NEW ARTICLE: Defend. Rebound. Run.

BEVERLY HILLS (MI) -- Right about now is the time of year where “FTS” would join the rest of the basketball blogging bozos and publish a 2010-2011 prediction column on the upcoming campaign for the Gem City Flyboys. I’ve never been very good at prognostication, altho in keeping with a longstanding tradition I am picking UD to beat XU in Cincy again this year. Sorry, but I’m gonna keep on doing that until I get it right!

So, rather than try and guess how the Flyers will do this season, I’m going to waste the next few seconds of your life telling you what they are gonna try to do.

Anytime you lose five seniors who all made major contributions to a championship season (yes, X trolls, it was an NIT crown) there are going to be major question marks. Fortunately for BG and his staff, he’s got some pretty good answers. Will they be the right responses? Time will tell.

The Flyer Filosophy, in a nutshell, will continue to be this:

Defend

Rebound

Run

Notice the words ‘score’ and ‘offense’ are nowhere to be found here. Kinda sounds like Norman Dale’s first week of practice at Hickory High in “Hoosiers” doesn’t it? In the BG scheme of things, the best offense really is a good defense. If the Flyers do those three things on the one end of the floor well, the other side of the court will take care of itself.

Doug Harris in the DDN summed up the Flyers’ prospects pretty well when he said

“UD will score more and stop opponents less. And whatever way the wins and losses ultimately fall, the season promises to be entertaining.”

After the two Flyer exhibition games, I think that Doug’s observation is spot-on.

Elsewhere in basketball cyberspace:

-- Got some breaking news for ya: “The Hometown Coach” posted his ESPN announcing schedule on his website and good news Flyer Faithful -- Mark will be calling 3 UD games!

-- Florida A&M @ UD on 11/24

-- UD vs. UC in Cincy on 11/27

-- Richmond @ UD on 1/25

Here’s the entire slate of games that Mark will be doing this year:

http://www.enthusiadams.com/2010/11/...y-of-networks/

-- Also got an email from Mark announcing that he’s been asked to be a regular contributor to ESPN.com, focusing on Mid-Majors.

-- Three guesses where I plan to be on the Saturday after Thanksgiving?

http://www.ipsbasketball.com/lansing_eastern_scrimmage

Flyer Fans will be able to see (by then) UD signee LaDontae Henton and his Lansing Eastern squad; 2012’s top BG target Sherron Dorsey-Walker and Detroit Pershing; Dearborn Heights Robichaud’s bigman Khaliq Spicer and Devin Oliver’s buddies from K-Zoo Central…all in one gym!

-- And since Detroit Country Day HS is a mere mile down the road from my house, you only get one guess where I’ll be hanging out between Christmas and New Years:

http://insidepreps.phpbbnow.com/viewtopic.php?t=2223

LaDontae vs. Sherron! Who ya got? We really need to get a contingent of red-clad Flyer Faithful together for this one.

-- JJHuddle.com with some serious love for Jim Jabir’s latest recruit, 6’3” Ally Malott of Middletown Madison HS:

http://www.jjhuddle.com/news/article...t-recruit-ever

-- I keep clicking on Jamal Richards’ WeFlyHighBallers.com every couple of days, hoping for a refresh, but the site is frozen in time on the date of May 6th:

http://www.freewebs.com/michiganballers/apps/blog/

-- Kyle Whelliston at The Mid Majority has gone all celestial on us:

http://midmajority.com/

If you scroll down to the “Red Line Upsets” you will note that the last two RLU’s were Butler over MSU and Dayton over UNC. I’m gonna hate to see that change when the regular season commences.

-- WSU fans have always given the DDN a full ration of crap for the paper’s supposed unbalanced college hoops coverage, tilted in favor of UD. Not this year. Kyle Nagel has provided readers with plenty o’ info on his blog:

Opponent previews: http://www.daytondailynews.com/o/con...nent_previews/

Player previews: http://www.daytondailynews.com/o/con...ayer_previews/

-- Ever wonder what happened to Kelvin Sampson, disgraced former Head Coach at Indiana University? Well, I spotted him the other day on ESPN, sitting on the Milwaukee Bucks bench next to Head Coach Scott Skiles.

-- A review from the Wall Street Journal of the indictment of AAU basketball, "Play Their Hearts Out":

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...oks_LS_Books_5

-- Sorry to read about the passing of Mo Lucas, the banger from Schenley HS in Pittsburgh who teamed up with Bill Walton and Johnny Davis on that great Blazer team to bring the NBA Championship to Portland in 1977:

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/golde...106491063.html

That’s it “From the Swamp.”
You can email me at: swampy@udpride.com

	Flyer Faithful FLYER FAITHFUL Best college basketball fans in the country. Knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and loyal. Help to create one of the toughest home courts in the nation at UD Arena. Over 12,000 fans a game put the Flyers in the Top-30 nationally in attendance. Fan spirit and support growing to other UD sports and athletic programs as well.

	Xavier XAVIER MUSKETEERS Dayton's biggest rival dating back to the early 1900s. Founded in 1831, Xavier University is a Jesuit, Catholic university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Its three colleges offer 78 undergraduate majors, 43 minors and 11 graduate programs to 6,646 total students, including 3,961 undergraduates. The University is the sixth-oldest Catholic university in the nation and one of 28 Jesuit colleges and universities nationwide. Xavier's nickname is the Musketeers and are fellow A10 Conference members.

	Richmond UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND Founded in 1830, the private liberal arts university in the Commonwealth boasts 2,800 students in 57 majors within its picturesque 350-acre campus. The Robins School of Business is one of the Top-20 business schools in the country. Nickname is the Spiders and are fellow A10 Conference members.