Ray from the excellent Flyers Fieldhouse Blog contacted me about doing a little Q&A after the Pitt-Duke game — he apparently couldn’t sleep. I fired off the first questions.
1. Brian Roberts seems to have picked up where he left up last year, but with a couple more assists per game. Freshman Chris Wright appears to be as good as his recruiting ranking. So, who else should Pitt fans be wary/get to know on this Dayton squad?
I’ve been overwhelmed by the transformation of Charles Little over the past year. Charles was the A-10 Sixth Man of the Year last year, and still comes off the bench. He’s currently averaging about 7 points and 5 boards per night, but that doesn’t even begin to do justice to the player he’s become. At 6-6 and 230, the guy is built like a prototypical tight end, and moves like one, too. The problem used to be he’d get in foul trouble for being too physical, rather than relying on everything he’d been taught. This year he’s moving without the ball better, posting up better, and taking his man off the dribble better as well. He’s a matchup problem for nearly anyone he sees.
He still can’t shoot free throws to save his life. I think he’s gotten bored and is actually trying to fire them through the backboard.
2. Dayton’s tempo is not that of a run-and-gun team. Is it based primarily on a hard, tough defense or from a deliberate, half-court, set offense? How has Dayton been able to control the pace of games against opponents?
While they don’t prefer to run and gun, they can get it up there if need be. But you’re right; we’d rather slow it down and make teams beat us from the perimeter if at all possible. Someone the number of passes on the offensive end have made me feel like we’re watching Hoosiers. And it’s very effective; they won’t settle for bad shots. They’re perfectly content to keep on lobbing it around until they get the shot that they (and Brian Gregory) want.
On defense, we haven’t played much zone. The athletes on the floor almost demand you play an up front, physical man-to-man. This makes it hard to get off shots that are both quick and high-percentage. I’ve always been a proponent of the effectiveness of a good 2-3 zone in the college game, but I can’t argue with results. The Flyers have held teams to a very low percentage from the floor.
3. I’ve heard and read rumblings of dissatisfaction with the overall performance by Coach Brian Gregory. Can you explain the reason(s)? Is it his personality, style of play and/or not meeting expectations? Is this a make or break year for him with the talent on the team? What kind of impact do you think adding Anthony Solomon to the coaching staff is/will have on the team from a coaching/preparation/recruiting standpoint?
I’ll admit that I’ve always been the first to question Brian Gregory. The problem in my eyes had been the development of athletes into players. We’re finally beginning to see the type of real players that Brian Gregory saw when he recruited these kids. They’re smart and disciplined, and that’s the first sign to me that Brian Gregory is finally getting through. I think the recruits that Brian has brought in, coupled with his enthusiasm and dedication to the program, have bought him several more years. But, in the end, we need to keep seeing the results in the W column.
I think Anthony has been great for this staff. He was in a virtual no-win situation at St. Bonaventure. The fact that he managed to help keep that program alive after Weldergate is a credit to his worth as a coach. He has east coast ties, which is great for recruiting. Also, it never hurts to have a former A-10 head coach in your ear when you’re preparing for the conference slate. Excellent hire, in my opinion.
4. The A-10 has had well-deserved attention so far this season with Dayton, Rhode Island, Xavier and UMass all scoring some quality wins. That said, with 14 teams it seems that the A-10 is nearly as unwieldly as the Big East. Peering into your Crystal Ball, how do you see the A-10 looking in 5 years?
To be honest, I hope to cut back down to 12 teams. I liked the addition of Charlotte and Saint Louis, but as you said, the conference is just too saturated right now. It’s really hard for teams to rise above the middle of the pack in such a large conference, as the conference slate is almost big to avoid notching four or five losses. This is fine in a conference with the repute of the Big East, but the A-10 is not of that caliber from top to bottom. If you don’t separate from the pack, getting the attention of the selection committee is a tall task.
That said, booting any teams from the conference is something that is bound to end up in court. Say we take two perennially in the cellar, like St. Bonaventure and La Salle. It’s not like they have a conference they could jump to that will match the revenues they’re sharing now in the A-10. Unfortunately, I think the room is bound to remain crowded for the foreseeable future
Look for his questions and my answers later today.
