BEVERLY HILLS (MI) — With the Red and Blue game a mere 5 weeks away, the anticipation for the 2009-2010 UD Flyers basketball season is starting to build to a crescendo. The hoops prognosticators are coming out with their pre-season Top 25 lists and UD is on most (if not all) of them. The College Basketball Yearbooks like Lindy’s and Athlon are starting to hit the newsstands and Dayton is picked to not only make the Big Dance but to win the Atlantic 10. To use a favorite UD fan base catchphrase:

“It’s a great time to be a Flyer.”

BG and the Boys are on the threshold of greatness. Not momentary success or fleeting fame, but permanent, long-lasting, program building, kick-butt-and-take-names basketball superiority. All the elements are there:

1) A dedicated fan base
2) A totally supportive administration that “gets it”
3) Top notch facilities
4) A committed coach
5) A recruiting sales funnel to feed the program

No one knows where this year’s team will take us…that is why they play the games. But if we want to get a glimpse of what may be possible when all 5 of these elements are aligned and in place, we can take a look back 25 years in the rear view mirror to 1984.

Thankfully, we have YouTube to assist us as we glance backwards.

The most enduring regular season memory from that magical year, of course, is “The Shot”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmMpu3l4DVs&feature=related

If you had asked the 13,000+ who were there to see UD beat then #3 DePaul who should take the last shot, Ed Young would not be the answer…Roosevelt Chapman would be. But there was Velvet, getting the ball from Larry Schellenberg and passing to Young for a 10’ banker instead of shooting it himself. That says a lot about that team.

The upset win over DePaul helped get Donoher and the Flyers into the Big Dance. They upset LSU in the first round and if post-game interviews can be considered highlights, then this one takes the cake:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gaj190FoRgU&feature=related

The Flyers then had to face #7 Oklahoma, led by the late, great Waymon Tisdale:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-O9UcvSp-Q&feature=related

Take the time to really watch this video and study Chapman. He makes a series of unbelievable spin moves, finger rolls, layups and jumpers on his way to 41 points to almost single-handedly knock off the Sooners. Look at Velvet’s face: he never changes expression, except when he allows himself a brief, late game grin after yet another highlight reel post move. His whole demeanor says “I’ve been here before.” Too many players today lack that look.

Finally, here is a video of the opening 6 or 7 minutes of the game against Patrick Ewing and #2 Georgetown:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YmQmgasVxE&feature=related

I’m about as optimistic of a Flyer fan as you will ever find, but I clearly remember thinking to myself back then that it would be great if UD could just keep it close. However, after Chapman beat Ewing on the opening tip, it seemed like anything was possible. I recall that UD hung with the Hoyas and GU didn’t really pull away until the 2nd half. I have always referred to that season as when UD made the “Final 5” since the Dayton/Georgetown game was the last Elite 8 game played on that Sunday.

If 1984 teaches us any lesson it is that anything is possible. Wishing doesn’t make it so, however. The lofty expectations for this 2009-2010 Flyer team rival those of the 1967-1968 squad led by senior Don May. All that team did was play UCLA for the National Championship the year before. No pressure, right? That ’67-’68 team started out with a rather lackluster record, managed to make it into the NIT and won the whole thing, beating Jo Jo White and Kansas.

The common link shared by the ‘67-’68 squad with the 1984 Flyers (besides Coach Donoher) was the presence of a “difference maker” in May and Chapman, respectively. This year UD features probably the most explosive “difference maker” this program has ever seen in Chris Wright. To put the Flyer outlook into the simplest of terms, UD will go as far as CW takes us.

In virtually every game they will play this year, Dayton will assume the position of the ‘hunted’ rather than the ‘hunter’ which is a bit of a role reversal for BG and the Boys. Can they handle it? Will they fulfill the lofty expectations of the so-called experts and those of the Flyer faithful?

We shall see.

That’s it “From the Swamp.”
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