Category: Observations

By HAL McCOY

UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS while spending a long, long evening in The Man Cave La-Z-Boy watching basketball (Wright State), baseball (Cincinnati Reds) and basketball (University of Dayton), leaving the chair only for bathroom duties and refrigerator raids.

—In a somewhat surprising move, Cincinnati Reds manager David Bell named Luis Castillo as the Opening Day starter. Castillo was up-and-down last season but has been mostly down during spring training.

Castillo will be followed by Sonny Gray, Tanner Roark and Anthony DeSclafani. Alex Wood will begin the season on the injured list with his back issues, so the fifth spot is undetermined. But with early off days, a fifth starter may not be necessary the first couple of times through the rotation.

The Reds finally won another game, but it was done in absurb manner with another one of baseball’s monkey-testing with the game.

With the score tied, 4-4, after eight innings, the teams used the experiment of starting the ninth inning with a runner on second base.

The Chlicago White Sox scored that ‘runner on second base’ in top of the ninth and took a one-run lead.

They put a Reds runner on second base to start the bottom of the ninth and he was thrown out at third base on a ground ball. But the Reds scored twice, tying the game when somebody named Stuart Fairchild was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and the game ended on a bases-loaded wild pitch, a 6-5 Reds victory.

The Reds came from 4-0 behin after Chicago’s Jose Abreu hit two home runs. Yasiel Puig hit a two-out two-run double to cut the lead to 4-2, Matt Kemp hit a two-out run-scoring single to make it 4-3 and Jose Peraza tied it with a single.

Joey Votto rolled a single through the left side for a hit and singled off the shortstop’s glove for another single, only his third and fourth hits this spring in 39 at bats with 12 strikeouts.

Before the Reds played the White Sox Tuesday night, Sonny Gray pitched in a minor league game in the afternoon and took some lumps against the Triple-A Columbus Clippers.

Bell told writers and broadcasters in Goodyear, Ariz. that Gray pitched because the club wanted him to throw some extra pitches.

—The Late Show, starring the University of Dayton and Colorado University in the NIT was worth losing sleep to watch.

The Flyers lost, 78-73, but it was a one-point game with 5 1/2 minutes left. At that point there had been 18 lead changes — back-and-forth, back-and-forth like a metronome.

The last lead change came with six minutes left and Dayton ahead, 63-62 on Ryan Mikesell’s three-pointer.

But Colorado’s Daylen Kountz slammed home a dunk for a 64-63 Colorado lead, sparking 9-2 Buffaloes breakaway for a 76-69 lead with 56 seconds left.

The last two points on that run were scored McKinley Wright IV, the point guard who originally committed to UD but opted out when coach Archie Miller left for Indiana.

The Flyers finished their season 21-12, but went down playing their best — sharp, crisp passing, share-the-ball offense and star-burst fast breaks in the breath-sapping high altitude of Boulder, Colo.

Freshman Obi Toppin, despite sitting out much of the second half with foul miseries, scored 21 points that included two three-pointers and three dunks. And he snagged six rebounds.

Senior Josh Cunningham finished his career on the downbeat, as he did in many games the second half of the season. He had only five points and two rebounds.

Jalen Crutcher had 14, Ryan Mikesell 13 and Jordan Davis 12.

Amazingly, the Flyers shot 58 per cent and lost — making 30 of 53 shots. And 13 of their 23 misses were on three-pointers, where they were 5 for 18.

Wright and D’Shawn Schwartz led Colorado with 19 each and Schwartz made five of eight three-pointers. Colorado star Tyler Bey only scored 14, but ruled the glass with 12 rebounds.

—Wright State Universityo was one-and-done in the NIT, but acquitted themselves well while playing Clemson on the Tigers’ home court against former WSU coach Brad Brownell.

They fell behind, 16-2, to start the game, then outscored Clemson 31-17 the rest of the first half to draw even, 33-33 at intermission.

From there it was hand-to-hand combat. The Raiders had a 47-41 lead with 13 1/2 minutes left in the game.

Clemson then went on a 14-3 run to take a 55-51 lead. The Raiders were down one, 70-69. with 1 1/2 minutes to go. Clemson’s Elijah Thomas hit two free throws with 1:24 left and WSU’s Loudon Love missed two free throws with 47 seconds left.

John Newman hit the second of two free throws with 17 seconds left, making it a two possession game, a four-point lead, and the Raiders couldn’t convert.

There were 10 lead changes and five ties during a highly competitive game ruined only by the babbling of ESPN color analyst Cory Alexander.

While Wright State was making its big comeback from the 16-2 deficit to tie it at 29-all, Alexander was on a long rant about his days at the University of Virginia, about how he didn’t like playing in the NIT, preferring the NCAA (well, of course) and how he had to start games because he was awful coming off the bench.

And he is awful behind the microphone, too. They went long spells without telling viewers who scored baskets as WSU came back from the dead.

Nevertheless, the Raiders, 14-point underdogs, played like the champions they were during the regular Horizon League season.

Five Raiders scored in double figures, led by Bill Wampler’s off-the-bench 17. Loudon Love had 14 and missed a double-double by one with game-high nine rebounds. Cole Gentry had 13, Mark Hughes 12 and Skyelar Potter 11.

The Raiders buried 10 of 25 threes while Clemson made 8 of 18. The Raiders had problems containing Clemson’s Marcquis Reed. He averages 19, but scored 24 on 9 of 19 shooting. Big man Elijah Thomas, despite foul trouble that earned him bench time, still scored 17. David Skara had 16 and Clyde Trapp added 12.

By HAL McCOY

Wright State University’s basketball team moved into the finals of the Horizon League tournament Monday night, but the Raiders had to take a deep breath and compose themselves early in the second half.

The Raiders had a 20-point lead over Green Bay with 17 1/2 minutes left in the game.

A runaway? A rout?

Not so fast, bunky.

As quickly as one can say turnaround, the Phoenix lived up to their nickname and rose from the ashes, cutting Wright State’s lead to one point with a 22-3 run, slicing the lead to one point.

The Raiders, though, quickly resuscitated themselves and pulled it out, 66-54, in Detroit’s Little Caesar’s Arena.

The Raiders had a run of their own in the first half when the score was 15-15. They went on a 17-5 spree to take a 33-20 halftime lead.

And they quickly made it 40-20 in the first 3 1/2 minutes of the second half. Next thing they knew, it was 43-42.

But freshman Malachi Smith buried a three, Parker Ernsthausen clicked on a three and Loudon Love snagged an offensive rebound and banked it home to push the Raiders back to a 51-43 lead.

Green Bay scrambled back to within four, 54-50, but Alan Vest scored underneath, was fouled, and converted a free throw with 5:23 left and the Raiders never looked back.

Offensively, the Raiders were sketchy, forcing them to win the game defensively and on the backboards.

Green Bay averages 80 points a game and the Raiders held the Phoenix to 54. Of special note was the nose-to-nose defense by Mark Hughes and Malachi Smith on Green Bay star Sandy Cohen III. They combined to hold him to 13 points.

And Bill Wampler, who led the Raiders with 18 points (four threes in the first half) spent more time on the floor than upright, taking several charges. One of them knocked Cohen out of the game when he tried to dunk and ran over Wampler, Cohen’s fifth foul late in the game.

And for most of the game, Green Bay was one-and-done on offense, one shot at a time as the Raiders dominated the backboards. The leader, as always, was Man Mountain Loudon Love with 12 rebounds. With 10 points, Love registered his 12th double-double this season.

Wright State, 21-12, plays Tuesday night in the finals, seeking a second straight Horizon League championship and a second straight trip to the NCAA tournament.

By HAL McCOY

There could not have been a more exciting, more competitive and more well-played basketball than what was enacted Friday night at the Nutter Center.

Wright State University and Northern Kentucky University left a dozen hearts on the floor in a hand-to-hand combat battle for first place in the Horizon League.

Wright State, seemingly down-and-out, trailed by 16 points midway through the first half, but the Raiders were neither down nor out.

They were straggling behind the hot-shooting Norse, 40-24, on Blackout Night, with Wright State wearing black uniforms and the student section donned in black tee-shirts.

And it looked like a black night for the Raiders until they pulled up their sweat socks late in the first half and went on a 13-0 run to get themselves within five at halftime, 49-44.

Bill Wampler, who always comes off the bench, scored eight straight points during that run en route to a career-high 29 points.

“We were getting out-physicaled, not rebounding, not boxing out and they were beating us off screens,” said Wampler.

The Raiders, applying tighter defense in the second half, quickly caught up to start the final 20 minutes.

They took a 54-53 lead on Wampler’s drive to the basket with 16 minutes left and it was an out-and-out gut check for both teams the rest of the way.

It was 75-75 with 1:42 left when Wright State’s Mark Hughes missed a shot, but Wampler snagged the rebound and put it home.

“Coach has been trying to get me to do more offensive rebounding,” said Wampler. “Sometimes I just cop out and go back. But I saw the opportunity and knew we needed the play. I was in the right place at the right time.” Or, the Wright time.

Then came the biggest play of the game.

Loudon Love missed a shot, but grabbed his own rebound and was fouled by NKU star Drew  McDonald. And the officials ruled that McDonald hooked Love, a technical foul.

Love made 1 of the two free throws and Wright State kept the ball on the technical with 24 seconds left.

That man Wampler was fouled and made 1 of 2 and Alan Vest hit two more with 11 seconds left to give the Raiders an insurmountable 81-75 lead.

With the win, Wright State moved into a first place tie with NKU at 10-and-3 in the Horizon.

“We got down 16 in the first half and got a little discouraged,” said Wright State coach Scott Nagy. “We called time out and fought back to get it to five by halftime and we just scrapped in the second half.

“It is so much fun to watch our kids scrap and they believe. We’ve seen this before, when your kids believe they can win any game,” Nagy added. “That’s the way they play.”

Loudon Love outdueled his post opponent, Drew McDonald, picked to be the Horizon League Player of the Year. Love had 20 points on 8 for 12 shooting and 11 rebounds. McDonald had 23 points, but needed 19 shots (nine made) and nine rebounds.

“If you ask Loudon, he would feel like he played terrible tonight,” said Nagy. “But the guy had 20 points and 11 rebounds. Honestly, he didn’t play great. I would agree with him. He was a little bit out to lunch on some things and he made some mistakes defensively — still you look at 20 and 11 and you aren’t going to sneeze at that.”

Tyler Sharpe and Dantez Walton both had 16 for the Norse.

Northern Kentucky shot 61 per cent in the first half and finished at 50 per cent while Wright State hit 54.7 per cent from the field.

After scoring 49 points in the first half, NKU was held to 28 in the second half while Wright State scored 37.

“It was a fun basketball game,” said Wampler. “It was up-and-down. It was up tempo in the first half, which isn’t what we really wanted. But we settled down in the second half and figured out how to guard them.”

Nagy seemed perplexed after the sensational win.

“We had a hard time doing anything offensively and yet we shot 54 per cent,” he said. “It was hard for us to run anything.

“But it was a great college basketball game and it was great offense in the first half and great defense in the second half.”

By HAL McCOY

It was on a cold winter’s day in the late 1990s, not as cold as today but when is it ever this cold, that a group led by Dayton City Commissioner Tony Capizzi proposed a minor league baseball team for The Gem City.

In my inimitable wisdom, I sat behind my computer in the Dayton Daily News sports department and wrote a column, scoffing at such an absurd, hair-brained, half-cocked idea.

Professional baseball in the Gem City? That would be baseball zircon. It won’t ever fly, won’t get off the ground any higher than the Wright Brothers.

Why would anybody pay to see a minor league Class A team when the Cincinnati Reds are 45 minutes down I-75?

Robert Murphy heard the same stuff as the group spoke at service luncheons all over the area: “Dayton is too dangerous at night. The one-way streets are too confusing, giving a park downtown poor access. Minor league sports don’t succeed in Dayton.”

Well, the Class A Dayton Dragons were formed in 1999, with Murphy as its first president and only president.

And did they get it off the ground? Like a U-2 spy plane.

Heading into its 20th year, the Dragons have drawn more than 11 million fans to Fifth Third Field. The Dragons have been the top-drawing Class A franchise in all of baseball for 19 straight years.

They have been in the Top 10 in attendance for all minor league affiliates — AAA, AA, A — every years of their existence. That covers 160 teams.
And most amazing of all, it has sold out every game ever played at Fifth Third.

Predicting a minor league franchise wouldn’t fly in Dayton was probably the biggest swing-and-a-miss of my 57-year journalism career.

And I was never so happy to be so wrong because of what the Dragons have meant to the City of Dayton, the leader in the revitalization of a thriving downtown.

It all started with some dreams and a large hole in the ground at Monument and South Patters0n Blvd. thanks to people like Capizzi and Murphy and long-time media relations director/broadcaster Tom Nichols.

To celebrate the monumental success on Monument, the Dragons have a special treat planned for fans as a season opener this year, the beginning of the 20th year.

On Saturday, March 30, the Dragons will play what they are calling “The Dayton Dragons 20th Season Celebration Game.”

The game will be played by the 2019 Dragons against an alumni team, mostly players still in the Reds system who played in Dayton — names like outfielder Taylor Trammell, catcher Tyler Stephenson, third baseman Jonathan India, catcher Chris Oakey and outfielder T.J. Friedl.

Those players already have been chosen for the alumni team, with more names to follow.

Also as part of the celebration, the local media has selected the Top 20 Dragons of all-time and that group will be announced piecemeal from Monday up until Opening Day. Some of the names sure to be included are Joey Votto, Johnny Cueto, Adam Dunn, Austin Kearns, Billy Hamilton, Jay Bruce, Todd Frazier and Homer Bailey, just to name a few.

And so the legacy continues and it continues as a partnership with the Cincinnati Reds, the only major league affiliate the Dragons ever had.

Why does it fly? It isn’t only baseball, even though it is good baseball played in a fantastic venue. It is solid family entertainment. I have male friends who love baseball and go to Dragons games and their wives, who hate baseball, want to go because of all the frills and thrills.

Murphy recalled that when Wayne Krivsky was general manager of the Reds, he said his wife had her fill of baseball, but when he planned to come to Dayton she would say, “Oh, I want to go.”

As Murphy said about the special game, “It is a tribute to the incredible memories at Fifth Third Field and to our fans and sponsors as we head into our 20th season. The Dragons’ rich history includes an amazing collection of moments.”

And if they had listened to me, none of this would have happened. Thanks for not listening.

By HAL McCOY

UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave, wondering if this tale is true. After a flight from New Orleans to New York, a man was knocked down and his wallet was taken as he disembarked. There was a close witness, a guy wearing a black baseball cap, a black and white striped shirt, black pants with a white stripe down the leg and a yellow handkerchief dangling from his pocket. He said he was an NFL official, “But I didn’t see a thing.”

—Is the three-point shot a nuisance in college basketball, a hindrance? It sure is when they don’t fall and teams keep casting away, like Dayton and Wright State this week.

One thing a college basketball team with conference championship aspirations must do is defend the home turf. The University of Dayton failed miserably Wednesday night, lost in UD Arena to George Mason.

The Flyers lost by four, mostly because they couldn’t, or wouldn’t, get the ball inside to Josh Cunningham or Obi Toppin. Instead they flung up 29 three-point shots and made only six. They took 54 total shots, only 25 inside the arc.

Amazingly, Wright State nearly suffered the same ignominy Thursday night in the Nutter Center. They were favored by 15 points over Milwaukee, but won by two.

Like Dayton, WSU tried to win it from outside when Milwaukee couldn’t stop big man Loudon Love inside. But they didn’t get him the ball enough.

Like Dayton, WSU took more three-point shots than twos. They were 5 for 27 from three and took only 26 shots from two.

The Raiders missed their first 10 three-point shots. For the game, their best outside shooters, Mark Hughes (0 for 7) and Billy Wampler (0 for 8) were 0 for 15.

WSU already had lost three games this season at the buzzer, two on three-point shots. And with the Raiders up, 54-52, Milwaukee’s Jake Wright tried a three at the buzzer, but Alan Vest blocked it. How back-stabbing would it have been for a Wright to beat Wright State.

Vest also made three of his four three-point shots. Subtract his contribution and the Raiders were 3 for 23 on threes. Oh, yeah, Love scored 21 points underneath on only 14 shots.

–QUOTE: From basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain: “They say that nobody is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect. I wish they’d make up their minds.”

—Wouldn’t A.J. Pollock have looked magnificent in center field for the Cincinnati Reds? Won’t happen. The Dodgers signed him to a four-year $55 million deal. Could the Reds have afforded him with their expanded budget?

There is still hope for the Reds to fill that center field spot with somebody other than infielder Nick Senzel or Phillip Ervin. With the addition of Pollock the Dodgers seem amenable to trading Joc Pederson.

Why not? If they would acquire Pederson after adding Alex Wood, Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp, the Reds could become the Los Angeles Dodgers-East.

—QUOTE: From former baseball commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti: “When I knocked a guy down, there was no second part to the story.” (Just ask Pete Rose.)

—Hall of Fame shortstop Robin Yount has a Dayton connection. He appeared at the LaSalle Stag Smoker Wednesday and told this story.

“I was living in California when I was 8 and my grandparents lived in Dayton,” he said. “We visited and my grandfather took me to my first major league baseball game at Crosley Field in Cincinnati and that was my introduction to baseball.”

Yount, owner of 3,142 hits, was a No. 1 draft pick by the Milwaukee Brewers and was immediately invited to major league camp. “I was so excited I forgot something when I reported. I forgot my bats.”

Yount missed some time at a later spring training camp. He had been having some ankle issues, which he attributed to the ankle that spring. “I loved motorcycling more than baseball at the time,” he said. “I had a little mishap with a motorcycle and hurt my ankle. I didn’t tell them how it happened and told them it was my problem ankle. The thing is, it was my other ankle and they never figured it out.”

Yount said he benefited mightily batting behind Paul Molitor, especially when Molitor was on second base. “He was a master at picking up signs. He’d see two or three pitches and know the signs. So he’d get them and then I had ‘em, too.”

—QUOTE: From famous New York baseball writer John Lardner, talking about being a writer: “It beats working.” (I always told my wife, Nadine, that some day I would get a real job, but I never did.)

—Love the quote from new Tampa Bay head coach Bruce Arians. Asked about possibly acquiring Pittsburgh wide receiver and problem child Antonio Brown, Arians said, “Not interested. There is too much diva in Antonio Brown.”

—Stayed up Thursday night to watch the Murray State-Belmont game, only to watch Murray’s Ja Morant, supposedly the Second Coming of Michael Jordan.

Morant was the only reason the game was on ESPN and several pro scouts were there as Morant is projected as one of the top three draft picks.

It started great. In the first minute, Morant buried a long three. A minute later he went up for a rebound and twisted his ankle. How unfortunate.

He carried on, but played with a limp. It was his push-off foot and he shot 5 of 19, 2 for 7 from three. He was 8 for 12 from the foul line. He averages 26 a game and scored 20 on one foot. He is masterful at driving to the basket, but on this night, with a bad ankle, he couldn’t finish and missed several easy layups.

—QUOTE: From NBA star Kyrie Irving: “Going in, you want to play a perfect season and play throughout the whole entire season, but injuries are a part of basketball.” (But why do they happen at such inopportune times?)