Great Expectations

For those of you that clicked on this post hoping for a discourse on the book of the same name, I'm sad to say you came to the wrong place. This is just a one time thing...If we were in the business of comparing basketball to required high school reading, the post after losing to Xavier at home would have been titled Jane Eyre, in honor of the worst fucking book in the history of the world.

No, we're here to discuss expectations for this year's Flyers team. Before the season, we discussed what would constitute a successful season for the team (in our opinion...the only opinion we generally care about...we're selfish like that).

We came up with a list of five things:

1. Make a postseason tournament. If it had to be the NIT, it was make the NIT and at least win a game. If the Flyers were dancing, we'd prefer they win at least one game, but we'd be happy to just make the tournament.
2. Beat Xavier at Xavier.
3. Beat Louisville at Louisville.
4. Beat Pittsburgh to make up for last year's debacle at their house.
5. National exposure for Brian Roberts, including NBA talk.
6. Noticeable player development.

The season's not over, so we can't make a final judgment, but with a few games left this year, let's take a look at where we stand:

1. The jury is still out on this one, but it looks like we're at least going to make the NIT if we can win a few of these last few games. The NCAA Tournament isn't out of the question yet, although it's unlikely. I can absolutely see this team coming together at just the right time (Chris Wright comes back) and pulling out a small miracle by winning the Atlantic 10 tournament. Do I think it will actually happen? No, the A-10's too deep this year. If it does happen though...fuck. I've already taken off of work for the NCAA Tournament opening round....I don't even want to think of the Guns n' Roses-level destruction we're going to put on Cleveland when our group of friends takes a field trip there to watch the games. Verdict: undecided.


2. Well, we didn't beat X at X. Big fucking surprise there. And we're not going to do it this year. We still have a chance to beat X as a "visitor" in the A-10 tournament, but it's not the same. Verdict: fuck off Xavier.


3. We beat Louisville at Louisville. I was there bitches. My bar tab still bears the scar of a weekend of celebrations. Verdict: eat it, Pitino, you smarmy asshole.


4. Dayton certainly avenged last year's loss at Pittsburgh. Again, I was there, laughing my fucking ass off watching Jamie Dixon squirm on the sidelines. My liver still bears the liver disease of a weekend of celebrations. Verdict: still pissed those pansies down in front wouldn't move to let us storm the court.


5. B-Rob's gotten a ton of pub this year -- well deserved pub, despite what Stanley "Stephon Marbury Jr." Burrell says. People that are on NBA draft radars: Brian Roberts. People so far down NBA draft radars that we might confuse their ranking with George Washington's RPI: Stanley Burrell. Brian's midseason slump (questionable: flu, probable: Chris Wright's foot) might have dropped him down a bit, but with a big last month, I'd expect to hear more chatter about Mr. Roberts' chances of making the NBA. But don't call him Mr. Roberts, that's his father. Verdict: pretty lame joke Loblaw.


6. Despite what all the Armageddonists over at UD Pride will have you think, Brian Gregory has been developing players.
   
   Kurt Huelsman last year was a glorified James Cribe with a slightly less noticeable slit where a penis should be. This year he's a goddamn beast. A go-to guy, when we're able to get him the ball. His baby hook is pretty damn impressive in its effectiveness, especially when you consider he missed layups at a Devin Searcy like rate.
   
   Charles Little, while not what we'd call "solid" at the free throw line, now seems to have solid mechanics at the line. He was really starting to come into his own before the injury, but seemed to have regressed the last game or two without the practice time to work on his game when he was out with the ankle injury.
   
   London Warren, when he's not playing too fast on the offensive end, has been one of the best pure point guards in the league. He's arguably the best defender in the league (and I'll argue with you if you want to). This year he's been able to finish around the basket, for the most part. His jump shot's pretty ugly still, but his role isn't to shoot jumpers, so if he never takes another one his entire career, I'm fine with that. Plus his throwdowns are unexpected and always pretty damn awesome.
   
   You all know what my thoughts on Andres Sandoval were to start the season. Look where he's at now, playing within his means, taking open shots, mixing in the dribble drive when it's open and playing a solid defensive game...exactly what we need him to do and what he wasn't doing for the better part of the season.
   
   Marcus Johnson looks ready to make the mythical "Leap" next season. I'm pretty pumped about the MJ-Flyers Jesus-Charles Little-Kurt Huelsman combo next season, I don't know about you.
   
   And who can forget about Brian Roberts. Certainly not us. He went from one of the top players in the league to the best player in the A-10 and the Flyers first shot at NBA glory in quite some time. Verdict: "I play, coach stays. He goes, I go."- Flyers Jesus, Marcus Johnson, Kurt Huelsman, all of next year's recruits and Jimmy Chitwood.

While I'll admit it's going to be disappointing if Brian's career ends without an NCAA Tournament berth, in our book, the season has met most of our expectations. This is a damn good team that had a ton of bad breaks that seemed to snowball throughout the season. It sucks. But I'm over with it. There's still a lot of basketball left to be played and I hope the Flyers can fulfill all of our season-long hopes.