Q&A with Stanley Burrell

Musketeer Blogosphere was lucky enough to get four-year Musketeer starter Stanley Burrell to participate in a ten-question Q&A from his residence in Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia.  Stan The Man gives us a pretty good update on what he has been up to as well as some of his thoughts on XU Basketball.  Sooooo on with the questions!

MB) Changing cities in America can be pretty difficult for someone, so I can’t imagine the culture shock you have been going through since you graduated. What’s it like living in Sarajevo? Have you been picking up any of the language or sampling local cuisines?
SB) Yeah, it was definitely a tough adjustment for me. So many things that I was use to in America that I took for granted are now taken away from me, but I’m slowly adjusting to life here in Sarajevo. It’s not that bad at all. The main problem I ran into was with the club being late with paying my salary each month. The Bosnian guys on my team were okay with not being paid for 2/3 months because they are able to stretch their money here with the cost of living being lower than in America. I couldn’t, my family needs my help so I had to follow my contract and sit out in protest. We got it resolved though. Our team got off to a slow start to the season. I had a severe ankle injury that caused me to miss the final 2 preseason games (which was really tough on me because I was playing really well at the time and I had NEVER missed a game my entire Xavier career) and then when I finally returned I was not playing at 100% health for a long time. (We also got off to a bad start due to some really bad coaching- which our coach ended up resigning 5 games into the season) Our new coach is great and he really believes in me. I’m playing way more minutes now and averaging 15ppg and 5apg since he arrived. Last game vs. Serbia, I had 23 pts. and 5 assists in 27mins… Oh yeah, and I’ve slowly picked up parts of their language here, too (at least the parts I really need to make it here on my own and the food is UNBELIEVABLE)

MB) What do you miss most about your time at Xavier both on and off the basketball court? Buffalo Chicken Wraps at Ryan’s Pub?
SB) HAHA! I could sure use one of those right now. Me and Duncan loved those wraps. Seriously speaking though, I miss playing at Cintas in front of the fans (well, the “true fans”) They stuck behind us when things didn’t go well and were able to enjoy all the special moments when we did play well. I miss seeing Father Larocca on campus with his dog and stopping me for a quick chat each day. I miss seeing my loved ones at the games in support of me. I miss going to war each night for my coach and my university. And I miss experiencing all the ups and downs of college that I faced with my best friend, Nina Mecca, by my side.

MB) What’s been the biggest difference between playing at the professional level and playing at the collegiate level? Also, what is your role for Bosna ASA BH Telecom Sarajevo?
SB) Well obviously the money first of all. It was such a great feeling to buy my mother a new car when i signed my contract. I love being in a position now where I can make things a bit easier on my loved ones at home. The down time is another difference. In college your free time is taken away with studying and homework but as a pro, basketball is all u have to worry about for the day. Which is great!

MB) What are the Euro fans like?
SB) I would describe the Euro fan as very passionate. Almost too passionate sometimes though. My first pro game here was a scary experience because we were losing the game but we were fighting so hard to catch back up. When we finally cut the lead down to a few possessions the referees made a few tough calls that didn’t go in our favor and the crowd began to chant things and then throw things on the floor. Now I’ve seen maybe one or two things thrown during my games at XU but on that night they threw hundreds of things on the floor. Luckily we always have riot police at the games, so they were able to get things under control.

MB) How has Coach Miller’s coaching philosophies helped you to evolve as a player, and what was it like to see him evolve as a coach?
SB) Coach Miller was very important to my development as a player over the years. Of course, i would have loved to develop even more but I’m thankful for his guidance over the 4 years. He helped me to change my game from being JUST a shooter/scorer to a player that’s able to have an impact on the game in so many ways. I became a complete player under Sean’s coaching and that has really helped me for this level. Im also happy to see the success that he is having and i wish him nothing but the best in the future at XU.

MB) Where do you see Xavier’s Basketball program in 10 or so years? Do you see Final Four(s) in the cards?
SB) I see Xavier becoming a powerhouse in the years to come. Where it wouldn’t be weird to mention Xavier in the same breath as a Kansas, Duke, Kentucky, etc. Our program is just that, a program. Not just a good team or two that comes along but a program that’s going to consistently put out a good product on the floor each year. Im excited to see the winning tradition continue.  

MB) Did you have any favorite places to play other than the beautiful Cintas Center?
SB) I’d say, all the rivalry places like Dayton and UC were always fun to pay at (win or lose- good game or bad game) The atmosphere was always amazing in those places. And then last years Elite Eight run took us through some nice NBA arenas and that’s was nice as well.

MB) I heard that you and a few other players were in a Xavier production about the school, and that there was singing involved. Who was the best singer on the team?
SB) Well clearly that’s me and then a distant second would be Josh Duncan. Ask him, he’ll tell you hahaha!! That production was well put together by the way and i enjoyed watching as well as be in it. So shout out to Becky Hoerr and the rest of the cast that put that awesome show together.

MB) Who was more intimidating, Sean Miller or Sister Rose?
SB) Sister Rose without a doubt. Because if u didn’t get it done in the classroom you wouldn’t have to worry about seeing Coach Miller-cause u wouldn’t be at XU anymore. hahaha!

MB) When will Xavier retire the “34”?
SB) haha! I don’t know anything about them doing that but i am glad that I was able to wear that jersey proud for 4 years. A ton of blood, sweat, and tears ran through that jersey in my time….and it was worth every bit of it. Great Ride! Great Experience! Great chapter in my life!

MB)  Thanks so much for sharing your time and thought with us!  We wish you the best overseas and hope to hear from you soon!

SB) Take care N God Bless…P.S. Congrats to the guys on the win over Memphis.. had to stay up late to watch it but i enjoyed every minute of it. Good luck fellas! I’m pulling for all of u. : )

 

There you have it, MB’s Q&A with Stanley Burrell, a man who truly is a full blooded Musketeer.  Great to see that he was able to watch and root for XU as they conquered Puerto Rico this past week.  No doubt SB will see success wherever he goes.

Until next time, LET’S GO X!!!

You Know it! Puerto Rico Tip-Off Champs!

(AP/Andres Leighton)

So yeah, 5-0, ranked 16th in the AP and 20th in the Coaches’ Poll, Puerto Rico Tip-Off Champs, and two tickets to the Crosstown Shootout were just purchased so Ledgewood and I can attend the game on December 13th. All in all, a great day and weekend to be a Musketeer fan!

It’s hard not to feel anything but very optimistic about the rest of the season. Two solid wins and one great win this early in the season with games still to come against UC, Duke, LSU, Butler, Auburn and Virginia mean we have the opportunity to put together a very special non-conference resume for the selection committee come March.

It was said during one the early games in Puerto Rico that Sean had the team watch the last five minutes of the loss to Tennessee from last year. The point of it being to show just how tough you have to be as a team in order to win games that go down to the wire. I think it’s safe to say this was a good motivational ploy by Sean to get the team in the right mindset. Sure, it took a little bit of luck with Dante’s last second shot, but it was readily apparent the toughness this team possesses and it can only mean good things for the future.

How about Kenny talking some trash? That was great. He is not backing down from anyone. Methinks we have a true point guard for the next four years in Mr. Tutu. 20-20 from the foul line from the tournament?! That’s just good stuff. Always nice when the guy handling the ball late in games is also your best free throw shooter. Also, it didn’t take too long for us Muskie fans to not be afraid of full-court pressure. Good times all around!

We have been (or maybe just me) a little hard on CJ for his turnovers but the leadership and toughness he brings to the table outweigh the negatives in his game. He is simply not afraid to go in amongst the big boys and more times than not he succeeds. Obviously, this rubs off on the rest of the team. We would not have won this tournament without him and he more than deserves the tournament MVP trophy.

Just imagine what this team will look like when our half-court offense rounds into shape like it did last year. I would venture to guess that will happen some time around the start of conference play. That should be a scary thought for the rest of the A-10. Our defense is already being executed at a very high level. It’s just like the old saying, “offense comes and goes, but defense can’t.” Truth.com on that one.

We shall return later in the week with not so polite words for our neighbors in Oxford.

Let’s go X!

Xavier looks to pass right by dribble drive with a win

It took an unconventional fashion to get to the championship game of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, but we’ll take it.  All has gone according to plan.  At least in terms of winning and losing.  We have beaten two very solid opponents with the chance to beat one of the best teams in the country come tomorrow.  Although, I would refrain from saying this tournament has been an out and out success because we need to see how we stack up against a team like Memphis.  I know it’s early, but we as fans always want to know how we stack up nationally and this will be a very good gauge for that purpose.

Memphis uses a variation of an offense that has only been around since 1997.  A high school coach from Fresno invented the offense named Vance Walberg.  (He is now an assistant at UMAss as they hired Memphis’s top assistant last year after Travis Ford left for Oklahoma State.  So we’ll be seeing this offense later in the year)  John Calipari calls it the “Dribble Drive Motion” offense.

 

Basically, it relies upon its guards to attack the lane using dribble penetration, which gives him three options. He can go up for a lay up, pass out to an open teammate for a three-point shot or find the big man who has drifted over to the weak side of the paint in hopes that his man has come over to help against the dribble penetration.  This process is continually repeated until the defense usually breaks down at some point.  There is almost no screening and no mid-range jump shots making this a difficult offense to prepare for (especially if you only have a day) because so few teams use this philosophy.  

Here is the history of the offense and how it came to John Calipari and Memphis.  And here is a breakdown of the offense with video help if you so desire to read more.  Also, that site is great for breakdowns of any offense and basketball in general.  It’s called the “X’s and O’s of Basketball” and it’s on our rundown of links under the “Sites We Like” category.  

Watching some of Memphis’s game against Seton Hall Friday night it is not hard to tell that their defense is very relentless as well.  They do not use much full-court press, but they are constantly looking for steals and to get out in the open floor as they want to push the ball as much as possible.  Obviously, taking care of the ball will be paramount if we want to win this game.  Hopefully, playing against a pressing team like Mizzou will help in that matter.  

It will be interesting to see what the roles of Kenny and Brad will be.  I think their roles could be a bit diminished because of the speed and athleticism Memphis possesses.  Brad just may be too inexperienced at this point to make up for his inadequacies in terms of speed and strength.  Kenny just may not be able to match-up against anyone on the defensive end.  But if Sean needs to do the offense/defense substitutions thing late in the game like he did against VA Tech, then they both could prove to be very pivotal to the outcome of the game.  

Also, if we need to play zone (aack!) to slow the game down a bit, then Kenny’s size would be a welcome addition to guard the paint.  I would tend to think Jamel will play quite a bit tomorrow night as he has the athleticism to go up against just about anyone in the country.  

Playing an opponent of this caliber this early in the season is a rare treat for us Muskie fans and I hope our boys can make the best of it.  

Let’s go X!

THANK YOU DANTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

It’s a celebration!

(AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

 

May have to do a couple shots of tequila in honor of this victory…….

And here’s the link to Joe and Byron’s call of the game winning shot.

Thank you Tutu!

Andres Leighton/AP 

Well that was a lot more excitement and nervous energy than I was ready to expend.  For some reason the volume on my television wasn’t working so it made for an odd viewing experience upon coming home from work and firing up the DVR.  But I ain’t complaining cuz I know most Muskie fans did not get a chance to see the game at all.  Allow me to try and fill in the blanks for those of you that didn’t get that chance.

Terrell Holloway will be our starting point guard before too long.  Sure, he still makes some poor decisions, but he has those point guard chops Dante just doesn’t possess.  You can just tell.  As the old saying goes, “Point guards are born, not made.”  Dante is trying to be made into a point guard while Terrell just has the moxy and raw skills that will translate into a great point guard down the road.  Now don’t get me wrong, Dante is more than serviceable at the point, but I’m sure he feels much more comfortable at the 2.  Dante just needs to keep the turnovers down (he had 5 today) as “Tutu” continues to develop.  Oh, and there’s that simple task of going 10 for 10 from the line.  The last six of which being our final six points of the game. You can’t teach clutch kids.  You either got it or ya don’t.

My god, twenty turnovers.  And to be honest, it felt like more.  The Muskies are now averaging over 18 turnovers a game.  It goes without saying that we need to take better care of the ball.  The first ten minutes of the game were maddening to watch with all the careless turnovers.  CJ is averaging four turnovers a game so far this year.  That MUST go down.  And I would be willing to bet the mortgage that it will.

Derrick played 36 minutes today and appeared to be close to full strength.  At least to this amateur’s eyes.

Once Brad Redford gets comfortable with the pace of the college game he will be a devastating weapon for our opponents.  He played six minutes and hit two threes.  That quick release is a thing of beauty.  It just doesn’t matter that he’s only 6′ tall. (At least on the offensive end)  It’s also quite easy to tell how much the rest of the team loves seeing him shoot the ball because they know it’s going in when it leaves his hand.  Their reaction to the two made threes made me smile with glee.

Jamel McLean can jump very high.  I mean lordy.

The Hokies of VA Tech are our next opponents.  In their two games prior to coming down to Puerto Rico they barely beat Mount St. Mary’s and Gardner-Webb at home.  Probably shouldn’t read too much into that even though its tempting to do so.  It’s an understatement to say that VA Tech likes their football a bit more than their basketball, but Seth Greenberg has made his Hokies a player in the ACC, which is no small feat.  According to Fran Fraschilla, the pick and roll is the basis to Tech’s offense so that should test our young back court once again. 

Hopefully, the refs won’t be as whistle happy as they were this afternoon.  They called the game like an NCAA tournament game.  More than a little annoying to say the least.       

Time to go set that DVR again as I’ll be repeating the same routine as today.  Hopefully tomorrow will feature some volume to go along with another X victory.

So until tomorrow….

Let’s go X!

Quiero un campeonato en Puerto Rico (thank you freetranslation.com)

 

Christ. All four years in high school and two semesters at Xavier has yielded me almost a zero grasp of the Spanish language. Maybe Michael Phelps can help me.

Anyways, this tournament known as the Puerto Rico Tip-Off presents an interesting task for this here Xavier Musketeer team. As coach said in his post-game radio interview with Joe and Byron, “we have to go continue our NBA schedule.” As a fan, awesome, because I love watching us play, but for the coaches I would think they’d rather be spending more time on the practice floor this early in the season.

I’ve seen stuff online promoting preseason tournaments and gloating on certain fields because of all the quality teams, but this particular tournament has received literally no love from the pundits. Seems a bit odd because all of the games are at least on ESPNU (with the championship and Memphis/Chattanooga games on ESPN2) and, also, this is a pretty darn good field. It’s not spectacular or anything, but if you are a college basketball fan, this tournament should be more than enough to wet your whistle.

The quality of the field means there is ample opportunity for some decent to good wins. But for that to happen we MUST beat Missouri. We don’t pretend to know really anything about Missouri (although STL XUfan has a good rundown of Mizzou over at Xavier Hoops) but head coach Mike Anderson was an assistant at Arkansas under Nolan Richardson for 17 years. Hence, he is an advocate of the “40 minutes of Hell” philosophy, which basically means full court pressure and a lot of going for steals throughout the entire game. Basically the exact opposite of what we do. Which reminds me…..

Why do we even bother playing zone? Solid man-to-man half-court defense doesn’t mean I have my man to guard and you have yours to guard so that means I don’t have to worry about anything but my man. There’s a reason one of the first things you’re taught on the defensive side of the ball is keep one eye on your man and one eye on the ball. Help defense is a huge part of the man-to-man defensive philosophy. Now obviously I am not writing anything Sean and the coaching staff doesn’t already know. But we have the talent to guard anyone in the country man-to-man. I think Sean uses zone to just switch things up for a couple possessions. Throw the opposing team off a bit. A change-up if you will. But if it doesn’t work against Toledo, it’s not going to work against a very good or even just a good team. The moral of the story here is that I EFFING HATE zone defense. It’s such a cop out. (cough, cough Syracuse)

Because Mizzou uses so much full-court pressure, point guard play will be a big key for us to win the game. Dante is coming off the best game of his short career and Terrell Holloway showed why he was originally slated to go to Indiana coming out of high school. Perhaps we take for granted that the older players are supposed to take good care of the ball. Sean was disappointed with Derrick and CJ combining for 9 turnovers so I would tend to think this will not happen too often.

I really think this is a much more important game than most of us Muskie fans would like to think. Possibly could have tournament resume repercussions come March. And perhaps our schedule affords us the luxury of getting quality wins down the road to make up for a possible loss to Mizzou, but I sure as hell don’t want to have to test it out.

This team just needs more and more game repetition for all the newcomers to gel with the veterans and to get more game experience at this level. That’s why we here at the MB are very glad we played Toledo Monday night. They provided us with a good test and provided our newcomers with solid D-1 level opposition to get em ready for even better opposition Thursday afternoon in San Juan.

The offense still has a ways to go before it can be anything revealing a finished product, but we still scored 81 points Monday night, so the points are still getting to the scoreboard. But until our half-court offense starts to gel our defense and rebounding are going to have to carry us through the early part of this season.

Let’s go X!

Toledo @ Xavier Second Half

19:38: Nice to see a little more motion on offense, leading to a nice long 3Ball by BJ. 39-19 good guys.

17:50: Can tell Derrick is a step slow, he got stuffed on a dunk attempt causing a jump ball… I have a feeling at 100% that would have been on Sportscenter.

16:51: ONIONS. BJ is 3 of 3 behind the arc. Good to see after a dismal game against IPFPWPWFWWF. 42-24 X. The Muskies finally proving to be just too much for the Rockets. XU out-rebounding them 27-13. also good to see our FT% higher than our fg% I guess…

15:15: 3rd turnover of the half. Gotta clean it up. 14 total…

15:45: Good to see Kenny realizing a double team and finding the open CJ for the easy bucket.

15:122: The Browns just kicked a field goal. Woops, wrong game.

14:17: Kenny taking it strong, drawing a foul. Almost put it in this time… 1-3 at the line… Perhaps we will see some Hack-a-Frease this year…

13:42: I sure miss that one-man press-breaker in Drew Lavender.

12:20: This game is just kinda movin’ along… up 19 as Toledo’s Kent can’t bank in a 3…

11:55: WOOOO look at us up to 70.6% ft% as DBrown hits bofe of his. 51-32.

11:18: This Kent guy thinks he is awesome. He is not. But, he is taking approx. 134% of his teams shots.

10:24: 52-39…I almost thought “uh oh, this game isn’t over yet,” but I think we’ll be ok.

9:02: Coach is PISSED. We are giving up wayyy too many easy buckets. Switching from man to zone. If these Rocket guards are anything, they are quick.

8:18: Kent with an And1 on a 3, although I saw no foul… 60-47. They are shooting much better. Well, maybe Kent is…

7:50; Good to see we haven’t stopped hustling. Nice offensive board on the foul shot to the BJ Onion. I have got to stop saying that.

5:somethingorother: Getting alot of good looks on the pick ‘n rolls and give ‘n goes. Love getting a lot of time out there and hitting throws. 70-47.

4:45: Can we just dribble it out yet? I’m sure Kent’s still got like 15 shots in him.

3:21: Kent with 2 quick 3’s, one from NBA range. He’s got 29. Too bad I forgot to start him on my fantasy team…

2:45: Ok Kent with another looong 3… Good thing he wasn’t shooting like this in the first half…60-77

1:45: 35 for Kent. My God. 5 3’s, I’m pretty sure its 4 inarow without missing… he has five 3’s, and so does Toledo… He has single handedly kept them within the 20-point spread. 78-63

Well it’s a good thing I took note from that Steelers-Chargers game and didn’t bet on the spread… Something of a slopfest here… Another 20 turnovers and only 71% at the charity stripe, which seems high after Friday’s display. Some solid three point shooting and some dominating board-crashing (43-19) made this one an easier on the eyes. And oh boy, is Coach MAAAAD. ‘Specially at CJ Derrick for having 9 TO’s between ‘em. It’s good to see that he isn’t satisfied with a sloppy win over Toledo. I’d sure hate to be in the locker room right about now. Our offense just wasn’t really clicking, as our strong D gave us a lota points off turnovers. And how bout that Tyrone Kent guy? 37 pts with 5 three bombs… but to be fair, if Stanley was still on the team he’d only have had like 7 or 8. We obviously are a bit away from being as good as we were last year.

We have three days until Puerto Rico’s set of games, and it appears we got a long way to go if we wanna make some noise there. A lot of time needs to be spent on the free throw line figuring out just how to put the ball through it from that far back, and we need to HOLD ON TO THAT BALL. Mizzou on Thursday at 1:00. Looks like I won’t be getting a lot of work done after lunch…

Also, it’s Coach’s birthday! Happy Birthday Coach!

Toledo @ Xavier First Half

Since Golfitup is at the Cintas Center tonight, I decided to do this little post as I watch Fox Sports’s presentation of the game. Soooo here we go!

11:57 left in the first half: XU up 12-7. Big Kenny Frease is having trouble establishing himself down low. Took XU too long to work inside-out. Was nice to hit those two threes, but gotta get those bigs goin’. Sloppy play, turnovers and fouls. D Brown getting open looks, but we need to manufacture from the post with all our size and athleticism. We should be killing this team.

11:00: Toledo cannot shoot. Ulgy miss by some Rocket.

10:25: Dante with a carry. Please no more turnovers. Already have 8. Eesh.

9:45: These refs are calling a lot of fouls. 7 for Toledo, 4 for XU. Also, has anyone mentioned our poor free throw shooting? If Kenny is planning on missing throws like this, he better start finishing…

8:56: 10th turnover. Out of control and sloppy charge by CJ. Coach is going to be livid at half. 15-13 XU.

9:09: Turnover 12. My God…

7:45: Tied at 15, until McClean decided to let his athleticism show. Our D is keeping us in this thing.

7:00: Ref’s timeout after collision… XU’s offense is looking pretty sad right now… Our inexperience is showing. I would like to see Brad get some looks here, but the lack of inside presence isn’t letting that happen.

6:10: Redford way too long. That one was my fault. Walsh is on a very short leash.

4:06: Brown reminding us he can dunk with that bum ankle with a put-back slamma jamma. Would still like to see some set up offense.

3:18: Kenny took a sad looking flop. Ha. He will have to learn to make others fall when they come in contact with him.

2:45: Kenny appears to be looking for the bailout on his drop steps to the basket… would like to see him going up with all that manpower.

2:02: Mclean has got some hangtime, son. Also, another missed free throw. Piss.

1:30. Brad Redman (apparently) with some nice defense in the zone. Kenny with a nice finesse shot. BJ hustling, got 9 in the half so far.

:03: Can Brown hit some throws? YES. Brings us to 59% for for the day so far. Sheesh. Need to get Brad to the line…

Wow. Thank Gosh for that 21-4 run to finish that half off. BJ, Derrick, McClean, doing well. Kenny’s showing that he isn’t perfect, as he’s only got 2 pts. Can’t quite tell if he is being too aggressive or not aggressive enough. You can tell this team still has to get to know each other a lot more…Not seeing open shooters when getting double-teamed down low, forcing it up in traffic, etc. I fully expect Coach to fix these issues in the locker room. Nothing he can do about that gross free throw shooting though… Our Defense is definitely our strong point, again we are holding our opponent’s field goal % in the 20’s, but let’s not forget how bad the Rockets are… At least we haven’t had a turnover since somewhere around the 8 minute mark…

I Had an Awesome Time

Well the Musketeers are 1-0. I made the trip down to the Queen City with my family for my dad’s birthday to watch the guardians of the king take on the gigantic elephants. After somewhere between a few and a lot of blue beers from Ryan’s Pub, I was ready for the game. Watching the boys play IPFW could only show us so much, so here is what i took from the game:

• Findlay is better than IPFW
• Kenny Frease is big. Very big.
• McClean and Brown will be back and forth highlight reels
• Not only can Redford shoot, but he has very good basketball IQ
• XU’s defense may just be as good as it was last year
• We need to get better at the charity stripe…a higher field goal % than free throw %… remember how good Stan and Drew were from the line?

Kenny Frease is as good as advertised. I don’t think anyone in the Atlantic 10 will be able to contain him in the post. And on D, it seemed like anytime the ball was shot anywhere near him never had a chance. I heard a lot of chatter about him starting before too long, but I think last year showed us that it doesn’t matter where he is at the opening tip (Josh Duncan). It was just so exciting to see such a monster in the home whites. In just 20 minutes, he picked up 12 points, 7 boards, and three blocks. Also, I’m pretty sure he ate someone.

Again, not much to take away from an ass-whoopin’ ‘cept a W, but it is good to see that we were just too much for IPFW. Tomorrow, The Musketeers battle Toledo, who failed to upset No. 19 Florida on Friday. At least this time it won’t take me until 2:30 am to find someone’s coffee table to sleep on…

11/17: Toledo Rockets at Xavier Musketeers – 7:30 tip

Thoughts On the New Three-Point Line

 

As we all know, the three-point line is being moved back one foot to 20’9” this season. Frankly, this move needed to happen. It just makes sense. Men’s college basketball players were shooting three-pointers from the same distance as 8^th grade girls. That puts it all into perspective for this writer.

Now how will this affect the game in general? Hard to say. Coaches seem to be conflicted on the new three-point line. Ben Howland (ugh) seems to think it will clog up the lane even more because there will be fewer players worthy of taking the three point shot. Whereas Vandy’s Ken Stallings believes spacing will be of bigger importance because there will be more, well, space for players to operate in. Still, in my limited internet research a lot of the coaches interviewed didn’t seem to think the game would change a whole lot or at the very least were resigned to a wait and see approach.

Obviously, our best shooter who will see the most playing time is BJ so I’m not concerned about him. Brad has unlimited range, but it’s still yet to be seen how much playing time he will get. My guess would be more and more as the season goes on. Dante and Derrick will probably only shoot threes when they have enough time to clearly set their feet and step into the shot. And to be honest, I have no idea how good of three point shooters Brian Walsh, Jamel McLean, Terrell, and Kenny are.

I’ve written before about this topic, but it bears repeating with the season so close to starting. Having a guy like Kenny Frease come into the program could mean even more with the advent of the new three-point line because of the aforementioned spacing. With more space to operate in, it will (hopefully) mean fewer double teams in the post and make ball movement perhaps more important than it already is. The kick out to open three point shooters should become even more of a threat should teams decide to double team the post because that one foot in distance gives the shooter that much more space in which to get off his shot. And in the understatement of the year, having Brad Redford will be a nice commodity for this new distance.

 

And just because I enjoy posting and watching this video so much…..

Let the record show that I think the new three-point line will be good for the game and not allow inferior teams to just adopt a bombs away approach in the hopes of keeping the game close. The three-point line will still be a great weapon, but for not as many players and teams.

We as X fans already trust Sean Miller as much as can be humanly possible. Therefore, I don’t anticipate the new three-point line to be a problem for the Musketeers this season. We have too many good players and too great of a coaching staff.

 

Let’s go X!