It’s been a while since I’ve written a stream-of-consciousness, lack of attention span, shotgun blast, quick-hitter type column, so here goes:

— I am going to see more UD basketball in the next few weeks than I have witnessed in any other 3 week period in the last 25 years. I’m coming down for the UMass game on January 29th; I’ll be in Pittsburgh on February 5th; the St. Joe’s game on the 15th is on ESPN2 and the X tilt on the 22nd is being carried by ESPN. It’s like I’m back in the Gem City!

— Let’s update the sportswriters who have recently taken to singing the Flyers’ praises (or at least giving them props in their columns):

Gregg Doyel, ESPN.com
Mike DeCourcy, TSN
Andy Katz, ESPN
Dickie V, ESPN
Joe Lunardi, ESPN.com
Tony Mejia, CBS Sportsline.com
Greg Wahl, CNNSI.com

This is what happens when your program is on the rise…writers and TV analysts start noticing, coaches begin talking about us like Coach K did and pretty soon the Flyers are the proverbial snowball rolling downhill.

— I would like to think that all of the above means that OP can be very choosy as to whom he offers that last scholarship for next year.

— Whatever happened to the Sizemore twins?

— As young as they are, you just knew Duke wasn’t going to stay undefeated forever. But, As Chris pointed out in his explanation of the RPI and UDPride ratings, having Duke remain unbeaten really didn’t help the Flyers.

— It was kinda cool watching Shaq get his shot slapped back in his face by Yao Ming in their initial confrontation-3 times in the first 3 minutes! How does it feel, big fella?

— As an added bonus, LA lost in OT to the Rockets. The Lakers are right up there with the Yankees and Notre Dame on the list of “teams that I love to watch lose.”

— The ‘Lakers’ moniker is one of the all-time misfit names in sports…the team brought it with them from Minneapolis (where there are a ton of ’em) and it just doesn’t translate. They should be the LA Oceans or the Labrea Tarpits, not the Lakers. The worst instance of a bad team nickname has to be the Utah Jazz, a name that worked perfectly in New Orleans, but has absolutely nothing to do with Utah or SLC.

— One look at OP’s Moochie Norris afro from his ODU playing days and it’s painfully clear that he has no reason to be busting Mark Jones about his.

— Flyer Fans lamenting the teams’ inability to make freebies, take note: UD recruit Chris Spears from Centerville is a 90%+ FT shooter.

— Except for Sean Finn’s hand, the Flyers have been extremely lucky in the major injury department thus far this season. Reggie Brown is out for Richmond and of course Lionel Chalmers is still recuperating for X. Both are valuable cogs in their respective teams.

— So, Nate Green’s real first name is Dominic. Somehow, ‘Dominic Dogg’ just doesn’t have the same ring to it, does it? Nice profile of Dominic and his family before the GW game in the DDN, Bucky.

— Published reports say that 6’9″ Reggie George of Notre Dame (MA) HS has reopened his recruitment by backing out on a verbal to Iowa State. ND happens to be where I went to HS. How cool for me would it be to have someone from my alma mater playing hoops for my alma mater?

— I swear this happened during the GW game: I still have to rely on the CNNSI.com scoreboard to follow the game, as my computer won’t accept the Chaincast update in order to hear WHIO. UD was in the lead 18-13 and I said to no one in particular “Okay it’s time to start kickin’ butt.” I hit ‘reload’ and suddenly the score was 27-15. Boy, talk about instant feedback!

— Michigan started off 0-6 and has since reeled off 11 in a row, including a win over OSU in Columbus. Detractors had taken to calling Wolverine Head Coach Tommy Amaker “Tommy Amateur” saying that the Coach K protege was in over his head, but not anymore.

— According to the DDN, future Flyer prospect Aaron Agnew, a 6’11” 350 pound junior, got a taste of what he can look forward to in college at the Flyin’ to the Hoop Tournament. His Bellaire (OH) HS squad took on Vandalia Butler with their 7’0″ twin towers, Seth Gorney and Josh Higgins and came out on the short end, with Agnew scoring only 9 points.

— On a personal note, I got some bad news last week. Tom ‘T’ Miller, the guy who created and ran the summer basketball league in my hometown of Leominster, MA for 30+ years died due to kidney failure at 54. I learned how to play hoops at Bennett School and the court there is named after him. T was the kind of guy who invented nicknames for everybody…and they stuck. In HS, my friends called me “Mead the Head” or “Head” for short. T took it one further and came up with “Headahopper” after the famous fashion designer Hedda Hopper. A website with pictures and video was created from the dedication ceremonies of the Thomas J. ‘T’ Miller Court. One of the more interesting items on the site is a list of the rosters from the local paper in 1968, the very first year of the summer league’s existence:

http://users.starpower.net/bmbhargreaves/sports%20article.htm

On it can be found not only yours truly, but John Hulecki, who played tight end for UMass and was drafted by the Steelers; Bobby Metevier, who was a star running back at Cornell and my brother Bud (UD Class of ’70).

— Finally, on a more uplifting note, in my never-ending search for goofy headlines and even more bizarro stories, I give you FARK.com: http://www.fark.com/

One recent example: When being held for drug charges, don’t try to swallow bricks of cocaine in front of the bailiff.

That’s it “From the Swamp.”