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NIU Game Road Trip
NIU Game Road Trip
Published by Swampy Meadows
12-01-2012
NIU Game Road Trip

DAYTON (OH) -- “From the Swamp” is coming to you live and in-person from the NIU game at UD Arena. It was a great day for a drive down I-75, once the fog burned off around Motown with temps in the ‘60s and little or no traffic. I made my semi-annual pilgrimage to the Rec Plex for some pickup hoops. Then on to The Sub House for a Super Chicken Cheese Steak and here I am!
Some pre-game items of note:

-- The Flyers somehow enter this contest as a 21 ½ point favorite, according to Las Vegas. Clearly, the bookies didn’t watch the Weber State debacle. I’m not a gambling man, but if I was I wouldn’t even bet Chris Mack’s money based on that point spread.

-- I have been looking forward to seeing and hearing the new Flyer intros to see what all the fuss was about. Then I found out that UD is already making changes which should be ready in time for…the Miami game.

-- The NIU tilt marks the homecoming of former BG assistant Jon Borovich, the ex-Birmingham Seaholm HS and CMU star. Huskie Head Coach Mark Montgomery’s wife Alex played softball with the Younger Swampette at Birmingham Groves HS, down the street from Jon’s alma mater. Alex was shocked to see me totally out of context and yelled “Mr. Meadows, what are you doing here?” We caught up on how she and Mark are doing in DeKalb and how Dr. Chambers and her husband are faring in Chicago.

-- UD Director of Sports Information Doug Hauschild dropped 25 pounds over the summer and looks like he could be pitching minor league baseball instead of his son.

-- Said hello to Larry and Bucky before the tip. Larry said that Archie had a very insightful comment about the Weber State game. To paraphrase, “the team that played more for each other won.” Bucky said the Flyers have to be patient to win tonight. “The Legend” knows whereof he speaks, as he hit the 40 year mark tonight covering the Red and Blue.

-- Nice to see Doug Harris back in the saddle for The DDN. Doug introduced me to Jim Scoby, who was one of Mickey Donoher’s assistants back in the day. Jim covers the Flyers and does a radio show on WIZE in Springfield.

-- John R is still John R. He got some facetime on the scoreboards after the player intros because he was “wearing red and being loud.” He is a frequent poster in The DDN comments section altho he said that he himself has never written a single thing there that bears his name. I can relate.

-- I gave FlyerHoops.net head dude Matt Schwade a ration of crap for crowing about the Browns win over the walking-wounded Pittsburgh Steelers. Matt’s guy Ron Thaman has the Flyers besting the Huskies 96-62…let’s see how that prediction works out. Matt told me to “look at the crowd” when the intro music was playing. It was like nobody knew what to do…should we stand, sit, clap or what?

My verdict:

Meh

-- The Red Scare and student section are representing tonight. Vee for three to start the proceedings. Flyers getting quality looks thus far. UD leads 6-2 at the under 16 media TO.

-- Just heard that Rick Majerus passed away. RIP, Coach.

-- Devon Scott is out of the witness protection program and into the game. Neither team had dented the scoreboard in 3 minutes until Khari Price drills a triple. Wow, NIU has made one hoop in 10 minutes of basketball. It is now 16-2 after Matty D drills a three at the 9:30 mark in the first half.

-- Vee with the NBA continuation hoop, but misses the FT and the chance for an old fashioned 3 point play. NIU now has 6 more fouls than they have points! DMO for three makes it 24-2. The student section can’t believe it every time the Huskies miss. NIU actually scores a hoop but it gets waved off on the player control foul. Inconceivable!

-- The Huskies score again, but it gets disallowed because there was a foul on the floor. 1-2 from the line and they are up to 3 tallies. Josh B with the monster slam and it now stands 26-5 good guys. KD misses two FTs and NIU is gonna try for the 21 point play to finish the initial 20 minutes.

-- Mercifully, the first half ends and it’s only 26-5—it should be much worse.

-- Made my way upstairs at halftime to section 402 to say “howdy” to UD Pride reader Pat Talty and his wife who drove down for the game from the Land of the Cleves. Pat is Class of 1968 and he and his wife love them some Flyers.

-- I’m gonna be short on details here in the 2nd half for fairly obvious reasons. 38-12 at the under 16 media TO. DMO with the three and it’s now 43-15. NIU cuts it to 24, 46-22 with 8 minutes and change remaining. 12,637 here to enjoy the blowout. Is it over yet?

-- It is now. UD wins, 60-43.

***

The after the game media guests were Devin and Devon. DMO used the old coaching saw that “a win is a win” and said that the Flyers need to learn how to stay focused and avoid their 2nd half “letdowns.” Devon only scored a single FT, but had 10 boards in a mere 17 minutes of action. He said that he is trying to find his role on the squad and is not looking to score, as his teammates can all do that. He knows that Archie wants him for defense and rebounding.

Archie thought the team was mentally and physically fatigued, as this was their 3rd game in seven days. He too is concerned about the Flyers’ 2nd half inconsistencies and admitted his charges are still “figuring out who they are and who they want to be.” He summed it up as “we are a 1st half basketball team.” Defense had a lot to do with the fact that the Huskies only tallied five points in the first 20 minutes. Archie singled out Jalen Robinson and Devon Scott as two guys who had good workouts in preparing for NIU and it showed. Right now, the Red and Blue “is not a good passing team” and the fact that KD and Vee had seven TOs between them confirms his suspicion.

For some reason, Coach Miller feels that the guys have “lost the attack mentality” and they need to get it back. I asked Archie about Khari Price and he admitted that “defensively, he is one of the most advanced freshman I’ve ever been around” which is saying a lot. Offensively, Khari needs to “be the player he was in high school” and it’s safe to say that Flyer fans got a glimpse of that tonight, as he shot with confidence.

All in all, a pretty good day to be a Flyer.

That’s it “From the Swamp.”
You can email me at: swampy@udpride.com
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