missed a bunch. He scored seven points and pulled down five rebounds. Josh Parker doesn't give a shit what you think of him, he just wants you to feel his presence. I can respect that.
• Here’s what we can take away from Juwan Staten’s performance: he isn’t going to force the issue. Staten played under control for practically all of the 26 minutes he was on the floor this afternoon, a welcome change from seasons past. Not a great shooting day (just 2-of-9 from the floor), but I don’t think we necessarily expected him to consistently knock down jumpers anyway. He came into UD with a reputation as a high-energy guard who makes everyone around him better, not as a great perimeter shooter. This is exactly what he did today, dishing out eight assists and turning the ball over just once.
• Not much to say about the rest of the freshmen. Spearman, Oliver and Hill all seemed a bit tentative, natural for newcomers, and basically hung around the three-point line on offense as five of the trio’s seven combined shot attempts came from outside the arc. The less heralded freshmen were like a bunch of old dogs, just stay out of everyone’s way and try not to shit on the floor and everyone’s happy. Spearman seems like he will log significant minutes this year, Hill appears to be caught in a numbers game and will likely see his time diminish once Luke Fab comes back. Still have no clue what Oilver is going to eventually bring to the team.  

Nothing more to see here. The Flyers prepare for Akron this Tuesday night, in what should be a more accurate representation of this team's potential. The Zips always seem to give Dayton their best shot, and I would expect the same in a few days.

Mount Saint Mary's vs. Dayton

		S	MIN	PTS	FG	FG%	2P	2P%	3P	3P%	FT	FT%	OR	DR	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF
	J. Norfleet	*	34	15	5-16	31	2-3	66	3-13	23	2-2	100	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	1
	L. Trice	*	33	8	4-11	36	4-8	50	0-3	0	0-0		1	6	7	5	2	0	3	3
	S. Atupem	*	33	14	5-11	45	5-11	45	0-0		4-5	80	3	6	9	0	2	0	2	1
	D. Golladay	*	24	2	1-6	16	1-5	20	0-1	0	0-1	0	1	2	3	0	2	0	3	1
	R. Barber	*	23	2	0-3	0	0-3	0	0-0		2-6	33	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
	J. Castellanos		19	4	0-2	0	0-0	0	0-2	0	4-4	100	0	1	1	4	0	0	0	1
	D. Thompson		19	6	2-4	50	2-4	50	0-0		2-2	100	1	0	1	0	0	1	1	2
	T. Jackson		15	1	0-2	0	0-2	0	0-0		1-2	50	1	2	3	0	0	1	0	1
	Mount		200	52	17-55	30	14-36	38	3-19	15	15-22	68	8	23	31	10	6	2	9	12
		S	MIN	PTS	FG	FG%	2P	2P%	3P	3P%	FT	FT%	OR	DR	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF
	UD		200	67	28-69	40	23-48	47	5-21	23	6-13	46	20	34	54	18	3	7	12	17
	C. Johnson	*	26	6	2-10	20	2-5	40	0-5	0	2-2	100	6	2	8	4	0	2	2	1
	C. Wright	*	26	11	5-14	35	5-11	45	0-3	0	1-4	25	3	7	10	1	0	2	2	4
	J. Staten	*	26	4	2-9	22	2-9	22	0-0		0-1	0	0	1	1	8	0	0	1	1
	P. Williams	*	24	14	6-10	60	4-6	66	2-4	50	0-0		0	3	3	3	1	0	1	1
	D. Searcy	*	21	15	7-8	87	7-8	87	0-0		1-2	50	5	7	12	0	1	1	2	0
	J. Parker		21	7	3-9	33	2-5	40	1-4	25	0-0		1	4	5	1	0	0	2	1
	M. Kavanaugh		14	2	0-0		0-0	0	0-0		2-4	50	2	3	5	0	0	1	0	2
	B. Spearman		14	3	1-4	25	0-1	0	1-3	33	0-0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
	J. Benson		11	2	1-1	100	1-1	100	0-0		0-0		0	1	1	0	0	0	1	2
	D. Oliver		9	0	0-2	0	0-1	0	0-1	0	0-0		0	2	2	1	1	0	0	1
	R. Hill		5	3	1-1	100	0-0	0	1-1	100	0-0		1	1	2	0	0	1	0	2
	L. Nourse		2	0	0-0		0-0	0	0-0		0-0		0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
	P. Zestermann		1	0	0-1	0	0-1	0	0-0		0-0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Findlay Falls Short in an Attempt to Play spOILERS

See what I did there with the title? I'll be here all season. Here I was prepared to write about how JP and Spearman have played Paul Williams out of the rotation, and then he started hitting jumpers like the shooter he was recruited to be. I'm calling it right now that Spearman is my dude, I like his style and if for no other reason than my #32 Johnson jersey is a simple name change away from being relevant again. There were several positives as well as several negatives from this match up. I will start off with the positives:

• The Staten/Parker combo is legit with both of them having the ability to create off the dribble as well has consistently knock down mid range jumpers
• Parker provides some help in the 3pt department that was lacking last season as he hit 3 of 5 tonight
• Spearman looks to be an instant impact player as he provided a much needed spark in the 2nd half. He also follows the established Flyer MO of being a freak athlete
• Although he saw limited minutes and didn't contribute much, Big Dog seemed to be moving well which is good to see as he is rebounding from a concussion that kept him out last week
• The team shooting looks to be much improved from last season as tonight they posted 48% from the field, 38% from 3pt, and 75% from the charity stripe
• Especially given the fact that he is tall, white, and rebounding from a knee injury, Fo-three-zius actually looks to be moving well and a few steps quicker on both sides of the ball
• Capitalizing on opponent's mistakes is crucial and the Flyers did that tonight converting 23 points off of 13 forced turnovers

And here go the negatives: DISCLAIMER before anyone freaks out, this is clearly an assessment of one game and is hopefully not indicative of what will happen throughout the season.

• Say what you will about Findlay being the #1 rated team in D2, the defense shown by the Flyers was completely inconsistent. For Paul Williams being the defensive specialist that others (not myself) claim him to be, he should not be getting beat off the dribble for an and 1 against a D2 opponent. Not only were guys getting beat off the dribble far too often, the high pick and occasional roll, caused fits for the Flyers. There was too much miscommunication on who was going high, when to switch, etc.
• For those of you already planning on purchasing a Chris Wright NBA jersey, I wouldn't spend that money just yet. CW looked a lot like the player of old and not the Chris Wright that we were hoping for this season. While playing 25 minutes he posted 9 points and 5 rebounds. While those numbers aren't awful, what isn't told by them is how he scored. CW missed all 5 shots that he took and converted 2 dunks and a layup to finish 3-8. I was really hoping that CW was going to heed the advice of the scouts this offseason and work on his midrange game to get him up to par with the next level, but if tonight is any indication, that didn't happen. Let's all just hope it was an off night.
• Despite my early infatuation with him, JP comes from the LeBron James school of 3pt shooting. In two games so far this year when JP has knocked down a jumper from deep, he has come back down the very next possession and put up the same shot. Luckily so far he has done the opposite of Rob Lowery, and actually made these shots, but this mentality could come back to hurt us down the road. Regardless, a wise man once told me "shooters shoot" and that is exactly what JP is, a shooter.
• The UD offense again this year is allergic to the post. While I will admit, I passively watched the first half until Blackburn told me I was on recap duty, but I can count 2 times in the 2nd half that the ball was dumped into the post. Once to Fab and once to Kav. Big Dog has got to be thinking, "who does a guy have to blow around here to get the ball in the post?" It is crucial that this team learns to dump the ball inside, if for no other reason than to free up the perimeter for CJ, JP, Fab, et al.
• Devin Oliver was unfortunately turned into a poster in his second collegiate game. Even worse is that he got posterized by a guy who averaged less than 2PPG last season in D2 basketball
• While the assists came on towards the end, for a majority of this game, the Flyers had more turnovers than assists. They finished with 14 AST and 12 TO, which is still nothing to call home about. The main silver lining in this one is that JP finished with 4 AST and 0 TO.
• Big Dog and Benson look pretty useless and a lot of this comes from the lack of interior passing. These two will be crucial when we face off against real basketball teams who's centers are not 6'6-6'8.

All in all, I think there are a few things that we can hang our hat on and take solace in the fact that it is the beginning of November and a long time between now and March. I will finish this off with a few ridiculous quotes from the commentary of this game:

"Looks like Parker is going to be our player of the game again tonight"

"Haha we'll shake it up and come up with some intangibles" (I thought intangibles graduated with Kurt)

"Staten on the bench with 4 fouls, Parker in with 3, I've got a question: who do you have as your third point guard" With absolutely no hesitation "Paul Williams....got any other questions?" (Really? Paul Williams running the point literally makes me vomit a little in my mouth)

"Is that an afternoon game?" "It is, not sure if it is 2 o'clock or 4 o'clock tip off yet, that depends on if there are any high school football playoff games" (Are our games really scheduled around high school football??)

NIT Wishlists

The Big Dog Hunted

Despite what John thinks, yesterday was all about college football. Even if you didn't think so and you are love nothing but college basketball, well then UNC/UK should have piqued your interest. In terms of the Dayton/Lehigh tilt, that was so far down the radar that I would be stunned if anyone of us 4 bloggers watched any of the game. Tom claims he watched about 5 minutes of the start of the game, Jim was taking the LSAT, Ollie was doing some papers for grad school, and I was drinking all day at Bdubs. Here are some bullet points from yesterday's game.

• Devin Searcy...welcome to the party.  It's a shame that Kurt Huelsman is a senior because I doubt Gregory has the balls to start Searcy over Kurt. To be honest, Kurt didn't play THAT bad yesterday (according to the boxscore and my dad, the ultimate Kurt homer). However, Searcy has been playing so much better than the other centers this year.  Which brings me to my next point.

• Matt Kavanaugh.  If you only play 6 minutes of garbage time vs. a shitty team like Lehigh, you aren't going to be playing at all vs. Xavier, Temple, St Joe's, etc. and probably even the next game vs. George Mason.  I don't want to rip Matt because I don't know him and he is only a freshman, but I'm sorry Brian Gregory, why the hell is he on this team?

• It's most likely because Lehigh sucks, but kudos to Dayton's 3-point defense. Not every team is going to light it up like Towson did, but not every team is going to suck like Lehigh did yesterday. I'd like Dayton to hold their opponents to 35% from beyond the arc.  If they do that, they should cruise through the rest of these non-conference games.

• I can't believe I am going to say this but Luke Fab is playing so much better than Marcus Johnson this year, that maybe...just MAYBE...that Marcus needs to come off the bench rather than start. Granted Luke is still a defensive liability, but he at least is making his shots. Marcus should probably just stop shooting the 3 and just keep slashing to the lane.

• Good to see Rob Lowery back since London Warren has been shitting the bed this year. Hopefully Rob, London, and Mickey can start controlling the ball better. 18 turnovers vs. a terrible Lehigh team is no way to go through life.  I do like Dayton controlling the rebounding game, and 11-15 from the FT line is good. Hopefully, Dayton can build on this.

• From the comments, I understand there was a double white out at yesterday's game.  I hope someone got some video evidence of this because it might never happen again, unless you are playing against Alter High School (shout-out to them for winning state again, even if they are Division 32). It's also sad that the aforementioned Kavanaugh was part of the white out. Damn shame that Mark Ashman is not around anymore.

• Lastly, I don't want to talk about the football game yesterday (I'll talk about it my 5 Things I Know column), but I don't think anyone saw Alabama playing that well yesterday along with Florida playing that bad.  Also, Texas sucks and is going to get slaughtered. I can see John's point why he is pissed about not having a true champion (something tells me he wants to see Cincinnati in the championship game), but what can college football do? Let's say there is an 8 team playoff. This year, that would be Alabama, Texas, Cincinnati, TCU, Florida, Boise State, Oregon, and Ohio State. Most likely seeded in that order. What about Georgia Tech (winner of a BCS conference) and what about Iowa?  If we go to 8 teams, the #9 and #10 teams would be pissed. There is no perfect system.  And while we are at it, who the fuck is going to win the Heisman? Does anyone want it? Tune in later this week to see my bowl predictions and Heisman winner.

		S	MIN	PTS	FGM	FGA	FG%	FTM	FTA	FT%	3PM	3PA	3P%	OR	DR	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF
	C. McCollum	*	30	16	3	11	27	8	10	80	2	6	33	0	2	2	1	1	0	3	2
	D. Buchberger	*	27	11	3	4	75	4	4	100	1	2	50	0	1	1	4	1	0	1	1
	M. Hall	*	23	6	3	8	37	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	6	1	0	1	4
	G. Knutson	*	21	10	4	7	57	2	2	100	0	0	0	2	4	6	0	0	1	0	0
	J. Adams	*	16	3	1	4	25	0	0	0	1	3	33	1	1	2	1	1	0	3	1
	H. Greiner		24	8	4	6	66	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	2	2	2	0	1	2
	J. Maneri		17	4	0	0	0	4	4	100	0	0	0	3	3	6	0	0	0	1	2
	R. Keefer		15	11	4	8	50	3	3	100	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
	P. Small		13	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	1	0	0	3	1
	M. Ojo		7	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	M. Shamis		3	1	0	0	0	1	2	50	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	R. Peters		2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	D. Safstrom		2	1	0	0	0	1	2	50	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	1	0	0
		S	MIN	PTS	FGM	FGA	FG%	FTM	FTA	FT%	3PM	3PA	3P%	OR	DR	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF
	M. Johnson	*	27	9	4	8	50	0	0	0	1	3	33	0	3	3	1	0	0	1	2
	C. Johnson	*	25	13	5	8	62	2	3	66	1	3	33	3	4	7	0	3	0	1	3
	C. Wright	*	22	16	8	13	61	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	7	10	2	0	0	3	0
	K. Huelsman	*	17	5	1	3	33	3	4	75	0	0	0	2	1	3	3	1	0	2	1
	L. Warren	*	15	3	1	2	50	1	2	50	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	1	0	3	2
	P. Williams		23	3	1	3	33	0	0	0	1	2	50	0	3	3	4	0	0	0	3
	L. Fabrizius		16	9	3	7	42	0	0	0	3	5	60	1	1	2	0	0	0	1	2
	M. Perry		15	8	3	6	50	2	2	100	0	1	0	0	2	2	2	1	0	1	1
	D. Searcy		12	13	5	5	100	3	4	75	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	2	4
	R. Lowery		8	8	3	3	100	0	0	0	2	2	100	0	0	0	3	1	0	0	0
	J. Benson		8	2	1	3	33	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	0	0	0	2	3
	M. Kavanaugh		6	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0	0	1	1	1
	D. Fox		3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	L. Hendrick		1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	P. Zestermann		1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	0
	L. Nourse		1	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0