It's October

Get Pumped.

Philadelphia Woman Channels Sammy Smith

At least Sammy had the decency not to involve any small children or Flyers teammates.

Authorities already had their doubts about Bonnie Sweeten's elaborate abduction story. But it completely fell apart when police learned they had all sorts of surveillance camera pictures of Sweeten and her 9-year-old daughter, Julia, boarding a flight bound for Orlando, Florida.

Less than two hours after Sweeten said she was calling 911 from the trunk of a Cadillac and that she and her daughter had been abducted, security cameras at Philadelphia International Airport captured images of the two boarding a plane for Orlando. Law enforcement sources say they were boarding the plane without coercion.

http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=news/national_world&id=6835891

Some More Early Love for the Flyers

This one from someone who covers St. Joes in Pennsylvania:

http://www.examiner.com/x-7770-Saint-Josephs-Hawks-Examiner~y2009m5d24-A-way-too-early-preview-of-the-200910-Atlantic-10-mens-basketball-season-4th1st-place

1. Dayton- A team that went under the radar nationally for much of the year, Dayton won 27 games last season, including a win over West Virginia in the NCAA Tournament. The Flyers will look to take one more step and win a regular season title in the Atlantic 10 this season. The pieces are certainly in place, as the only regular contributor that the Flyers lose is Charles Little. Little was a steady player as a power forward, but the Flyers are a relatively deep squad which will be predicated on defense. The one recruit brought in by Brian Gregory, who earned himself a contract extension after another solid season, is Matt Kavanaugh, a 6’9 forward/center. It is likely that he will be able to contribute right away as a member of the rotation. If there was ever a year for Dayton to knock Xavier off of their perch, its this season.

Notice the number one in front of Dayton. Yes, he has picked UD to win the A-10.

A Super Early Top 25

Andy Katz posted his early predictions for next year's top 25, and Mr. Katz has the Flyers ranked 23rd. 

Here's what he has to say: "The Flyers were second to Xavier this season, and next season might be more of the same. That's OK. That shouldn't keep them out of the Top 25. Dayton will be one of the more experienced teams with Chris Wright, Marcus Johnson and Rob Lowery, the latter two rising seniors. Dayton coach Brian Gregory doesn't have superstars, but he has players who understand his system and are winners."

Nice to see a little early hype for what has the potential to be UD's best season in a long time. 

Former UD Assistant Now a Head Coach

Shaka Smart was an assistant at UD while I was there, and now he's the head coach at VCU. That's really all I have, but it's sort of relevant to this blog.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/11582796

Crappy, Shaky Videos From UD's Win

Despite 16-of-72 Today, Season a Huge Success

Like the rest of you, I was hoping for a better performance certainly, but like most of you, I was also very realistic. Heck, I'm the one who flat out said I thought UD would lose by double-digits to WVU, so I guess I can't complain, and I won't.

I'll give Kansas and Bill Self a lot of credit. They certainly didn't underestimate UD's athleticism, and they challenged every shot the Flyers took. I tend to agree with the comment in the post below about Bill Self being the best coach (or one of the best) in the nation. He certainly has done a remarkable job this year, especially when you consider everything they lost after winning the title last season.

Now back to the Flyers. I really don't care what the final score was today, or how poorly the team shot from the field (22.2%). By any standard, this season was a huge success.

-The team had 27 wins, including solid regular season victories over Marquette and Xavier.
-Dayton made it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 5 years
-The team won an NCAA Tournament game for the first time in 19 years

Those three things alone make it a great season, particularly the last one. Plus, with only Charles Little graduating, you have to feel good about next season as well.

Sure it sucks to lose today, but I'm really not that broken up about it. I've already switched into the "Let's be happy for what this team achieved, and let's get geared up for a great run next season" mode.

Congrats to the Flyers on a great year, and here's to more success in 2009-2010.