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Home > Blogs > Flyer Connection: University of Dayton sports > Archives > 2009 > February > 10
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Gregory wants Flyers to keep their cool
Dayton coach Brian Gregory wants his team to treat the Xavier clash like any other game, aside from playing with crazed intensity.
The Flyers will need to shoot a great percentage and protect the ball on offense like it’s the Shroud of Turin, but he doesn’t want them to try to do more than they’re capable of doing — a common pitfall in games of this magnitude.
“It means more (than other games). You wouldn’t be human if it didn’t. At the same time, you can’t go outside of the things you do well. Sometimes, the most important thing in a game like this is to stick with what you’re good at.”
The Flyers may need to beat Xavier to negate the loss to lowly Charlotte to keep their NCAA tournament hopes on course. But Gregory doesn’t think the setback to the 49ers should be viewed adversely.
“The biggest step our league needs to take — and we’re not there yet — is when you lose a game, especially on the road, that it won’t be considered a bad loss,” he said. “Some people will look at it that way. But Charlotte has been decimated with injuries and now has their entire team back.”
He thinks Xavier’s accomplishments shouldn’t be diminished by a loss at Duquesne, either.
“I already know how good Duquesne is. We went there and won a hard-fought game,” Gregory said. “We’re not there as a league, but I think people in the league understand (the difficulties on the road). The next step is to be known nationwide that these are tough places to play, they’re well-coached teams with talented players. I don’t think there’s any team in the country that wouldn’t take (Charlotte’s) Lamont Mack, the way he’s playing.”
