Thurgood Marshall graduation 2012
Badin vs. Versailles
Law Enforcement Memorial Day
Home > Blogs > Flyer Connection: University of Dayton sports > Archives > 2009 > January > 26
Monday, January 26, 2009
Sedric Toney realizes dream in playing at UD
Notes and quotes from Dayton’s 80-68 win over St. Bonaventure and the festivities to honor the 1983-84 and 1973-74 teams on the anniversaries of their accomplishments Sunday:
• Sedric Toney, now a basketball analyst for ESPN, on playing at UD: “I used to sit in our living room watching the games on TV and fantasizing about playing for the Flyers. For it to come true is indescribable.”
• Toney on Roosevelt Chapman’s famous boast before dousing Wayman Tisdale and Oklahoma with 41 points in the second round of the ‘84 NCAA tournament: “He said, ‘We’ll see who the real All-American is.’ Coach (Don Donoher) was livid. … But I think Chap got us stirred up, and he was stirred up himself, and he had one of the greatest games in NCAA history.”
• Ed Young on the game-winning banker to beat No. 3 DePaul in ‘84: “People come up to me all the time. It’s very flattering. It’s nice to be recognized. … But what people don’t remember is Larry (Schellenberg) got one of the greatest rebounds of all time (after a missed foul shot to start the sequence of events).
“Sedric was on the left, and I was trailing the play. Everyone knows Chap was getting the ball, and I was just thinking about getting the rebound. It was nice to make that shot. It was very spontaneous. It was just boom-boom-boom. It was a lucky shot.”
• Don Donoher on the ‘84 team: “Everybody really understood their role. If you look at the films, everybody knew who the kingpin was (Chapman). He carried us. But he didn’t carry us in rebounding and defense, just scoring.”
• The Flyers have won 14 games in a row at home dating to last year, tying for the seventh-longest streak in the nation.
• UD and St. Bonaventure each grabbed 33 rebounds. The Flyers are 15-0 when they win the battle of the boards and 2-2 when they don’t.
• Bonnies junior guard Chris Matthews tied a school record for 3-pointers with eight in 17 attempts. He finished with a career-high 28 points.
Permalink | Comments (22) | Post your comment |
Flyers stay home for two more
UD Basketball: The Week Ahead
Games: vs. Saint Louis (11-8, 2-3 Atlantic 10) 8 p.m. Thursday (CBS-College Sports Network); vs. Saint Joseph’s (11-7, 4-0) noon Sunday (WHIO-TV).
Scouting Saint Louis: First, the game will be broadcast on the network formerly known as CSTV, which is available only to cable subscribers who purchase the special sports-tier package.
The Billikens are one of the A-10’s top defensive teams, and they have two proficient offensive players in seniors Kevin Lisch and Tommie Liddell III, who are averaging about 13 points apiece. But those two are surrounded by youth as coach Rick Majerus tries to rebuild the program.
Scouting Saint Joseph’s: The Hawks reached the NCAA tournament as an at-large team last season and have perhaps the league’s top player in burly center Ahmad Nivins, who is averaging 20.5 points and 11.3 rebounds while playing 39.6 minutes per game.
Coach Phil Martelli and UD’s Brian Gregory have had two different philosophies on playing time this year. Martelli believes in keeping his starters on the floor — four played more than 50 minutes in a triple-overtime win over Rhode Island — while Gregory is giving 12 players quality minutes.
UD and St. Joe’s have a common foe in Duquesne. The Flyers grabbed a 78-69 win on the road against the Dukes, while the Hawks prevailed, 99-98, in overtime at home.
Scouting Dayton (18-2, 4-1): When St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt was asked whether he thought Dayton was an NCAA tournament-caliber team, he replied: “If they shoot the ball.”
That’s always an uncertainty with the Flyers. For all their marvelous traits — their rebounding prowess, athleticism and competitiveness — they still are suspect on the perimeter. But they shot 53.1 percent in the second half in an 80-68 win over the Bonnies on Sunday (43.1 overall), and they’ve been able to compensate for that weakness so far.
The Flyers staged anniversary celebrations for the accomplishments of the 1983-84 team (Elite Eight appearance) and 1973-74 squad (NCAA second round — back in the day when only 25 teams made the tourney). And Gregory hoped all those old-timers left confident the current Flyers are upholding the UD tradition.
“When you look at those teams and the camaraderie those (past) players still have, I don’t think there’s any question, if you watch our team, we have great chemistry among our players,” Gregory said. “Guys are looking for each other. Guys who would be playing the same positions are cheering for each other.
“In the true sense of the word, this is a team. … I hope they would have walked out of here and said, ‘You know what, that game was really important to them. They wanted to get that win.’ “
