WEST BLOOMFIELD (MI) --The University of Dayton Flyers are off to a 3-0 start to their 2018-2019 men’s hoops slate. The Red and Blue will have played 3 games in 2 weeks when they tee it up with the Butler Bulldogs on Wednesday night. Then it will be 3 games in 3 days at The Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis Hoopfest on Paradise Island in The Bahamas. On Thanksgiving Day, the boys will face the winner of Virginia and MTSU; on Friday it will be the ever-popular TBD from amongst Wisconsin, Florida, Stanford and Oklahoma.
Not exactly what a team with ongoing cramping issues wants to see on their schedule.
So, what have we learned about the Sons of Anthony Grant thus far that can give us any possible hope that they might possibly return to the mainland 6-0? A little word-association music, maestro, if you would please:
North Florida? A textbook directional school
Coppin State? The price you pay for entry into the BBMB4A
Purdue Fort Wayne? A true test of UD’s D and comeback ability
What I saw in the second half of the PFW tilt was AG making defensive adjustments to have his charges chase the Mastodons off the three-point line. There were lots of shots that came up short for PFW at the end of the contest, which tells me the Flyers were able to tire out the three-point happy Pachyderms. Which is a good thing when you only suit up 8 scholarship players like UD does. One only needs to recall that PFW (with essentially the same squad) beat Archie’s IU unit last year by 20 to realize those Elephants were no joke.
Speaking of those 8 guys, let’s apply a bit of word-association to them, as well:
Josh Cunningham: The textbook high-efficiency scorer
Ryan Mikesell: Hip surgery? What hip surgery?
Jordan Davis: Adding drives to the hoop makes him doubly dangerous
Trey Landers: The ultimate glue guy
Jalen Crutcher: PG is in great hands for the next 3 years
Obi Toppin: Has the makings of a monster offensive player
Jhery Matos: He does a little bit of everything and all of it well
Dwayne Cohill: Tough defender and capable backup PG
I think the Flyers’ ability to share the rock and positional flexibility will serve them well in The Bahamas.
Elsewhere in Flyerland:
-- David Jablonski at
The DDN gives us all a preview of the BBMB4A field:
https://www.mydaytondailynews.com/sp...wDhXF95AGPxjI/
-- Matt Norlander at
CBS Sports ranked every team in the country 1-353:
https://www.cbssports.com/college-ba...on-every-team/
UD checked in at #140 FWIW.
-- John Gasaway from
ESPN.com shares a tweet of what the NCAA sent out to schools to explain the new NET ranking system:
https://twitter.com/JohnGasaway/stat...01630119305216
Good luck trying to make any sense out of it, tho.
-- Dayton has five players who are currently on rosters in the G League:
Scoochie Smith: https://canton.gleague.nba.com/roster/
Charles Cooke: https://siouxfalls.gleague.nba.com/roster/
Chris Wright: https://oklahomacity.gleague.nba.com/roster/
Jordan Sibert: https://erie.gleague.nba.com/roster/
Kostas Antetokounmpo: https://texas.gleague.nba.com/roster/
Speaking of Kostas, the Texas Legends are hyping him as “Young Freak”:
https://twitter.com/TexasLegends/sta...35808516874242
--
The Players Tribune asks the question: What the Hell Happened to Darius Miles?
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en...o-darius-miles
-- Larry Bird and Magic Johnson taped a nifty intro to the recently concluded World Series between Boston and LA:
https://www.mlb.com/cut4/magic-johns...eo/c-299881438
-- Charles P. Pierce puts the Red Sox victory in said Series into perspective:
https://www.boston.com/sports/boston...ed-sox-success
That’s it “From the Swamp.”
You can email me at:
swampy@udpride.com