Xavier Basketball

[mdccclxix]

I remember Miller saying Crawford was the best guard Xavier's ever had. I don't know, though. Before that he said it was Lavender. Hawkins, Massey, and Walker were definitely some of my favorites.

[Caveat Emperor]

I'd say Larkin. Chalmers and Crawford would be in the team photo.

Speaking of Larkin, I listened to some of the Butler game on the radio coming home from work -- he and Joe Sunderman call a great game. They don't get enough credit locally.

[reds1869]

Scarily close yesterday. In the end a tight win that will let the coaching staff ride the team in practice was probably the best possible outcome.

[mdccclxix]

Yeah, I thought they looked a little too sure of themselves at times. There were several opportunities to push the lead to 7 or 8 points in the 2nd half but every time they'd fail and RMU would cut it back to 2 or 3. A big part of the story was Redford's 0-5. They were all early shots and long rebounds going to RMU, leading to some easy points. Meanwhile on the other end, the guy Redford guards is told to work him off the dribble and score. And that they did, and will continue to do. So, the net effect of Redford going 0-5 was difficult to overcome.

[reds1869]

Originally Posted by mdccclxix

Yeah, I thought they looked a little too sure of themselves at times. There were several opportunities to push the lead to 7 or 8 points in the 2nd half but every time they'd fail and RMU would cut it back to 2 or 3. A big part of the story was Redford's 0-5. They were all early shots and long rebounds going to RMU, leading to some easy points. Meanwhile on the other end, the guy Redford guards is told to work him off the dribble and score. And that they did, and will continue to do. So, the net effect of Redford going 0-5 was difficult to overcome.

When Redford isn't hitting from deep he is a liability. His defense is horrendous.

[Boston Red]

I'd have taken 5-1 heading into December if you had asked me a month ago. This team is far from great, but they're better than expected. Some very winnable games against Purdue, Vandy and Kent before playing UC. I'd be thrilled to go into the Crosstown Debaclefest (or whatever the idiot organizers renamed it) 7-2 as Xavier should be favored in two of those games and only be a very slight dog at Purdue.

[mdccclxix]

I don't know what to think about the shooting percentages at times in the post for the opponent. It seems like Stenger and Philmore will have to bruise a lot more and Robinson will have to rapidly develop into a defensive stopper by A10 play. There is a hole where Jason Love and Kenny Frease have been for years. That height and tenacity aren't there right now, but at least maybe the tenacity will show up. I'm happy about the play of Philmore, as he's sort of like a bull/power forward type that will finish in a text book fashion. That kind of player is great to have in big games, especially on the road when you need a bucket.

Lot's of excitement on this team, though. I wonder if the plan was always to eventually feature Semaj? That kid is a lottery pick if he stays healthy. Perhaps the only thing that he lacks is a longrange shot, but that wouldn't stop the NBA from calling. Maybe I'm overboard with all that, but he's been awesome. He's much better than Crawford was, and he's way younger. I think he's the best freshman I've seen at X since David West and it's not really close.

[mdccclxix]

Another thing was the team looked tired at times, especially yesterday. The announcers made note of it as well. Part of that is probably 3 games in 4 days. Then the 1030 am local start time. Then you have a bunch of players who've never played this many minutes at this level. I hope all that adds up to nothing in a few more weeks with some more experience, because at times Robinson, Martin and Taylor all looked very slow. And even the guard play looked winded. I'll be at the Purdue game (I think), so I'm excited to see them play live.

[Caveat Emperor]

Semaj appears to be as-advertised.

[Boston Red]

Originally Posted by Caveat Emperor

Semaj appears to be as-advertised.

Indeed. He was by far the best player on the floor in West Lafayette today.

[Cant Touch This]

Originally Posted by Boston Red

Indeed. He was by far the best player on the floor in West Lafayette today.

Any more than 2 years of Backwards James on Victory Parkway will be gravy. Boy can flat out ball.

Oh incidentally, Welcome to the A-10, you pompous BTN announcers. The Big Ten is Xavier's bi-atch, and it starts with Purdue.

[reds1869]

The announcers yesterday were so obnoxious. Newsflash: there are plenty of great programs outside of the so-called Power Six.

[mdccclxix]

We can see the problem with a network devoted to a small group of teams. The echo chamber, to put it nicely, will be nauseating.

Anyway, I was at the game and have to say I was much prouder of this year's team than last. There was good strong competition, but nothing embarrassing like I've seen from Frease and Lyons on the road.

The Purdue fans are great and their pep band was excellent. Macky Arena is pretty sharp as well. It fits 14k, but feels more like 8k due to the round shape. It gets so loud, but I've heard it wasn't close to as loud as it can get. I look forward to seeing Mich St. or some other ranked rival, say IU?, come through. They do an IU Sucks chant every game. I wish someone would sick the PR police on those darn kids!

I've seen one other display of ineptitude that matches 0-17 from 3 and that was Chris Bosh's 1-18 from the field last year in Chicago. Similarly, his team lost just barely and had he made one more shot at any point it would have tipped the scales.

The announcers were cruel to Dee Davis when I watched the DVR version. I thought he was tentative, but also well guarded. He also managed the game in a tough environment. It felt like X had 20 TO's, but they were actually pretty careful with the ball. The Tu/Lyons combo often drew a lot of charges, or took ill advised attempts in the lane, etc. Their scoring often was offset by higher TO totals sometimes.

I really like this team. It still has toughness and grit, just not in a overt way.

[mdccclxix]

Oh yeah, and Semaj is Semaj. It's gotten to that point already.

[mdccclxix]

Go X. Vandy will likely put up a fight, since the line is -11, that's just too high for a team that is playing teams close. Of course, they return home after several games away, the mojo might get flowing and X wins by 20.