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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
More from Archie on state of Flyers
After the fiasco against Rhode Island, I asked Dayton coach Archie Miller on Monday whether he’d consider any lineup changes.
“Absolutely,” he said.
Maybe the slumping Paul Williams, I asked?
“Maybe everybody,” he said with a chuckle.
Of course, the Flyers only have four scholarship subs, which means we can assume at least one starter is safe. But who knows what the first-year coach has in mind?
“One of the things our team has been able to do through the first seven games of conference play is change the complexion of the way we play offensively. Going with that, we’ve had our moments when we’ve been really good. I also think as we started Atlantic 10 play, our defensive intensity, our lack of interior paint protectors, however you want to look at it - not just guarding the basketball - has really dropped off and almost has been dropping off game by game,” he said.
“The last three halves of basketball we’ve played, minus the first half at St. Joes, we totally lost the edge of what we had going for us in some of our big wins.
“It’s alarming. I think the (opponents’) field-goal percentages from 2 and 3, the lack of turnovers being forced, all of those numbers are alarming. And it really, to me, has to be recreated through practice and, hopefully, effort. Everything is coming back around to effort. And in February you can’t have that (as a problem).”
When I asked Miller how he was doing personally, he said: “Terrible. Absolutely terrible. Like I tell the guys, you only get so many opportunities to cash in. Momentum after a big weekend (beating Xavier) turns into, hopefully, a feeling of desperation this week. That’s the name of the game.
“How can we improve? What can we do differently as a defense to have a chance - ‘cause you can’t play how we’re playing on offense every game.”
How he processes bad losses like the one against URI, Miller said, “You replay every play offensively and defensively in your brain. You have every emotion you probably can imagine going through you. But it’s not a good feeling. Those things eat at you.”
There are some positives, of course. Chris Johnson followed a 17-point performance at St. Joe’s with a 20-point, 12-board effort against URI.
“Yeah, I don’t think we have guys right now not trying. We’ve had our moments where every team goes through these lapses where certain individuals go through a rut and they have to get themselves back out,” Miller said.
“But I can point to Chris Johnson and say he’s probably playing as hard as any player I’ve been around in a long time. He’s really getting after it. I think Matt Kavanaugh is really playing hard and well. What we need to do is get a couple guys back in that mode of thinking about effort plays and hustle plays and doing the little things, and I think they’ll start playing a lot better.”
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