Dayton's Wright Drops Out of Draft

[Taj79]

Coming back to YouDee. Short of dunking, maybe he'll discover a secondary offensive skill set under Brian this, his last year.

[kshoe]

Coming back to YouDee. Short of dunking, maybe he'll discover a secondary offensive skill set under Brian this, his last year.

Good. Hopefully others like Crawford, Allen, Anderson and Gurley will make their way back to the A-10 and the league will be even better than last year. I'm not holding my breath on Crawford but the rest should come back.

[slu72]

Good. Hopefully others like Crawford, Allen, Anderson and Gurley will make their way back to the A-10 and the league will be even better than last year. I'm not holding my breath on Crawford but the rest should come back.

UD still lost a lot right? If so, contending another year w/ Mr. Wright won't be so bad. Problem for SLU is who defends him. Not a good matchup anywhere that I can see.

[Pistol]

UD still lost a lot right? If so, contending another year w/ Mr. Wright won't be so bad. Problem for SLU is who defends him. Not a good matchup anywhere that I can see.

UD lost a lot of bodies, but not necessarily a lot they can't replace. Lowery, Warren (finally), Huelsman, M. Johnson, Hendrick, and Fox were the seniors. They have an incoming freshman, Staten, who is already better than either Lowery (7.3 PPG) or Warren (4.5 PPG). They also have 3 nice athletes, a SG and two SFs, entering that will replace Johnson, the highest scoring departure (9.3 PPG). Hendrick and Fox didn't play much. Huelsman was the starting center, but the 8th leading scorer on the team. No reason Searcy and the other backups can't step right in and out-produce his numbers.

No, we don't have a natural matchup for Wright, but that's fine by me. He can't shoot free throws, he has no jumper, and we beat them twice last year.

[Taj79]

Dayton has lost one of those recruits as posted below, shooting guard from West Lafayette, IN. Criminal charges or something of that nature.

Dayton has two guards and two small forwards coming in. Staten, the point, went from the Dayton area to Oak Hill for his senior year. Dayton folsk were afraid the ACC woul dmak ehim decommit. He did not. He had a 6'11" friend who was also supposed to come to Dayton. i don't see him listed rght now. Has one of those ESPN-wise 94 ratings. Spearman, the shooting guard, rates a 91. The two small forwards are 89 and 87, respectivley. While I constantly laugh and make fun of Brian Gregory's in-game management and decisions, the boy can recruit. And he recruits athletes. I am sure these four kids can all run, jump and sky with the best in the nation. Can they execute an offensive philosphy? Does Gregory have an offensive philosophy?

Lamont Warren was a great point guard, as long as he was running a fast break. Lowery coiuld bomb it but not distribute. Him throwing the ball away against us in overtime sums it up best. Mickey Perry couldn't do either. The folks in Dayton refer to Huelsman as their triple-double; two points, two rebounds and two fouls a game. Amazing how he now holds the Dayton record for most games played in a career and most starts (all of them). This is the level i can see BC attaining in the thread "Who's better BC or CE?' Not much? No. Useful? Absolutely. Necessary? No question. Marques Johnson faded down the stretch; if he had half the goo dnumbers from his junior year, Daytonwould have done much better. They still can't shoot short of the fabreize kid.

As someon eelse said, the college game goes through the guards. Staten is it. Dayton also has a transfer coming in from Drake. Supposedly a grat point and scorer. He will be the key while Staten gets up to speed. Gregory and Dayton are always going to press and run and be frenetic. Their defense will always run their offense. That's why I like our matchups against them ---- while we don't do it personnel-wise, we control the style of play. That is a great equalizer and it forces Dayton to thinbk instead of play ---- and they are apt to lose more that way then not.

[Pistol]

Dayton has lost one of those recruits as posted below, shooting guard from West Lafayette, IN. Criminal charges or something of that nature.

Dayton has two guards and two small forwards coming in. Staten, the point, went from the Dayton area to Oak Hill for his senior year. Dayton folsk were afraid the ACC woul dmak ehim decommit. He did not. He had a 6'11" friend who was also supposed to come to Dayton. i don't see him listed rght now. Has one of those ESPN-wise 94 ratings. Spearman, the shooting guard, rates a 91. The two small forwards are 89 and 87, respectivley. While I constantly laugh and make fun of Brian Gregory's in-game management and decisions, the boy can recruit. And he recruits athletes. I am sure these four kids can all run, jump and sky with the best in the nation. Can they execute an offensive philosphy? Does Gregory have an offensive philosophy?

Lamont Warren was a great point guard, as long as he was running a fast break. Lowery coiuld bomb it but not distribute. Him throwing the ball away against us in overtime sums it up best. Mickey Perry couldn't do either. The folks in Dayton refer to Huelsman as their triple-double; two points, two rebounds and two fouls a game. Amazing how he now holds the Dayton record for most games played in a career and most starts (all of them). This is the level i can see BC attaining in the thread "Who's better BC or CE?' Not much? No. Useful? Absolutely. Necessary? No question. Marques Johnson faded down the stretch; if he had half the goo dnumbers from his junior year, Daytonwould have done much better. They still can't shoot short of the fabreize kid.

As someon eelse said, the college game goes through the guards. Staten is it. Dayton also has a transfer coming in from Drake. Supposedly a grat point and scorer. He will be the key while Staten gets up to speed. Gregory and Dayton are always going to press and run and be frenetic. Their defense will always run their offense. That's why I like our matchups against them ---- while we don't do it personnel-wise, we control the style of play. That is a great equalizer and it forces Dayton to thinbk instead of play ---- and they are apt to lose more that way then not.

Taj, I realize that the Berry kid is not in the class. If you read my post, notice that I only mention Staten, a SG, and 2 SFs. The class went from 5 to 4 when Berry's scholarship got pulled and I wasn't including him in my comments.

Also, it's London Warren, not Lamont. No way I'd forget that name after it seemed like he was there for 7 years. And Marcus, not Marques, Johnson.

I don't know anything about their Drake transfer.

Based on the way your post reads, I'd say you're doing a little Friday morning boozin' - eh? eh?

[Quality Is Job 1]

Taj, I realize that the Berry kid is not in the class. If you read my post, notice that I only mention Staten, a SG, and 2 SFs. The class went from 5 to 4 when Berry's scholarship got pulled and I wasn't including him in my comments.

Also, it's London Warren, not Lamont. No way I'd forget that name after it seemed like he was there for 7 years. And Marcus, not Marques, Johnson.

I don't know anything about their Drake transfer.

Based on the way your post reads, I'd say you're doing a little Friday morning boozin' - eh? eh?

I think he's either typing while driving or has a sticky spacebar.

[Archy McNally]

UD still lost a lot right? If so, contending another year w/ Mr. Wright won't be so bad. Problem for SLU is who defends him. Not a good matchup anywhere that I can see.

Conklin did a good job on him. That was a surprise, but he was the only Bill able to guard him.

[bauman]

Conklin did a good job on him. That was a surprise, but he was the only Bill able to guard him.

I think we also need to keep in mind that BG appears to be one of those HC's who can recruit like he!! but can't coach what he recruits. When he came to UD, Wright looked like a potential superstar, yet he hasn't improved at all.

[Taj79]

Yes ...my space bar has a tendency to jump in a space or two early. I've resorted to typing with two fingers --- nerve damage in left elbow --- you'd never know how many times you need an "A" and a numb left pinky finger sucks.

No boozin --- just yet!!!!

[Cushirishbill]

We p'wned Dayton last year, so no worries. Just be glad Crawfish is gone at Xavier.

[slu72]

We p'wned Dayton last year, so no worries. Just be glad Crawfish is gone at Xavier.

Did he get an agent... I sure hope so.

[Hawk]

Did he get an agent... I sure hope so.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5147236

Has not.

[udfan]

I look for UD to be a good team with Wright returning. We lost a lot of experience, and a lot of good defensive players, but not much offensive talent. Wright coming back or leaving was the difference between reloading or rebuilding next year to me.

You can never be sure exactly what you have with new players until they arrive, but we do have maybe the most highly rated pg we have ever recruited coming in Staten, so that makes me feel better about losing all of our pgs to graduation. I have seen Josh Parker play, and I think he is going to be at least decent. He has the ability to shoot, which is going to be the big difference you see in dayton next year. We are losing proven defenders who had trouble shooting for guys who can shoot, but need to learn to play BG defense.

True frosh Josh Staten is a talented pure pg. His strength is his quickness. He is small, but has the athleticism to dunk easily. He is only a sufficient outside shooter, but excels at creating for other players, and he can normally blow by his defender off the dribble.

Junior transfer Josh Parker physically reminds me of Holloway for X. He will play back-up or starting pg for us. He has a better handle than both London Warren and Rob Lowery, but I think he will need time to make good decisions at pg. He can shoot the 3 well, and he is quick enough to attack off the dribble. He is very athletic and physically strong, but his size hurts him a little when contested near the rim. I don't think he will approcach the defensive ability of London Warren or Rob Lowery. He does not have their length.

I think that Gregory is trying to decide if there is a player still available to fill the 3rd string pg spot left by the troubled Jesse Berry's open scholarship. Gregory would most likely look for a combo-guard if such a player is available. If not, I think true freshman sg Brandon Spearman might be the 3rd string pg. Other options are possibly Paul Williams and maybe even freshman Devin Oliver, who despite being 6-6, can handle, shoot the three and pass well.

All of the other starting positions are likely to be returning players. SG - Paul Williams, SF - Chris Johnson, PF - Chris Wright, C - Devin Searcy.

To me, calling BG's substitution patterns poor in-game coaching is the flavor of the month. If you watched the NIT, he was praised for using the depth of the bench throughout that championship run. It just depends on whether we are winning or losing close games. Last year, we lost almost every close one. The year before, the opposite was true. The coaching philosophy was the same.

I do think that now that SLU has the talent, that Majerus' coaching style gives us problems. We are not really a high tempo team though. We are only high tempo if your defense does not get back before our attempted fast breaks. If we don't get an open floor fast break shot, we use a lot of clock and we definitely slow other teams down by putting on a nuisance press and playing good defense. So our game tempo is actually average unless you cough the ball up a lot on offense.

You guys are very patient on offense and hit 3-pointers well against us. You didn't panic when going deep into the shot-clock offensively. And you did a great job of getting back on defense, and were very stout in the half-court. Those were keys to beating us last year, IMO.

[Clock_Tower]

I look for UD to be a good team with Wright returning. We lost a lot of experience, and a lot of good defensive players, but not much offensive talent. Wright coming back or leaving was the difference between reloading or rebuilding next year to me.

You can never be sure exactly what you have with new players until they arrive, but we do have maybe the most highly rated pg we have ever recruited coming in Staten, so that makes me feel better about losing all of our pgs to graduation. I have seen Josh Parker play, and I think he is going to be at least decent. He has the ability to shoot, which is going to be the big difference you see in dayton next year. We are losing proven defenders who had trouble shooting for guys who can shoot, but need to learn to play BG defense.

True frosh Josh Staten is a talented pure pg. His strength is his quickness. He is small, but has the athleticism to dunk easily. He is only a sufficient outside shooter, but excels at creating for other players, and he can normally blow by his defender off the dribble.

Junior transfer Josh Parker physically reminds me of Holloway for X. He will play back-up or starting pg for us. He has a better handle than both London Warren and Rob Lowery, but I think he will need time to make good decisions at pg. He can shoot the 3 well, and he is quick enough to attack off the dribble. He is very athletic and physically strong, but his size hurts him a little when contested near the rim. I don't think he will approcach the defensive ability of London Warren or Rob Lowery. He does not have their length.

I think that Gregory is trying to decide if there is a player still available to fill the 3rd string pg spot left by the troubled Jesse Berry's open scholarship. Gregory would most likely look for a combo-guard if such a player is available. If not, I think true freshman sg Brandon Spearman might be the 3rd string pg. Other options are possibly Paul Williams and maybe even freshman Devin Oliver, who despite being 6-6, can handle, shoot the three and pass well.

All of the other starting positions are likely to be returning players. SG - Paul Williams, SF - Chris Johnson, PF - Chris Wright, C - Devin Searcy.

To me, calling BG's substitution patterns poor in-game coaching is the flavor of the month. If you watched the NIT, he was praised for using the depth of the bench throughout that championship run. It just depends on whether we are winning or losing close games. Last year, we lost almost every close one. The year before, the opposite was true. The coaching philosophy was the same.

I do think that now that SLU has the talent, that Majerus' coaching style gives us problems. We are not really a high tempo team though. We are only high tempo if your defense does not get back before our attempted fast breaks. If we don't get an open floor fast break shot, we use a lot of clock and we definitely slow other teams down by putting on a nuisance press and playing good defense. So our game tempo is actually average unless you cough the ball up a lot on offense.

You guys are very patient on offense and hit 3-pointers well against us. You didn't panic when going deep into the shot-clock offensively. And you did a great job of getting back on defense, and were very stout in the half-court. Those were keys to beating us last year, IMO.

Thanks for the insight.

What's the word on Brian Gregory? Winning seasons and great recruiter but disappointments each year. Bad breaks and injuries these past few years or is there is a coaching x's and o's problem as well? Fanbase growing tired? Do you see him jumping ship at the first decent coaching offer. Is he getting offers? Do you see him still at UD in 3 or 5 years?

[Taj79]

Clock .... my sources in Dayton are impeccable ---- gleaned from multiple rounds of golf on Country Club of the North, east of the city in Beavercreek. YouDee loves Brian Gregory. That NIT Championship was special. Solidifed Gregory's standing real well. Made them circle the wagons to protect Brian ferom the vultures flying around with job openinbgs ... Iowa, DePaul, Iowa State and Wake Forest. Personally, I think it was a good thing YouDee was playing while these openigns cam up --- Brian was obviously occupied with game plans and not job searches. Winning the NIT has given Brian about another two or three years of good will and season passes. If he moved, I believe it would only be back to the Big Ten ala Crean at Indiana. He is an Izzo boy, juxt like Crean, bu the needs a Sweet Sixteen run to cement that move and create offers.

I appreciate udfan's input. I would not say I dislike YouDee, but always want to beat them ---- badly. I was in the stands at the last Great Midwest tournament when we and Marquette were the devils for leaving to go to CUSA. I understood their hatred then and don't blame them for it now. I just like to beat them as much as when the Eagles beat the Giants/Skins/Cowboys or when the Phillies beat the Mets, and so on. I like bveating Youdee ... and X. X fans are too smug. Have been since MCC days. But deservedly so -- one would kill for their kind of program, yes?

As to the fat eof close games at YouDee over the last two yearsm, I reall ydo blam eit on Gregory's game plan. Maybe that was just Warren and Lowery ignoring him this year. With fabrieze hurt, the only outside shooter was Chris Johnson. Dayton reminds me of a basketball team with track team skills ---- they'll run you ragged and destroy you in the physical game of basketball, but they can't understand basketbal theory and spacing and cannot seem to adjust to that. Illinois tried to run with them. Mississippi State. North Carolina. If Dayton ever adds skill players to theo rbench, LOOK OUT! Because Gregory can surely get the athletes.

[udfan]

There was good reason for fans to be upset with our league play last year. I felt that many things went wrong in all of our close losses. We had some bad luck, but the worst thing was our inability to slow the tempo without ball-handling meltdowns. You could look at it as Gregory's fault for not recognizing that weakness or the pg's inability to protect the ball in crunch time. We needed all of the shot clock just to get a decent shot, and we tried too many times to start the offense with 8 seconds left.

The NIT championship run healed a lot of those bad feelings for the more reasonable fans, IMO. We did a lot of it on the road in tough places to play, which was another supposed bugaboo for us. We needed that run in the worst way.

I think that another factor in Gregory staying was his belief that the tournament field would expand to 96. I think if we are going to hold onto him for much longer, that has to be happening or on the horizon. We are always operating on the bubble with the current 65-68.

I think that this year you will see a significant shift towards a better half-court team with a decent number of skill guys in the mix. I am specfically thinking of the freshmen forwards (Ralph Hill and Devin Oliver), Chris Johnson, Luke Fabrizius and a more well-rounded pointguard duo. We will still sub like crazy, so even though we have great starting forwards in Chris Wright and Chris Johnson, Hill and Oliver will get some minutes. Both Hill and Oliver have perimeter games that should help us diversify our offense.

I don't see us being as good as last year on defense. Even though out pg's last year had their problems, they were the key to out pressure defense, and they could jump start our fast break effectively. The loss of Marcus Johnson and Kurt Huelsman will be felt defensively too.

[Clock_Tower]

There was good reason for fans to be upset with our league play last year. I felt that many things went wrong in all of our close losses. We had some bad luck, but the worst thing was our inability to slow the tempo without ball-handling meltdowns. You could look at it as Gregory's fault for not recognizing that weakness or the pg's inability to protect the ball in crunch time. We needed all of the shot clock just to get a decent shot, and we tried too many times to start the offense with 8 seconds left.

The NIT championship run healed a lot of those bad feelings for the more reasonable fans, IMO. We did a lot of it on the road in tough places to play, which was another supposed bugaboo for us. We needed that run in the worst way.

I think that another factor in Gregory staying was his belief that the tournament field would expand to 96. I think if we are going to hold onto him for much longer, that has to be happening or on the horizon. We are always operating on the bubble with the current 65-68.

I think that this year you will see a significant shift towards a better half-court team with a decent number of skill guys in the mix. I am specfically thinking of the freshmen forwards (Ralph Hill and Devin Oliver), Chris Johnson, Luke Fabrizius and a more well-rounded pointguard duo. We will still sub like crazy, so even though we have great starting forwards in Chris Wright and Chris Johnson, Hill and Oliver will get some minutes. Both Hill and Oliver have perimeter games that should help us diversify our offense.

I don't see us being as good as last year on defense. Even though out pg's last year had their problems, they were the key to out pressure defense, and they could jump start our fast break effectively. The loss of Marcus Johnson and Kurt Huelsman will be felt defensively too.

Thanks Taj and UDfan for the updates. Like others, I hope the best (Chris Wright) stay another year in the A10 and we continue to build our respective respective programs and league stature. Last year, we had a very young team and you guys had a veteran team - and still - both really boosted their programs in the post season for different reasons. I see Temple really building a strong program and as the most likely program to knock X off the top of the A10. Good luck except when playing our Bills.