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End of Days
End of Days
Jim Meadows
Published by Swampy Meadows
02-24-2008
End of Days

Beverly Hills (MI) –- Okay, it’s been roughly 4 hours since the end of yet another disappointing Dayton/Xavier game. In that relatively short span of time, the MB has lit up with posts like UD during Christmas on Campus, except in a bad way, with the vast majority of them beyond negative. We’re talkin’ end of the world, Armageddon, ‘dogs living with cats’ kinda stuff, such as this:

“Buyout of BG's contract”

“Let's Bring in Anthony Grant”

“WANTED: Someone Who Can Shoot”

I’ve got 4 words for all of you Chicken Little, chicken sh*t, doomsday posters and they are neatly contained in a handy, all-purpose abbreviation:

STFU!

And no, it doesn’t stand for “Sure Thankful for Underwear.”

Let’s just say that you get your wish and the first 2 headlines do, indeed, come to pass: BG is bought out and Anthony Grant is brought in. If those first 2 things happen, so too will the third: UD will be looking for guys who can shoot, because the excellent shooters that BG has recruited -– Paul Williams, Chris Johnson and Luke Fabrizius –- are probably gonna be headed elsewhere.

Which take us right back to the “cupboard is bare” rebuilding mode that BG inherited from OP when he first got here. Is that really what you guys want?

As for BG going anywhere, I direct you to the following website:

www.itsnotgonnaf’inhappen.com

The Elder Swampette emailed me after the heartbreaking OT loss to LaSalle last Thursday, asking:

“How have you been a fan of this team for 40 years and not suffered a heart attack?”

Good question.

My response:

“I had 50 years of practice as a Red Sox fan, that’s how.”

Her response:

She got up early on Saturday and got her ass on the Megabus in Chicago for a 6 hour ride to Cincy, so she could hook up with her UD pals, sit in the next-to-the-last row in the UD Arena and cheer on the Flyers.

My favorite UD Pride MB thread in all this fire and brimstone: the one started by UD90 entitled “Booing after missed foul shots” in which he basically calls out UD fans for booing Andres after he missed his FTs:

“Let me first say I am as disappointed in the direction of our season as the next person, but if you booed when Sandoval missed his foul shot you are as low as the X fans who did it 2 years ago.

Do we have a right to be disgusted? Sure.

Do we have a right to sell our tickets? Sure.

But booing 18-22 year olds who were playing their hearts out is bush league.

I was embarrassed more by the fans who booed than our free throw percentage.”


Thank you, UD90, I’m right there with you. This incident made me glad that the X game was relegated to the television Siberia that is CSTV and not on ESPN, where someone might have actually witnessed it.

My least favorite post on the MB came courtesy of zmz723 in the “Xavier Game Thread”:

“Best part of the game: Harassing the X fans that were in the student section so much that they left during halftime.”

Thanks a pantload, zmz723 for providing X fans with still more ammunition in their expanding litany of supposed horror stories while attending games at the “Urine Dump” as they refer to our building on the Mustytears Madness MB. You should be really proud of yourself.

Trust me, I’m not happy about any of this BS. Like all of you, I’m still trying to figure out how it is possible for a team to go from being 14-1 and ranked #14 in the US to one that is in danger of not even making its own freakin’ conference tournament. But that doesn’t mean I’m giving up.

Despite rumors to the contrary, the sun is gonna come up tomorrow morning.

There are still games to be played and won.

Chris Wright will be back.

No, he won’t be Superman, but I’d settle for Willis Reed of the Knicks in the 1970 NBA Finals:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySy5PK2CWKk

That’s it “From the Swamp.”
You can email me at: swampy@udpride.com
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  #1  
By Avid Flyer on 02-24-2008, 08:53 PM
Too bad we don't know who those UD students were that heckled the X students as their tickets should be taken away from them. That type of behavior is not acceptable at UD, arena or otherwise.
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  #2  
By JimBo on 02-24-2008, 09:07 PM
Bravo, Swampy. Thanks so much for taking the time to write about how many of us feel after reading these boards after a loss.

And I cannot see how any real Flyer fan can boo any of these players after they left everything on the court today. These kids played their hearts out today and I for one am proud of their efforts.

This is the first thing I read before heading for the MB, maybe I'd be better off just skipping it and staying away for a few days.
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  #3  
By flyers/avs on 02-24-2008, 09:55 PM
For crying out loud, if there were X fans sitting INSIDE the UD student section, what exactly do you/they expect? Perhaps a recipe exchange? Maybe they should hold hands and sing church hymns? Maybe UD students should invite them over to their dorms to celebrate the X win?

Honestly. Any opposing fan sitting in the other team's student section is asking for trouble, be it at Dayton, XU, OSU, Michigan, anywhere! UD students aren't going to let them cheer for X in their section, nor should they.
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  #4  
By UD_Earl on 02-24-2008, 10:47 PM
The Reality is....

The program has made no progress at all under Gregory. The program is very stagnant. And you seem to have accepted this - I for one am sick of it. I am sick of being patient. I am sick watching a much more fundamentally sound team beat our team. I am sick of watching the same defenses push Roberts around with no answer for almost 2 months. The fans have been so loyal for so long. They do not deserve this. How many D-1 programs have this type of loyal following without the payoff? Again we will be in the top 25 in attendance with no post season. Changes need to be made.
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  #5  
By Fudd on 02-24-2008, 11:55 PM
There is reason to be upset with a few of our losses this year, but in this one, our team played well. I felt like our guys battled with everything they had. It was close enough to fall either way at the end.
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  #6  
By Piqua Flyer '66 on 02-25-2008, 08:51 AM
Yes, the answer is shooters..........

and I hope the guys you mention that are coming in next year fit the bill......

However I/we were told Binnie and Perry were great shooters also. Hope those inaccurate observations on the part of the coaches and scouts do not continue.

Go Flyers!
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  #7  
By UDBrian on 02-25-2008, 10:01 AM
Thanks Swampy. I'm not sure whether people realize that their complaining can accomplish nothing but hurt the program.

Regarding shooting ability I still believe that Perry is a very good shooter but the layoff has hurt him more than I expected. I think he is still feeling uncomfortable. Stephen Thomas is also a good shooter who isn't comfortable taking shots yet but that will change.

The numbers of the incoming players speak for themselves and I only needed to see Chris Johnson shoot one three pointer to be convinced, he has a beautiful stroke.
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  #8  
By San Diego Flyer on 02-25-2008, 10:25 AM
Thank you Swampy. It takes men to handle what we have been going through this year, not cry babies. I still believe in the ingredients of the program, but we need to stir the pot some more and let it simmer. We will be back.
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  #9  
By Avid Flyer on 02-25-2008, 12:12 PM
Originally Posted by flyers/avs View Post
For crying out loud, if there were X fans sitting INSIDE the UD student section, what exactly do you/they expect? Perhaps a recipe exchange? Maybe they should hold hands and sing church hymns? Maybe UD students should invite them over to their dorms to celebrate the X win?

Honestly. Any opposing fan sitting in the other team's student section is asking for trouble, be it at Dayton, XU, OSU, Michigan, anywhere! UD students aren't going to let them cheer for X in their section, nor should they.
hate to tell you this but many students from other schools sit in the student sections and are treating really well. I know for a fact that some Pitt students sat in the student section and had a great time. I think being X is what did it.
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  #10  
By Don on 02-26-2008, 11:48 AM
Time needed to rebuild

Although I do question whether the Gregory coaching staff is getting the best out of this year's team, I did some research on our last four coaches and how they fared in their first several years. The data below speaks for itself. By any comparison, Gregory is doing OK so far.

COMPARISON OF NEW COACH PROGRESS

When taking over the UD BB program, how long did it take a new coach to rebuild to respectability?

Coach Year W-L Record W-L %

Donoher 1964-65 22-7 0.759
1965-66 23-6 0.793
1966-67 25-6 0.806
1967-68 21-9 0.700
1968-69 20-7 0.741
1969-70 19-8 0.704
1970-71 18-9 0.667
1971-72 13-13 0.500
1972-73 13-13 0.500

O'Brien 1989-90 22-10 0.688
1990-91 14-15 0.483
1991-92 15-15 0.500
1992-93 4-26 0.133
1993-94 6-21 0.222

Purnell 1994-95 7-20 0.259
1995-96 15-14 0.517
1996-97 13-14 0.481
1997-98 21-12 0.636
1998-99 11-17 0.393
1999-00 22-9 0.710
2000-01 21-13 0.618
2001-02 21-11 0.656
2002-03 24-6 0.800

Gregory 2003-04 24-9 0.727
2004-05 18-11 0.621
2005-06 14-17 0.452
2006-07 19-12 0.613
2007-08 17-9 0.654 (3 reg season games left)


If you plot these W-L% vs years in the job, Donoher's first 9 seasons trend distinctly down after the first 3 years. O'Brien's trend goes down steeply. Purnell's trend is up & down for the first 5 seasons then gets pretty decent. Gregory's dips after the first seaason but shows steady improvement in years 4 & 5. With a healthy Wright year 5 would be considerably better.

Donoher was fortunate to have Henry Finkel on his first team and a great
freshman class lined up to inherit. This carried him through his first 4 sesaons.

O'Brien was fortunate to have inherited a healthy Negele Knight from Donoher.
It was all downhill from there.

Purnell started with pretty average Div I talent. It took him 6 seasons to reach
a nice (not great) level.

Gregory was fortunate to have inherited a pretty decent class of seniors from Purnell,
but the next next 3 classes (all Purnell recruits) were very weak. After the big dip in season 3 things are improving.
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  #11  
By MrFlyerFanatic on 02-26-2008, 12:40 PM
Great article

Thanks Swampy,
I avoided the message boards for 2 days for those posts alone. Time spent reading and posting them is tie wasted that will never be recovered.
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  #12  
By UDBrian on 02-26-2008, 08:27 PM
If someone sits in an opposing student section I don't feel a lot of sympathy for them and I am sure they didn't keep their mouths shut either.
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  #13  
By Avid Flyer on 02-27-2008, 08:57 AM
Originally Posted by UDBrian View Post
If someone sits in an opposing student section I don't feel a lot of sympathy for them and I am sure they didn't keep their mouths shut either.
Actually at the SLU game a couple SLU students sat or stood in the Dayton section and heckled them most of the game. And the Dayton section was not made up of students but blue hairs.
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