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As the UD World Turns
As the UD World Turns
Chandler, Az.
Published by John C.
03-28-2011
As the UD World Turns

The message boards are overflowing, the Dayton Daily News is increasing its hits and a former player’s Dad is doing everything he can to keep his name in the paper. All of this on top of a regrettable season that left everyone just glad it was over and many asking for the coach’s head. With this morning’s announcement by Brian Gregory, the average fan’s head is spinning like a whirling dervish. If it wasn’t real life, it could be confused for a soap opera.

With all of that swirling around, it seems like the best time in the world to talk about the future. In the past four years, the University of Dayton’s men’s basketball team has won 97 games, more than in any other four year period. Yet, the talk was how can they possibly want to keep this coach. There hasn’t been this much consternation since Jim O’Brien was in the middle of his last year at the helm. As a comparison, O’Brien won 39 games in his last four seasons. An outside observer would have to wonder what the fans were smoking to even bring up the possibility of firing the coach. With Gregory’s decision to leave, there is even more discussion on what to do and how to do it.

More than anything else, this has always been a case of potential. Those of us close to the program see such huge potential in what we have that we just can’t be happy with treading water. Continual trips to the NIT seems to be wearing on many where 15 years ago that would have been thrilling. Potential is a wicked tag to hang on anyone or anything. We never define what we expect, but we know we expect more.

There is no need to rehash what has transpired in the last 12 months. UD won the NIT, lost a boatload of seniors, brought in a decorated freshman class and then proceeded to crash and burn. More losses than wins in the league and the highest rated recruit we have seen in decades leaves after one year and then douses the coach with gasoline and throws a match at him as he walks out the door. Did all of this have something to do with Gregory leaving? We will never know.

That being said, I suppose we need to concern ourselves with next year. Certainly there were some major losses, some expected, some not, that will have to be replaced. The real question is, “Will the replacements be any better than those leaving?” And this can be said for not only the players but now also the coach.

Four years ago Chris Wright began his career at UD with more fanfare than any I can remember. He could have played anywhere, but chose UD. He was going to take us to the next level. Without question, the most talked about and discussed player every year while at UD. After his sophomore year, he seemed to flatten out despite spending hours and hours each summer honing his game. He was in a no win situation with the fans. He could never have reached everyone’s expectations and it is likely he fell short of even his own.

That being said, many parts of his game will be hard to replace. His 13 points and 9 rebounds per game will not be easy to find, however, his nearly 3 turnovers each game that increases to 4 per game over the last nine games, will not. He would make a spectacular play one minute and look like he just took up the game the next. In time, his numbers will be replaced, but his personality and his love for UD will not.

The other big loss on the court is Juwan Staten. Unexpected, but at the same time not surprising. Rumors had been flying for months that he was leaving, but it was still a hard pill to swallow. Also spectacular at times, he too often tried to be something he was not. He often struggled with the flow of the game yet desperately wanted to be the hero. In the end, we all found out that he was playing for the University of Staten, not Dayton.

Can he be replaced? Most definitely, in fact he already has. In comparing his first year statistics with Kevin Dillard you might be surprised with who might get picked first in a pick-up game.

Player PTS REB A/T STL FG% FT% 3P% PPS
Kevin Dillard 12.2 2.0 1.28 1.3 0.441 0.727 0.452 1.30
Juwan Staten 8.5 2.1 2.09 0.8 0.388 0.604 0.154 0.98


In almost every category Kevin Dillard would be preferred. Much like Staten, Dillard was chastised by the fans for leaving a sinking ship. From all reports, he is not the player described by those same fans. We will have to wait and see, but statistically, he certainly seems to be an upgrade.

In the end, it will come down to the improvement each player makes and, of course, what the new coach will bring. The offense once again seemed to be stagnant. If it wasn’t a fast break or a dunk, the likelihood of UD scoring was bad to worse. Simply put, this team just could not score enough to stay with many foes. They usually won close games but at the same time could get swept off the court, highlighted by a good ole’ butt whippin’ put on by UC.

Leadership will be improved as will the attitude of most players. There is no doubt that there was trouble in the clubhouse last season. How much that translated to poor play will not be understood until next season. I cannot see Paul Williams and to a lesser extent, Chris Johnson, putting up with that next year.

The next big question will be about the inflow of talent. Now that Gregory is gone, will his two recruits decide to look elsewhere? Should they decide to stay, although it will not have the tickertape parades of the last group, this class could really help plug some holes. One wide body in Gibson and one scorer in Henton can only help, but after watching this program for the last 50 years, I am of the mind that the two of them will bring less than a total of 10 points/game to the mix. It would be great if they surpassed that, but it would be foolish to expect that.

Not knowing what, if any, additional players will be signed in the next month, it is hard to imaging what they will bring to the table. Hopefully, whoever replaces Gregory brings a different view. For this offense to work, they have to be able to shoot the basketball, and they just haven’t been able to do that since Brian Roberts left.

To anticipate great improvement from the upperclassmen at this point in their careers is unrealistic. You just don’t see guys change that much between their Junior and Senior years. Devin Oliver, on the other hand, is an interesting individual. You could see Gregory’s confidence in Oliver grow as the season went on. Not so sure I saw that same increase in Oliver’s own evaluation, but there seems to be some good potential there. I doubt that he will explode, but there certainly is the potential to get to double digits next year. If that happens, next year could be interesting.

Until Gregory decided to take his talent elsewhere, I really didn’t expect a great deal of improvement next year. Unless this team takes what happened this year and uses it to motivate themselves over the next 12 months, it could be a long season. The real question is “How will this team change with someone new at the helm?” It is imperative that the correct decision be made. Everyone is in a hurry to make the decision in the next 15 minutes. You can’t just worry about next year, you have the future of the program to be concerned about. Wabler is certainly on an accelerated time table, but to hurry to a decision could be a disaster. Gregory did some good things during his stay. However, in many minds it wasn’t enough. The next coach needs to be better.

It will be an interesting 12 months. Stay tuned!
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  #1  
By UACFlyer on 03-28-2011, 09:46 PM
TW prepared...

Listening to Tim's interview with the media, he made it very clear that he has been anticipating BG's departure for some time...at least two years,...and has a well thought out, well prepared action plan.

The only uncertainty is how receptive Tim's targets will be to an offer from UD.
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