UDPride Discussion Forums    
     

Go Back   UDPride Discussion Forums > LATEST ARTICLES > UDPride Articles

UDPride Articles Published content from your UDPride staff

» Log in
User Name:

Password:

Not a member yet?
Register Now!
» Advertisement
Comment
 
Article Tools Display Modes
It's Blogtastic
It's Blogtastic
Jim Meadows
Published by Swampy Meadows
11-11-2008
It's Blogtastic

UD Arena, Dayton (OH) –- “FTS” is in the house for the exhibition game vs. Gannon. Let’s get blogging:

-- Guess what kids, this time I am really in the front row! Got to chat with George L'Heureux the host of Flyer feedback before the game. He said he didn’t know how to act at the end of the Capital game because there was no FF after the game and he is usually never there when the buzzer goes off. He says he can usually split with 4 minutes left in a game and make it to Flanny’s in plenty of time…unless it’s a blowout.

-- The Stewart Street Bridge closing isn’t the disaster that I thought it would be. Everything seems to move pretty orderly in that vicinity. As long as we are on the subject of construction projects, that’s a mighty big one on I-75 going thru downtown Dayton. Hopefully that will be finished faster than that overpass at the junction of I-70 and I-75 –- they’ve been working on that mutha since the ES’s freshman year!

-- You can keep the parking in the Delphi lot and taking the bus to the Arena as far as I’m concerned, tho. Especially when you miss the last bus like I did after the game and have to hoof it.

-- Talk about a small world: the center for Gannon is 6’10” Kyle Goldcamp from Pittsburgh Catholic Central HS. I played pickup hoops with him several summers ago in Stone Harbor, NJ. Dang, he got bigger!

-- Finally got to meet Matt Schwade from FlyerHoops.net in person. He’s shorter than I thought, which is to say shorter than me. I keed, Matt.

-- Stephen Thomas and Chris Johnson are starting. Hmmm. Mad scramble on the floor, which BG has to love, but Gannon gets the ball. Little fella for GU hits a 3 and they go up. Very active D from UD. CW and KH score and it’s 4-3 UD.

-- DS, RL, MP and CL check in. Meanwhile, the student section has yet to make an appearance. My guess is there are 7,500 folks here. Kyle hits a jump hook for a 7-4 GU lead, But MJ nails a triple to tie it.

-- PW is in and is moving like his toe doesn’t bother him when he forces a Gannon TO. But then the Flyguys give it right back. With the frenetic pace, BG is subbing liberally. Kurt and CJ both split a pair --gotta make your freebies, guys!

-- I absolutely love how everybody on the floor runs to one of their teammates when they get knocked down. To their credit, the Golden Knights do the same thing.

-- CW with the steal and the monstah slam! UD up 13-11. CW with a layup and offensive foul but the bucket counts. CW with another driving hoop that drops and he’s fouled. UD up 18-16.

-- CJ on a pretty feed from RL. TO city for both teams and Gannon misses a bunny. Luke for 3 from CW! 23-18 good guys. The fans are kinda asleep at the moment. ST with a floater wakes them up.

-- Defensive breakdown sends GU to the stripe. Offensive foul on GU gives UD the ball back. KH guilty of the same and back goes Gannon. Yet another foul on CL and now they’re in the double bonus. CL redeems himself with a floater. CJ with a putback and the harm. UD up 31-26. The half ends 33-28 after an MJ lay-in.

-- Ran into Doug Hauschild in the media room at halftime and thanked him profusely for the press row seat. He said I picked the right, light-media game to attend. So did Mel Daniels from the Pacers, who Doug suspects is here to see my boy Kyle play.

-- 2nd half begins with more active D from the Flyers, including a full-court press. KH with a great up and under and CW drops a finger lickin’ good finger roll and suddenly it’s 39-28. TO GU.

-- DS with a lay-in from CW. Luke for an NBA three. 44-33 Us Guys. Luke with another long bomb! CL with a leaner. RL with a long jumper. CW with a block underneath and GU fouls. 5 second call on UD as no one came back to help RL and CL on the inbounds play. 51-41. Luke again -– he’s got 12 all on long guns!

-- You know this Gannon squad is giving BG’s Boys a lot better battle than Marathon Oil or Athletes in Action ever did. Kyle has 12 points, mostly on put-backs to lead GU.

-- Excellent pass from MJ to DS for two and it’s 58-45. KH schools Kyle and he’s got 9. ST had turned his ankle but he’s back in –- good thing, BG was runnin’ out of PGs. ST looks really steady out there. Suddenly, a rugby scrum breaks out and there are bodies all over the place! Official headcount is 7,288 -– I only missed by 212.

-- CW with a mad block on Kyle. CL looks ultra smooth at the FT line and makes two and it’s 62-47. Kyle throws up a prayer and it’s answered. CW does the same on our end. DS takes the rock away from Kyle. Kyle returns the favor by blocking Devin on the other end. DS does him one better with a steal. 65-54 with 3:00 to go.

-- Kyle splits a pair and CW fouls the little guy on a layup so now we’re down to 65-57. KH follows up his own FT miss. CW absolutely pins Kyle’s shot to the backboard…now that was impressive. UD up 10 with 1:11 left. Then Chris does it again with two hands!

-- 67-59 is your final.

I’ll have more later.
***

After the game, Schwade and I walked back up to the press room. Got to meet Doug Harris from the DDN and listened in while they talked to Chris Wright. Also got to chat with my guy Devin Searcy for a minute and complimented him on how ripped he looked and how well he was playing. Understandably, Devin wants to do more and I’m sure he’ll get the chance.

BG said that he really likes playing exhibition games against good D-II opponents, calling Gannon an NCAA-caliber team and Kyle Goldcamp an A-10 quality player. “He could play for us” is how BG put it. The defensive rotation showed improvement but still needs to be better. UD was too casual with the ball, as the 20 turnovers will attest. GU matched UD with their intensity.

London will definitely be back for Sunday. I asked BG what was going thru his mind when Stephen Thomas was rolling on the floor holding his ankle. He said “We’ve gone from 3 down to 1” but obviously ST was able to come back in and play on it.

CW is the best rebounder of missed FTs that BG has ever seen in his 19 years of coaching and “Chris Johnson might be #2.” BG said it’s obvious that Luke can shoot, but he also played good D and got down on the floor a few times.

The strategy was to focus on bothering PG Joe Lindsey (and it worked, as he had 8 turnovers) and to try and contain Kyle Goldcamp.

Afterwards, BG told me that I need to get a new picture on the website because the current one doesn’t look anything like me. Thanks for the tip, Coach.

***
I got to Flanny’s pretty late into the show, but Chris said it was going fairly well. One thing he figured out is that he has to paraphrase what folks online are asking because it’s difficult to weed thru the emails and find the exact one that he’s looking for. Met Dallas Mount alias Whacker for the first time, which was an unexpected treat and got to chat with him about this year’s squad. Saw Leslie from Ideal Travel and she said their B&B is now a 2 building operation –- they are literally taking over Oregon Village. Also got to talk to Larry Hansgen for a bit after the show had ended. One problem Larry and Bucky are having is how to distinguish between the two Johnsons, Marcus and Chris. You can’t call the latter ‘Chris’ because of CW. George suggested ‘Marcus’ and ‘CJ’, which works. You can tell Larry really enjoys what he’s doing, altho I’m with Smitch, who asked the question on the MB “When does the guy ever sleep?”

Overall, a good night and let’s ready to rumble on Sunday evening!

That’s it “From the Swamp.”
You can email me at: swampy@udpride.com
Article Tools
  #1  
By FlyerGeorge on 11-12-2008, 10:16 AM
Swampy:

Great to finally meet you at the game and spend a few minutes chatting. Hope you'll be back around soon and we can continue the conversation.

By the way, how's it feel to be spoiled? You're never going back, are you?
Reply With Quote
  #2  
By Flyer 86 on 11-12-2008, 10:09 PM
great rundown and on the spot reporting. loved reading it the next day
Reply With Quote
Comment

Article Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.1

All times are GMT -4. The time now is 10:47 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.6
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Advertisement System V2.6 By   Branden

Article powered by GARS 2.1.8m ©2005-2006

     
 
Copyright 1996-2012 UDPride.com. All Rights Reserved.