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What to Expect in AC Thursday Night
What to Expect in AC Thursday Night
Jim Meadows
Published by Swampy Meadows
03-11-2009
What to Expect in AC Thursday Night

BEVERLY HILLS (MI) – Now that the 1st round of the Linda Bruno Memorial Funfest is out of the way, we know with 100% certainty -- at least I think we do -- that the Flyers will be facing the Spidermen of Richmond at 9:00PM or thereabouts on Thursday evening in Las Vegas on the Atlantic. I was gonna write this A-10 Tournament preview earlier in the week, but didn’t see the logic of having to analyze two possible opponents when if I procrastinated long enuf, I would only have to do it for one. Sloth has its rewards!

So far, the A-14 hasn’t had near the excitement that the Big Least gathering in NYC has garnered, that is, if you believe the line of BS that the ESPN/BCS talking heads have fed us. In my mind, DePaul knocking off Cincinnati and St. John’s besting Georgetown barely registered on the collegiate hoops Richter scale. Who cares? Was either one of them gonna win 5 games in 5 days? Not a chance. As it turned out, after day 2 all 4 teams that wouldn’t have made it to MSG last year were already on their way home this year. Justice had been served.

Meanwhile, back at Miss America Hall in AC, SLU nipped LaSalle in overtime in the classic 8/9 pick ‘em game; Charlotte lost to St. Joe, meaning the Hawks held serve and gave Joe Lunardi new hope that he can list them in the “Last Four In” column on Sunday morning and pray that the Committee reads his drivel before they vote; the Dukes blasted UMass in a high scoring affair, while the Bonnies ran out of gas and succumbed to Richmond.

What that also means is that 2 of the teams on our side of the bracket that UD had previously lost to --UMass and Charlotte -- were taking a Greyhound home, while SJU, Duquesne and Richmond -- three squads that the Flyers had beaten earlier -- remained.

Flyer Fans do have to give Lunardi a shout-out, however as, much to Andy Katz’s chagrin, St. Joe Joe did finally break down and list UD in the “Lock” column along with X. Andy was last seen walking down the hall in Bristol, muttering something about “but they still have some work to do!” You have our permission to take the rest of the weekend off, Joey Brackets. You can share a room with the heartburn that the Flyer Faithful usually experiences on Selection Sunday, as it will be on vacation until sometime late next week.

The news out of the Flyer camp that back-up PG Stephen Thomas is “questionable” with a separated rib he suffered in practice on Tuesday was greeted with as much wailing and gnashing of teeth as was heard when the superstructure of the then under-construction UD Arena collapsed during my freshman year. Guess what: the Arena ended up getting built and hasn’t fallen down since. UD will be fine if the little fella can’t go in the 1st game of the tournament.

Speaking of questionable, many on the message boards were asking themselves exactly what the heck is Coach Gregory doing in practice that so many guys are getting banged up? Josh Benson, Chris Johnson, Devin Searcy, Paul Williams, Luke Forthreesius and now ST have all spent various amounts of time on the shelf due to injuries sustained while beating the crap out of each other in their own building. Clearly the time has come for BG to require all of his players to each wear one of those inflatable sumo wrestler outfits whilst scrimmaging against guys on their own team. The alternative, if this keeps up, is to prepare ourselves to see walk-on Brad McEldowney as your new starting Flyer point guard.

Late Wednesday, Assistant Coach Jon Borovich was quoted at halftime of the SBU/Richmond game on College Chalk Talk's live journal as saying that both Stephen and Devin should be “available.” What exactly “available “ means -- In case of nuclear attack? In case the other 10 guys come down with beriberi? Greased and ready to kick butt?-- we will have to see.

As long as we’re talkin’ PGs, how ‘bout that London Warren, eh? Pride Plus MB poster “Flyer Jones” mentioned that LW is ranked #49 in assist/TO ratio in the country, the only Flyer to rank in the top 100 in any category, offensively or defensively. As I mentioned in the podcast that Chris and I did Monday night, London has improved his jumper; his FT form and thus his FT percentage is much better; he gets after it on D, takes care of the rock and his teardrop layup has become almost automatic. In short, he ain’t the same kid that showed up here from JAX three years ago. I still don’t want to see him jacking up three pointers, but he has made himself a force to be reckoned with.

The key players for the Flyers will again be the usual suspects: Chris Wright and Marcus Johnson. CW can’t be a bull in a china shop; MJ has to assert himself. Mickey Perry may be asked to serve as London’s backup at PG, although Paul Williams might see some time there, as well. Chris Johnson should be fully healed by now and ready to wreak havoc on the offensive glass. Anything we get from KH on offense will be an added bonus, as Kurt will again earn his scholarship on the other end of the floor.

Defensively, the boys in Red and Blue clearly need to contain the rapidly improving Kevin Anderson, the sophomore Georgia Peach and his backcourt partner David Gonzalvez, who is a graduate of my alma mater, Notre Dame Prep. The Spiders basically go 8 deep and have some size but not an overabundance of it. Against the Bonnies only 6 Richmond players scored, but 4 of them hit for double figures. Hopefully, they expended a lot of energy in dispatching St. B.

I see this game going to the Flyers by a score of 68-58.

That’s it “From the Swamp.”
You can email me at: swampy@udpride.com
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  #1  
By mudbutt on 03-11-2009, 11:21 PM
Is that really your picture? I can't decide if you look more like George Hamilton or Leslie Nielson....and don't call me Shirley. LaSalle didn't nip SLU in ot today...may want to check those scores.

Not an X troll either, but UD has some serious concerns tomorrow night if Johnson is banged up. Anderson, Harper and Gonzalvez are playing well and are brimming with confidence. Tomorrow night is going to be very interesting.
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  #2  
By Levelbest on 03-11-2009, 11:23 PM
Cool

Best line Swampy...

Charlotte lost to St. Joe, meaning the Hawks held serve and gave Joe Lunardi new hope that he can list them in the “Last Four In” column on Sunday morning and pray that the Committee reads his drivel before they vote;
Funny stuff - though the sumu outfits gave me a chuckle as I pictured the guys running around trying to practice in them.

Nice read!
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  #3  
By Levelbest on 03-11-2009, 11:25 PM
Originally Posted by mudbutt View Post
Not an X troll either, but UD has some serious concerns tomorrow night if Johnson is banged up.
It's Thomas - not Johnson. Someone else needs to do some reading.......
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  #4  
By mudbutt on 03-11-2009, 11:49 PM
Thomas....Johnson....Jones....Smith....it doesn't matter....tomorrow is going to be a very interesting game. Wonder if X will be able to knock off a tired LaSalle team after nipping SLU in OT. Don't call me Shirley. :frog:
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  #5  
By ClearTheRunwayForWLJ on 03-12-2009, 12:40 AM
Ummmmmm .... St. Louis beat LaSalle
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  #6  
By Levelbest on 03-12-2009, 07:02 AM
Originally Posted by mudbutt View Post
Thomas....Johnson....Jones....Smith....it doesn't matter....tomorrow is going to be a very interesting game. Wonder if X will be able to knock off a tired LaSalle team after nipping SLU in OT. Don't call me Shirley. :frog:
It matters when you knock someone else for being inaccurate...
Last edited by Levelbest; 03-12-2009 at 07:15 AM..
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  #7  
By Swampy Meadows on 03-12-2009, 07:34 AM
Fixed the SLU/LaSalle mention. It was late. I was tired. Sue me.
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  #8  
By SC_Flyer on 03-12-2009, 08:19 AM
Originally Posted by Swampy Meadows View Post
Fixed the SLU/LaSalle mention. It was late. I was tired. Sue me.
But you didn't fix it in the next paragraph where you discuss the 3 teams heading home that Dayton lost to. The list included SLU, who is not heading home just yet. Somebody get Swampy some more sleep.

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  #9  
By udx2 on 03-12-2009, 12:39 PM
Originally Posted by SC_Flyer View Post
But you didn't fix it in the next paragraph where you discuss the 3 teams heading home that Dayton lost to. The list included SLU, who is not heading home just yet. Somebody get Swampy some more sleep.

The article states "2 of the 3 teams on our side of the bracket that UD had previously lost to --UMass and Charlotte -- were taking a Greyhound home" not 3. What am I missing?

I will defend you in that lawsuit for free, Swampy.
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  #10  
By Swampy Meadows on 03-12-2009, 01:36 PM
Thanks to all of you junior editors out there. I tried to fix all of my boo-boos. At least I know you guys are actually reading this stuff!

I'm not alone...over on FlyerHoops.net Matt has an article up about tonight's game for which he wrote the intro ahead of time. He says something like "and UD will be playing the ." Obviously, he meant to plug in the Spiders but forgot to do so.

Not pickin' on ya, Matt, it's just this web stuff is hard sometimes.
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