BEVERLY HILLS (MI) — If you want to see the good and the bad or the yin and the yang of the 2018-19 Flyer Men’s Hoops season, one need look no further than the SLU debacle and the Rhody roadie. With the former, you see defensive intensity and offensive rebounding on the part of the Bills, essentially running the Flyers out of their building; in the latter, it is UD that takes command early and never lets up.

What happened?

Why the difference?

Which team are the real Dayton Flyers?

Good questions all. Let’s dive in to the situation, shall we?

— The most notable change in the SLU game was that it was the first time that Obi One started, doing so in place of Trey Landers. I was not a fan of this move initially, because I thought Obi brought much-needed energy off the pine. AG’s thinking was no doubt: he’s our best player, let’s come out of the gates with him on the floor.

— Unfortunately, it’s hard for Obi to do anything when his teammates are jacking up (and missing) three pointers. Which is exactly what the Red and Blue did to open the SLU game: Mikesell, Jalen, Jalen again, Josh and Ryan once more all missed from the land of plenty. Result? UD trailed 10-0 at the 15-minute mark and never recovered.

— Fast forward to the URI game and it is Dayton that comes out as the aggressor. The Flyers jump out to a 12-0 margin relying on layups by Jordan, Josh and Obi before even attempting a three, when Jordan and Jalen went back-to-back. Rhody never had a chance. UD only shot 12 three pointers and made half of them.

— The similarity between both contests? The refs really let both teams play. The Billikens bullied the Flyers from the get-go. If you watch the zebras in the Rams’ game, it was basically ‘no autopsy; no foul.’ That didn’t stop the refs from making several “NBA continuation” calls in favor of URI and taking away a very similar three-point play opportunity from Trey. The stripes also made several “on the floor” calls against the home team that should have resulted in foul shots for UD.

— The most jarring statistic from the Rhode Island game? Towards the end of the contest the announcers pointed out that UD had more points-in-the-paint than Rhody had points (46-45).

— That’s why Obi is starting – to pair up with Josh and give AG a terrific tandem of inside threats. Feed the big dogs early and the wide-open three-point looks will come. Still gotta make ‘em tho!

— The announcers also alluded to the fact that Trey was “all-in” on Obi starting in his place. Now that’s a good teammate…and a good captain.

— The second-most amazing factoid from the URI tilt? Walk-on Cam Greer outscored talented Ram PG Fatts Russell 3-0 with his Larry Bird dagger three-point bank shot. Russell played 28 minutes; Greer played 1.

— Loved the way that the entire Flyer bench went absolutely crazy when Cam hit that shot. You can tell that everybody loves the little guy and was happy for him.

— Clearly, AG’s strategy moving forward is to duplicate the Rhody game and avoid the SLU sludge. Pound the ball inside for high percentage shots; don’t jack up threes with abandon and play tough D.

— So, what does the future portend? UD will have a week off before hosting VCU on Saturday and will then do a quick turnaround to face Davidson in NC on Tuesday. These are the two teams ahead of Dayton in the standings, so a 2-0 week would put the Sons of Anthony Grant in the thick of the A-10 title hunt.

— The litmus test to me, tho, will be the game that follows these two:

A rematch with the Billikens of St. Louis in the friendly confines

And “From the Swamp” will be there in person to see which Flyer team shows up.

That’s it “From the Swamp.”
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