BEVERLY HILLS (MI) -- The Charlotte game is in the books. Unfortunately, the proverbial “trap” tilt jumped up and bit the boys squarely on the butt. In spite of that painful fact, UD fans and the Dayton Flyers basketball team as a squad can now finally turn our collective focus to much more important matters:
It’s Time to Kick Some Xavier Butt!
Wednesday night at 7:00PM EST on ESPN Classic (make-good replay at 11:00PM EST on ESPN 2, since this showdown got shafted –- err -- shifted from the Deuce) the Flyers will face off against their arch-nemesissies from the south, the soon-to-be-no-longer-ranked-#9 Xavier Mouseketeers. Let’s face facts: the prelude to this game was not what either program wanted, but this should still be very interesting.
But first, a little history lesson for those of you with French accents.
Back in the day when I attended UD (and later when I worked in the Gem City) the Xavier game was greeted with all of the enthusiasm of a Monday morning Chemistry pop quiz. The ‘rivalry’ had less than zero relevance, if that is even possible. I can recall sitting in UD Arena, watching UD pummel the X men and thinking to myself “man, this isn’t even fun…these guys are awful.” Maybe it was this game in 1971:
Dayton 90
Eggsavior 62
Or maybe this one from 1978:
UD 70
Frogs 50
Those smarmy Xavier posters over on the Atlantic 10 Message Board are, of course, totally unaware of these facts or simply choose to ignore them. In their feeble little minds, Xavier has always dominated Dayton…haven’t they? They’re too busy over there high jacking UD game threads so they can tell us how bad we suck and how great X is to bother to look it up.
The thing about history, as George “Carlos” Santayana so eloquently put it, is that:
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
Can everything old actually be new again? Heck yeah and now is as good a time as any to start, wouldn’t you say?
What better way to deliver a message to the rest of the college basketball universe than to send the Musties skulking back down I-75 with a 2 game losing streak and their brightly feathered, 3 cornered hats stuffed down their puffy pants?
How better to wake up “St. Joe” Lunardi than to cut out X’s heart and stomp on it –- on his employer’s network?
Won’t the ghost of Stanley Burrell roll over in his mustard and relish resting place at such a turn of events?
Don’t you imagine that Dedrick Finn will let the (stolen) dogs out should this happen?
You can have your Chris Wright/Derrick Brown, Dante Jackson/Marcus Johnson or Kenny Frease/Kurt Hueslman matchups as far as I’m concerned. As a Michigan guy, the one duel that I want to see is Opie Redford vs. Paul Williams. You don’t think the UD freshman is looking forward to this? Is there a chance that BG and his staff have whispered “Mr. Basketball” in PW’s ear once or twice this week? Will it decide the outcome of the game? Probably not, but that doesn’t mean I still don’t want to see it happen!
Over on the FlyerHoops.net message board, poster “YOU ARE THE BEST” asked for “honest opinions” in regards to this question:
“Who thinks we beat X at home and who thinks we win both games?”
A lot of respondents danced around and predicted that UD will hopefully prevail at home and probably lose down south, while others of the more crepe hanging variety envisioned the end of the basketball world as we know it, with the Flyers bowing twice to the supposedly almighty Jesuits.
Not me.
I firmly believe that this is the year that Dayton has the athleticism, the depth, the defense and, most importantly, the attitude to take two from the Frenchmen. A healthy Chris Wright doesn’t hurt, either.
And if you ask me, those spiffy-looking alternate black jerseys that the Flyers will be sporting are just waiting to don the mantle of invincibility.
This game has all the makings of an instant classic and I expect UD Arena to be louder than it was last year for the Pitt blowout; noisier than back in my day when we disassembled #2 Notre Dame 97-82 in 1974; in short, I anticipate that the sound level in the “Dayton Decibel Dungeon” for this contest will be the yardstick against which all other UD games will be measured in the future.
In other words, ESPN has got it totally bass-ackwards:
In reality, this game should be airing on ESPN 2 at 7:00PM and then re-run on ESPN Classic at 11:00PM.
Flyers 65
Mouskies 48
That’s it “From the Swamp.”
You can email me at:
swampy@udpride.com
