BEVERLY HILLS (MI) — In his classic novel Great Expectations, Charles Dickens tells the somewhat depressing tale of the growth and personal development of a London orphan named Pip. After yet another in the continuing series of mind-numbing losses to Rhode Island, Flyer Fans can certainly identify with Dickens’ plucky protagonist.

Realistically speaking, any of the Flyer Faithful who entered this year’s hoops campaign with any expectations whatsoever were delusional and I’m being very kind here. Let’s review just a few of the challenges that the 2011-2012 Flyboys faced:

New head coach

New coaching staff

New system

2 graduating starters that included an NBA player

2 transfers, including the starting PG

2 highly rated recruits who opted out and went elsewhere

Only 10 scholarship players

When you throw in the early season loss of Josh Benson, you have now got yourself more than a few hurdles to jump on your way to a successful campaign.

If you want to talk about a season of “Great Expectations” one only has to take a look back at last year’s UD basketball campaign as a classic cautionary tale. It was to be Chris Wright’s swan song in a Flyer uniform; he was joined by an impressive array of freshmen, plus junior transfer Josh Parker. All of the basketball pubs and websites had UD penciled in for the Big Dance. Here is my review of the hype from November of 2010:

https://www.udpride.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15531

The Flyers lived up to their pre-season billing (save another head scratcher of a loss — by 34 points — to UC) and found themselves sitting pretty at 12-3 for their non-con schedule, after defeating New Mexico in double overtime, a game that “FTS” attended:

https://www.udpride.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16423

And then UMass happened and the downward spiral commenced, with the annual defeat at the hands of X at their place, plus road losses to Duquesne, Rhody (again!), Richmond and at home to Temple.

The subsequent home loss to X kinda sealed the deal in my mind:

https://www.udpride.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17284

After the game, Doug Harris and Tom Archdeacon of The DDN and Matt Schwade from FlyerHoops.net asked Juwan Staten for his reaction.

His response?

“No comment.”

That statement and all that it entails told me that BG definitely had a problem child on his hands and that there was trouble brewing inside the Flyer locker room.

At the end of the regular season, yours truly AKA “Captain Optimism” had seen enuf. There was something definitely amiss. BG had lost his team.

https://www.udpride.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17406

Yeah, the Flyers did end up beating UMass and made a nice run in AC, but in the end, I wasn’t wrong.

The whole house of cards fell apart when Juwan wasn’t invited back, Brandon Spearman followed his roomie out the door and BG departed for Georgia Tech.

2 months after all of these events transpired, “FTS” tried to analyze what the heck happened to a season of “Great Expectations” by going “Inside the mind of Brian Gregory”:

https://www.udpride.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18409

That piece resulted in a 45 minute phone conversation with its subject, in which he confirmed what I have since heard from others — that it was much worse than any of us will ever know.

Okay, Swamp — that was then; this is now.

“FTS” entered this Flyer basketball season with zero expectations, which is not easy to do when you are as optimistic as I am. Quite frankly, with all of the previously outlined challenges they faced, I really thought that Archie would be lucky to go .500 in his first year as a Head Coach. I told my wife to expect a minimal amount of screaming at the TV this year.

Then the Old Spice Classic happened. Hmmm, what do we have here?

And then the letdown to Buffalo occurred.

The Flyers then defeated a very good Alabama team by 12.

And a decent Ole Miss squad.

And SLU at home.

Me likey!

Then they lost on the road to Andrew Nicholson U.

The Flyers then came home and absolutely wiped the UD Arena floor with Tu Holloway and his buddies from Gangsta U on national TV.

And next, UD fell apart in the 2nd half on the road at SJU, giving up 50 points.

All of which leads us to the most recent debacle vs. URI and my wife asking me why I’m screaming at the TV if I had such low expectations of this years’ squad.

Up

Down

Up

Down

Up

Down

Are you beginning to spot a trend here?

Let’s face it, every hoops season for the Flyer Faithful is akin to a roller coaster, but this baby is “Millennium Force” at Cedar Point…a nail-biting, pants-wetting, scream-inducing, freakin’ nightmare of a thrill ride.

And the best part is: it’s not over yet!

For as lousy as UD’s defense was in the 2nd half vs. Rhode Island was, guess what?

The Flyers are 1 game out of 1st place!

Take a gander at the current A-10 standings:

http://www.atlantic10.com/sports/m-baskbl/atl10-m-baskbl-body.html

What’s gonna happen from here until Atlantic City?

Hell, I don’t know! All I can say is that we should all relax and enjoy the ride, because like the lead character in Great Expectations it’s gonna be a “Pip.”

And I don’t mean the Gladys Knight kind.

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