Head Coach
Brian Gregory
University of Dayton Arena
Edwin Moses Boulevard
Dayton, OH 45469
Dear BG:
Hey Coach, now that the season is finished I thought that I would write to you on behalf of the 3,000+ members here at UDPride.com.
Yeah, I realize that it’s only the
regular season that has ended, but let’s face facts:
This team is done
Finito
Over and out
The Flyers are not going to claim the A-10 Championship in AC, even if you somehow manage to win in Amherst; you are not headed to the NCAAs; and we all hope to hell that neither the NIT nor, heaven forbid, the CBI comes calling. We want this season to be over and more importantly, it’s pretty clear that your players do, too.
When Drew Formentini from WINGAM.com asked you after the “2nd Annual
SLU Senior Night Debacle” on Wednesday if you had lost this team, you told him that he was the first guy to bring it up.
No he isn’t. Not by a long shot.
The 3,000+ good folks here at UD Pride are all convinced that you have lost the Flyer players and fans are ****ed off to varying degrees, ranging from “BG please do something different on offense!” to “FIRE BG NOW!!!” You’ll find the same thing over at FlyerHoops.net; likewise in the comments section of the
DDN if you are masochistic enuf to read them.
And I hate to tell you this, but most of them are leaning towards the latter rather than the former.
Those fans at the Arena on Wednesday night were not cheering “Luuukke” Coach; those were boos. I was there in the Arena for the “1st Annual SLU Senior Night Debacle” last year when the Red and Blue were booed off the Arena floor at halftime and thought it was terrible. I can only imagine how it felt this time.
Okay, so enuf about the past.
What the heck are you gonna do about it next year?
Can I make a suggestion?
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know sh*t from Shinola when it come to Xs and Os… but I can think of someone who does.
It entails getting in your car and driving north on Interstate 75 about 250 miles. Get off at the University Drive exit. It’s a place you know very, very well.
Your alma mater, Oakland University.
Head into “The Orena” and into the Athletic Department offices and plop your butt down in the chair in the Basketball office and start firing questions.
To Greg Kampe, your old Head Coach.
Besides coaching you, NBA prospect Keith Benson and hundreds of other guys over the last 26 seasons, there is something else that Coach Kampe is noted for and that is what brings you to see him.
The Dribble Drive Offense
Coach Kampe is one of the acknowledged gurus of the Dribble Drive Offense. He’s like Yoda, only with bad hair!
Coach Kampe teaches the Dribble Drive Offense at clinics, like this one for the COBA:
http://cobacampblog.blogspot.com/201...ty-topics.html
I found this item in the comments section to be interesting:
“We rarely get on players for poor shot selection because we want them to play with freedom rather than looking over at the bench.”
This year, Coach Kampe has kept the dribble drive offense but has switched from man-to-man to a matchup zone defense:
http://rochester.patch.com/articles/...chups-to-start
Hmmm.
So why the Dribble Drive Offense?
-- It’s something different. No offense, but having Luke Fabrizius set a (moving) screen 30 feet from the hoop is not an offense, Coach.
-- It suits your existing personnel. It’s tailor-made for guys like Juwan, Josh Benson and Chris Johnson. You think LaDontae Henton and Percy Gibson would be excited about running in this kind of offense? Or how about Alter’s Jaaron Simmons in a couple of years?
-- It will make the Flyers less predictable, which will be invaluable in the Atlantic 10 campaign next year. Admit it: A-10 teams knew what your players were gonna do before they did. That ain’t good.
-- Not only does Coach Kampe run it, but Slick Rick down at UL does as well along with a growing number of your peers. You’ll get to see it firsthand on Tuesday because Derek Kellogg at
UMass is a proponent – and he’s got the guy who developed the dribble drive offense, Vance Walberg on his staff:
http://www.coachesclipboard.net/Drib...onOffense.html
If nothing else make the drive to OU; learn the principles of Dribble Drive from your mentor; bring them back and experiment with them on the European tour this summer. See how it works when nobody is watching. If you like the results, whip it out on an unsuspecting field at the Old Spice Classic in Orlando this November. Or better yet, save it up for Chris Mack or Chris Mooney in A-10 play next year, when they least suspect it.
That will surprise them. And it would shock the hell out of us.
Thanks for listening, Coach.
Jim “Swampy” Meadows
UDPride.com