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Prodigal Son
Prodigal Son
Chandler, AZ
Published by John C.
12-04-2008
Prodigal Son

When I left Ohio for Phoenix, I knew that I would miss a number of people and things. What I didn’t realize was just how much I would miss UD sports. What I also didn’t realize was that I was leaving just when both men’s and women’s basketball would be finally turning the corner. What I was able to witness in the last week confirmed that for me.

I managed to work my flight to run through Dayton on a day when UD was playing a home game. It appeared that Mercer was going to be a formidable foe after defeating Alabama and Auburn and literally handing a game to Georgia Tech in overtime after squandering an 18 point lead.

That assumption quickly proved to be completely wrong as UD smothered anyone from Mercer as soon as they walked to the scorer’s table. The lead expanded quickly and the Flyers were able to coast home. This, in itself, made me feel better about the Flyers because they put their collective foot to Mercer’s throat and kept it there unlike they have done so many times in the past.

The Auburn game could be viewed from a number of different angles. One could assume that this is the real Flyers team. Similar to the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens of a few years ago that lived by the defense and hoped that the offense didn’t make any mistakes that would cost them the ball game; the Flyers couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean but won through tenacious defense. I prefer to look at it completely differently in that UD won a game that they had no business winning and doing it against a BCS conference team by using all of their skills.

The icing on the cake was the Marquette game in which the Flyers completely dominated the Golden Eagles in the final stanza. Although I never felt safe until it got under 60 seconds, it was apparent that the Flyers felt very differently. They never staggered when Marquette closed to within eight points. Instead, they just turned it up a notch and walked away with what many would consider a convincing victory.

Unlike 99% of the teams out there, Brian Gregory can put 12 players out on the court and not anticipate a huge drop off in ability. Certainly, he has to make sure that the appropriate pieces are always on the court such as playmaker, shooter and rebounder, but his job is made much easier in that he has so many interchangeable pieces.

For whatever reason, this feels different than last year. After seven games last year, we didn’t know that Wright would go down or that just about every team would throw everything including the kitchen sink at Roberts to shut us down. Even after the Louisville and Pittsburgh games I felt less confident because both teams were not at full strength because of injuries. This year, UD has enough guns and fans know our defense will always be there to actually feel like UD can win every game.

You look at the future and you can only smile as Gregory has two outstanding recruits already lined up and several more that he is talking to. Not sure how to put it in words, but there is reason to believe that we, as fans, will no longer have to say, “Wait ‘till next year.”



On the other side of the gender equation, Jim Jabir lost half of his team to graduation and defection and decided to start the season with nine games away from UD Arena. Included in those nine games were three ranked teams.

When I initially saw the schedule, I felt that Jim had finally lost his mind. Coming off the best season in UD Division I history, he obviously forgot that he would have a team made up of seven freshmen, three sophomores, two juniors and two seniors. Of that group, they had started a total of 38 games in their careers as Flyers. I really would not have been surprised with a 0-9 or 1-8 start. Instead, they have completed the first eight games with a 5-3 mark.

On the surface, that doesn’t sound like anything to get excited about, but if you dig deeper, you start to get a better feelling for the growth of the program. Three years ago, the Flyers visited Ohio State and came away with a 73-31 loss. In watching that game, I was amazed at how good we made Ohio State look. It looked like a small high school playing a Division I major college. Putting it simply, UD looked pathetic.

Fast forwarding to 2008, UD again visited # 18 Ohio State. This year’s Ohio State team doesn’t rank quite as high as the earlier version, but they have only lost to undefeated #14 Auburn in OT on the road. With 12+ minutes left in the game, UD held a 10 point lead. However, they quickly ran out of gas have played a difficult semi-final game the day before and eventually lost 76-61.

I typically do not like to complain a great deal about the officiating, but this was a game where UD’s starting center fouled out trying to guard OSU star, Jantel Lavender. Lavender scored 27 points on a number of power moves to the bucket and put backs of others’ misses (11 total rebounds). Just to give you an idea of how good she is, she did not collect one foul in 35 minutes of play. Hard for me to believe, but apparently not for the zebras.

UD out shot and out rebounded OSU, but had twice as many turnovers at 17, nine of which were steals, mostly on reach in type takeaways. Although it was a loss, UD competed on the road with a top 20 team that had completely embarrassed them just three years ago.

To make it more exciting is the fact that UD started three freshmen, one sophomore and one junior in that game. There are three star quality players from that group, one from each class.

Kendel Ross is the old timer having been in the program three years. Ross is a 6’ 1” G/F who hails from Sarnia, Ontario. She has been a member of the Canadian National teams for several years. Kendel has shown improvement in each of her three years and is currently averaging 12 points and 8 rebounds per game.

Kristin Daugherty, a sophomore, is a 6’ 0” guard who led her high school team to two state titles and was named Ohio Ms. Basketball in both her junior and senior seasons. She continued to excel at the college level having one of the best freshman years accomplished by a UD player since the move to Division I. This year she is averaging 16 points and 6 rebounds. Her sister, Kari will be joining her at UD next year. She averaged 21 points as a junior and was named first team all state.

Justine Raterman is a 6’ 1” forward who has already been named the A-10 rookie of the week three times this season somewhat reminiscent of Chris Wright last year. She is averaging 14 points and 10 rebounds per game. She leads the team in overall field goal shooting and three point shooting in addition to rebounds.

This three headed monster has had single game highs of 27, 27 and 31 points respectively and this is after only eight games. It is impossible to guard all three successfully. As they say on Sports Center, you can only hope to contain them.

With another outstanding class coming in next year, there is no ceiling as to where this program can go. They not only have the talent but they also have a swagger that has been missing in the past. Jim Jabir won a total of three games his first season. That must seem like centuries ago.
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  #1  
By UDBrian on 12-04-2008, 08:45 PM
Nice breakdown John, I agree on all counts. Both the men and women appear posed for many strong seasons.
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  #2  
By Chris R on 12-04-2008, 09:29 PM
Well said.
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  #3  
By John C. on 12-08-2008, 09:53 AM
Not sure if everyone noticed but the women beat Penn State on Saturday to go to 6-3. Personally, I'm amazed. They have won every close game which is extremely hard for a young team. This team will do well this year, but could be lights out next year.
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