WEST BLOOMFIELD (MI) — The UD Flyers came “close, but no cigar” in their road loss to UMass on Saturday afternoon. “FTS” happened to be in Erie, PA and got the unexpected bonus of being able to catch a game on Spectrum Sports that originally figured to be a Larry and Bucky special for yours truly.

There are no moral victories in basketball, but Flyer fans can be heartened by the effort that the Red and Blue displayed in the second half and two overtimes. After watching the New England Patriots suffer a similar fate in the Super Bowl, I was struck by some similarities between the two teams.

Failure to execute the basics

In New England’s case it was the simple task of tackling the Eagles’ players. It’s called “tackle football” for a reason and the Pats continually failed to execute this most basic element, especially in key third down situations.

For the Flyers it was FT shooting, where they went an abysmal 13-22 or 59%. Josh was 6-10 and the usually automatic Darrell Davis missed a pair, as did Trey Landers.

A controversial call

In the Super Bowl, the season-long question of “what is a catch?” remained unanswered, as the zebras ruled Eagle TE Zach Ertz made the catch that made the difference.

For the Flyers, the refs called Luwane Pipkins’ desperation three pointer good, despite David Jablonski’s photographic evidence to the contrary:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DVJIna_X0AAqGxL.jpg

Loss of a key player

Wide receiver Brandin Cooks got his clock cleaned on a helmet-to-helmet hit in the first half that sent him to the locker room.

Trey Landers fouled out with 4:30 to go in the second OT after scoring 22 points. His gritty play was missed down the stretch, altho Matej Svoboda made a great defensive play in Trey’s absence.

Big start to the second half

New England went full Gronk-mode coming out of halftime and scored so easily that Chris Collinsworth said the Pats looked unstoppable.

After trailing by as many as 10 in the early part of the second stanza, the Flyers stormed back and took a 54-52 lead with 11 minutes to go.

The missing man

Malcolm Butler saved Belichick and Brady’s bacon 3 years ago vs. the Seahawks with his unbelievable last-minute interception. On Sunday, he played on special teams only after playing 98% of the defensive snaps for the Pats in the regular season. Butler is a free agent and he gone.

John Crosby was AG’s starting PG in the season opener. On Saturday he took one shot and missed it, turned the ball over and sat down after only 4 minutes of burn. Also, physically missing for Dayton was freshman center Jordan Pierce. I got a feeling that, like Malcolm Butler, he gone, too.

The Patriots now have six months to stew in their own juices, lamenting what would have been their sixth Super Bowl Championship. Fortunately for our Flyers, UMass was only one game and one loss and they get right back at it at home on Wednesday vs. Duquesne.

The Red and Blue have eight games remaining and are favored in five of them. If they hold form, they would end their regular campaign at 15-15, heading into the A-10 tournament in DC.

That’s it “From the Swamp.”
You can email me at: [email protected]