Wilmington Sea Dawgs roundup

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LightningMan
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Post by LightningMan » Fri May 06, 2011 8:02 pm

I thought the Dawgs were scrimmaging tonight against the Invasion. It's been turned into a game, at least according to the Invasion site.

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Post by LightningMan » Sat May 14, 2011 3:01 am

Dawgs fall again to the Invasion, 99-86. I'm thinking this isn't the Dawgs year.

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zeke41
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Post by zeke41 » Sat May 14, 2011 4:48 am

Is Cary that good? Have you been to any games? This is shocking to me. I was thinking Wilmington was the team to beat! Do either of these two teams webcast?
http://www.thecrossoverbasketball.com
http://www.flighthoops.com
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Post by LightningMan » Sun May 15, 2011 12:45 am

[quote=""zeke41""]Is Cary that good? Have you been to any games? This is shocking to me. I was thinking Wilmington was the team to beat! Do either of these two teams webcast?[/quote]
Haven't seen Cary in person. I wanted to travel but Friday night just didn't work (Cary is about two hours away).

The Sea Dawgs may be at their shortest in their history.

Wilmington I believe webcasts the games. I know that someone is there shooting the game every game.

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The password is...OFF

Post by LightningMan » Sat May 21, 2011 2:46 am

Remember how in the movies a character will say "Nothing can go wrong" which is then almost immediately proven incorrect? Well, last week I said the Sea Dawgs stream or at least record all of their games. Tonight the PA announcer said that the Dawgs had made the playoffs every year of their existence. Tonight's game put the lie to one and may have put the lie to the other with a final score of the Cary Invasion 97 the Wilmington Sea Dawgs 93.

First, the camera was conspicuously absent from the opposite side of the gym, so I am pretty sure no one other than those in attendance saw the game. And for three quarters, if you were a Sea Dawgs fan you probably wouldn't have wanted to.

Everything seemed just a little off tonight. Alex Harper didn't play tonight. Charles Ward, a former Sea Dawg mainstay, was playing for Cary. The big guys they recruited to replace Aaron Coombs and Kadiri Richard aren't very big. Nobody could hit foul shots, especially Cary. The concession stand didn't have condiments until after the game started. The debit card reader was broken. And I didn't have my usual first game trouble getting in.

The Dawgs appear to be going with the two lines approach again this year, at least for the first half, and much like last year, different lines have wildly different success. The starting line up got mashed by Cary early, and when Zach Hermann came up limping, they were down to Cary 2-11. The second line got the team all the way back, only to have the first line give it all back plus a little more.

Heading to the end of the third, I thought the Dawgs had no chance. Turns out I was wrong. With a combination of first and second line players, the Dawgs whittled away at a 16 (or more) point deficit to get it down to a four point game with about three minutes to play. However the defense had a hard time completing stops and the offense still had their lingering problem from last year: being able to hold onto the ball. Wilmington could close no closer than four and the game was lost.

And while it's still early, 0-4 as a team record is a pretty steep hill to climb to the playoffs. While I know the town loves the team and the team loves the town, I am afraid of what the first mediocre to bad year for the squad is going to do to operations. Let's hope I'm off in that worry.

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Post by wellington » Sat May 21, 2011 3:31 am

The Flight lost again tonight in a re-match against the Heartland Prowl. Who would have thought both the SeaDawgs and Flight would be winless at this point in the season?

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Saber rattling

Post by LightningMan » Sat May 28, 2011 2:32 am

The Sea Dawgs finally get off the schneid with a 110-98 over the Birmingham Sabers. The game started out as a fairly close affair, as the Sea Dawgs time and again allowed Courtney Bradley to kill them from the outside. The Dawgs however were scoring from inside and outside which balanced their continuing inability to rebound the ball at either end.

Having particularly good games were J.J. Cook and Raheim Murphy. Mike Evanovich and Mike Gibbs began to assert themselves and the lead started to grow. The Dawgs took care of the ball much better and Murphy, Zach Hermann, and Sedale Threatt were aggressive to the hole.

Birmingham tried to trap and press their way back into the game in the third quarter but the Dawgs were ready and while it got a little bit closer in the fourth quarter, it never got close enough to scare anyone.

Not sure if this team can hang with the Invasion and Crossover, but at least they found someone they can beat. Too bad the schedule calls for more of the first two and less of Birmingham.
Last edited by LightningMan on Sat May 28, 2011 5:54 am, edited 1 time in total.

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The Year of Losing Dangerously

Post by LightningMan » Sat Jun 04, 2011 2:13 am

The season of mediocrity and heartbreak continues with the Dawgs going down at the hand of the Fayetteville Crossover, 105-102 in overtime.

After announcing the addition of Sean Grzeck last week both he and Joseph King were nowhere to be found this week. I think the early season announcement of Alex Harper being on the team was premature, because so far I have not even seen him in the gym, never mind actually playing.

Coach Kuhl changed up the starting lineups this week, starting Steve Davis. The Dawgs let the game get away from them in the first quarter only to surge back close to even by half time, led be exertion on defense and rebounding.

In the second half things pretty much went as a carbon copy of the first. The Crossover, led by former Carolina Cougarz player Billy McDade pushed out to a lead and the Dawgs, led by Mike Evanovich, James Rhodes, and J.J. Cook crept back, tying it at 96-96 in regulation. The Crossover had the last shot for the win but missed it.

Overtime played as closely as the last few minutes of the fourth quarter. Fayettteville aggressively worked the passing lanes while the Dawgs were on offense, and the Dawgs played tough man to man while the Crossover had the ball.

The Crossover took a three point lead with a three point shot with the seconds winding down. The Dawgs made a two point layup to bring them within one, but the Crossover answered with a two pointer to go back up by three. The Dawgs then missed their next shot and proceeded to foul Fayetteville four times as they tried to advance the ball to get the Crossover to the line.

Miraculously, Fayetteville missed both shots and the Dawgs had a chance to send it to double OT with 5 seconds left. They got the ball to Mike Evonovich on the right wing who made a tremendous three pointer. Only problem it was a quarter of a second after the clock ticked its last.

And so now any hopes the Dawgs had for post season play look to have gone by the boards.

I am wondering if it isn't a good thing there are only six home dates this year, because I am afraid of what the crowds will be like if they keep losing.

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Raw Deal

Post by LightningMan » Sat Jun 18, 2011 3:28 am

In the penultimate game of a season without playoffs, there were still plenty of things to be positive about in the Sea Dawgs season.

First off, it was a positive development that they even had an opponent. After the Wildcats had to take the year off and after the Sharks gave up the ghost, there was some uncertainty as to whom was going to fill this date, as Cary and Fayetteville were busy with each other.

Out of somewhere the league came up with a team the schedule says was the Charlotte Prime Time but the Sea Dawgs announcer (and the team's jerseys) said was the Charlotte Raw. Yes, the Raw.

The next positive development was the number of players the Dawgs fielded, which was only nine. The reason that was a positive development is because the Raw had only seven. It was pretty iron man basketball. Missing tonight among others were J.J. Cook and Zach Herrmann. More on that in a minute.

Up next was the consistent play of the Sea Dawgs big men, outside sharpshooter Mike Evanovich, and inside monsters Mike Gibbs and James Rhodes. They might have won a game or two more this year had they played this well at the beginning. Sedale Threatt continued to be the hustling bright spot he's been all year.

The biggest game accolade goes to the littlest player, Raheim Murphy (5'5") who had a monster game, one made even more exceptional by the fact that he played almost the entire game. He was rested for about two game minutes in the first half and by the time I left the game (with about two game minutes left) he was still in the ball game. Apparently he also went off last Sunday (a game I had to miss). Raheim always hustles. If guys a foot taller played just as hard, they'd be monsters.

The Dawgs went down to the raw in the first quarter, then worked their way back in the second half and never looked back. The game was so well in hand by the fourth that I left to meet a lady friend.

One more tip of the hat (in case I can't make Sunday's game) to the Dawgs operation. The Sea Dolls are great fun to watch when the game is not going on. They're pretty too. And what they do with the Junior Sea Dolls and Mini Sea Dolls is great. The operations staff is always friendly and helpful, even if they run out of Coke and ketchup by halftime.

The other tip of the hat goes to the Dawg fans in general who have continued to come to the games, even in a so-so year, and the fans in front of me in particular, who were kind enough to text me the final score after I had gone. My hope is that the team return to league relevance next year.

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