UD Returns to MSG

I'm not sure how we are supposed to feel about the past two weeks.  Is this team finally showing glimpses of what could have (should have) been? Are the Flyers, and by extension the "Faithful," taking this thing too seriously? Should we even care at this point?

I don't know the answers to any of these questions. I have watched all three of UD's NIT tilts and came away without drawing a single conclusion. It's kind of how I feel after I watch How to Make it in America every Sunday night. I tune into each episode with little to no expectation of actually being entertained or engaged in any sense of the word(s). I literally stare at the TV screen unmoved by what is unfolding before my eyes, barely paying attention. If the show was canceled tomorrow I wouldn't care in the least bit. Yet, I know I will be turning the channel to HBO this Sunday, merely because I am somewhat invested in the show and want to see if the plodding plot will ever develop into something interesting.

It's no different with the run up to the bushleague Final Four. What are the implications if UD wins the NIT, other than firmly solidifying itself as an also-ran (a champion also-ran, that is)? Not much. So, simply sit back and enjoy it for what it is. Think of it as an organized pickup game.

On the bright side, UD fans have made a solid impression over these past two weeks. Only 5,000 people showed up to watch the Flyers take on Illinois State. You have to respect the fact that people are unwilling to throw good money after bad. During this run, UD took down two programs from the evil power structure that is the Big Six (which is always a positive, if only to hear people who despise the term "mid-major" take so much pride in beating mediocre teams from the power conferences. How very...mid-major of them), which the sports depatment can skew to make it look more impressive than it actually is. So, yeah, there's some good stuff in there.

From a personal standpoint, the NIT gives me yet another chance to act hypocrtiically, which is always a welcome opportunity. Whereas my stance on the NIT is that I wouldn't watch it if it was being played in my backyard, -- well, it istheoretically in my backyard. And I'm going. Although I will likely have one of the shortest commutes, I'm still a ham-and-egger for going. Although, I had some reassurance walking to work today. I passed a guy in a North Carolina hat/sweatshirt combo, at least I'm not that fucking guy. Last year his team was cutting down the nets in Detroit, this year he is in New York watching his Heels take on Rhode Island. So, it could be worse.

• Kurt Huelsman ends his career in Madison Square Garden. I can't think of a more appropriate venue, the World's Most Famous Arena, for the big man to say goodbye in.
• How great is this country? Try this on for size. You are a head coach of a mid-major basketball program. You are returning 10 of your top 11 scorers. Your team is the unanimous pick to win the conference. Instead, you go 8-8, losing 12 games (in pretty much he same exact fashion). And yet, there are people who are reportedly willing to throw $2 million dollars a year at you to take over their fledgling program. That, my friends, is what this country is all about.
• Sobering thought of the day: Since 2004, Xavier has been to two Elite Eights and two Sweet Sixteens. The Muskies have been to the Tournament in nine of the last ten years. The chances of UD ever replicating this type of success? None. 

NIT Wishlists

Mailing It In

The 16,000,000,000,000 ManWelp, all the doom and gloom around here has finally come to fruition. Teams that lose the 5 of their last 7 don't go dancing (but they do get pizza parties!). SOS does not matter. RPI does not matter. You just don't get to go to the big boy's tournament when you shit your pants in the homestretch. That goes doubly for mid-majors.

I don't know about you, but it's almost a relief. The resignment is official and lasting now. As much as we enjoyed yelling about MUST WINS and waiting with baited breath for Smilin' Joes freshest brackets, we can pack that shit up and concentrate on the ensuing baseball season and finally get around to cataloging our porn collections.

Honestly, I don't know what to chalk this disappointment of a season up to. I think we were incredibly lucky last season and played well above our heads, thus leading to our present outlandish expectations. As the season wore on, and the detachment allowed us to view the team a bit more objectively, it become obvious we weren't all that talented of a team. We've got two very nice players in Chrises Wright and Johnson (though the cool kids swear Johnson is the better of the two, we know that's not true) and a bunch of inconsistent dreck. Some probably wouldn't in Brad Brownell's rotation (Mickey Perry, I'm looking at you). There's hope for some of that dreck, but for the most part you didn't have a clue what they were going to bring to the table night in, night out this year.

In the spirit of the Flyers 1st half performance, we're going to mail the rest of this one in bullet-style.

• Paul Willie put up a 16 trillion tonight. That is more astonishing than you think. Walk-ons across the country give PW much respect tonight. They'll be whispering about it for years to come, Jordan-lore style well into the future.

• Kurt saw the scouts in attendance and brought it tonight. 13 and 7. TANGIBLES! He also was 3-10 from the free throw line which makes me all the more confident I could take him in a game of HORSE.

• Big Dog and Benson combined for 8 and 5 in 14 minutes. Saint Louis could use some size.

• Not sure what to make of Pop-A-Shot. Is he going to be this fragile his whole career or was this some freakish lingering injury? Anyways since the Rhody game he's contributed 6 points on 2-16 shooting and 3 rebounds, albeit in very limited time.

• When you allow the other team to go on an 18-0 run, you can pretty much head to the showers. 10 minutes without scoring, go ahead and check your messages and start making plans for the evening.

• Willie Reed is averaging 12 and 8. Against the Flyers, he's averaging 3.5 and 6.5. Clearly, frightened by the color red.

• We pounded them on the boards 37-25 and surprisingly didn't give that advantage back in turnovers. We did, however, manage to shoot the ball poorly enough to negate it.

Hater. I want to get this out there, I'm already opposed to Jesse Berry. SAT style: Kavanaugh: Donny::Berry:myself.

Word is leaking out now that  the reason he was suspended for a game earlier this year was a run-in with the police. He was charged with "conversion," which to the best of my knowledge is a euphemism for theft. There's also plenty of internet chatter about his character and what type of kid he is (which needs to be taken with a double helping of salt). He happens to be the most loathsome of player-types as well, the volume scorer. He's getting a hefty 22 a game on 46% and 35%, but he's also tallied only 23 assists to 61 turnovers. I would like nothing more than for Mr. Berry to make me look like I fool, but I remain dubious.

NCAA Basketball Stats

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
	K. Cassity	*	37	11	4	7	57.1	1	2	50.0	3	5	60.0	0	0		1	4	5	5	1	0	2	1
	K. Mitchell	*	35	20	5	9	55.6	1	2	50.0	4	7	57.1	6	9	66.7	0	5	5	2	0	0	3	3
	C. Ellis	*	28	10	3	8	37.5	1	2	50.0	2	6	33.3	2	2	100.0	0	3	3	0	1	0	1	3
	C. Salecich	*	22	8	2	3	66.7	0	0	0.0	2	3	66.7	2	2	100.0	0	1	1	2	0	0	1	1
	W. Reed	*	19	5	2	5	40.0	2	5	40.0	0	0		1	4	25.0	1	5	6	1	0	2	1	4
	J. Jordan		23	11	3	5	60.0	2	3	66.6	1	2	50.0	4	4	100.0	1	0	1	4	1	0	2	0
	B. Conklin		16	2	0	4	0.0	0	3	0.0	0	1	0.0	2	2	100.0	0	1	1	0	0	0	2	3
	C. Remekun		11	1	0	3	0.0	0	3	0.0	0	0		1	2	50.0	1	1	2	0	0	0	1	3
	J. Smith		9	3	1	1	100.0	1	1	100.0	0	0		1	1	100.0	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
	SLU		200	71	20	45	44.4	8	21	38.0	12	24	50.0	19	26	73.1	5	23	28	14	4	2	13	18
		S	MIN	PTS	FGM	FGA	FG%	2PA	2PA	2P%	3PM	3PA	3P%	FTM	FTA	FT%	OR	DR	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF
	UD		200	66	25	55	45.5	20	40	50.0	5	15	33.3	11	21	52.4	14	24	38	11	5	3	14	19
	C. Wright	*	32	15	7	13	53.8	7	13	53.8	0	0		1	4	25.0	4	4	8	0	2	1	1	4
	K. Huelsman	*	27	13	5	7	71.4	5	7	71.4	0	0		3	10	30.0	5	2	7	0	0	0	5	0
	L. Warren	*	24	8	2	3	66.7	2	3	66.6	0	0		4	4	100.0	0	3	3	3	0	0	1	5
	M. Johnson	*	23	3	1	5	20.0	0	3	0.0	1	2	50.0	0	0		1	2	3	0	1	0	2	2
	R. Lowery	*	20	11	3	7	42.9	1	3	33.3	2	4	50.0	3	3	100.0	0	4	4	4	0	0	1	4
	M. Perry		20	5	2	7	28.6	1	3	33.3	1	4	25.0	0	0		0	2	2	3	1	0	2	1
	C. Johnson		18	3	1	5	20.0	0	2	0.0	1	3	33.3	0	0		0	3	3	0	1	0	2	1
	P. Williams		16	0	0	0		0	0	0.0	0	0		0	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	J. Benson		8	4	2	4	50.0	2	4	50.0	0	0		0	0		2	3	5	0	0	1	0	0
	D. Searcy		6	4	2	2	100.0	2	2	100.0	0	0		0	0		1	0	1	1	0	1	0	0
	L. Fabrizius		6	0	0	2	0.0	0	0	0.0	0	2	0.0	0	0		0	1	1	0	0	0	0	2
		S	MIN	PTS	FGM	FGA	FG%	2PA	2PA	2P%	3PM	3PA	3P%	FTM	FTA	FT%	OR	DR	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF

NIT pizza party still on!

So fucking randomWhile waiting for the UD game to start, I found myself watching High Fidelity on TBS.  It is one of my all time favorite movies and I've probably seen it way too many times.  Everytime I watch, there is one scene that gets me each time.  In this scene, Rob Gordon (John Cusack) is talking to Marie DeSalle (Lisa Bonet) after they hooked up the night before.  They start talking about their exes and Rob asks how she can sleep with someone even though she is not over her ex-boyfriend (and he is not over his ex-girlfriend).  Marie says that even though her boyfriend is an asshole, she still loves him but "would never let an asshole come between her and a good fuck."  It got me thinking today.  This has to be the most random character in the history of cinema.  I mean, Lisa Bonet was a Cosby child!  They would have never uttered an f-bomb and they certainly would never have a one night stand.  So if Lisa Bonet's character is #1, who (in honor of Rob Gordon) are the remaining 4 in the Top 5 All Time Random Characters?  Before we get to the recap, here are my remaining top 5.  Feel free to leave your own comments. 

#2: The father from "Boy Meets World" was the racist dad in American History X.  So fucking random and weird. 

#3: Elizabeth Berkley in Showgirls.  Kelly Kapowski being a stripper?  Believable.  Lisa Turtle?  Possibly.  Jesse Spano?  No fucking way! 

#4: Mike Myers in Inglourious Basterds.  I knew he was going to be in the movie before I saw it but nothing prepared me for his scene.  It was weird, out of place, and to be honest, was quite pointless. 

#5: Katie Holmes getting topless in The Gift or her character in Thank You For Smoking.  When she starred in The Gift, she was still super innocent and the girl next door.  When she was in Thank You For Smoking, she was married to Tom Cruise and in full robot mode.  Plus, she was supposed to get naked in that movie but Tom said no way.  Fucking asshole.  So yeah, there you have it.  A random list on this random big game Sunday in February.

First Half Highlights

• Got a text from "winteringand" at the start of the game who said, "Who let the midget on the floor?"  If Lucas Newton is 5'10" (according to ESPN.com) then I am 6'5" and black.
• Chris Wright was doing his best LeBron James impression by scoring Dayton's first 11 points.
• Chris(t) Johnson then went all Dwyane Wade and scored the next 8 points for the Flyers.
• Agreed with O'Brien's top five Winter Olympic events but he forgot Ski Cross (not snowboard cross).  I watched a guy from Jamaica tear that shit up during a commercial break.
• The announcers took the words right out of my mouth when they said that Saunders needs to stay closer to the basket rather than shooting 3 pointers.  Dayton was getting a gift from Damian with him chucking up the trey after trey.
• Dayton as a team was jacking up 3 pointers like there was no tomorrow and, of course, were not making them.  At least they were counter-balancing out those misses by going 9-for-9 at the line.
• Dayton holding Saunders to 4 points gave them the opportunity to lead by 3 points at halftime.  Dayton shot 44% from the field but fired an embarrassing 18% from beyond the arc.

Second Half Lowlights

• At halftime, BG told Paul Willie to picture the Blackburn Review guys in his head and make them pay.  Back-to-back threes gave Dayton a bigger cushion.
• In fact, BG told the entire team to imagine the BR crew and make them eat shit.  The team responded by nailing 4 of their first 5 three pointers to start the 2nd half.
• Duquesne was doing what they always do.  Hang around and let the other team make the mistakes.  Saunders started going off right away.
• Invitations will be sent soon.Random note about college bball, big win for Ohio State today.  I can't quite put my finger on that team though.  Sweet 16?  For sure.  Final 4?  I don't know.
• It hurt Dayton big time when Chris Wright picked up his 4th foul with 10 minutes to go...
• ...But Chris Johnson nailed some clutch 3's to put Dayton up by 6...
• ...But then Damian Saunders went off again to give the Dukes the lead with just 8 minutes left.
• Just when Dayton was letting Duquesne run away with it, Paul Willie nailed a HUGE three to keep it close.
• Chris Johnson hit an even bigger 3 to tie the game at 69 (hehe!).  Chris Johnson is a fucking assassin.  More on this later.
• Dayton's season in a nut shell.  Bolding misses 2 FT's but Dayton can't get the rebound and it goes out of bounds.  Dayton forces a turnover but then turns it over right back and commits a foul.
• Sure, Duquesne tried to give the game away by missing a shit ton of free throws, but Dayton didn't help themselves as seen by the 20 turnovers.
• I believe it has been mentioned on this site (and most definitely UDPride), but the jump ball rule in college is bullshit.  I know I have said this before so don't point your finger and say, "You are just saying that because Dayton got fucked by the rule."  Make it like the NBA and actually have a jump ball.
• Down by 2, let's have Chris Johnson shoot a fadeway going out of bounds 3 pointer.  Good call Gregory!!!

Final Thoughts

Dayton shot 9/16 from 3 in the 2nd half which was fine and dandy except they turned the ball over way too much.  I don't want to point fingers and blame coaching, but let's just say that Brian Gregory is not making any friends this year.  At this rate, I will be STUNNED if Chris Wright comes back next year.  Granted this team will have some solid guys coming in, but I think CW is tired of this low grade donkey show.  Don't worry, this site will still be up and running the next few weeks.  It's the start of a fun 3 week stretch.  Tough loss today but as we have said all year (and my entire life), it's Dayton on the road...don't get your hopes up.

Dayton vs. Duquesne

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
	K. Huelsman	*	31	10	2	3	66.7	2	3	66.6	0	0		6	8	75.0	3	3	6	0	0	0	0	1
	C. Johnson	*	28	21	6	16	37.5	0	3	0.0	6	13	46.2	3	4	75.0	1	5	6	2	0	0	1	4
	C. Wright	*	27	15	7	7	100.0	7	7	100.0	0	0		1	1	100.0	1	5	6	0	1	2	4	4
	P. Williams	*	23	12	4	8	50.0	0	1	0.0	4	7	57.1	0	0		1	1	2	1	0	0	0	2
	L. Warren	*	15	4	2	3	66.7	2	3	66.6	0	0		0	0		0	1	1	6	0	1	4	5
	R. Lowery		23	7	2	6	33.3	1	2	50.0	1	4	25.0	2	2	100.0	0	2	2	6	1	0	6	2
	M. Johnson		18	0	0	2	0.0	0	0	0.0	0	2	0.0	0	0		0	3	3	2	1	0	1	1
	M. Perry		17	2	1	3	33.3	1	2	50.0	0	1	0.0	0	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1
	D. Searcy		8	0	0	0		0	0	0.0	0	0		0	0		0	2	2	0	2	0	1	2
	L. Fabrizius		6	0	0	2	0.0	0	0	0.0	0	2	0.0	0	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	J. Benson		4	0	0	0		0	0	0.0	0	0		0	0		0	1	1	1	0	0	2	0
	UD		200	71	24	50	48.0	13	21	61.9	11	29	37.9	12	15	80.0	8	26	34	18	5	3	21	22
		S	MIN	PTS	FGM	FGA	FG%	2PA	2PA	2P%	3PM	3PA	3P%	FTM	FTA	FT%	OR	DR	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF
	DUQ		200	73	27	59	45.8	25	41	60.9	2	18	11.1	17	31	54.8	15	20	35	15	9	1	11	17
	D. Saunders	*	32	20	8	17	47.1	8	14	57.1	0	3	0.0	4	7	57.1	2	3	5	1	3	0	2	4
	E. Evans	*	28	14	6	9	66.7	6	6	100.0	0	3	0.0	2	2	100.0	0	2	2	4	0	0	2	1
	B. Monteiro	*	27	8	3	6	50.0	3	5	60.0	0	1	0.0	2	4	50.0	0	2	2	5	1	1	2	1
	J. Duty	*	24	5	2	2	100.0	1	1	100.0	1	1	100.0	0	0		0	1	1	2	1	0	0	2
	M. Williams	*	17	6	2	3	66.7	2	3	66.6	0	0		2	5	40.0	2	2	4	2	0	0	0	1
	B. Clark		25	12	3	9	33.3	2	5	40.0	1	4	25.0	5	7	71.4	0	4	4	0	1	0	1	3
	M. Bolding		23	6	2	9	22.2	2	5	40.0	0	4	0.0	2	4	50.0	1	5	6	0	3	0	2	1
	S. Johnson		14	2	1	3	33.3	1	1	100.0	0	2	0.0	0	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2
	R. Peggau		5	0	0	1	0.0	0	1	0.0	0	0		0	2	0.0	2	0	2	0	0	0	1	2
	L. Newton		5	0	0	0		0	0	0.0	0	0		0	0		0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0