BEVERLY HILLS (MI) -- With a program that is as historically rich as the University of Dayton’s Men’s Basketball Team is, there are bound to be some traditions that the
Flyer Faithful carry with them from season to season. On Flyer game days, when I wake up the first thing I say to myself is this:
“Flyers tonight!”
That sets the tone for the rest of my day up to the tip off, which for tonight’s tilt means until roughly 10:00 PM. When Mrs. Swampy and I lived in Dayton after we graduated, our ‘tradition’ was to go to the Upper Krust deli out on North Main and split a Reuben sandwich before Flyer games. Some folks go to the Pine Club; others eat at the Arena in the Boesch Lounge or the Time Warner Flight Deck. Once it is time to play the game, the players have their own tradition of coming over to fist bump Larry and Bucky, which I think is so cool. You no doubt have your own Flyer traditions, whether you are there in person or listening/watching at home.
The one tradition that the Flyer program has always been about is
winning. We forget sometimes that
UD was the winningest college basketball program in America during the Fifties and Sixties.
Think about that for a second.
When grizzled season ticketholders talk about ‘the good old days’ at the Fieldhouse, they are not hallucinating. As good as those times were, with Archie Miller and his excellent staff; the current “Magnificent Seven” and the new faces set to arrive next year you know what -- Carly Simon is right:
These are the good old days!
It continues tonight vs. Providence. Time to show the Selection Committee and the rest of the country that UD belongs; prove that the Boise State “home game” was not a fluke; represent the A-10; start another deep run in the Big Dance and make that the new Flyer tradition.
Elsewhere in March Madness:
-- Chris DiSano provides “Five Areas to Watch” in his preview of the PC/UD contest. It should be noted that Chris (who founded College Chalk Talk) lives and works in
Rhode Island:
http://www.coxhub.com/articles/five-...rovidence-game
--
USA Today does likewise:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports...ness/25042129/
-- Jon Rothstein at CBS Sports has this to say:
Providence plays a pseudo road game vs. Dayton: It won't be the atmosphere Boise State faced in losing on Dayton's home floor Wednesday in the First Four, but the Friars will see a pro-Dayton crowd Friday in the Round of 64 at Columbus, Ohio. Providence could break open a bracket and boasts one of the nation's best 1-2 punches in Kris Dunn and LaDontae Henton. But playing a pseudo road game won't help Ed Cooley's club. The real key for the Friars against the smaller, quicker Flyers is getting quality mileage out of Ben Bentil. The burly power forward has logged double-doubles in three of his past four games and could be a real difference-maker in the paint against Dayton, which does not have a player in its rotation taller than 6-foot-6.
-- Here is a profile I did on PC star LaDontae “Buckets” Henton back in 2011, when he was still in HS and had signed an LOI with UD:
http://www.udpride.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17328
-- Let’s face it, it’s not every day that a current UD player gets interviewed by TMZ:
http://www.tmz.com/2015/03/19/dayton...helped-us-win/
-- If for some reason you can’t be in Columbus or find a TV, you can watch a live stream of the PC/UD festivities here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4pIbuKl9jo
-- Today’s
“Sweet Tweet of the Week” comes to us from Rush the Court with their “Circle of March.” As I write this we are down to 48 teams:
http://rushthecourt.net/2015/03/20/c...source=twitter
Beat Providence!
That’s it “From the Swamp.”
You can email me at:
swampy@udpride.com