BEVERLY HILLS (MI) -- For all of us gazing out onto the horizon for some smoke signal signifying the return of UD hoops, the Flyers’ 2015 pre-season slate is now complete. According to a tweet by Chris DiSano of College Chalk Talk, UD has agreed to play a closed exhibition game in Indy vs. the Illini. Kevin Kuwik also hit Twitter to say: “The Flyers’ MBB exhibition is set. Saturday night, Nov. 8 vs. Southern Indiana.” Bring ‘em on!
Elsewhere we have these tidbits collected over the summer months:
-- To no one’s great surprise, The
Flyer Faithful ranked #1 in the 2014 “Non-Power Conference” College Basketball Fan Equity Rankings:
https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/esma/...ower-rankings/
-- The rare freebie article from Brian Snow at Scout.com on 2015 recruit Sam Miller of Gonzaga (MD) HS choosing the Flyers:
http://scouthoops.scout.com/story/14...-pick?s=75&p=1
--
Athlon is usually the first out of the box with college hoops predictions. Here is their Top 25 for 2015-16 from May 1st:
http://athlonsports.com/college-bask...top-25-2014-15
-- Atlantic 10 foe
SLU is gonna have to rely on their six incoming frosh this season if they are going to compete with UD and VCU:
http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcspor...up-in-2014-15/
-- Speaking of VCU, looks like they are getting after it in their off-season conditioning program:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tceE46iAkJw
-- Ken Pomeroy provides us with a couple of insightful blog pieces. The first is an offensive rebounding data dump:
http://kenpom.com/blog/index.php/web...ding_data_dump
The second, an analysis of ‘when to foul’:
http://kenpom.com/blog/index.php/web...ling_when_tied
-- In case you missed it when it first aired, here is the
NBC Nightly News feature on NCAA hoops hysteria featuring the Flyer Faithful:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9TFg-ppjTE
-- In case you were asleep during the month of March, here’s a link to all of the NCAA Tournament games, including all four Flyer tilts:
http://www.ncaa.com/march-madness-live/game/205
-- Jeff Goodman’s updated 2014 list of transfers:
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bask...ege-basketball
-- "Sixty Seconds with the Voice of Master Chief" aka my UD roomie and WDRV “The Drive” Chicago morning man Steve Downes:
Part 1:
https://screen.yahoo.com/60-seconds-...091631547.html
Part 2:
https://screen.yahoo.com/celebrity-v...102120653.html
Part 3:
https://screen.yahoo.com/60-seconds-...151629543.html
-- One of the biggest sports stories of the summer was the return of LeBron James to the Cavaliers. Mitch Albom of
The Freep provides the backstory on how LBJ and owner Dan Gilbert buried the hatchet:
http://www.freep.com/article/2014071...ision-cowardly
-- Speaking from personal experience, there is nothing like walking up the tunnel and out onto the green splendor for your first game at Fenway Park:
http://www.sportsonearth.com/article...ed-sox#!bE33g1
-- “The 12 Creepiest Mascots You Have Ever Seen” courtesy of
The New York Post: http://nypost.com/2014/07/15/the-12-...uve-ever-seen/
-- An ESPN in-depth piece on “The Death of Playground Basketball”:
http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/stor...sketball-dying
It may be dead elsewhere, but pickup hoops is alive and well up here in “The D” and surrounding environs.
That’s it “From the Swamp.”
You can email me at:
swampy@udpride.com