Addressing the haters….

One of the weird things about being a Xavier fan is the apparent fact that we get more love from the national media than the local media.  I listened to Lance McAlister yesterday via the podcast and he could not believe how much backlash there was towards our success.  Which in and of itself is not surprising since Xavier has a decidedly small minority of fans in Cincinnati.  And I don’t expect UC fans to jump on the bandwagon, because I would never root for UC under any circumstances as well.  

It’s the rationale that drives me insane in the haters drive to belittle us.  Since we beat a 13 and a 12 seed that seems to somehow diminish our accomplishment of getting to the Sweet 16.  

I would imagine I speak for all Muskie fans when I say, “Sorry I’m not sorry.  No really, I apologize for our highly successful non-conference results and winning the conference title to EARN a 4 seed.  And I’m sorry Wisconsin didn’t bow down to Florida State after everyone and their brother picked the ‘Noles to get into the Sweet 16.  And I’m REALLY sorry we then had the audacity to beat the Badgers and reach the Sweet 16 for the second straight year.”

Ugh, why do I care so much?  

But ya know what?  This is one of the reasons I love Xavier.  There is something about having a small but very passionate and smart fan base that appeals to me in a very large way.  And X does not recruit players who want the attention.  We recruit players that want to WIN, period.  And that is more than evident from the quotes and demeanor of this and past year’s teams.  This was a quote from Derrick Brown I found off of Lance’s blog.  

“You can’t explain it to the outside world because they’re not in here, they don’t understand, People might think that it’s about stats and yadda yadda yadda, but we all care about each other and we got the job done. We’re going to the Sweet 16, baby!”

That pretty sums it up for this Xavier fan.  I doubt there are too many players around the country that think this way about their program and team.

And to all the haters I say, “Meh.”  

Tomorrow, we shall delve into the world of Pittsburgh basketball and our perception of how to pull off the upset.

Let’s go X!

Memo to rest of A-10: Win Some Damn Games!

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but thank science for Dayton right now.  They are the only other team in our conference that appears to be worth a damn.  Although for their sake, it’s a good thing they beat Marquette because they have no more possible quality wins left on the out of conference schedule.  But we are not here to belittle Dayton.  Well, not today anyways.

We all knew Fordham wouldn’t be good, but UMass and Charlotte have been the real disappointments so far this year.  Charlotte has gone downhill ever since they joined the A-10 along with St. Louis.  At least UMass is implementing a new system, but they probably don’t have the personnel to be successful yet.  

I don’t think it’s an unrealistic goal for the A-10 to be the best conference outside of the BCS schools year in and year out, but at the rate this season is going, the A-10 will be lucky to be the in the top ten of conferences nationally.  That’s kind of pathetic.  

The state of the A-10 is seemingly always a topic of conversation on the message boards.  I think being apart of the A-10 has been a great thing for Xavier.   Hell, we are ranked 9th and 10th right now for crying out loud!  It’s more than a little fun to be the big fish in a little pond.  That’s why I’d be very apprehensive about joining a bigger conference (like that’s happening anytime soon…..).  Ya just gotta be careful what you wish for.  Our program is in an incredibly good spot right now and we need to be grateful for that.  The future looks very bright as the X machine continues to chug along.  One of the reasons for that is our conference affiliation.  And just for the record, anyone who thinks the A-10 will be a cake walk this year is out of their mind.  We will have the proverbial target on our back and every road game will bring out the best in the opposing school’s fans and teams.  

Would contraction help out in terms of the overall quality of the league?  Maybe.  But the only team I think everyone would agree on getting rid of is Fordham.  So it’s hard to say.  I can say for the short-term that the rest of the league (sans Dayton) needs to win some effing games!  

Be back tomorrow with a quick preview of Ohio as I got the chance to watch them play Sunday against Louisville.

Waiting for X

It feels like its been a lifetime since I have seen the Musketeers play, and it will be one more month’s time until tipoff against the Mighty Mastodons of IPFW.  A few thoughts…

Now that Mark Lyons and (probably) Jordan Crawford won’t be joining their teammates in games this season, we have to see what we can get out of hot shooting Brad Redford and true PG Terrell Holloway.  Hopefully, their competition for time will be a good thing for the X-Men.  And let’s not forget Dante is back, and he will be bringin’ his hustle with him I’m sure.   Regardless who is starting, we all know that Coach will find out how to use them effectively.  After all, Josh Duncan (as good as he was) came off the bench much of last year and was still very effective.  I mean we had like 13 guys averaging double digits.  I think even Kevin Waymire had 8.5 PPG last year…

Will our expectations be too high this year?  Our pals over at Storming the Floor seem to think they might be, picking us along with the Notre Dame Drinking Irish to dissappoint their loyal followers.  Their argument makes sense, pointing out our losses of Stan the Man, Drew Lav, and big Josh Duncan.  And although I agree with them that our guards are going to be a big part of our team’s success, we also need to bank on the experience of Jason Love and the beastly raw talent of Freshman Kenny Frease down low.  They also go on to talk about how good everyone else on our team was last season…

There is so much to look forward to after such a great ‘07-’08 season.  We have another tough schedule with a possible matchup with Memphis in San Juan and a revenge game against Duke, the Yankees of college basketball, where their stupid dumb blue blood will spill.  We have a brand new floor at the Center and a 20 ft. D’artagnan.  We got a bunch of nationally televised games, including both wins against Dayton. 

I’m very aroused. 

***Extra credit points to whoever tells me which jersey the team shop is selling and if it will be any better than the cheap-ass ones they sold last year.***

A Great Tribute to the ‘07-’08 Musketeers

A good friend of ours here at MB and fellow ‘07 XU Grad, Scott Kyser, put this amazing video together.  It will be played at the basketball team banquet, but he put it up on YouTube for all of us fans to enjoy.  Thanks a lot, Scott.  I’m sure ESPN will be callin’ any day now.

I Love Stanley Burrell

I love Stanley Burrell. My man crush on him does not quite reach the same limits as one of my good friends man crush on him does, but it is in full force nonetheless. If you read this blog with any regularity, then you probably peruse the Xavier message boards as well and have read or heard Stan’s comments about the regular season awards that were just announced today. These are my favorite exerts. (Taken from Dow’s blog)

“I’ve never been so upset. You’d think after getting the awards I got, I’d be happy right now. I’m really upset about how things turned out. I called this after the Dayton game, and no disrespect to Brian Roberts, but I said things like this are going to happen; we’re going to be left out. I’ve got champions in that locker room. B.J., C.J., Derrick. Those guys shouldn’t have been left out like that. No way. Those guys are champs. Where would we be without them? I’m so upset.”

And….

“I’m sick of people overlooking us. I’m sick of us being labeled as a mid-major; we don’t get no respect, man.“

And….

“You talk about not having motivation? We got plenty now. I’m really looking forward to Atlantic City now.”

I mean, I’m just speechless. I’m not even mad, I’m amazed. I was a bit apprehensive about playing Dayton a third time. But you know what? Screw it. Bring em on. We’ve been down this road before. Remember? It was last year. I didn’t wanna play Dayton a third time then, but now, let’s throw caution to the proverbial wind. Stan may have given them (and the entire conference) some bulletin board material but who gives a damn. We’ve already been getting everyone’s best shot and with the added incentive of an automatic NCAA tournament bid what other motivation do the other A-10 teams need?

Stan is the Man

All of a sudden, I couldn’t be looking more forward to the A-10 tournament. Obviously, Drew’s ankle is still a major concern, but my optimism about the postseason has definitely gone up a few notches all because of Stan.

Oh by the way….Sean is your A-10 Coach of the Year. Stan is you’re A-10 Defensive Player of the Year and third team all-conference. Josh is your 6^th Man of the Year and 2^nd team all-conference. Seriously, what a year this has been. Congratulations guys! You deserve every accolade that comes your way.

Sean shouldn’t be surprised at winning A-10 Coach of the Year.

I am listening to Sean’s radio show right now and he says Drew showed that quickness he relies so heavily upon during practice earlier in the day. Said that is a huge confidence boost for Drew. Also, with Drew sitting out during Saturday’s game, Sean said he gained a different perspective and that should only fuel his fire to play the rest of the season. It was nice to see us get back to establishing ourselves at the line. We had shot a combined 23-42 from the foul line against GW and St. Joes. Saturday night, the fellas shot 36-43. This has been a cornerstone of our success this year and it was great to see the free throws stroking once more.

It was also nice to see Adrion play for an extended amount of time with Drew sitting on the bench. Call it a hunch, but if we are to have an extended stay in the NCAA Tournament I think Adrion will have to hit a couple big threes for us because he obviously isn’t going to be a major part of the opposing team’s scouting report.

A big shout out and congratulations are in order for Brad Redford who was named Mr. Basketball for the state of Michigan. He has averaged 37.2 points this season and has Frankenmuth in the Class B state quarterfinals. In case you need to be reminded of his lights out shooting, here ya go.

 

I’d also be very remiss if I didn’t mention the Lady Muskies winning their second straight A-10 tournament title. I caught most of the second half and it’s hard not to be impressed with this group. The great thing about this team is that there are NO seniors and only two juniors. Amber Harris and Ta’Shia Phillips are blue chippers who provide the base for the success of the Lady Muskies. You know the men’s and women’s sides have to have friendly wagers on who does better during the course of the season. I’m sure the women will make sure to tell the guys they expect them to win the A-10 tournament and make it a clean sweep for Xavier.

Overall, a great day to be an X fan.

Be back Tuesday or Wednesday with the prospect of playing Dayton or St. Louis being the primary subject.

Thank You Seniors!

First let me get this off my chest. I sit here typing at 10:40 AM. And unless things drastically improve on the roadways it does not look like I will be able to attend tonight’s final home game against Richmond. Which is a huge shame because these three seniors deserve a packed house tonight to send them off with a bang to the postseason. I live in Indiana just north of Louisville. So it’s just short of a two-hour drive from my driveway to the Cintas Center.

I highly doubt I’ll be the only fan not able to attend the game as there will be many fans coming from outside Cincinnati. Plus, even if you’re in Cincinnati it won’t be easy to get to the game as it is. (I have the Weather Channel on and a dude just said, “Louisville, Cincinnati, and Columbus, this is one for the record books.” Awesome)

Seriously, what a shame. Josh, Stanley and Drew have provided so much for Muskie fans these past four years it’s not really even worth it to get into too many specifics. From Stan hitting the game winning shot as time expired against GW his Freshman year to Josh making every shot in two straight games against Charlotte and Rhode Island to Drew pushing us over the top into a top ten team this late in the season.

These guys represent everything Xavier is about and we are lucky to have them put on that Xavier jersey one last time at the Cintas Center.

So thank you Seniors. And let’s go X!

A-10 Champs!

Xavier has officially become out right Atlantic 10 champs tonight.  We can thank St. Louis for knocking off St. Joe’s at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse as the Hawks now have too many losses to catch up.  The best St. Joe’s could have done was to share the A-10 regular season title with us and that would have meant X losing three straight to close out the regular season.  So it was never going to be likely.

Sean Miller wants to win at least 10 A-10 titles! 

The thing about the A-10 this year has been the way every team from 2^nd all the way to 13^th has just been beating up on each other.  Xavier of course being the exception, along with the one win Bonnies.  (Remember when Sean just reamed the guys after winning the conference opener against the Bonnies?  Seems like forever ago doesn’t it?) 

The downside to all this parody is that only two teams from the conference may make the Big Dance.  Remember the talk of 5 teams less than a month ago?  

Even though we are officially the champs, our guys still have a ton to play for before March Madness falls upon us.  Almost certainly, we need to win out for a #2 seed.  (The talk of a #1 seed is a bit optimistic, but hey, that’s what we as fans are suppose to do.)

We as fans can also soak in this achievement (back to back baby!), but the players need to stay focused for Saturday’s big game against GW.  I shall be there to cheer on the Muskies.  Plus, I’ll be getting fired up on beer before and after the game.   So it should be good times.

Congrats Guys!  And keep on keepin on!