Baum’s Away: The calm before the storm
By Gary Pottenbaum – (University of Dayton Defensive Coordinator)
Photo Credit – Cecil Copeland
Returning from a lengthy Spring Break has brought us here….I can’t say I am happy with our play vs Elon and SCAD, although we won both.
Davenport and St. John’s this weekend. Are we ready? The questions that we have will be answered. Will the talent we have overcome the chemistry that we haven’t yet established? That is a tough one. Will our last year’s young, now experienced defense face the impending challenge? I think so. Our captain and defensive leader Alex Reynolds gets his first start against either team, after sitting out almost all of last year with a devastating knee injury. The position where we had the least depth last year, we now have the most, and the competition has created a marked improvement in an already great stopper.
The chances of us being a lock for Denver are improved greatly with a sweep this weekend, but two TOUGH teams stand in the way of that. There are what if’s. What if we aren’t the better team in both games? Will our wins against SCAD and Elon give us enough mojo to make the trip out west in May? Will we have to win our tournament to get there? So many questions, and we will know the answers around 5PM on Saturday.
Check things out next week, and I give you the rundown of the weekend.
Here my latest installment of my Division II Top 25:
1. University of St. Thomas
2. University of Dayton
3. Davenport University
4. Utah Valley University
5. St. John’s University
6T. Grand Valley State University
6T. Grove City College
8. Tennessee Wesleyan College
9. Westminster College
10. University of Northern Colorado
11. Elon University
12. Kennesaw State University
13. University of California-Santa Cruz
14. Western Washington University
15. Hope College
16. Southern Oregon University
17. Western Oregon University
18. Savannah College of Art and Design
19. Concordia University
20. Cal State Fullerton
21. Missouri State University
22. Northern Michigan University
23. Coastal Carolina University
24. Sam Houston State University
25. Stonehill
As always, if you disagree, start a post on CollegeLAX forums!!
