I can't say I didn't think another loss was out of the question, but for some reason the false hope in me rose up again, and I thought Dayton would finally figure things out on the road.
WRONG!
The Flyers lost at Duquesne Sunday, 73-71. Eesh. Chris Wright scored 13 points in the first half and only two in the second half. Eeesh. Chris Johnson shot 13 three point attempts. Eeeesh. Dayton turned the ball over 21 times. Eeeeesh. 10 of those were by their two senior point guards. Eeeeeeeeeeessshhh.
Just another absolutely demoralizing loss, where Dayton allowed themselves to be beaten. They actually shot free throws very well, did pretty well from beyond the arc, and got good offensive production from Kurt and Paul Williams (completely out of the blue). Didn't matter though. You can't win with 21 turnovers. I've never seen so many dropped passes. The game made me feel like I was in the stands watching a Corpus Christi League matchup between St. Rita's and Immaculate Conception. Gosh, it was bad.
This brings me to the title of the blog. Dayton is now officially at the brink. They have five losses in conference play. In my opinion, nothing worse than 11-5 in the A-10 will receive an at large bid to the NCAA Tournament, and even then it would be iffy. So Dayton needs to win out. That means getting four straight Ws--at Temple, vs. UMass, at Richmond and vs. St. Louis. Anybody else think things are looking more than just a little bleak?
Ah, well. I'll still be rooting as hard as ever, but with very little expectation now, and no false hope.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
And it all comes crashing down
So I just read my last post, and I can't help but feel like it is so appropriate for how I'm currently feeling.
This is the problem with loving sports: something that is pointless in the grand scheme of things ruins your day. It's a double edged sword to root hard for a team, especially one like the Dayton Flyers.
That's because they are part of a very unique breed of team that can play like a top 15 team for 5 straight halves of basketball, beating Xavier and Charlotte by a combined 52 points and have a 14 point lead on St. Louis at halftime, then just completely lose focus and blow a HUGE game on the road.
That was devastating. I am still mad about the loss. Say what you want about UD getting unlucky on that final shot. All they have to do is go 11-20 from the foul line (still awful, by the way) and that shot doesn't matter. All they have to do is go 2-13 from the 3-point line (still horrendous, by the way) and that shot doesn't matter. Nope, Dayton couldn't do either of those things.
I said I had no confidence that they could play as well on the road. For the first half, I ate my words. They were up 33-19. Their defense was great, their offense was efficient. The threes weren't dropping, but they were scoring inside. In the second half, they decided to stop going inside, and I have no idea why.
I hate to say it, but I think BG made some mistakes with personnel at the end of the game and in the overtimes. No reason London is not in there more than Rob. No reason to have Paul Williams in at the end of the game, even if he is a good free throw shooter. He doesn't have the late-game experience. Give it to CJ in the situations where you need a free-throw. He's done it before.
Ugh, I don't even want to think about this anymore. Looking ahead, you could still say that Dayton has a chance to make the NCAAs. If they win their final six games, they'll be 12-4 in the A-10, and are a no-doubter. But how can anyone honestly think they will be able to win at Temple or at Richmond, if they lay an egg like this against St. Louis? I just don't see it happening.
My prediction? Three seed in the NIT.
This is the problem with loving sports: something that is pointless in the grand scheme of things ruins your day. It's a double edged sword to root hard for a team, especially one like the Dayton Flyers.
That's because they are part of a very unique breed of team that can play like a top 15 team for 5 straight halves of basketball, beating Xavier and Charlotte by a combined 52 points and have a 14 point lead on St. Louis at halftime, then just completely lose focus and blow a HUGE game on the road.
That was devastating. I am still mad about the loss. Say what you want about UD getting unlucky on that final shot. All they have to do is go 11-20 from the foul line (still awful, by the way) and that shot doesn't matter. All they have to do is go 2-13 from the 3-point line (still horrendous, by the way) and that shot doesn't matter. Nope, Dayton couldn't do either of those things.
I said I had no confidence that they could play as well on the road. For the first half, I ate my words. They were up 33-19. Their defense was great, their offense was efficient. The threes weren't dropping, but they were scoring inside. In the second half, they decided to stop going inside, and I have no idea why.
I hate to say it, but I think BG made some mistakes with personnel at the end of the game and in the overtimes. No reason London is not in there more than Rob. No reason to have Paul Williams in at the end of the game, even if he is a good free throw shooter. He doesn't have the late-game experience. Give it to CJ in the situations where you need a free-throw. He's done it before.
Ugh, I don't even want to think about this anymore. Looking ahead, you could still say that Dayton has a chance to make the NCAAs. If they win their final six games, they'll be 12-4 in the A-10, and are a no-doubter. But how can anyone honestly think they will be able to win at Temple or at Richmond, if they lay an egg like this against St. Louis? I just don't see it happening.
My prediction? Three seed in the NIT.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Great day for Basketball
This is why I follow sports, and live and die with the teams I root for.
Cause when they win, it feels so good.
Dayton beat Charlotte tonight, 75-47. O my gosh, did they look good. Chris Wright scored 30, and he was able to do that because he hit a couple threes in the second half. If he hits jumpers and forces a team to guard him everywhere, it's not even fair.
CJ looked great too, just hitting threes and taking what came to him. He finished with 14. Marcus had 13, including the best dunk by a UD player I've seen this year.
Not to mention the fact that they outscored Charlotte 45-20 in the second half. It was just ridiculous how good their defense looked. So now Dayton has won two big games in a row, and climbed back into the thick of things in the conference. Here's the catch-22 though: both games were at home. Now they have to go on the road for some tough games. If they continue playing this well, they will probably run the table. The thing is, I have no confidence they will ever play that well away from home. It just never seems to work out that way. I will hope, however.
In other news, Duke beat North Carolina for the first time in what seems like forever. I have hated watching Duke blow game after game against UNC because they come out guns-a-blazing and then get tired and lose it down the stretch. Sure, UNC is terrible this year (2-7 in the ACC), but it still feels good. I can only imagine how it felt for Jon Scheyer, who is a complete man. He's got to be at least 40.
Anyway, loving the wins now, and I'll enjoy them at least until Saturday, when both teams will almost certainly keep me sweating for the two plus hours they are playing.
Cause when they win, it feels so good.
Dayton beat Charlotte tonight, 75-47. O my gosh, did they look good. Chris Wright scored 30, and he was able to do that because he hit a couple threes in the second half. If he hits jumpers and forces a team to guard him everywhere, it's not even fair.
CJ looked great too, just hitting threes and taking what came to him. He finished with 14. Marcus had 13, including the best dunk by a UD player I've seen this year.
Not to mention the fact that they outscored Charlotte 45-20 in the second half. It was just ridiculous how good their defense looked. So now Dayton has won two big games in a row, and climbed back into the thick of things in the conference. Here's the catch-22 though: both games were at home. Now they have to go on the road for some tough games. If they continue playing this well, they will probably run the table. The thing is, I have no confidence they will ever play that well away from home. It just never seems to work out that way. I will hope, however.
In other news, Duke beat North Carolina for the first time in what seems like forever. I have hated watching Duke blow game after game against UNC because they come out guns-a-blazing and then get tired and lose it down the stretch. Sure, UNC is terrible this year (2-7 in the ACC), but it still feels good. I can only imagine how it felt for Jon Scheyer, who is a complete man. He's got to be at least 40.
Anyway, loving the wins now, and I'll enjoy them at least until Saturday, when both teams will almost certainly keep me sweating for the two plus hours they are playing.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Return to the Radio
Well, it was an exciting weekend and an exciting Monday.
The big highlight of today (yesterday?) was resuming the radio show I do with my roommate, Statler-Waldorf Sports.
It was a blast. We had to be taken out last semester because we didn't get a time slot that worked, so we were pretty disappointed to be off the air for so long. However, that made it all the better to be back.
We talked on UD basketball and the Super Bowl for just about the entire show, and it was great. It went pretty smoothly, with just one slip-up during the show. Not bad for the first run back. I got to run the board, which is always cool.
Speaking of the Super Bowl, that is gonna be awesome. The two best offenses in the NFL and the two best quarterbacks in the NFL going head to head. It should be a great shootout. One like what happened to my Packers a few weekends ago. I mean, it could honestly be some ridiculous final score like 56-49. Just touchdown after touchdown after touchdown.
I think I'm probably going to write more on this game later, as I do a bit more research on the two teams. For now, I just wanted to post about the excitement of the Radio. Hopefully we will be able to get some podcasting capability. Steve and I would really like to work on that, it could be pretty baller.
The big highlight of today (yesterday?) was resuming the radio show I do with my roommate, Statler-Waldorf Sports.
It was a blast. We had to be taken out last semester because we didn't get a time slot that worked, so we were pretty disappointed to be off the air for so long. However, that made it all the better to be back.
We talked on UD basketball and the Super Bowl for just about the entire show, and it was great. It went pretty smoothly, with just one slip-up during the show. Not bad for the first run back. I got to run the board, which is always cool.
Speaking of the Super Bowl, that is gonna be awesome. The two best offenses in the NFL and the two best quarterbacks in the NFL going head to head. It should be a great shootout. One like what happened to my Packers a few weekends ago. I mean, it could honestly be some ridiculous final score like 56-49. Just touchdown after touchdown after touchdown.
I think I'm probably going to write more on this game later, as I do a bit more research on the two teams. For now, I just wanted to post about the excitement of the Radio. Hopefully we will be able to get some podcasting capability. Steve and I would really like to work on that, it could be pretty baller.
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