BEVERLY HILLS (MI) — Always liked the city of Pittsburgh. Married a native. We lived there for three years, during which the Steelers won 2 Super Bowls and the Pirates were World Champions. Used to call on clients in the Burgh for the 10 years I worked at CNN. I’m sure native son Archie Miller feels the same way about the “big small town” at the confluence of the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio Rivers. Attended a few Dayton/Dukes contests at Palumbo Center in my time: some were UD blowouts; others were disappointing Flyer losses; it was there that I witnessed one of the final games Chris Daniels would play in the Red and Blue. Never seen a hoops tilt at the Consol Center, but I understand that it is an outstanding venue.

All those good vibrations about Pittsburgh go out the window when the Flyers face Duquesne on Saturday.

Why?

Because of this:

http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/02/21/bracketology-flyers-could-be-flying-at-home/

The Flyers could be flying at home, indeed! Can you imagine how cool it would be if UD played in the “First Four”…at UD Arena! Think that would be a sellout? If the Flyers want to maintain the possibility that such a scenario could become a reality they simply cannot lose to the Dukes. That’s all there is to it.

Elsewhere:

— A summary of the UD win over LaSalle, courtesy of Pickin’ Splinters:

http://www.pickinsplinters.com/?p=35848

— Really like the job that David Jablonski is doing covering the Flyers for The DDN. Still not a big fan of the pay wall, but it’s nice that Jablonski is providing a freebie game summary blog like this after every tilt:

http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/daytonflyers/entries/2014/02/20/game_recap_dayton_65_la_salle.html/

Perhaps the best part is that the “Comments” section is being monitored to the point that David can actually carry on an intelligent dialogue with his readers. I still smell an X fan or two in there somewhere, but at least no one is posting garbage under the name “John R” or “Swampy Meadows” any longer.

— In case you missed it, here is the fun video of the “Three Sport Dunk” pulled off by a few of the Flyers after practice:

http://godaytonhoops.com/#/vimeo194/1

— Speaking of da Burgh, the Millers are “Western Pa.’s first family of basketball coaching” according to The Pittsburgh Tribune:

http://triblive.com/sports/nationworldsports/5598127-74/sean-miller-archie#ixzz2u0lCZRhP

— DMO is listed at #8 in the A-10 Player Power Rankings:

http://www.pickinsplinters.com/?p=35830

— Roosevelt “Velvet” Chapman is among the “Big Dance One Hit Wonders” (warning: slide show ahead):

http://www.lostlettermen.com/slideshow/big-dance-one-hit-wonders-where-are-they-now/

— Flyer signee Darrell Davis made the 2013-14 PSL All-City boys basketball squad:

http://detroitk12.org/showcase/sports/

— Whole lotta buzz goin’ on about Trotwood Madison’s Dazhontae Bennett, a 6’2” a 2014 scoring machine. Behold the linky goodness:

YouTube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TVOlg9e8Xk

An interview with Fox 45:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uwKFbqT5Ws

GWOC stat tracker with his game-by-game stats:

http://www.gwocsports.com/bkPlayerStats.aspx?player=265866

A thread on Yappi about Bennett:

http://yappi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=262672

The jury seems to be out on how Bennett spells his first name — two of the links call him Dazhontae; the other two Dezhontae.

— Here is 2016 UD recruiting target Derrick Daniels of Dunbar doing his best Blake Griffin imitation:

http://www.scarberrymedia.com/derrick-daniels-throws-down-including-blake-griffin-dunk-vs-dunbar-video/

— Old friends OP and AG and 13 other head coaches are firmly planted on the hot seat, according to Gary Parrish of CBS Sports:

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/24449915/which-coaches-are-on-the-hot-seat

— RushtheCourt checks in on the A-10:

http://rushthecourt.net/2014/02/19/checking-in-on-the-atlantic-10-54/?utm_campaign=twitter&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitter

— Speaking of “putting up your dukes” Slick Rick Pitino and Coach Cal are duking it out about social media:

Cal’s side:

http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-basketball/story/2014-02-20/john-calipari-tells-rick-pitino-and-tom-izzo-whats-socially-acceptable-twitter

Slick Rick retorts:

http://louisville.247sports.com/Article/Pitino-retorts-Caliparis-comments-178662

I don’t care what either of these knuckleheads say —they’re both wrong.

— Great profile from Grantland about HS teammates and lifelong pals Jared Sullinger and Trey Burke:

http://grantland.com/features/trey-burke-jared-sullinger-friends/

— Is this ‘the best opening paragraph in any news story ever?’ You tell me:

http://boingboing.net/2014/02/20/this-is-the-best-opening-parag.html

— “The Sweet Tweet of the Week” deals not with UD but SLU:

https://twitter.com/walkerRcarey/status/435638317615300608/photo/1

That’s it “From the Swamp.”
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