BEVERLY HILLS (MI) — According to Newton’s Law of Gravity, what goes up must come down — eventually. I witnessed Mr. Newton’s theorem in practice recently at the Birmingham YMCA. After playing pickup hoops on a crowded Sunday afternoon, I was ready to hit the showers, but couldn’t find my basketball, a recent birthday gift from my son in law. It was a Wilson Evolution and had not seen a single second of playing time on asphalt. It was my “inside ball” and it really cheesed me off that someone had “borrowed” it, particularly at the ‘Young Men’s Christian Association.’
Fast forward to our regular Tuesday lunchtime pickup hoops run and as we are shooting around before playing, a guy winged a ball up into the metal rafters for no apparent reason. He chuckled and said: “Look at that ball up there, it’s really stuck — I want to try and get it down.” And there 25 feet or so above our heads was a Wilson Evolution basketball with the initials “JM” on the side — my inside ball — one of the youngsters on Sunday must have flung it up there. I never thought to look up when searching for it.
The janitor at the Y is a guy named Antonio and he promised he would get the ball down somehow. It took two weeks but when I showed up yesterday and looked skyward in the gym there was no ball lodged in the rafters. I went to the front desk and there it was. Thank you Mr. Newton…and Antonio!
Sir Isaac’s apple-based Law of Gravity also applies to the University of Dayton Flyers Men’s Basketball team…or does it? The Flyer Faithful knew that after UD’s stellar performance in Maui that The Sons of Anthony Grant
University of Dayton Head Coach Anthony Grant is at the helm of his alma mater’s men’s basketball program after head coaching stops at VCU and Alabama. UD announced Anthony Grant as the 20th head coach in UD Basketball history on March 30, 2017. would be ranked. The question was:
How high?
The first inkling was Gary Parrish’s (purely his personal opinion) CBS Poll which amazingly had the Red and Blue #9, even after the overtime L to now #2 Kansas:
Ken Pomeroy moved Dayton up to #23:
Next the ESPN Power Rankings had UD slated at a very impressive #14:
The real test would be revealed on Monday afternoon, when both the AP and The USA Today Sports men’s basketball coaches polls would be released. The wait was definitely worth it, as first the AP ranked UD # 19:
https://collegebasketball.ap.org/poll
And then shortly thereafter, USA Today would slate Dayton as being the #17 team in all of the land:
https://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaab/polls/coaches-poll/
And here is where Mr. Newton and the Dayton Flyers collide. In looking at the current rankings, Dayton is ahead of every team remaining on their schedule:
Higher than Colorado
Better than Saint Mary’s
In front of VCU
VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH
Established: 1838
Location: Richmond, VA
Enrollment: 28,919
Type: Private Research
Affiliation: None
Nickname: Rams
Colors: Black and Gold
On top of Richmond
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND
Established: 1830
Location: Richmond, VA
Enrollment: 3,914
Type: Private Liberal Arts
Affiliation: None
Nickname: Spiders
Colors: Blue and Red
The fact of the matter is this: If UD plays up to their ranking, they don’t ever have to come down!
Take that Sir Isaac!
The key, of course, is that the Flyers must ignore their press clippings and play with the same sense of urgency that they displayed to the entire nation for three days in Maui.
Starting with Houston Baptist.
That’s it “From the Swamp.”
You can email me at: [email protected]
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