Sports Today: Were those the real Dayton Flyers?

A young team with a new coach was expected to be up and down, and that’s just what this one has been so far.

They passed one test by putting that awful Duquesne loss behind them and another by pretty much controlling a good St. Bonaventure team from the jump.

Next challenge: Consistency.

» RELATED: Grant calls it a 'great, great win'

» PHOTOS: Dayton vs. St. Bonaventure 

At this point it might be best to look at the Flyers season as a round of Super Mario Bros.

(There are no warps… unless Kostas Antetokounmpo puts it all together overnight. That guy is going to be unstoppable in the Atlantic 10 once he figures it out.)

They are going to need to stack stage win on top of stage win, and there might be some times when they get stuck with the same spot over and over again with nothing to do but keep replaying it until they get it right (and don’t fall in lava or off a cliff or run into a dastardly turtle or walking mushroom).

(Who is Bowser in this scenario? I’m not sure. Just go with it.)

Anyway, when Dayton shoots over 55 percent at home they are probably going to win most of the time.

RELATED: Takeaways from UD's win over St. Bonaventure

Even the friendly confines of UD Arena have not been an indicator of how this squad will play, of course, so perhaps that’s another step. Getting consistent at home at least.

Darrell Davis again reminded everyone he has star power, and Trey Landers was more than simply a glue guy as he poured in 17 points to go with Davis’ 28.

Landers also had four blocks, three steals and five rebounds. Pretty good.

Jalen Crutcher, the freshman point guard who might be as much of a bellwether for this team as anyone, had 12 points and made life tough for Jaylen Adams, who scored 15 points but on 11 shots. Adams had seven assists but also seven turnovers.

The aforementioned Antetokounmpo didn’t light up the scoreboard but played a solid 19 minutes and helped clean up the class at the end.

Next up: a high-noon showdown with the Minutemen of UMass at home Saturday.

As for the Bengals, well, there was an awful lot to unpack from Lewis’ 40-minutes press conference Wednesday at Paul Brown Stadium. 

I noted yesterday he looked like a new man compared to the one who trudged into the same interview room during the regular season.

Yes, he was actually excited to be the coach of the Bengals.

Whether that was an act remains to be seen, but there were also some interesting nuggets sprinkled throughout.

While Lewis sidestepped questions about getting more control in team matters, he did acknowledge they might need to be more aggressive in free agency.

He talked about potentially cleaning up the communication with the scouts in the draft process, too.

RELATED: Bengals’ bringing back Marvin Lewis boggles the mind

Most of all he said he was excited to have the opportunity to work with the talented young players on the roster, but I am left to wonder if he will be able to get through to them better than he seemed to in the past.

He has talked often about players needing to be self-motivating, but that doesn’t seem to have worked.

I tend to think old habits die hard so I’m going to remain skeptical for a while I suspect...

Lastly, here's a fun look at some of the highest-scoring performances in area high school basketball history from Marc Pendleton. 

»RELATED: Fairmont’s Hendricks hits 14 threes, scores 52 points

Definitely wish I could have seen Yellow Springs native Charlie Coles average 42 points per game as a prep star -- including 65 in one game.