Our Elite Eight run, with help from Youtube

Coming into the start of the 07-08 season I didn’t think we were going to be as a good as the 06-07 team. That is what made this season even more special for me. I mean 30 wins! That’s just phenomenal. So here is a youtube montage of the past season.

I was amped up to play Indiana early in the year. I’m from Indiana so I know all about how delusional IU fans are. So beating them was especially gratifying for me. This game produced the highlight of the year in my opinion with Derrick Brown dunking over some lame Hoosier. It was also the first time we saw that this team could be on the brink of something special this season in beating IU convincingly.

I wore the exact same clothing ensemble to every Xavier game I attended this season except for one. And of course we lost that game to Tennessee. Our only loss at home or while wearing our white jerseys all year. Also, this happened at said game versus Tennessee.

Thanks for coming out Hoos.

Another funk-a-dunk from Derrick Brown. And to think I was worried Dayton would beat us at the beautiful Cintas Center this year.

I don’t think I could have been looking more forward to the Tournament this year. We got kind of an unlucky draw with Georgia, but it made no matter in the end.

I made a slight seat upgrade to 15 rows behind the basket for this game. It was awesome high-fiving the entire team as they ran off the court. Sweet 16 here we come!

ONIONS!!!!

I really thought we had a great shot at beating UCLA. As mentioned in the post below, this will be UCLA’s 18th final four and this was our 18th tournament appearance ever. They don’t hang final four banners. I would imagine we will have a small ceremony to commemorate our elite eight success. That is somewhat disconcerting to say the least. But I have chosen my path. And that is the path of Xavier.

It was still a great season. I am incredibly grateful for what this team gave me this year. Hell, they inspired us to start blogging about them for crying out loud! Plus, this is undoubtedly Xavier’s best team ever.

To take us home, I’ll end this with a somewhat corny, yet very somber video added to youtube just two days ago.

So until next season…..

Let’s go X!

Let Me Get This Out of the Way

OK. We lost to the Bruins. Bad.

In XU’s 18th Tounrnament game ever, the UCLA Bruins beat our beloved Muskies to advance to their 18th Final Four Appearence. Good God. They don’t even hang Final Four banners. Talk about your high expectations.

We just didn’t play our game Saturday. I can’t remember ever seeing Josh Duncan toss up an airball whilst being WIDE open before this contest. In fact, no one on our team had more than one 3ball (only 4-19 total). We got out-rebounded 34-26, Kev Love was everything everyone says he is, and we only shot 36.2% from the field. Eek. But I really don’t need to get into the stats to prove how bad this loss was.

UCLA must not think much of us, as they didn’t see the competetive Musketeers we know and love (maybe a little too much). It was just too easy for them. I don’t want to say our boys were intimidated, but something was going on there. I think of it like this:

Back when I was playing a big game of Beer Pong at school, sometimes I would see my opponents’ last cup and get all antsy and excited to sink it and taste victory. But the angsty excitement made my throwing arm go numb and I wouldn’t be even near the cup.

I think this “angsty excitement” may have been running through our boys causing us to lose focus on open shots and other situations, which repressed us from really getting into our offense. Because the Xavier Musketeers don’t get intimidated. They’re above that. Call me pompous or whatever, but I’m stickin’ to it.

This is not to take anything away from the Bruins, though. They are a deserving #1 seed. They did what they were supposed to do, and they did it well. We had our shot, but that dog just warn’t huntin’.

Anyways, chins up, fellow Musketeers. It was a great season. The best ever. 30 wins. We beat Dayton for like the 20th straight time or something. We made it to the Elite Eight for the second time ever and in five years. More great memories thanks to the student-athletes of the Xavier Musketeers Basketball Team.

And no, Dayton, we don’t wear pleather jackets (I still don’t get that). We wear Elite Eight tee shirts. And we do so proudly.

We are XU.

There will be more coming very soon.

Elite Eight Here We Come…….

I’m not sure where to start. I barely have the propensity to make clear, coherent thoughts at the moment. It’s been said ad nauseum about this year’s team, but what a group of players we have this year. Just the complete disregard of individual success for team glory has been the hallmark of this year’s squad and carried them to a win away from Xavier’s first ever Final Four. There is no doubt this is Xavier’s best ever team.

The ’04 squad was special, but this year’s team has been great from day one until now. They’ve represented the school with class (see BJ Raymond’s interview today on ESPN’s “First Take”) and truly epitomize what Xavier is all about. I hope the players took last night to celebrate and relish in what they have accomplished. However, Friday means coming back down to Earth and preparing for UCLA. I have complete faith in Sean and the rest of the coaching staff to be able to get the players as ready as possible by 6:40 early Saturday evening.

We Xavier fans are incredibly proud of Xavier’s basketball tradition. But let’s face it; Xavier is not even in the same stratosphere of UCLA as far as past success goes. Of course, not many programs are. They have 11 national titles and 17 final fours appearances. I doubt I need to remind anyone here that a win Saturday would be our first Final Four appearance ever. But the great thing about basketball and sports in general is none of that matters. There’s a reason they don’t play the games on paper folks.

One of the best and worst things about being a die-hard Xavier fan is how anonymous we as a school and program are. With the exception of maybe Purdue, all of our opponents thus far probably know nothing of the school, where it’s located, and/or our recent basketball history. I mean it’s not like we are just some unknown commodity in the world of college basketball. If you consider yourself a college basketball fan and don’t know anything about Xavier, then I have to discount your fanhood. Sorry. This is our seventh NCAA tournament of the past eight years. We made the Elite Eight five years ago. We’ve been in the top 15 the past two months.

Yet, no one knows anything about us. It’s like we are in this weird middle ground. Not a mid-major or Cinderella, but not a big powerhouse from a BCS conference. I was asked by random people on five different occasions during my five days in DC, “Where is Xavier located?” Of course I tell them, but as soon as they walk away I roll my eyes and want to scream out in general disgust. And don’t get me started on pronunciation.

However, there are not very many feelings in sports more gratifying than pulling out a victory in the role of the underdog. Apparently, we were the underdog last night, which makes sense since we were the three seed playing the seven seed. But whatever, who cares right? When BJ hit his second three to put us up by four I started jumping up down at the bar like a maniac. I mean, you just don’t get to experience that kind of unbridled joy much in life and I think that’s why so many people gravitate towards sports. It’s an outlet from everything else in life that allows us to act like little kids. And who doesn’t want to do that? Luckily, I didn’t have much beer left in my glass at that moment or it would have gone anywhere and everywhere.

I’ve seen UCLA play a few times off and on this year. Hopefully, that can work to our favor. Cuz I highly doubt any of the UCLA players know anything about us. Although, I can’t imagine they will take us lightly. Their players are too good. Their coaches are too good. Once again, there is a Pittsburgh connection. Ben Howland was Pitt’s previous coach before he left to take over UCLA. And ya know, Sean played for Pitt. So maybe that’s worth something. What exactly? I have no idea.

Everyone is in love with Kevin Love. And for good reason, he’s one of the best players in the country. Neutralizing him will be a major key to the game. I would imagine Josh will get the assignment on him to start the game. Drew on Darren Collison, Stan on Russel Westbrook and CJ on Josh Shipp. The talking heads keep talking about UCLA’s offensive struggles, but they are so good defensively I take absolutely nothing for granted. As frequent commenter yankeekilla23 has said, “There will be Love on Love crime.”

 

 

 

I really think we have a shot against the Bruins. Although, I am convinced their cheerleaders are paid models. Here is a great blog concerning all things UCLA.

We are officially one win away from the Final Four. I’ll be going up to Cincy tomorrow to watch the game at yankeekilla’s apartment with a few other friends. This is way too important a game to not watch with my Xavier friends.

Come on boys! We can do this!

Let’s go X!

Sigh… pt. 2

Whoever this clowntown is on ESPN News is just announced that Xavier will be giving their press conference in 5 minutes.  He mentioned that Xavier will be talking about being in the Elite Eight.  He also mentioned that Xavier has never been to the Elite Eight.  Christ.

It’s Almost Time….

Let’s represent fellas….

Wednesday, I will be making the 9 hour (At least that’s what the Mapquest tells me) trek to Washington DC. I cannot tell you how excited I am that I get to see this game in person Thursday afternoon. Of course, every Muskie fan should be more than excited for March Madness to get underway. Our game time definitely kinda sucks, but somebody had to play during that time slot, so we might as well embrace it cuz you know the players don’t care.

The thought of losing to Georgia just puts the fear of God in me. It would be an incredibly bitter pill to swallow. You look at the other 14 seeds (Cornell, Boise State, Cal State Fullerton) and I can’t imagine they have as much raw talent as Georgia. Even though they only now have a winning record after winning four games in four days it is still “BCS” talent. You can always get good talent because of the allure the “BCS” schools garner even if it’s to a school that really doesn’t care about basketball.

And that’s the main reason I just couldn’t stomach a loss to Georgia. Aside from Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and maybe Arkansas, the SEC schools just don’t care about basketball. To a lot of em, it’s just a distraction until spring football starts up. I was listening to a local radio show here in Louisville and the host said a reporter who covers Auburn sports was told to not cover the SEC tournament and instead stay in Auburn to cover a freaking spring football SCRIMMAGE! That’s really all I needed to hear to form my opinion of the southern sports landscape. Football, football, and more football. No wonder UK has over 40 SEC titles. No one else gives a damn! Obviously, this doesn’t encompass all SEC fans, but generally speaking, basketball is an afterthought in most SEC circles.

Heck, here is how one Georgia Bulldog’s blogger looks at the basketball team:

“I want the Georgia basketball coach to do three things, in this order of priority: 1. Don’t do anything that will get us put on probation or that will otherwise impede the progress of our football team.
2. Don’t lose money.
3. Win.

I don’t care about the third objective to the extent that the first and second objectives have been met.”

I mean, I just can’t fathom losing to a team with this kind of fan base and general apathy towards its basketball team. Obviously, this guy loves Georgia….because he does blog about them after all. Really though, I just cant get over the above statement. Maybe I’m overreacting, but basketball is all we have here at Xavier (From an athletic standpoint). And even though Georgia has a much bigger (and that’s an understatement) fan base than Xavier, judging from what I have gathered based on my own research of the Georgia blogosphere, we as basketball fans are FAR more loyal and supportive.

This is only Georgia’s tenth appearance in the tournament and first since 2002 when they lost in the second round to Southern Illinois. Their best tournament was in 1983 when they made it all the way to the final four. The Dawgs best player is Sundiata Gaines. I would assume our main man Stanley Burrell will draw that assignment. Sundiata was the name of an African warrior, so that’s intimidating I guess.

“African Warrior” Sundiata Gaines

Regardless, he is the main threat. Although, from what I saw of them during the SEC tournament, it was the little things that carried them to the title. Diving for loose balls and just out-working their opponents proved to be the key for the Bulldogs. Not to mention some very timely baskets.

With all that being said, there’s a reason this team went 4-12 during SEC play. That’s the same mark as Auburn. Remember when we destroyed them on their home court by 23? Georgia won at Auburn as well, by five points. Their best wins came against Arkansas (twice), Wake Forest, and Georgia Tech. They also lost to East Tennessee State and Tulane. Call me officially worried, but once again, there’s a reason Xavier went 27-6 earning a three seed via an at-large bid and Georgia went 17-16 with a “miracle” run of four wins in four days to grab the SEC’s automatic bid. (Do I really need to rehash what happened during the SEC Tournament and its subsequent venue change?) Here’s to hoping season form proves to be more important than catching fire in a pan to save your season and your coach’s job.

A few other things…

-Here’s Bruce Pearl’s take on how Georgia can beat Xavier in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

-I almost never read Gene Wojciechowski’s stuff on ESPN.com but when I noticed he was writing about the tournament I decided to take a gander. It was mostly a waste of my time except for one exert concerning the play-in game. “It’s not an opening round game; it’s a play-in game. Not only that, but it’s a play-in game in Dayton, Ohio. I mean, haven’t the kids suffered enough? Nothing against Dayton, but if the NCAA is going to treat the 65th and 64th teams in the tournament like nasal drip, then the least it can do is schedule the game somewhere below the Rust Belt. I hear Orlando, Fla., is nice.” I just couldn’t let that one slide. Reminds me of a certain Mr. Clemens.

-Congratulations to Dew Lavender are in order. He is on one of the six regional covers of Sports Illustrated for their preview of March Madness.

-This article was written on March 6^th about Georgia basketball and whether or not Head Coach Dennis Felton’s job should be on the line. Funny how things can change in such a short amount of time.

-ESPN U’s College Basketball Insider Show talked about Xavier again today (3/18 show). Andy Katz was a guest and Sean Miller told him (and I’m paraphrasing), “Drew had a good practice on Monday, the best he’s felt in weeks and fully expects Drew to be good to go come Thursday.” (Andy Katz is the second guest of the podcast at about 17 minutes into the show.) They also give some love to our schedule.

-Alright, it’s time to take care of business. Even though we’ve had a great season, a new one begins Thursday at Noon. All goes according to plan, I won’t have a voice come Saturday night, but the smile on my face will say it all….…

Let’s Go X!

D.C. and Georgia Beckon…..

It’s the Georgia Generic Nicknames!

Thursday can’t get here soon enough. This kid will be making the trek from New Albany, IN to Washington D.C. and cannot wait to see the Muskies in action against the Dawgs of Georgia. They are coming off a huge high in winning the SEC Tournament and will be looking to make some more noise in the NCAA tournament. But we’ll worry more about the Bulldogs in another post.

It was cool to see the Muskies get a camera during the Selection Show. They seemed pretty relaxed, but showed the requisite excitement when Xavier came on the screen. West Virginia had by far the best celebration of any team after they were selected. They were all just dancing around like a bunch of idiots. Good stuff.

I hope the boys were watching ESPN’s breakdown of the brackets after the game. There are few things I hate more than big conference arrogance. Only 6 at-large bids came from the “mid-major” conferences. But if you didn’t know that, you’d have thought at least half the teams came from (aaack) “mid-major” conferences. Dickie V. was already calling for Georgia to beat us and Hubert Davis, (who, mind you, had just been the analyst of our loss to St. Joes a week and a half ago) started talking about our backcourt and one “Scottie Burrell.” Of course, he then went on to pick us to get to the elite eight.

Sigh……I don’t even know why I bother getting myself worked up over stuff like this anymore. People will look down on us just because of the name on our jersey. Even against a team that had four wins up until this past weekend in a mediocre SEC.

Regardless, March Madness is upon us and I can’t wait for the games to begin.

Go X!

Selection Sunday Looms…..

It’s almost time for Selection Sunday…..

With only a few hours to go before the brackets are revealed I sit here almost a little sad.  While I can’t wait to see where we go and who we play, it’s impossible for me not to think, “By this time next week, our season may very well be over.”  Sorry to be Debbie Downer, but it’s true.  We are by no means a lock to get to the Sweet Sixteen.  And as I’ve said before, that’s all I really want and dare to hope for. 

This team has been nothing short of a joy to watch all year.  (And to think, I didn’t think we’d be as good as last year.)  Really, I’m just being greedy because basketball is my favorite sport and Xavier is my favorite team.  Therefore, selfishly, I don’t want the season to end.  And I don’t think I’m alone in this sentiment. 

I really (repeat) REALLY want the Muskies to be placed in D.C. for the first and second round games.  It’s the closest location to the Cintas Center, not to mention I’d have a free place to stay.  We aren’t going to be quite as blessed with a short trip to Lexington, but DC isn’t a bad drive and if we can’t support the Muskies during arguably the greatest regular season in the program’s history, then I’m not sure what to tell ya.  

It appears as those a three seed is what we can expect come 6 o’clock. The “bracketographers” and “bracketologists” have us at a three seed.  I suppose it wouldn’t surprise me if X is given a four seed.  But whatever, it just isn’t worth getting too worked up for because we can do absolutely nothing about it.  And hey, at lest we know we are in.  There are plenty of teams who will be sweating it out for a spot.  Last year, I about shat a brick as we were one of the last at-large teams to be announced on Selection Sunday.  It is more than comforting to know there is no chance of that happening this time around.  

And even though it will be a long few hours before Selection Sunday, at least there should be some great basketball to pass the time.

Dayton It Is

Let’s go to work boys.

As I said in the previous post, I was a bit apprehensive about playing Dayton a third time. And then Stan happened yesterday. I still haven’t gotten over it to be honest. It was/is so awesomely awesome. The thing is, I didn’t realize the conference awards were coming out Monday. Therefore, this whole bit came outta left field for me.

We already knew Stan was pretty much hated by the rest of the A-10 (especially the fans). Now, he’s just gone and made it official.

Dayton barely beat St. Louis today. The margin of victory doesn’t mean much to me, as it was probably hard for the Flyers to not look ahead to us for Thursday’s noon tip-off. They have to be uber-motivated to get one more crack at us. I can’t imagine Brian Roberts and the rest of the Flyer seniors would take too kindly at the prospect of losing six straight games to Xavier to close out their careers. That’s why I don’t think Stan’s comments will have much of an impact on motivation for the game. If closing out your career with six straight losses to your biggest rival isn’t reason enough to bring you’re A game, then I don’t know what is. Plus, there’s that whole NCAA tournament bid thing going on too.

I’ve started listening to ESPN’s College Basketball Insider pod cast the past couple months and it’s almost always a good listen. Andy Glockner does a good job delving into the world of college basketball and chatting with the talking heads of ESPN. Towards the end of today’s (3/12) pod cast he addresses Stan’s comments. It’s during his final segment called the “Final Shot.” He “loves” Stan and thinks he makes great points about Xavier not having anyone on the A-10 first team. But the whole pod cast is worth listening to as he also addresses the A-10 Tournament.

The boys over at Flyers Fieldhouse asked me a few questions and I obliged. So take a gander at what’s being said over there. Also, they say it looks very unlikely Chris Wright will play tomorrow. It would have been interesting to see if he could change the fortune of the Flyers. Unquestionably, they were a much better/different team when he was in their lineup during the non-conference part of the season. That being said, can’t say I’m too sympathetic.

It seriously sucks I’ll be at work during the game and have literally no way of keeping track of the game. Oh well, as long as we win I’ll be a happy camper.

Go X!

More A10 Lovin’….mmm Feels Good…

To add to the article by Joe Lunardi brought to our attention by klark from the Musketeer Madness Chatboard found here, there is a great podcast from ESPN radio in which Andy Glockner and Joe Lunardi discuss the ever popular topic of the strength of the A10 compared to all those other dumb conferences. It’s a pretty good listen for any A10 fan. The St. Joe’s color commentator uses more of that logic that he likes to use to prove that our conference is actually pretty dang good. Click here and go to the 1/18 show.