The nightmare was just about to visit us again. Everybody has reoccurring dreams. How many times have you awakened from a deep sleep after dreaming of being the only naked person at work? Or how about the dream that everybody who has ever stepped foot in a classroom has had? It is finals week and you just now realized that you signed up for a class at the beginning of the term, can’t drop, and have a final in three hours. Or how about the one that startles you from your sleep as you begin a fall from great heights. Well, the Flyer Faithful nightmare nearly happened against Marquette on Saturday night. Another crushing home defeat was just 4.5 seconds away. Only through the grace of God (who must answer the prayers of Dayton Catholics more so than Milwaukee Catholics) and a nice 47-foot drive to the bucket by Yaunta Holland were the Flyers spared from another crushing home loss.What we saw on Saturday was a microcosm of the season.

We play well in spurts, which is then quickly followed up by stretches where we look like a team from a local rec league. There are no assurances with this team. We might win 16 of the next 17 games or we could go 8-9. The real key to this team is the apparent lack of a killer instinct. The good teams all have it. They know when you are about to take that last breath and they drive the stake in a little farther. It is almost as if we are afraid to take that last lunge. So far this season, we have had an opportunity to make that kill in virtually every game, but usually did not.

Against Connecticut, Dayton opened a 22-11 lead only to see the Huskies take a 35-33 lead with 3:11 left in the first half. Against Maryland, UD went up 65-55 with 5:05 to play on a 3-pointer by Stanley. But the Terrapins chipped away at the lead and closed to 67-64 with 2:51 to play. In one of the most heartbreaking losses in years, the Flyers led Cincinnati 56-43 with 12:54 left in the game. The Bearcats went into a full-court press, forcing several turnovers and scoring nine straight points on the way to a 39-19 advantage in those last 13 minutes. Against Prairie View, UD opened up a 25-9 lead only to lose it all by halftime and trailed 51-44 with less than ten minutes remaining. Finally against Marquette, UD held a 10-point lead with 10 minutes remaining only to allow the Golden Eagles a chance to steal a win.

I don’t think this is something that you can blame the coaches for. Oliver Purnell doesn’t change the way that he coaches during these periods of infertility. He uses the same substitution patterns with the same people and seems to call timeouts when appropriate. It’s almost as if the players begin to feel comfortable with their superiority, fall asleep for a few minutes, and all of a sudden find themselves in a ballgame again instead of a laugher. It has already cost us one win this year and very nearly cost us another on Saturday. Without Holland’s scamper to the hoop, this team might have begun a freefall that could have ruined the season. The NIT is no longer a thrill and is not acceptable to anyone associated with the program and that is where the team might have been headed.This is something that the players need to dissect and discover for themselves. This is something that will have to be addressed before the rest of the season becomes a graveyard of blown opportunities. We were in the Top-25 for the briefest of periods this year before the Cincinnati disaster. It will take a great deal of effort to make up for that slippage. A mediocre effort will not get this team to the NCAA or beyond the first round.

We did find out some things about our Flyers against Marquette, not all of which were bad. We now have some insight as to what next year might bring us unless a true wing scorer is recruited between now and the start of next season. I’m not sure what type of alien took over Tony Stanley’s body on Saturday, but it certainly wasn’t one that understood the game of basketball. This game would have to sit alone atop the hill of forgettable games for one of the leading candidates for A-10 Player of the Year. He not only put up a series of shots that had to give OP the shivers, but was continually beaten on the defensive side by a good but not exceptionally quick player in Brian Wardle. If you would have told me at the beginning of the season that we could have won a game that Hall and Stanley played over 30 minutes apiece and still did not score a combined 10 points, I would have laughed you out of the room.What we did find out about our Flyers is that there are other players that can step up when we need a hero. The slow white kid from Alter continues to amaze. Keith Waleskowski could be the best newcomer in the league this year. He plays the game with the heart and cunning of a lion. He has been schooled on the intricacies of the game that now seem to be lost on the most talented. He uses every minute that he is in the game to try to do something positive. David Morris has been a mystery for most of the season, but during the last few games has begun to show what most of us had anticipated heading into the year. He made a big three when we had fallen behind by two in the last two minutes and then got the rebound on the defensive end to give us an opportunity to stretch the lead.

Marshall and Green show flashes of brilliance that make you feel comfortable about the future. Their greatest need will be to show consistency throughout the entire game. They each had one good half against Marquette, but not two. Brooks Hall has begun to show the full range of his abilities, but will need to find his stroke to be the complete weapon that he is. Lastly, Yuanta Holland made the play of his life with the game on the line on Saturday. He was either going to be the hero or the goat and he wore the robe of the hero with ease. This might not only be the turning point in the season, but in his career.

Even though I might have some sleepless nights and agonizing moments with this team, I’m beginning to like what I see. This is a team that knows it has a number of weapons. They just need to learn how and when to keep the killer fire burning.