El previo de Georgia Tech

There is an astonishing, and somewhat annoying, dearth of Yellow Jackets material of the not-football variety out there. To a certain point, I get it. The Ramblin' Wreck football team is ranked seventh and staring down an ACC championship and BCS game. Good for them. But your basketball team is ranked 19th in the Coaches' and 21st in the AP and that deserves more than the dismissive, lazy write-ups they're getting from nearly everyone. Let's take the Atlanta Journal Constitution's GT beat writer, Doug Roberson, for example:

"The Tech men’s basketball team will get its first test of this young season when it takes on Dayton at 11:30 a.m. Thursday.

Should it get by the flyin’ Flyers, George Mason or Villanova await the next day.

So, coach Paul Hewitt should find out fairly quickly what is working well, and what needs to be worked on in December before the conference season begins on Dec. 20 against Florida State."

Then the rest of the post goes right back to football. That post is titled "Switching to hoops". Seriously. That's your big switch to hoops? It hardly gets better anywhere else. From The Rumble Seat resorts to little more than platitudes in its "preview" (their quotes, not mine). Little more than a word is typed on the message boards. I may the last person that should be appalled at someone's laziness, but come the fuck on. It's not necessarily the laziness. I can get on board with that. It's the sarcasm and willful ignorance of a team that is, and will be, exciting as all hell.

Get yourself right, Yellow Jackets fan. You can multitask. Don't act like having a good football and a good basketball team is some sort of plight. Get over your disdain for Paul Hewitt and get behind your damn team. Talent like this deserves, at the very least, your attention. Helping a blogger with some words to work with would be appreciated, too.

GUARDS

Sophomore Iman Shumpert is the ultimate high risk, high reward guard. He averaged a healthy five assists per game last year, while also averaging over ten points. He also averaged 3.7 turnovers and shot below 40% from the field, including an ugly 31.9% from three. He largely amassed his stats against the dregs of the schedule. His highest scoring games of 22, 18, and 18 came with the caveat of 15 turnovers and 16-39 shooting. He's at his best when he's using his 6'5" size and strength to get in the lane and get to the line. He attempted the second-most free throws on the team last year behind Gani Lawal.

Freshman Mdon Udofia got the start at the other guard spot against Florida A&M and shared a good portion of the ball-handling duties with Shumpert. Udofia is a more traditional point at 6'2", 185. He played fairly well in the opener, dishing out four assists and scoring nine in 22 minutes.

And then the talent drop-off. Udofia supplanted junior Maurice Miller in the starting lineup after averaging 5.8 points in 25 minutes last year, including a shooting percentage below 30% and three-point percentage just above 20%. I'd say the young kid earned his chance as soon as he stepped on campus. Freshman Glen Rice, who I'm quite sure has exhausted his eligibility, comes off the bench. He was a middling three-star recruit, probably because he's 45.

FORWARDS/CENTERS

We might as well get this out of the way early.Pardon me while I clean this pee off my leg. That is fucking terrifying. He was Scout's #1 player in the nation; #2 to ESPN; and #4 to Rivals. Man-child hardly even describes the kid. He's 6'10" with a wingspan over nine feet and runs the floor like a small forward. He has incredible feet in the post and can finish after contact. He's slated to go top five in the upcoming draft. Any way you slice it, we will be watching probable greatness in its toddler stage tomorrow.

That said, I'm more nervous of junior Gani Lawal. Slightly slimmer but decidedly more polished than Favors, Lawal is just a straight banger underneath. I won't tomorrow, but I typically love watching him because you have to appreciate a workman's attitude at a position that has sadly seen that type of approach to the game become more and more scarce. Lawal went for double digits in 26 of 31 games last year, as well as led the ACC in 10+ rebound games (18) and double-doubles (15). He's a damn coach's dream down on the block. That said, he has the propensity to get into foul trouble and is uncomfortable if you lead him away from the block. Paul Hewitt could recognize by pitting Lawal against our center on the defensive end and switching Favors out to our power forward on the edge, but... nahhh.

D'Andre Bell is the nominal starter at small forward after returning from SPINAL STENOSIS. I capitalized that in hopes of making you cringe like I did upon reading it. That could just mean a back owie or severe vertebral damage. I find the ambiguity far more impressive. Anyway, Bell is serviceable but figures to share a lot of minutes with newcomer Brian Oliver. Oliver poses more much of an outside threat that is desperately needed on this Yellow Jackets squad. Expect him to see major minutes, and potentially the start, tomorrow.

KEYS

KURT KURT KURT KURT. Kurt Huelsman has a knack for playing up against big-time centers. He held Devin Ebanks to 5-13 shooting. He held Ahmad Nivins to 12 points on 4-11 shooting. He held Andrew Nicholson of St. Bona (shut up, he's good) to seven points. He's done it time and time again and we need him to do it tomorrow. While Derrick Favors possesses all the potential in the world, he's still a baby. Kurt is big and savvy enough to push him off the block and make Favors get his by putting the ball on the floor, which is absolutely not his strong suit. I actually think Kurt neutralizes Favors about as much you possibly can neutralize the future A'mare Stoudemire.

To the window, to Lawal. As stated, I'm far more fearful of Lawal beating us into submission. I expect to see BG trot out Devin Searcy to start the game tomorrow in hopes of keeping Lawal in check. That said, Devin has a long way to go defensively. I could see him getting banged up by a physical four like Lawal. If Devin either gets in foul trouble or it's just not working, what next? Do we shift Chris Wright on Lawal? That probably compounds the problem since I'm not sure CW can guard him, either. Benson? Doubt it. I don't see this ending well.

Perimeter shooting. Paul Hewitt routinely runs a 3-2 point zone, which means there is also a man on the ball and one defending the basket. As you might expect, this typically flattens out to your typical 1-3-1 zone if you spread the floor correctly but don't tell Paul Hewitt that because he thinks he's some sort of innovator. Getting production from the corners is extremely important in beating a 1-3-1 (or 3-2, whichever you prefer) zone. Marcus and CJ will be important in killing this zone dead by either bombing or driving from the deep corners. CJ's problems from the corner in the first game notwithstanding, I trust them to do this.

Coaching. A good coach, Paul Hewitt is not. Great recruiter: yes. In-game adjustments are not so much his forte. He's known to be stubborn to a fault in sticking to his game plan. Last year this game plan was: 1) Find Lawal; 2) If not there, let Shumpert shoot crazy off-balance shot; 3) Repeat until fail. BG made some excellent adjustments in the locker room against Creighton. Namely, telling Chris Wright to stop being Chris and start being Chris(t) again. BG knows that GT's bench is both short and extremely young. Expect that to be huge.

PREDICTIONS

As I stated on the Blackburn Review podcast this week, I never predict a loss. It's not in my homer blood. My Lawal-ophilia aside, I predict 73-70 Flyers. Many assorted rum-laced cocktails to celebrate.

Stuff, things, and various pre-Puerto Rico miscellany

"It was the kind of town that made you feel like Humphrey Bogart: you came in on a bumpy little plane, and, for some mysterious reason, got a private room with a balcony overlooking the town and the harbor; then you sat down and drank until something happened. I felt a tremendous difference between me and everything real."

-Hunter S. Thompson, "The Rum Diary"

Now THAT sounds like my kind of town. One of the many reasons why I'm leaving for The Walled City with little more than a plane ticket a pocketful of dreams. It seems like a pretty simple decision from where I'm standing. I could work four excruciating days... or I could jet off to a Caribbean paradise and splice drinking and gambling and oceanside lounging with the team I would take a goddamn bullet for going for gold for a second year in a row. Chicago was such a pants-tightening success that I couldn't think of turning down the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.

I travel a lot for my job. I've crisscrossed the United States and visited Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, its surly stepbrother Northern Ireland, Brazil, and other countries that sound way less cool so they get snipped. Tonight, however, is the most excited I've ever been for a trip. It's like the planets aligned and decided to personally give us this one gift before the planet implodes in 2012 as modern-day prophet John Cusack says.

If you had the free time and finances to make this trip and decided not to, then eternal shame on you. What you're missing will be epic and the wheels of Flyers history will not slow in your absence. This is the weekend that those attending have the advantage of drowning any potential sorrows in the crystal blue and old cobbled gray of San Juan. It's been said many times before, but it's a GREAT day to be a Flyer. Particularly one traveling to Puerto Rico.

Bullets?

• First, thanks to Mike for the tickets. You, sir, are a gentleman and a scholar. 1,000 cocktails to you.

• All the praise in the world can't say just what Chris Johnson did for us on Saturday. When we were flailing about in the middle of the second half, he was the guy keeping us in the game by being here, there, and everywhere on the court. After we went down by ten with 5:58 left in the first half, CJ finished the half with seven points, four boards, and a block. This was after starting the game 1-5 from the field. The kid definitely isn't shy, and that's what will help make him a great player rather than just another good player.

• While being flustered by the press is somewhat annoying, it's not surprising. The press is meant to temporarily bother the hell out of an offensive set in hopes of pushing the tempo a bit and creating turnovers and, ideally, quick buckets. We absolutely have to figure it out earlier than we did, though. A couple quick and effective breaks of a press will kill that tactic dead. But lazy passes over the top are not going to dissuade any coach from employing the press. In fact, they would love for you to keep throwing those lobs over the top of the first level of the press, Mickey. I'm guessing the absence of London for long stretches had something to do with this, but this had to be practiced at length, right?

• Speaking of, where was London in the second half? He picked up his second foul with 10:30 left in the first half. I like to think he's savvy enough to stay away from that third foul, but I understand the decision to sit him for the rest of the first. But I think we saw far too much Mickey in the second. London didn't pick up his third foul until there was just over three minutes left in the game. Meanwhile, the Mickey Perry Experiment continues to push me closer and closer to the brink of a coronary.

• The perimeter defense left a little bit to be wanted, especially in the first half. I think we'll chalk that up to a whole lot of Mickey, too.

• I fully expect to see Devin thrown out there to start against Georgia Tech. They're too big, too strong, too angry to risk CW grabbing a couple early fouls by reaching. That said, Devin still has some work to do on the defensive end and the matchup with Gani Lawal could be... interesting.

• A few friends and I all agreed Paul Williams would be the most pleasantly surprising player of the season. That's a hell of a start, Paul Wall. He looked FAR more comfortable in his role on both ends of the floor. Small sample sizes and such and yadda yadda yadda. Yes I know. But it's encouraging at least.

• The respective fathers of the Blackburn Review and UD Flyer Nation will also be in Puerto Rico this week. Expect an Aristocrats-type contest to see who can manufacture the best post of the week. Just know I'm coming for blood, good sirs. First drinks are on me.

• I somehow can't stop listening to "Skeletons" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. It makes me feel like I should be off in a faraway land storming a castle on a hill. Metaphorically, that's what I plan for both myself and the Flyers this weekend. Let's get it.

Devin Searcy, come on down

The tried and true Devin vs. all offense.

Per the scrumtrulescent Doug Harris, it's official: Devin Searcy gets the starting nod tomorrow against Creighton. Interesting decision that I'm guessing splits the Flyers fandom in two depending on philosophy and aesthetic taste.

Per Doug Harris's excellent column:

"Junior Devin Searcy will likely fill the team's lone vacant starting spot in the opener, giving Dayton two 6-foot-10 players in its first unit. And he'll be expected to play outside since coach Brian Gregory likes his offensive sets to have a point guard, a post and three perimeter players.

I'm interested to see how Searcy, a career post player, can adapt to operating outside. The Flyers will probably try some high-low exchanges with Searcy and center Kurt Huelsman (that worked well in exhibition games).

He's right. The high-low exchange was extremely effective in the two exhibition games. The operative words? EXHIBITION GAMES. Will this dynamic work against competition that isn't cannon fodder?

Given that our biggest question is always how we're going to get our points, we'll focus on the offensive end. To expand on Doug's piece, what the Flyers typically set up in on the offensive end is called a four-out, one-in motion offense. See the diagram at the left. That's the four-in, one-out motion at its base. It involves a point guard that rarely strays from the top of the key, one man in the corner on his strong side (right side since London is right-handed) and two on his weak side. The two on the back side are meant to leave the front side slightly more open should the opportunity to penetrate present itself. The Flyers typically use a plethora of handoff screens and down screens between perimeter players to free up flares and cuts through the lane. The post ideally keeps showing to each of the four corners along with the ball. However that takes an extremely nimble big man. That, Kurt is not.

So... the question is whether BG will adapt to the players' strengths and fall into a traditional three-out, two-in motion set or stick with the package that has primarily been played since each player has stepped on campus. The obvious answer is, like Doug Harris said, sticking with the offense that everyone is accustomed to and filtering Kurt and Devin in and out between each other.

My concern is that Devin poses little threat in his midrange game. If he stays on the perimeter, his defender can basically ignore him and sag off into the lane to protect against cuts. Being the perimeter shooting-parched team that we are, most of our points come within 15 feet or so. That one extra defender falling into the lane can wreak havoc on the flow of our offense, as we saw against teams like Kansas, which murdered us dead with its 1-2-2 zone defense.

Should Creighton throw out a similar zone, the best way to beat it is by quickly reversing the ball. If done quickly enough, it drags the post man out and frees up the paint. But what's the incentive to slide over if the corner you're sliding to can't knock down that shot? It's like a rollout in football. You're forcing the defense to react a little more quickly, but you're also cutting off a significant portion of the field. I'm not sure our offense is in the position to leave a corner completely innocuous.

This is not to slight Devin. He's a clear upgrade over CJ on the defensive end. CJ will still have trouble with players that can body him, and this allows Chris Wright to play his natural three on the defensive end. CW is still wont to reach when players try to post him. Foul trouble is not something we can afford when we're talking about Chris Wright.

The point may be moot, seeing as we filter players in and out so much that it makes starting more of a formality than anything. CJ will still get his minutes, but I think the first few minutes will go a long way in determining the tempo and flow of this game. With Creighton without three forwards, is size really a concern on either end? Maybe it's just me, but I'm far more comfortable with Devin spelling Kurt (often, please) and CJ doing what he does from the corner with the first team.

Note: Brian Gregory makes more money than God to make these decisions and I am a lowly blogger.

Bringing it all back home

11/3/2009 - Dayton 88, Ferris State 73

Falling out of touch with all my
friends are somewhere getting wasted,
hope they're staying glued together,
I have arms for them.

***

As you get older, it gradually gets easier and easier to let old affections die. It's rarely anything overblown or dramatic, as pop culture might wish you to believe. Old loves and crushes and friends and foes are hardly ever shotgunned to a million pieces in the mind's eye; they simply regress back to the mean and are more or less just... there.

This isn't news to anyone in the post-college crowd. Geography, carelessness, and the obliviously callous work of time make the dissolution of the things we once thought most important far too easy. Nobody likes to acknowledge their own neglect, which is why we ignore it until the process is virtually through so we can skip right ahead to ruing the result and our poor, poor luck.

It takes a certain kind of person or place or what-have-you that we consciously refuse to let leave our peripheral. Your fancies and focuses may waver, but those things are never far outside your sight. If you came back after all these months, I imagine the Flyers are that sort of passion for you.

For twenty-somethings like myself, this month is hardly ever about Thanksgiving itself and more about the night before. Many of us have long ago left our high school towns, and with the passage of time the extremes are the only things that remain. The very good and the very bad are still there, and the petty people and moments that wandered through in between are just that -- the dull, utterly meaningless in-between. And so you go back with those extremes in the forefront of your mind, equal parts excited and reluctant. You only hope the good is as good as you remembered it to make the whole venture worthwhile. And then something happens, whether it be an old friend walking in unexpectedly, a forgotten inside joke, or an picture-perfect alley-oop in transition -- thank you, Josh Benson -- and you remember why you came back in the first place. After changes upon changes, we are more or less the same.

Welcome back.

***

Before we get ahead of ourselves, let's get one thing out of the way: FERRIS. STATE. That's the team we just played. And thus, nothing of predictive worth can be gleaned. You hear me? I swear I'll rabbit punch the kidneys of the first person calling for Dan Fox to see more time. Not that I have anything against Dan Fox. Not in the least bit. But if a walk-on plays significant minutes in a game that matters -- and especially this season -- we're probably watching the flaming ruins of basketball Chernobyl.

That said, it was damn good to see the Flyers back out on the floor no matter the circumstances. After the long, uneventful offseason, they could have aired a feed of them playing NBA Live on PS3 and I'd have tuned in. You can mask an addiction with progress, but it only takes the smallest hit to whip you right back into the vortex.

***

Abbreviated bullets from a glorified pick-up game:

• This blog has been predicting a second-year breakout for Chris Johnson since it saw him in the Red & Blue scrimmage last year, so it was really wasn't a surprise to see the newly swole CJ get nice. His body should no longer prevent him from muscling into the lane on the offensive end, and it should only aid his already incredible instincts on the defensive end. Raw talent can get you about 75%, but conditioning and experience will often take you the rest of the way.
• And this is where we nominate Josh Benson to play the role of 2008-09 Chris Johnson. The mechanics need some major work but holy hell look at that paint job. Yes, his brain way ten steps ahead of his body for half the night. Yes, you can still watch him digest a Tic Tac. But JB Smoove is going to be absolutely freaknasty in one year's time. Book it.
• Another year of technology has raced past the WHIO production team. And that year is 1990. I'm done complaining about the lack of a scorebox in one of the four corners of the screen. If you're not going to give us that, for the love of everything holy DO NOT compound the problem by giving us full-screen updates WHILE THE GAME IS GOING ON. We missed several baskets and turnovers while staring at a rudimentary PowerPoint screen last night. They might as well have given us checkerboard slide transitions to complete the full seventh grade Social Studies report effect.
• Our Trillion Watch is off to a humdrum start, but Luke Hendrick came close with four minutes and only a solitary rebound. The prize for the most remarkable trillion this season: set of steak knives.
• We'll chalk this up to exhibition play being the laissez-faire business that it is, but you chuck one up from 30 feet again, Luke, and we're having some words in the parking lot. As friend of the blog Andy astutely pointed out, too often he resembles Phillip Seymour Hoffman in "Along Came Polly." RAIN DANCE!

• Yes, the free throw shooting. Again. As Samuel L. Jackson once said (to a dinosaur, I think), "Hold onto your butts."
  

Keep pushin'

Winning is a funny thing. This team has exceeded every reasonable expectation I could have had for them this season. And yet I only want more more more. Once you get the taste of flesh between your teeth, the bloodlust only intensifies tenfold. I want to shatter America's bracket and dance over its crumpled remains. I want to laugh in the face of Vegas. I thirst for more of this sweet nectar they call vindication.

There is no need for previewing Kansas; you already know Kansas. They are the defending champions. They own one of the most storied traditions in college basketball. The only reason their recruiting classes ever dip out of the top five is if the team is already full up on awesome.

And does any of that matter in a one-and-done scenario? HELL NAW. The prestige only heightens the potential reward. A mere 40 minutes of inspired ball can transform good teams into remembered teams; familiar faces into yarns for your grandkids; feel-good stories into relative legend. That path can be further illuminated by one victory over the mighty Kansas Jayhawks. Go out and get ya some of that well-earned glory, boys.

WE ARE. UD.

West F'n Virginia Preview

Your couch: DEAD.

Who: West Virginia Mountaineers (23-11, 10-8)
Where: Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (Minneapolis, MN)
When: Friday, 3:00 P.M. EST
RPI: 21
Spread: West Virginia -8.5
Other Previews: Throw a rock and you'll hit one.

Please don't die please don't die please don't die...

GUARDS

Bob Huggins is and has never been a guard kind of guy. There are technically only four guards on the roster and only one that plays. That one would be freshman point Truck Bryant, who will forever have my undying respect for that name alone. Truck took over the starting role for good in mid-December and has since averaged 9.4 points, 2.8 assists, and 2 turnovers. Not spectacular numbers by any means but he's certainly not killing them. He's also the only real option at point so it's this or nothing, bucko.

Truck isn't really the drive-and-dish type. If he's getting in the lane, chances are he's going to the rack. Despite the rather pedestrian stats, there's something I love about Truck. Probably the name. Yes, definitely the name. His game is equal parts Carl Krauser and Levance Fields, which is another way of saying he'll punk your shit if you look at him sideways.

FORWARDS AND CENTERS

Yes, this is a Bob Huggins team and, as expected, EVERYONE is a forward. I guess it behooves us to profile the guy with every analyst in America swinging from his pack: Devin Ebanks. Devin has nearly averaged a 13 and 10 in the second half of the season. When you do that in the Big East, it typically means you cannot be killed by conventional weapons. The official coming out party was the Big East tourney where he averaged 16 and 10 in the Mountaineers' three games. I'm looking for a weakness here, but, um ... ??? What do you want? He's a future lottery pick. He's going to be a load on Friday and, like slow creeping death, there's little anyone can do to stop it.

Just when you think you've kept the Ebanks at bay, Da'Sean Butler is across the paint to confirm the axiom that anyone with an apostrophe in his name is a sure thing. Butler led the Mountaineers in points at 17+ per night. He does it inside and out, averaging a respectable 36.5% from three, though the long ball only comprises 35% of his attempts. Once again: BEAST. If there's one negative to DB's game it's that he has the tendency to get in foul trouble. He fouled out of three games and carried four fouls in eight other games.

Alex Ruoff is the team's second-leading scorer, A1 outside threat, and just a swell guy (or so says every damn article about him I've ever read). Ruoff took a startling 62% of his total attempts from outside the arc which, like, whoa. Guy should be paying rent out there. He knocked down a team-leading 37.5% of his three attempts, so I guess it's justified. Interestingly, in West Virginia's ten games against teams in the RPI top 50 like us, Ruoff only averaged 12 points on 34% shooting, both significantly down from his season averages. Wait a minute -- top 50 teams like us? We're a top 50 team like us!

Other guys you can expect to see rotating in and out: Kevin Jones, The Honorable Wellington Smith, John Flowers, and Cam Thoroughman. Impact: negligible.

KEYS AND PREDICTIONS

I'm going to be honest, the prognosis is not positive. West Virginia does nearly everything well. 19th in the nation in defensive points per possession, 47th in offensive points per possession, 20th in rebounding percentage, 29th in turnovers per game. I mean, holy shit. Just a remarkably well-coached, efficient team.

So what do we have to do? Well first of all, believe that we're going to see a lot of the Mountaineers' 1-3-1 zone. Given that we're a truly awful shooting team and they're 13th in the nation in three-point field goal percentage, shooting out of it is not likely. The baseline and corners are always the weak link in the 1-3-1. MJ has become especially adept at attacking from the corner, whether it be from deep or driving. I hope to God he's on, otherwise we're pretty much effed.

The Mountaineers are very much an amped up version of the Flyers. They play a lot the same game, but like, better and stuff. We defend the three-point line well, so I'm not terrified of Ruoff going wild. It's Ebanks and Butler that terrify the everliving hell out of me. If CW is matched up on Butler, his penchant for flailing wildly on the defensive end could be huge. Get an early foul or two and it's a completely different game.

We can't play the same game we always play because our game is also their game and their game happens to be better than our game. So if they're us, and we're them, but they're a harder better faster stronger us ... what are you to do? You hope to God that we get the Flyers we saw against Marquette and Xavier 1.0, that's what you do. This is just an incredibly tough match-up with a virtual mirror image that is horribly underseeded and probably hungry for brains.

So what will it be? I don't predict losses because blind faith is what I do best. Marcus has 13. CW has a rough game by the numbers but is active enough to keep West Virginia honest. Chris Johnson steps up big and knocks down a couple threes from the corner in the first half. I think Blackburn is dead on: we'll either be laughed off the court early or it's going to be a war. Me? I'm ready for war. As Sherman once said, "We shall make this war as severe as possible."

I'm going to say 61-58 for the good guys. Because the alternative is far too painful to bare. If death comes, I only ask that it be swift.

The long hard winter

We made it. We have traversed the barren five-year stretch that left us shivering and hungry without even a morsel of March glory to sate us. Before you can move forward, you must reflect on where you've been. Let us look at the triumphs and travails of the Flyers to this point in the A.W. (Anno Waleskowski) period.

2004-2005: New beginnings and bitter endings

Keith Waleskowski: gone. Sean Finn: gone. Ramod Marshall: gone. Frank Iguodala: knee-deep in Philadelphia strange. The core Flyers I had come to know and creepily worship from the onset of my fandom have left for scattered parts of the globe. You are right to be fearful. For the first time in four years, this team feels unfamiliar and foreign.

ALAS! Hope springs eternal. Five fresh new faces are bounding around the floor and early word is positive. Despite being the least heralded recruit of the class, the most encouraging pub is on a scrawny two-guard from Toledo named Brian Roberts. This is good. We can build on this. The season may not necessarily be a success, but damnit it's going to be exciting!

Then we lose to Eastern Kentucky at home to open the season. The worst part of these types of losses is the walk through the parking lot. Grown men and women reduced to pathetic shells of their former selves, dutifully walking a listless zombie march to their cars so they can go home and eat a dinner without taste and ponder endlessly over a loss without explanation.

And the season sort of slowly bleeds out from there. There is promise, but little immediate satisfaction. We play well yet lose by ten to Cincinnati at home. We somehow claw to the top of the A-10 West, only to fall to third after a soul-crushing loss on Carl Elliott's heave against GW and an inevitable road loss at X.

The A-10 tourney ends on the lowest note imaginable against Temple. We score 16 points in the first half. Monty Scott and Brian Roberts, our top two scorers, combine to go 5-21 from the field. We shoot below 35% for the game. Temple fans are taunting us as we sink lower and lower in our dirty seats.

Trent Meacham soon transfers and the future suddenly doesn't quite so sunny.

2005-2006: Just looking to not get embarrassed

This is the year that we begin to let the Monty Scott dream die. We wanted him to be the player that we hoped would be the athletic, do-it-all wing and bridge the gap between the OP and BG eras. Perhaps that was unfair on our part. We may have expected too much on the court, and even more off the court. Some people just aren't born leaders and Monty was clearly one of them.

There is a group of players that you can sort of tell that BG is disgusted with putting on the floor. He obviously loves Marques Bennett for his hustle -- and who wouldn't? -- but he's also forced to play Purnell holdovers like Logan White and James Cripe. Even worse, the point guard he recruited left and he still must rely on Warren "Have you seen my baseball?" Williams.

The problem wasn't that Warren was necessarily terrible; it was that he was maddeningly inconsistent. His A/TO ratio rose gradually over the course of his career, but it's largely attributable to the rise in minutes. His turnovers per 40 minutes remained around four his entire career and that's just not good enough.

Anyway, the 2005-2006 season included our first win in Cincinnati in 15 years and a win at home against Xavier. Other than that, there were few smiles. Scoring 42 points at Miami, going 6-10 in conference, a seven-game losing streak in the middle of the year, and an unremarkable dumping by St. Joe's in the A-10 Tournament.

Dark times, indeed. Chris Alvarez and James Cripe transfer. Um, okay. Later.

Out of all of this, we see the beginnings of the type of player Brian Gregory would like to build this program around in freshman Charles Little, who picked Dayton over an offer from Tennessee. The only requirement is that you can perform an Eastbay Funk Dunk over a kindergarten classroom to get this scholarship. Young Chuck averages 4.6 and 2.6 in only a handful of minutes, but the dye is cast. This is the type of hyper-athletic tweener that we will become accustomed to. Once you get over just how crazy athletic he is and that he could pound you into a fine red mist, it's actually quite enjoyable.

Also, Brian Roberts confirms that he is sort of good.

2006-2007: Inklings

Have you noticed it's typically one of the less heralded recruits in each class that end up being the cornerstones? Most of the talk in the 2007 class surrounded Kurt Huelsman and the offers he got from schools like Purdue and Cincinnati. And yet Marcus Johnson immediately made it known who would lead this class, scoring 23 points in his college debut.

And that was indicative of the entire season. While the talent was still unpolished and the experience was still raw, you could tell the core of this team could be something special. The Flyers jumped out to a quick 10-1 before getting curbstomped by Pittsburgh and North Carolina by 30 points each. Looking back, it may have been a bit unfair to throw this young squad to the wolves like that. They were lucky they even made it 40 minutes without throwing up on themselves.

But hey! We beat Louisville. We beat Creighton. We were 10-3 heading into the A-10 season. Unfortunately, the A-10 season went about as you would imagine it would with a team stocked to the gills with noobs. Only once did we oscillate more than one game from .500 across the entire conference slate. We were totally and absolutely average in almost every sense of the word.

Despite the conference season being a bit frustrating, you could tell this team was about to go nuts go apeshit. Give it one year. Brian Roberts would be a senior. The recently-crowned A-10 Sixth Man of the Year, Charles Little, would be an upperclassman. All those freshman would have one more year under their belts. And internet legend Chris Wright, whose highlight I thought were CGI until I saw him, was about to step up to the mic.

We were on the cusp. Next year was would be the one where all the past follies would be washed away. Definitely next year. Has to be.

2007-2008: How to disappear completely

Nothing could have prepared you for the supreme mindfuck that was the 2007-2008 season. So much gained and yet so much lost that it left you a vacuous shell when the ride finally ended.

A win at Louisville and a trouncing of Pittsburgh put us back on the national map. This is what we had waited for. Finally! Vindication! And just as quickly as it began, Vengeful Flyers Ankle-Hating God showed his true might and struck Chris Wright down.

Chris Wright had proven to be exactly what coaches saw when they watched him, mouths agape. Powerful. Raw. At times dominant. Awe-inspiring. Inconsistent. Pants-tightening. He was the X factor that could push any good team over the top. You couldn't let him go for one moment lest you wanted crotch on your chin. He opened up the offense so that Brian Roberts could work and Marcus Johnson could go one-on-one. And with one nagging injury, it all came crashing down.

Brian Roberts sunk from 19.4 points on 55% shooting to 17.6 points on 46% shooting. Marcus Johnson was forced to shoulder a much heavier load than he was ready for. Charles averaged 13-5 until a foot injury put him back on the pine. It was basically one bad break after another and the committee deigned we weren't worthy of a bid without a healthy Chris Wright. Which I begrudgingly agreed with yet still wished a pox on everyone in that Indianapolis conference room.

And so we were back in the postseason and it felt strange. You felt greedy for feeling like we deserved more. The season ended on a thoroughly annoying note, losing to Ohio State and a fanbase who treats its basketball team like a kitten does a ball of string. The Buckeyes won the NIT and hardly anyone, which stung more. At least let someone who wants it carry home the hardware. Assholes.

And so with the devourer of worlds, Brian Roberts, leaving, we resigned ourselves to another year of getting the house in order. Not that we weren't used to this already. Just tidying up for another run, whenever it should happen.

2008-2009: Redemption

And despite all the questions heading into the season, something crazy happened: this team just flat out knew how to win. It was hardly ever pretty or the way it was drawn up, but Ws just happened.

And yet, the constant nattering of a certain subset of fans could not stop whining. With all the success that the team kept accruing, some were never satisfied. Some offered to help the team with free throws because they taught their stupid sons the correct technique in the driveway. Some went with the nuclear option and hit the panic button after a freaking win. Some chose to constantly bag on 19-year old kids because taking stock of their own lives would be far too depressing and it's just easier to yell at someone that won't yell back.

All season the rational ones begged for perspective. If you spent the majority of the season finding faults rather than enjoying what was going on around you, for shame. You watched one of the best seasons this program has ever had go by while you were too busy mashing your keyboard into a jelly.

To those that have stayed faithful even during the stormiest nights, a salute to you. You've earned the right to stay home on Friday and exercise the only thing you know: blind hope. It's been a longer than expected ride, but we're back. Recognize.