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Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Wabler likes how Puerto Rico field turned out
When Dayton committed to the Puerto Rico Tip-off Classic, it hoped to be part of an attractive field, and that’s exactly how it turned out.
There are oodles of exempt tournaments in November and December, and the eight teams assembled here — UD, Georgia Tech, Villanova, George Mason, Mississippi, Boston University, Kansas State and Indiana — can compare with almost any other field out there.
“You never know when you sign up,” UD Athletic Director Tim Wabler said. “They always promise you five or six BCS teams. I think this is one of the top-two in-season tournaments with the Maui Invitational.”
Playing in the Maui tourney are Maryland, Cincinnati, Vanderbilt, Colorado, Gonzaga, Arizona, Wisconsin and host Chaminade.
NCAA rules allow teams to play in exempt tournaments and count them as just one game. UD was allowed to play a maximum of 12 non-conference games but will play 14 because of the three games here.
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Georgia Tech’s Hewitt wary of UD
Paul Hewitt, the Georgia Tech basketball coach, may have access to more highly rated talent than Dayton, but he doesn’t sound like a guy who expects to have the superior team when the first-round opponents meet in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic at 11:30 a.m. Thursday.
“It’s a great opportunity for our team to play Dayton,” Hewitt said. “As experienced as they are and given what they accomplished last year, we’ll know an awful lot about our team. Obviously, Brian (UD coach Brian Gregory) does a great job. I know Billy (assistant Billy Schmidt) a little bit, too.
“They’re going to throw a lot of stuff at us. Our guys are going to have to grow up quickly or go home with an L.”
The Yellow Jackets finished 12-19 overall and 2-14 in the ACC last season, while the Flyers were 27-8 overall and reached the second-round of the NCAA tourney.
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Gregory: Current team his most talented, but …
One of the TV broadcasters for tomorrow’s Dayton game asked coach Brian Gregory how his current team ranks with those or the past.
“Top to bottom, it’s the most talented,” he said. “But we have a long way to go.”
The broadcaster needled Gregory, saying, “Are you ever happy with a team?”
The coach replied: “No. I was happy on the flight home from Maui (after winning the tourney in 2004) and I was happy on the trip home from Chicago (after capturing the Chicago Invitational Challenge last year). Those are about only two days I’ve been happy in coaching.”
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Flyers going through drills at game site
Dayton are currently practicing at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico, the site of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic, working up a serious sweat during the hour they’re allowed on the floor.
If coach Brian Gregory isn’t satisfied with this workout, the team has reserved another gym in San Juan for a second practice later today.
It’s a typical session for UD, which is going over offensive sets and emphasizing defense and crashing the boards. The sense you get in watching these guys is that they won’t be intimidated by Georgia Tech on Thursday.
Although the Yellow Jackets will field a star-studded lineup, one edge the Flyers might have is in experience. They start three seniors and two juniors, while the Yellow Jackets’ best players are a junior (forward Gani Lawai), a sophomore (guard Iman Shumpert) and a freshman (forward Derrick Favors).
When I proposed that theory to Gregory, he replied: “You would hope it would … Yeah … but at the same time, we rely on three sophomores (Paul Williams, Chris Johnson and Luke Fabrizius), and our two freshmen (Josh Benson and Matt Kavanaugh) are definitely in the mix. But you hope their experience and the fact they’ve played a lot of similar games will help them in this situation.”
