I wonder what it is about the early season that makes this blog fall apart? For me, it's the impending gloom of law school exams. I'm up to my eyeballs in textbooks, notes and study guides. The only thing sustaining me is the knowledge that when it's all over, I have every intention of rewarding myself with a couple trips to watch Dayton basketball during the Christmas break (which is, of course, called a 'Winter Break' because I neglected my better judgment and enrolled at a school that isn't run by Catholics for the first time in my life).
At any rate, I figured someone should probably post something on this thing. I have no desire to rehash the first two games of the season, breaking down what I liked (defensive intensity, Searcy making like that scene from 'An Officer and a Gentlemen' with Chris Johnson to carry him off the floor) and didn't like (the speed demon Bobsey twins at point guard, my personal absence from the arena), instead choosing to focus on other nonessentials. You can read the game stories in the DDN tomorrow if you want, but I'd just recommend visiting one of the other fine UD blogs linked to on the right side of this page.
And so, fellow Flyer Faithful, I write to you tonight with a message. It is a message of hope (those seem to be popular these days); it is a message of patience (these are not); and most of all, it is a message of calm. We've seen just two games of the post-Roberts era and few of us know what to think of the season just yet. In attempting to discern what this season might hold, let's break things down in a very simple way, one thing at a time. I'm breaking this down Donald Rumsfeld style.
What We Know That We Know
* The Flyers are 2-0. This is the reverse of one of college basketball's most storied programs, the University of Kentucky, now sitting at 0-2. The Wildcats had one passable loss (UNC) and one basically unacceptable loss (VMI). To further understand what makes that so outrageous and, quite frankly, funny, look here. Please see: Nos. 1 and 339. So remember, we could have already lost to those guys. Then again, I also know that I'd give my right arm in trade if someone told me the Flyers could have seven national titles but we'd have to lose to the cheapest team in college basketball sixty years from now.
* Chris Wright is badass. He was the spark in tonight's game and he will continue to be so in the future. This really goes without saying, but it's fun to be able to write stuff like this about Dayton basketball again.
* The schedule is weak enough that the Flyers will be able to work on offense a great deal between now and the start of A-10 play. I have written off the games against Marquette, Auburn and Creighton as losses. I understand that there are a lot of Flyer fans that don't think I should look ahead to A-10 play and that Dayton should be able to compete with a team like Marquette. I agree we should, but we can't. Against a team like Marquette, you have to control the game and, quite frankly, neither this year or next will we have the requisite point guard play to compete with top-25 talent outside the arena. But that's beside this point. The weak schedule that hometown fans bemoaned upon its release is a blessing for this young team unsure of where it's points are going to come from every night outside of Wright's probably 10+ per game.
What We Know We Don't Know
* Injuries. There, I said it. They destroyed us last year. Can anyone remember the last time the Flyers had a season where injuries didn't play a significant role in a long, disappointing stretch of a season? 2003? Anyway, we have no idea when an injury that really hurts us could happen. I froze for a moment when Chris Johnson didn't get right up during tonight's game. Outiside of Wright and Johnson, this team is very even and we're going to need everybody to find out who is capable of getting points on any given night.
* Just how good is our schedule? The out-of-conference games are nothing to write home about, but only these first couple months will tell us how good the other teams in the Atlantic 10 actually are. And, if it turns out weak, does that work in UD's favor, as a team with young talent, or are we just another part of a jumbled mess of mediocrity?
What We Don't Know That We Don't Know
* Donald Rumsfeld was no idiot. He knew that sometimes even mysteries could be mysteries. There may be things on the horizon that I haven't even anticipated yet that could cause major problems in a game or two this year. Who could possibly have planned for a scenario in which there was a sudden outbreak of flu right before the Xavier game last year?
* The point of this last one is table this thought: this season is going to be insane. I don't know where the bumps in the road are going to come from and I don't know how many sunrises we might see on gamedays this year. Maybe I've just been taking some of the more inane drivel over at UDPride to heart recently, or maybe I've just begun to feel empathy for college coaches because of the mess that Steve Kragthorpe seems to find himself in with football at the school I currently attend, Louisville. In any case, I'd like to invite everyone to sit back, grab a beer and hold on to your armrest as tight as you can. It's going to be an up and down year but I think we'll make it. And remember, we're all in this together.
