WEST BLOOMFIELD (MI) — The tipoff of the one and only Dayton Flyers’ exhibition game is 4 days away. There is still a lot we don’t know about this squad, such as details on the teams’ ‘secret scrimmage’ with Northern Kentucky over the weekend. Among some of the questions surrounding the 2017-18 edition of the Red & Blue are:

— Is Kostas ready to rock?
— Josh Cunningham — is he fully healed and ready to dominate?
— Will Darrell Davis take on the mantle of senior leadership?
— How will the newcomers perform?
— Will AG be more willing to play zone than Archie?
— Who will be the X factor on this squad (beyond the obvious answer of one X Williams)?

“FTS” will be there on Saturday night and I’ll be staying over to participate in the “2nd Annual Twitter All-Star Pickup Extravaganza” hosted by David Jabolonski of The Dayton Daily News at 5:00 pm on Sunday at McAfee Sports Center in Beavercreek.

Speaking of Jablonski, he and his DDN cohorts been busy cranking out a ton of pre-season Flyer content. Such as:

Profiles on the new guys:

Jalen Crutcher

http://www.mydaytondailynews.com/sports/meet-the-dayton-flyers-freshmen-jalen-crutcher/EPGbhVSWa9JFtajtUmUJmM/

Jordan Davis

http://www.daytondailynews.com/sports/meet-the-dayton-flyers-freshmen-jordan-davis/xnMxorM9vqfxA784b5JXjO/

Jordan Pierce

http://www.daytondailynews.com/sports/meet-the-dayton-flyers-freshmen-jordan-pierce/PKcer4D7DdJbjjDWOLHbEK/

Matej Svoboda

http://www.mydaytondailynews.com/sports/archdeacon-czech-freshman-can-wait-crazy-with-dayton-flyers/lfJA9UqgJO8C5HuKFwHX2K/

Obi Toppin

http://www.daytondailynews.com/sports/meet-the-dayton-flyers-freshmen-obi-toppin/lLtTkiqtreJKOj0BWLXQ7I/

And my personal favorite: The top 10 UD players to hail from Detroit

http://www.mydaytondailynews.com/sports/dayton-flyers-top-best-players-from-detroit/c8k7BOcRWyl7eIr3TvzcXP/

Elsewhere in Flyerland:

— UD is in the final four for KY SG Chance Moore, with a decision due on 11/8:

http://www.daytondailynews.com/sports/2018-guard-puts-dayton-final-four-college-choices/G9UCEvhFqT5I1YJR5KeuUI/

— M&A Sports sat down for a chat with AG:

http://masportsradio.libsyn.com/ma-sports-sitdown-special-anthony-grant-head-basketball-coach-at-the-university-of-dayton

— Interesting story on why Simeon Academy’s Talen Horton-Tucker (a Flyer target) ended up not going with his home state Illini:

https://www.suntimeshighschoolsports.com/2017/10/26/why-illinois-passed-on-simeons-talen-horton-tucker/

— A hoops round-robin between OSU, UC, X and UD? Chris Mack is listening:

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/college/xavier/2017/10/26/xavier-ohio-state-uc-and-dayton-all-ohio-college-hoops-event-chris-mack-listening/805013001/

— Bronx native Scoochie Smith always sang the praises of his hometown’s chopped cheese sandwich. CNN host Anthony Bourdain explains just what the heck a chopped cheese actually is:

https://explorepartsunknown.com/the-bronx/the-story-behind-new-yorks-most-controversial-sandwich/

— Stats guru Ken Pomeroy did an AMA on Reddit recently:

https://www.reddit.com/r/CollegeBasketball/comments/78wwjx/im_ken_pomeroy_creator_of_the_college_basketball/

— CBS’ Matt Norlander had the unenviable task of ranking all 351 D-1 men’s basketball programs:

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/ranking-all-351-college-basketball-teams-from-duke-to-alabama-a-m/

— A Wisconsin man got locked in a walk-in beer cooler overnight. His solution: stay there, as “it had everything I needed”:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2017/10/27/a-wisconsin-man-got-locked-in-a-walk-in-beer-cooler-he-had-everything-that-he-needed-police-say/?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.eb8334a3f1b2

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