North Carolina was in many pre-season Top 25 basketball polls and then proceeded to lose to Hampton and Davidson, going 0-2 for the first time ever in UNC history.

The Notre Dame football team, as always, appeared in a few pre-season polls, has every game on national TV (whether we want to see them or not) and yet they are a meager 4-6 as I write this.

Why does Michigan State get ranked #11 when their 2 best players left for the NBA?

Meanwhile, Ball State, which was projected to finish just slightly north of Chaminade when the hoops season started, goes to Maui and, borrowing a page from UD, promptly knocks off UCLA and Kansas.

Reputation…why do some schools have it (even when they don’t deserve it) and some don’t? Why does Dickie V rhapsodize about Duke and Coach K, Syracuse and Jimmy Boeheim, Tom Izzo and the Spartans, Lute Olsen and the Wildcats and not Oliver Purnell and UD. More importantly, how do we get him to sing Ollie’s praises and wet his pants over the Flyers?

It ain’t easy, that’s for sure. Our old friend “Sit Down” Digger Phelps, at least, is with the program. During the Maui Invitational, he repeatedly referred to the fact that Maryland lost to Dayton and Illinois last year in Maui and ended up in the Final Four. That’s a start.

So how do we get mentioned in the same breath as the big boys by the balding, one-eyed wonder from New Jersey? Here are some suggestions:

— Kick Ass and Take Names: Knock some people off — beat Temple and John Chaney. Upset St. Joe’s in Philly. Crush X at Cintas on national TV. Take no freakin’ prisoners.

— Don’t Lose to Cupcakes: Austin Peay, Eastern Kentucky, Morehead State and Duquesne are all fine programs. We’re finer. The Flyers should take care of business like they did against Toledo and EMU and for God’s sake, learn from the 2nd half el foldo vs. Villanova and don’t do that to us again.

— Get Ranked in the Top 25 and Stay There: None of this stuff like last year, where we finally get ranked, have a cup of coffee and promptly lose a couple and fall back to the “others receiving votes” column.

— Get Dickie V’s Butt in the Building: When is the last time Vitale was at the UD Arena for a game? Dick is the kind of guy who will refer to a team, by name, for weeks after he has seen them play. What great PR! Get him to tour the Donoher Center and see the plans for the Arena

Renovations. I’ll bet my dog Clancy that he mentions them on the air in a subsequent game.

— Win the Atlantic 10 Tournament: Why wait until it’s held at the Arena next year? Win that mutha in Philly, by beating Philly’s finest. Get the automatic NCAA bid and take the suspense out of Selection Sunday, so CBS can’t intentionally save us for the last possible bracket.

— Make Some Noise in the Big Dance: Once we get there, show that we belong. Knock off a couple of higher seeds. Get some post-game face time. Try on that slipper and see if it fits. Become this year’s Gonzaga.

All of which builds to next year:

— Sign Alex Carmona and Have Him Be Eligible, if not in 2002 then 2003.

— Start the Season Nationally Ranked.

— Sell Out the Atlantic 10 Championship, Win it on Our Own Floor and Make It an
Annual Event.

— Make Some Really Big Noise in the Big Dance.

Hey, it could happen! Maybe not all of it, maybe not right away, but it can happen.

That’s it “From the Swamp.”