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Gem City Hospitality Impales Pittsburgh
Gem City Hospitality Impales Pittsburgh
Christopher Rieman
Published by Chris R
12-31-2007
Smile Gem City Hospitality Impales Pittsburgh

DAYTON (OH) -- Both the Dayton Flyers and Pitt Panthers were on fire, but the home team was scorching the nets while Jamie Dixon's club was imploding like the Hindenburg. Oh the humanity. The last time UD Arena hosted a nationally-ranked team in the Top-10, Dave Colbert's stick-back with less than a second on the clock shocked the DePaul Blue Demons for the second year in a row. Equally shocking Saturday night was Dayton's thorough destruction of the nation's #6 team, arriving fresh off a come-from-behind victory over Duke at Madison Square Garden just a week prior. Down 15 points to the Blue Devils at MSG (known affectionately as Cameron Indoor North), Pitt clawed back in front of a partisan crowd of 19,000 to notch their biggest regular season win of the Jamie Dixon era. On Saturday, Dixon walked out of UD Arena absorbing the worst beating of his head coaching career.

With four minutes left in the first half it was just a five-point Flyer lead. By halftime, UD was up 12 and riding the wave of Brian Roberts and 13,435 towel-clad fans. Eight seconds into the second half, Marcus Johnson threw down his second alley-oop dunk of the night and the Panther dirigible was officially grounded. LaVance Fields left the game for good with an injury shortly thereafter, but his presence down the stretch would have only affected the margin of defeat. In the end, the Flyers had too many weapons, too much depth, and once again the best player on the court.

Writing himself into the basketball conscious of America on a national stage, Brian Roberts dropped 31 points on the usually-stingy Panther defense and may have encapsulated his own Flyer legacy along the way. Not since the likes of Paxson, Davis, Chapman, and Knight have the Flyers been blessed with a player capable of being the most talented hoopster in any building, at any moment, against any foe. Perhaps just as remarkable as Roberts' talents however is the supporting cast that continues to make good on a promise to accept their role and step up as often as the superstar. Marcus Johnson provided key scoring and decisive rebounding against larger players, Kurt Huelsman continued to think less and just play ball, Andres Sandoval chipped in with a strong defensive effort, and Jimmy Binnie provided 26 hard-fought "binnutes" on the floor -- my term for the boxscore-unfriendly but important contributions he provides every night. Charles Little chipped in 8 points and 5 rebounds and didn't miss a free throw in four attempts. Even Chris Wright's 14 minutes made a difference despite the diaper dandy being less than 100% and not a go-to option offensively. Help came from everywhere and with Roberts shooting lights out from anywhere past halfcourt, it was a combustible evening few fans will forget.

Pittsburgh didn't help themselves. After the first 15 minutes, they shot knuckleballs all night. Dayton's defensive posture was good and the home crowd made things even more difficult, but the Panthers had a number of good looks both close in and from behind the arc that might have provided enough juice for a late-game run. Several in-bounds plays under the Pitt basket produced good looks from long-range, but the only progress made was on the finishing touches of the Taj Majal of outhouses. It's hard to beat South Jesus State shooting under .300% from the field but that's what Pitt tried to do at UD Arena. With Dayton hitting shots and competing on the boards, it was a recipe for disaster.

It's fair to say UD's hospitality turned off a lot of BCS onlookers scouring for quality non-conference series, but that's the rub for programs like Dayton and the positives far outweighed the negatives. If Roberts wasn't in everyone's All-America discussion before Saturday night, he is now. Many other talented players get more face time from BCS conferences, but few of them score with the efficiency and smooth collectiveness as the former two-time Toledo HS Player of the Year. Nearly all of those other players have a major weakness -- shooting free throws, long-range marksmanship, a mid-range game, or a shaky handle. While Roberts isn't America's best at any one facet, his collective skill set outshines a lot of players in bed with the likes of Dick Vitale, Andy Katz, Billy Packer, and Jay Bilas. If talented non-BCS players like Wally Szczerbiak, Dan Dickau, Kyle Korver, Harold Arceneaux, and Bonzi Wells can generate enough basketball collateral from mid-major programs, why can't Roberts cash in too? Perhaps the only thing missing is a big performance in the NCAA tournament that also moves the Flyers past the first round. Given Roberts' ability to entertain like this on a weekly basis, those odds are looking better every day. The Flyers have another resume' builder in the back pocket. As long as the momentum doesn't come crashing down like Pittsburgh's visit to the Gem City, the good times should continue to roll.
__________________

Hot shooting hides a multitude of sins.
Make everyone else's "one day" your "day one".
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  #1  
By Avid Flyer on 12-31-2007, 12:28 PM
Great article Chris. As much as Pitt players, coaches and fans try to downplay it the Arena and 13000 plus rabid Flyer Fanatics rattled them. The hadn't seen anything like it before and most probably won't again unless they return to the Arena for an encore.

And we thought the national press and hedlines was good after the upset of Louisville, this time around it is phenomanal. One friend who has no interest in either school asked "why are they calling it an upset?" in his mind an upset is when the underdog hits a basket at the buzzer for the win. He added that a 25 point drubbing is not an upset but rather two teams that were improperly rated.
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  #2  
By Tony T 71 on 01-01-2008, 10:16 AM
What he said...awesome article Chris
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  #3  
By Whacker on 01-01-2008, 08:46 PM
<Applause>
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