“So Professional”

The video below pertains to this blog at the 2:41 mark. Although I suggest you watch the entire video.

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!

XU is Elite

I love this team. Have I said that before?

Remember that video of that Dayton guy guaranteeing they would make it to the Elite Eight? Ha. Well, I’m sure he really meant Xavier.

We go to the game.

I really felt the ghosts of our recent Tournament tries and losses with me all day before the game, then especially during as I watched our giant lead slowly diminish. I hated doing it, but I kept seeing us lose controversially to Duke, lose a close one to Gonzaga when we were like a 27 seed, and lose controversially to Ohio State(a team that is having an EXCELLENT run in the NIT). Then, with less than 20 seconds left on the clock and the good guys up by 2, Joe Alexander hits a good shot AND the refs call what was frankly a light (bullshit) foul on Jason Love, giving WV a chance to take the lead with mere seconds left in one of these teams’ season.

My heart sank. Me face fell into my hands. Joe Alex shoots over 80% from that line. It was the ever-hated Duke. Then it was that annoying guy with the ugly mustache. Then guy who used to coach Xavier. And it was 1 free throw and about 12 seconds of defense from being BOB F’N HUGGINS. I would NOT have been able to handle that. Not this way. I just wanted to crawl in a hole and never watch sports again.

But wait. HE MISSED. YES!

Overtime.

Still Hope.

Our defense has been lacking, as we are in terrible foul trouble and letting them take easy jumpers and layups. Down 6 with about 3 1/2 minutes left. Heart starts sinking again. But, Stan hits a nice layup after some chump Mountaineer flopped. Drew Lav hit a BIG 3, then they get back up by 2. What a game.

Then, out of nowhere.

BJ Raymond.

BJ made those ghosts of Tournament past go away. At least for this round. And I couldn’t be happier. His nasty 3’s all but sealed the deal, putting us up by 4 with 24 tics left. We held on, won, and I was the loudest guy at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Rocky River, Ohio.

The feeling I sat with after the game was so great. I was exhausted, but I was ever so satisfied. It was like I just had great sex. I enjoyed a tall victoryBudweiser, put my XU flag back on my shoulders, and left a very happy fan.

So proud. Same ol’ story with our team, and it never gets old. Team effort. Yes, Duncan stepped up bigtime, but everyone contributed big in crucial parts of the game. I even think Kevin Waymire drew a foul in there. BJ hadn’t scored ALL GAME until overtime, yet his number was called and he WON US THE GAME. And, perhaps the best part, we did it beating Huggins. Oh god, I think this was better than great sex.

So for now, this magical season continues after the 30th win for the Musketeers this season. UCLA it is, Saturday at 6:40. I heard rumors that they have a guy named Love, too. Weird.

HOLY HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE THIS TEAM WITH ALL MY HEART

I AM DRUNK

PIZZA JUST ARRIVED

LET’S GO X!

I Love This Team

This is just a compilation of great photos from the game I got from Cincinnati.com.

SWEET 16

AWWWWW yeah. That’s right Muskie fans. Sean Miller and the 12 Musketeers are a part of the last 16 teams in the 2008 NCAA Tournament. YEAH.

I’m so proud to be a Musketeer fan.

They played so well. I can’t believe we were out-rebounded (35-33), because it looked like our beloved team hustled so hard, and it showed. WORKING the ball inside, getting and1’s, hitting 3’s we needed to hit (Drew with that nasty 3 pointer to end the half kept us up 3 rather than tied going into the locker room). YES.

They forced more turnovers than we did (14 to the 10 we forced), they out-rebounded us (35-33), 12 offensive to our 4, and they had more steals (8-3). But it didn’t matter a whole lot.

I love these pictures.

Our boys simply out-played the Boilermakers. They wanted it more. Cheesy line about winning. They played today like they played the second half against Georgia. With heart, purpose, like it was their last game if they lost.

It looked like Duncan may have been in foul trouble with his 4th foul in the second half with 6 or so minutes left, but the Sean Miller Substitution Theory just kept working, and we rolled on to win.

I love these pictures.

This game was the perfect example of what this year’s XU team is all about. There were some great quotes from the ESPN recap that I like:

“If Purdue could have picked one or two players from Xavier to focus upon, then surely the Boilermakers would have had an easier time fulfilling their reputation as one of the best defensive teams in the Big Ten.” Pssh. More like the Little Ten.

“Purdue, however, discovered what many Atlantic 10 teams already know: The X-men are simply too balanced. Even if you find a way to stop a couple of them, two or three others are more than capable of taking over the offensive load.”

“The Musketeers were 26-for-33 at the line and 27-for-50 from the floor against a team that led the Big Ten in field goal percentage defense. The 85 points scored by Xavier were the most allowed by Purdue this season.”

“‘At times,’ Boilermakers coach Matt Painter said, ‘we just could not stop them.’”

“Xavier was efficient on defense, too. Although the Boilermakers scored 25 points in the final 8 1/2 minutes, they shot only 39 percent and were 8-for-21 from 3-point range. This, after the Boilermakers scored a season-high 90 points in their first-round game against Baylor.”

“‘Their defense is legit. Definitely legit,’ said Purdue’s Keaton Grant, who scored 19. ‘They’re not one of those helter-skelter [teams], where it’s false defense and it’s going to break down in the last five minutes’” Nice to get that respect from Grant. Guard Chris Kramer added some respect when talking about how we responded to the 9-0 run Purdue started the game with: “We came out and punched them in the mouth first and they came back and punched us. They’re so balanced, they’re hard to defend.”

“Lavender went 8-for-8 at the line in the final minute.” Free throw shooting has been a BIG part of a bunch of our close wins this year. It was even bigger tonight, keeping us ahead of the Boilermakers in this game (26-33 tonight, good enough for me) .

 

CJ. I love you.

Sean, I love you.

Seriously though. Tonight, our Xavier musketeers showed the Nation just what we are all about. It all worked perfectly. We shot well (54%). We played our tough defense, as Purdue shot just 38.8%. We responded very well to a 9-0 run the boilermakers started the game with with our own 17-3 run. Multiple players showed up. Duncan, Brown, Lavender, Anderson, Burrell, BJ… I love these guys.

XU is 2-0 against Big10 teams this year, both teams we beat were in the top 20 in both polls at the time.

Tonight’s results set up an interesting Sweet 16 game in the West as our Musketeers will face the Evil Bob Huggins’s Mountaineers. I swear, there’s always a compelling story with our NCAA Tournament experiences. This was going to be the first time in 18 years that Huggie Bear did not play Xavier, but he can’t avoid us just yet after upsetting the over-rated No. 2 seeded Duke Blue Devils in the Second Round. Duke is lucky they didn’t win that game. Since they didn’t, instead of revenge as a motive, we have the opportunity to beat Huggins again and advance to the Elite 8 for the second time ever.

There is nothing prolific about this post. I know. I don’t care. I’m just so happy. This is the greatest time of the year. Go X! Beat those stupid Mountain People. Fuck John Denver. Mountain Momma. Take me home. Country Roads.

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.

Are You Worried?

I think I am…maybe…I dunno.

Our boy Drew showed us that he wasn’t 100% on Saturday. Dustin Dow suggests in his blog that we sit Lavender for the rest of the season (@St. Joes, home against Richmond). I mean, we already have the A10 locked down, and we could still win these next two games without him (we’re deep, in case you didn’t know that yet) in case you were worried about the lovely top ten ranking and the #2 seed. I’d probably say sit him if he says he can’t go like he did in Saturday’s game, even if it pisses off Coach. But as soon as the A10 tourney starts, I would hope he is ready to go. ‘Cuz no matter how much I would like to see other A10 teams in the Big Dance (as of today, it doesn’t appear if any of our conference foes will be joining us), I don’t like losing, and I would like to not lose for the rest of the season.

That is a nice tie.

Coach doesn’t ever like it if guys say they can’t play unless someone is missing a leg or something. Remember when Duncan took himself out of the Tennessee game? Milla was PISSED about that, then Duncan went on to be our best player when he got healthy in the A10 schedule.

What do you guys think? Sit Drew for the next two, then see what he can do in the Atlantic 10 Tourny? Make him tough it out? See if we can’t get Brad Redford now? Hmm..

ANYWAYS…

Who didn’t like seeing C.J. and Jason Love play well on Saturday? It was very comforting to see us actually penetrate the dreaded zone defense. But the game was still close, and we turned the ball over 15 times. Dante Jackson, however, didn’t have any of those turnovers, as he continues to give us efficient minutes. I like Dante.

In other NCAA hoops news…

OHIO STATE SUCKS!  This makes me very happy, because I hate Ohio State.  I have found myself watching the last few OSU games, strictly to watch their NCAA Tournament hopes diminish.  I’m a hater.

ESPN this Thursday at Joe’s.  Hopefully Drew will miraculously be healed and we will beat the rest of the A10 teams we face until we take on the rest of the Nation.  Go X!!!

Say it with me now…..5 in a row!

What a great week for the Musketeers.  Not only did we beat Dayton for the fifth consecutive time, but wins against Rhode Island and Duquesne mean we have clinched at least a share of the A-10 regular season title.  We only need one more win to clinch the title out right.  I’m fairly confident we can win at least one of our final three games.  

It wasn’t just the wins but what was at stake for the three teams the Muskies defeated.  Rhody was looking for a marquee win to solidify their at-large hopes for the tourney.  They may have been putting too much pressure on themselves to win, as they clearly have not moved on from losing to us with two more losses at home to Umass and St. Joe’s.  Three consecutive home losses probably have killed their at-large hopes.  Duquesne is a team on the rise and they were also looking for their first major scalp.  And Dayton…let’s just say collapse probably doesn’t do the word justice.  They desperately needed a win at home yesterday to bring back any hope of an at-large bid and now must put all of their tourney chances into winning the A-10 tournament.  It seemed impossible only one month ago, but it now seems very plausible only two A-10 teams could make the tourney.  Three at the absolute most.  Weren’t their whispers of five bids just a few short weeks ago? 

And now a short tangent on Dayton.  Did anyone else see the quote that was put on screen during CSTV’s broadcast yesterday?  I’m paraphrasing, but it was a Dayton fan’s words that basically read, “This is our version of Michigan-Ohio State and UNC-Duke.  It means that much to us.”  I think I speak for almost all X fans when I say the Dayton games do not mean that much to us.  It’s a rivalry game, sure.  But it’s definitely second on our depth chart of rivals.  UC is by far the bigger of the two rivals.  Although it is funny because it’s all cyclical.  We hate UC the most.  They claim to not hate us as much and instead focus their energy on Louisville, who in turn hates UK much more than UC.

Stan once again proved why he is the A-10 Defensive Player of the Year Sunday afternoon.  He could teach Brian Roberts a thing or two about defense. 

Anyways, it still feels damn good to beat them five times in row. 

The Muskies now take a much-needed week off.  We won’t see X in action until Saturday night when GW comes to town.  And while it would be funny to see Dayton miss out on the A-10 tournament, GW would probably need to beat us in order for that for that to even be possible.  We still have much to play for and a #2 seed appears to be well within our reach. 

As pointed out in the comments section in the previous post Andy Glockner gives us some serious love in the most recent College Basketball Insider pod cast.  Saying it would be no fluke if we were to make it all the way to the final four.  (It’s not until the very end of the pod cast.  Thanks Shawn!) 

Of course, that’s nothing we Muskie fans haven’t known for quite some time!

Mr. Perfect Strikes Again

Blah blah blah blah close game. Blah blah blah blah senior leadership. Blah blah toughness. Blah blah blah balance. Well, we’ve heard it a million times, and it hasn’t gotten old to me yet.

Now lets talk MVP of the game. Josh Duncan was once again perfect, shooting 8-8 from the field, 3-3 behind the arc, and added 4 free throws in 4 attempts. This is the second game in a row he recorded a field goal % of 100 and 20+ points off the bench. And he did all of this at the hostile environment of the Thomas M. Ryan Center in Rhode Island. He was calm, confident, and he was clutch. I love you Josh Duncan…in a totally manly way.

Not only did he play so gosh darn good, but he did so with 4 fouls, his 4th being called mere seconds after he entered the game in the second half. These refs were driving me crazy. They were so inconsistent. Sometimes they were calling it if Josh made eye contact with the ball handler. It really seemed to me like at the end of the first half and at the beginning of the second half they were calling everything and then some, but for the last 10 minutes or so they were letting a lot go. I mean, I was watching this game with my mother and I couldn’t stop cursing at the refs.

Stanley Burrell was at it again with his D, holding Jimmy Baron (’bout 15 ppg) to 2 points in his 26 minutes of play. Stan didn’t hit any 3balls, but he did rack up 7 assists and had some pretty clutch jumpers. He did have 6 turnovers, but that’s why the McDonalds All American is our starting PG.

Lovely spread out scoring to help Mr. Perfect out. 14, 9, 9, 8, 8, 7, and 3 from the rest of the boys in blue to go with Joshua’s 23. Rhody went on an impressive run in the second half, but it was good to see us hold on.

Is it me, or does Pete Gillen try too hard to let people know that he isn’t bias toward Xavier? Sheesh.

Why does it look like we have no idea what we’re doing most times against a 2-3 zone. It’s irritating just seeing 4 guys pass it around the 3 point line to each other and not making any cuts or screens or anything. I know Coach has seen the zone before, so what is happening out there? Is it just really good defenders? Is it our players? Someone, please tell me.

80% from the charity stripe. Like I’ve said before, this team’s A10-leading free throw% is winning these close games.

This BIG week of games has just gotten started. The Dukes on Thursday, The Flyers on Sunday. We will be participating in a Q&A with The Dukes Court before the game on Thursday. Dayton, I hate you.

Once again, Josh Duncan, I love you.