This site will no longer feature new posts. Golfitup is joining danaandvictory.com to contribute to that site (it really is the best XU Basketball blog on the net, even though ‘MusketeerBlogosphere’ is a far superior name). Ledgewood was not asked to join, but if you ever run into him personally, he will gladly spout off vitriolic opinions regarding the Musketeers, why the music you listen to sucks, pornography, and why you shouldn’t be ashamed to order wine a bar.
So long.
With the big game against Dayton tomorrow night, we decided to lob a few questions over to the guys at Blackburn Review. We also answered several questions concerning this year’s version of the Musketeers which you can read here.
In case you’re an idiot and can’t figure it out. Questions are in bold.
Tell us about this year’s version of the Dayton Flyers. We haven’t been able to watch much of the Flyers and will be going into Saturday’s game mostly in the dark as far as what to expect from Brian Gregory and company.
Well, if you’ve seen any Dayton game in the past five years you have pretty much seen what this year’s team has to offer. The biggest difference is the point-guard play, as Juwan Staten is a prayer finally answered at that position. All in all, it’s your usual Flyer squad. Very athletic wings, stiffs in the middle and subs that tend to play out of control at times. The team lacks a consistent perimeter presence and uses its edge on the boards to win games.
The biggest difference between this team and prior editions is the lack of transition scoring. In the past, Dayton prided itself with getting a board, quickly outletting the ball which allowed its athletes to fly down the floor on the advantage. The transition points are down this season, which comes as a surprise considering they now have the requisite weapon at the point to effectively run a fast break. Overall though, it’s basically the same Flyer team Xavier has seen since Gregory got to UD.
You tweeted this last night, “DAY home halftime scores this year: Sav St 37-34, MiamiO 33-29, CCSU 29-23, WestCar 27-27, nothing new tonight.” What would you attribute this to?
Well, I’ll hit you with another quote. This is from UD forward Christopher Wright when asked about Dayton’s lack of intensity during the loss at UMass: “We thought it was a gimme.” This is the attitude a senior player took into a conference road game. Shocking? Not really. This program has consistently looked like it goes through the motions against “lesser talent,” and this year it ended up biting them in the ass in a loss to East Tennessee State earlier in the season. UD also failed to put Savannah State away a few weeks earlier – which you would have thought served as an eye-opener. Nope. High-caliber teams take it to weak competition from the jump, Dayton historically has let these teams hang around for too long.
Dayton has two modus operandi. One, the Flyers will come out and take a sizeable lead in the first half before giving it away before halftime. Or two, UD will come out flat during the first four minutes of the second half and either gives up a lead it established in the first half or at the very least let a team off the hook, creating a close affair for the rest of the game. What to chalk it up to? I have no clue. Insufficient preparation, overconfidence, lack of aggression, no killer attitude – probably a combination of all of these things. Goddamnit, this team lacks the Eye of the Tiger.
May as well reciprocate your question of your most hated Xavier players. Don’t need a specific number, but who has really gotten under your skin over the years in a Xavier jersey?
Stanley Burrell is at the top of the list simply because of the way he shut down Brian Roberts and forever changed the way I remembered B-Rob. I disliked Josh Duncan solely because he used to serve up so many daggers in his career (one of those I don’t really like the guy, but I would love to have had him on my team kind of guys). David West for completely killing Keith Waleskowski certainly deserves a mention. And Chris Mack for marrying a hot MILF from Dayton. Honestly though, I’ve never hated any X player. I respect them too damn much.
If Dayton has a chance to win on the last possession who do you want to take that final shot? Is there a clear cut go-to guy on the roster like Tu is for Xavier?
I can tell you right now the ball will be in Juwan Staten’s hands with the game on the line. He has consistently spearheaded the offense when there is a final shot scenario. It appears the strategy is to spread the floor, let Staten beat his man off the dribble with his quickness – creating a situation where one of the opposition’s defenders has to abandon his man to help out – and Staten looks to kick it to the open man. Hopefully the ball ends up in the hands of either Chris Johnson or Paul Williams, UD’s best perimeter shooters. The good news for X fans is that this particular play hasn’t worked at all this season. It usually ends up in a bad shot, a kicked ball out of bounds or a citizen’s arrest.
What is the overall feeling towards Brian Gregory amongst the Dayton fans? As an outsider and Dayton-hater it seems to me that his tenure should be coming under heavy scrutiny. Just not good enough results for a fan base that continues to be steadfastly loyal and underrated in terms of fan support on the national stage. (At least in my opinion)
The feedback has pretty much been established: Gregory is an above-average recruiter and a below-average coach. Honestly, I thought it would have been a good situation for both parties if Gregory moved on and took one of the opportunities he was allegedly offered at the close of last season. After a disappointing campaign with one of Dayton’s best teams in recent memory, it seemed that BG might have done all he could at a program like UD. Apparently Gregory doesn’t believe in striking while the iron is hot.
But, herein lies the rub. Gregory signed a Charlie Weis-ian contract extension a few years ago, which means he is basically untouchable until 2018. Dayton is not the type of school that’s going to fire a coach, while paying out a hefty buyout in the process, in order to bring in some new blood. So no matter what your feelings are about Brian Gregory, we are stuck with him until 2018.
What are the goals and expectations for Dayton entering conference play this season?
The goals and expectations must be to at least finish in the top four of the league, anything less than that will be a disappointment. Don’t take that as an indication that Dayton is loaded for bear and ready to make a run at the league title either. The A-10 just appears to be that soft this season. Clearly, Temple is the class of the league and will likely win the conference crown again this season (I’m already on record saying the Owls will go 16-0, and I can’t wait until they lose and I have to hear about it). After Temple is sort of a wide-open race. I think Xavier, Richmond, Dayton and even Duquesne will battle it out for a possible at-large bid.
Dayton needs to hold serve at home and eek out around three or four wins on the road. UD already has one at SLU and blew a chance against a fairly weak UMass team. Again, I’m not going to predict an NCAA Tournament appearance for the Flyers due to its lack of a RPI Top 50 win – UD has only played one team in the top fifty (Old Dominion, a 74-71 loss), Xavier will be the second – but I certainly expect them to somewhat be in the discussion come late February, early March. The goal, in my opinion, is to at the very least have an outside chance at the Dance before heading to Atlantic City. Anything short of that is going to be failure in my book.
What do Dayton fans make of this ridiculously long losing streak to Xavier in Cincinnati? It’s just out of hand right? A win has got to happen eventually doesn’t it?
Eventually it does, all things come to an end, right? I mean, humankind as we know will eventually end, so this streak surely has to have an end date – or one would hope. I would think even Xavier fans would want it to end just to make things interesting again (Although, I’m probably wrong about that). It is completely out of hand and quite embarrassing when you think about it. I’m not confident the streak comes to an end tomorrow, but I will make this prediction: Juwan Staten will win in Cincinnati before he graduates. So, but my estimation the Carter Curse gets snapped sometime in the next three years.
Prediction for Saturday night?
I have to play the odds and go with Xavier. The atmosphere down in Cincinnati seems to have a chokehold on the Flyers and I’m not sure how well Staten matches up with Holloway. That particular matchup could be the key to the game. If Holloway is able to bottle up Staten, this game could get ugly. As it is, I think it’ll be close throughout before Dayton fails to match Xavier bucket-for-bucket down the stretch. The streak continues, Xavier 63-57.
Thanks to the Blackburn Review for answering our questions and worst of luck to UD tomorrow night!
When The Sporting News Mike DeCourcy is tweeting things like this, this, and that I must write something to defend our coach. (Even if it’s on an obscure blog my mom and 3 friends read) Any Xavier fan who thinks this season has been Coach Mack’s fault is an absolute moron. And I’m being kind. Look, we have 9 scholarship players available at this point. A walk-on is seeing meaningful minutes. We have zero back court depth and almost nothing coming off the bench in terms of offensive production.
I’m just not sure what the fans expect. Now I agree the stupid turnovers and terrible rebounding needs to be reigned in ASA and P, but the margin for error is so small for this team that even against just barely above average teams such as UC, that any mistake is only going to be that much more magnified.
It’s gotten to the point that fans are now questioning Terrell Holloway’s contributions. I would argue he is trying to do too much. He doesn’t appear to want to handle the scoring load, but when he looks around and sees the limited options we have, there really is no other choice. So when he is forced to press offensively like Thursday night and things aren’t falling then as a result you see the bad turnovers and frustration that result in him throwing a quasi-punch and receiving a technical foul. No doubt, that is still inexcusable behavior.
I see some people already wishing next season was upon us. I could not disagree more. It’s easy to forget this is still only Chris Mack’s second season in charge. He is still finding his way as a head coach and trying to figure out how to go about getting the most out of a squad that clearly has substantial limitations. Sean Miller didn’t exactly come out guns a-blazing in his first year and half in charge and many, including this blogger, started to wonder if he was the man for the job. Cut to him leaving for Arizona and our fan base being devastated and I think we all know how Miller was thought of as a coach around these parts.
Thursday night was brutal. I didn’t go in with the highest of expectations, but to lose like that was just so embarrassing it’s hard to stomach. Hence the coach is terrible speak that went on afterwards. I completely underestimated the impact Brad Redford’s injury would have on the team this season. Because boy are we woeful from behind the arc. 29% for the season to be exact. Also, just the threat of Brad’s shooting would allow for space for Terrell and Mark to drive the lane.
I’ve been hard on Lyons, but what else can he do? He has to attack the basket because we just don’t have the options to do much else. He just needs to continue to pick his spots to do so at a better clip. It’s been a very disappointing senior season for Dante Jackson. He is shooting 28% from three-point land on the season and hasn’t had the best decision-making to boot. His act of talking all game long and doing little to back it up is sadly growing tired even for the people who root for him. I absolutely hate ragging on Dante because he has been a great servant to Xavier, but it’s getting harder to do so with each passing game.
There are two things poor offensive teams can do to offset this limitation. And that is to play good defense and rebound. Neither of which were on display Thursday night or against Florida. That is where things must improve the most. The coaching staff must do a better job emphasizing this. It’d also be nice if the freshmen could show any kind of improvement to see some minutes during league play. But if they aren’t performing in practice then why should the fans expect them to get any playing time? Also, NO ZONE! You hear me?! None. It’s stupid and we’re not good at it.
Anyways, a new season begins tomorrow early evening. Traveling away to Rhode Island is not an easy way to start the A-10 slate. This team needs a decent win in a bad way and this would be a fantastic time to start.
Xavier till I die.
First off, eff Gonzaga. Eff them for not scheduling to play us several seasons ago. Much like Butler, this is a game that needs to be played every year. I still remember a radio interview that featured one Mike Bobinski a couple years ago saying scheduling is the least enjoyable part of his job and cited the example of Gonzaga turning us down even though he had said name the time and date and we’ll come come play. This is the same Gonzaga who said they’ll play anyone, anytime, anywhere. Ever since then, a healthy resentment of the Zags has been buried within me. Plus, their nickname is the Bulldogs: awesome creativity. Also, keep crying bitch.
Secondly, eff the refs. And this is one of those rare moments as a delusional fan where I’ll concede the refs were abysmal for both teams. Within 10 minutes of the first half there had already been 14 fouls called. A whopping 48 were called in total. The cake, for me, was taken when Kenny got called for a foul while clearly standing straight up with both arms raised and the Zag just rammed right into him. Of course Kenny gets called for the foul. His look of bewilderment did nothing to endear him to the refs. Shockingly, he did not foul out.
Clearly, Xavier did not deserve to win last night. As Ledgewood says in the previous post, I still don’t know what to make of this team. We have one really good player and a bunch of role players. Let’s look at each individually.
Tu Holloway: Our best player by far. If he’s not playing well, we have almost no chance of winning. Only thing bad we can say about him is that he sometimes puts too much on his own shoulders. He had a few ill-advised shots last night, but that was only after realizing none of his teammates had come to play.
Mark Lyons: At this point, it may as well be the Much-Maligned Mark Lyons. Clearly, he gives a crap, plays his heart out and is a very good defender. Unfortunately, his “play a hundred miles and hour” style can sometimes translate into playing like a chicken with his head cut off. It is worrisome that he is making many of the same mistakes as last year. Couple that with this being his third year in the program and we may officially have a problem. Also, he’s just not a good shooter. That form is atrocious. His 35% field goal and 68% free throw averages tell me I’m not wrong.
Dante Jackson: Much the same can be said about Dante. Love the passion and the effort, but there needs to be better play to go along with it. He had a couple passes last night that just do not behoove of a three year starter. Also, the three point shooting has got to improve. He is at 28% on the year, including 3-10 last night.
Jamel McLean: Almost averaging a double double. Playing well. Just has to stay out of foul trouble. That was probably impossible last night. Can’t expect much more/less from Mr. McLean.
Kenny Frease: Not sure there is another player from the past 5 years that causes such a range of emotion from the fans as that of Kenny. He goes from a 22 and 14 against Wake to the much sought after but rarely achieved 0 and 0 against Gonzaga. Kind of sums up his career so far in Xavier uniform. To be fair, he barely had the ball in the post last night. This amateur’s eyes could not tell if it was because he couldn’t get position inside or if because the guards did a bad job of getting him the ball.
Jeff Robinson: Here is the real problem with this year’s version of the Musketeers. We have zero depth. None. Robinson plays very hard, but if you’re looking for any kind of point production you are barking up the wrong tree. Jeff should develop into a good player over the next 2 and a half years though.
But back to the no depth issue. It especially rears its ugly head in the backcourt. Take a look at the mpg of Tu (39.7), Mark (37.1) and Dante (36.8). I mean that is worrisome. I definitely underestimated the loss of Brad Redford. Didn’t think it’d be a huge blow, but clearly our lack of a three point threat is starting to rear its ugly head.
Andrew Taylor: Both Jordan Crawford and CJ Anderson tweeted during the game last night how much they loved playing with Taylor. That’s good enough for me.
Freshmen: Thought CJ summed it up perfectly with this tweet last night. “So far in this seasoon Chris Mack 1st class gets a D-!!! Limited minutes, limited contributions!!!!! Good guys though.” Well said.
Look. Us Xavier fans are a spoiled lot. We’re not used to our team being this limited in its abilities. No offensive possession will be easy. And with such little depth, we can ill afford foul trouble, being out rebounded and taking off any plays. Albany awaits next Tuesday….
Let’s go X!
I dunno. Do you?
The Musketeers are in the midst of a pretty tough non-conference stretch which will show the world just what they’re currently made of. It’s already been a roller coaster of a season that has left fans of X wishing Jordan Crawford stuck around for one more year with a 2-1 trip to the Paradise Jam, an unlikely triple-overtime victory over Wofford at home, a loss in Miami (of Ohio, not where LeBron took his talents), and one ugly, ugly hard fought revenge victory at home versus Butler.
Sitting at 6-2, it’s difficult to know just how good this squad is and what to expect from them throughout this season and into the postseason. The departure of a solid big and a superstar scoring guard calls for some serious stepping up from guys like McLean, Frease, and Holloway and has come with mixed results. Overall shooting has been downright yucky, and the newbies aren’t really contributing… at all. Unfortunately, the league won’t let Brad Redford shoot three balls from a chair, either. If the Musketeers want to make a good run this year and have a shot at taking home another A10 championship (them Temple boys sure look good), a few things just gotta happen.
Senior Dante Jackson’s stats are pretty much the same as they ever were, ‘cept his 3pt% is way down. It’d be unreasonable to expect much more from the man, but it’d be nice to see him start knocking down those open corner three bombs. Sophomore Mark Lyons is a speedster who can drive the lane, but far too often resembles a wrecking ball who really needs to find the pass out of the drive instead of running into guys and/or tossing up a prayer that won’t be answered. Basically, he’s young and talented but really needs to stop playing like a freshman. I hope that isn’t asking too much.
The rest of the questions facing this team are that of consistency. Can we continue to get big games out of Tu Holloway? Did Kenny Frease improve his game along with slimming down to look better in those awful skin-tight jerseys? Will the freshman show up? Will the NCAA consider making the rim just a few inches wider for us? Hopefully this long break before the Skip Prosser Classic against Wake Forrest will help this team. It’s quite possible that Holloway is still tired from the Paradise Jam after logging all those minutes…
So here’s hopin’ the shots start fallin’ and wins keep comin’. Xavier’s all I got since Cleveland doesn’t have sports anymore. I need this. Here’s a picture of Olivia Munn.
This hasn’t exactly been the best start to the season for us Muskie fans. Hell, the season hasn’t even started yet. But with Brad Redford being out for the year and Justin Martin being ruled ineligible because he is only a partial qualifier and now Jamel McLean being out for the first 3-6 weeks because of a broken eye socket the setbacks are coming thick and fast.
But it’s alright. Look, we’ve been more than fortunate the past few seasons with limited injuries. The last big injury that I can remember is Brandon Cole tearing his ACL. So we were probably due for a bad one and unfortunately, Brad had to draw the short straw. But let’s be honest. It would be far worse for Terrell (sorry, but I just refuse to call him Tu, even though that’s how the PA announcer will refer to him this year) to suffer a season ending injury. I fully expect him to be our best player this year.
Brad is the fan favorite. And even though he is lights out with the three ball, he doesn’t bring much else to the table. However, there isn’t a whole lot better when Brad hits that three during a fast-break as the team is going on a run forcing the opposing coach to call a timeout. The playing of the fight song is always electric after that with the whole of the Cintas Center joining in. That will definitely be missed this year.
It sucks that we have to wait another year to see Justin Martin play. I don’t get this whole partial qualifier business. Is high school really that hard? How could this happen? Especially since he went to a prep school last year. Oh well, just have to keep on waiting i reckon.
So that’s why we really can’t be too concerned as fans. What can we do? Hope for the best and know that Chris Mack and company are doing everything they can to make sure this team can be as good as it possibly can. We’re just fans. No use getting too down on it. Just show up to every home game and do our best to cheer on the boys.
I’ve got faith in the players we have. It’s not like we’re devoid of talent. So we might take some bumps and bruises early but as always hitting our stride going into A-10 play is the ultimate goal and there is still plenty of time for that.
Thank holy Christ, the 2010-2011 Xavier Men’s Basketball schedule is out. It feels like years have come and gone since that epic Kansas State game, perhaps because I am a Clevelander and have had a rough summer. In case there are any other Cleveland sports fans out there in the XU Nation, allow me to summarize the 2010 Cleveland sports summer: The Tribe sucks hard and LeBron is a douchebag. But this is no Cleveland sports blog…
2010-2011 Xavier Men’s Basketball Schedule
Fake Games:
11/12/10: Western Mich
11/16/10: IPFW Mastodons! (awesome nickname)
2010 Paradise Jam @ The Virgin Islands:
11/19/10: Iowa
11/20/10: Alabama or Seton Hall
11/22/10: Clemson, Long Beach State, Old Dominion, or St. Peters
11/27/10: Wofford
12/01/10: @Miami
12/09/10: Butler (tic toc, bitches)
12/18/10: Wake Forest
12/22/10: @Gonzaga
12/28/10: Albany NY
12/31/10: Florida
01/06/11: @Cincinnati for the Benefit for Former Girlfriends of Former UC Players who “Fell” Down Stairs Game
01/09/11: @Rhode Island
01/12/11: Umass
01/15/11: Dayton…W
01/19/11: @St. Bonaventure
01/22/11: Temple
01/26/11: George Washington
01/29/11: @Richmond
02/02/11: @Charlottte
02/05/11: St. Louis
02/08/11: @Georgia
02/13/11: @Duquesne
02/16/11: @St. Joe’s
02/19/11: Fordham
02/22/11: La Salle
02/27/11: @Dayton*
03/02/11: Charlotte
03/05/11: @St. Louis
03/08/11 through 03/13/11: Atlantic 10 Championship Tournament
*I hate Dayton
Another wonderful job by Xavier’s Athletic Department. Again The Muskies are showing confidence in their schedule, knowing that they will win some of the high-profile, non-conference games and be a shoo-in in the NCAA Tournament. Some 10 or so games on the ESPNs, some more CBS Sports games, and a great pre-season tournament at the Virgin Islands (they wouldn’t be the Virgin Islands anymore if Anthony Myles was still on the team…).
I simply cannot wait. New Years Eve will be fun coming down to the Cintas Center to beat the Gators again. Finally all will be right in the world and I will have my Xavier Musketeers to cheer on while I enjoy a cold bottle of Budweiser. Good Times.
…just for future reference, bracket filler-inners.
XU is in the Sweet Sixteen for the THIRD YEAR IN A ROW after surviving a fury of Pitt comeback attempts last night. In ESPN’s addicting pick-’em game, Streak for Cash, only 15.9% of hopeful streakers bet their streak on the Musketeers to win. FOOLS! So X was a 6 seed and Pitt a 3. So what we lost to them last year (in the Sweet Sixteen) and are down a Derrick Brown, a CJ Anderson, and a BJ Raymond… and a sleaze bag coach… big deal. It’s Xavier, man.
Other NCAA Basketball fans must be baffled. UD fans (the ones that haven’t killed themselves yet) especially, who thought that this would be their chance to make a deep run. This was a “down year” for the good guys in Cincinnati, right? They’re the ninth youngest team in NCAA Division I ball. They weren’t even the highest seeded Atlantic 10 team in the tournament! Well then, I can’t wait for the upswing.
Truth is, this season has proven the program’s elevation. Xavier is not defined by a head coach, a star one-and-done player (although many NBA eyes are really seeing Jordan Crawford for something other than a dunk in a summer camp on a cell phone camera), or as just a miracle run-team in March. They are a constant in this Tournament. Dante Jackson and Joe Hughes don’t know what it is like not to go to the Sweet Sixteen (or to lose to UC). Remember, last coaching transitional season XU played in no post season games, and the year after only made the tournament by winning the A10 Tourney. Mack is already in cruising in a much higher gear.
This blog stated before the season that we had hoped for a Conference Title and a NCAA tourny birth. Done and done. We’ve all had an impacted assfull of “what could have been” talk (but could you imagine?), and we are once again in the national spotlight with a chance to be Elite, all thanks to the well oiled machine that is the hardest workin’ program in the NCAA. If any school wants the secret formula, it’s out there. Someone should really tell this guy. Sheesh, gotta love all those comments…
Not the best, but better than most… and right outside the door continuing to ride this formula closer and closer. Who knows, perhaps revenge game 2.0 against 2-seeded Kansas State this Thursday will be a booster shot upward. Hopefully the Musketeers show the Kansas State Generic Nicknames that they are not the same team that saw them early in the season and can give ’em hell.
Also, Jordan Crawford is really, really good at basketball.
And now, the best picture ever:
For the 5th straight year and 9 out of the past 10 our Xavier Musketeers get to take part in a little thing our country likes to call March Madness. Us X fans really need to try and not take this for granted, but at the same time getting an invite to NCAA Tournament has now become our expectation year in and year out.
A #6 seed seems about right. And we should feel lucky about this because our A-10 brethren kind of got the shaft in the seeding department. Richmond appeared to be a #6 seed as well and Temple may be the most miss-seeded team in the entire field. A four would have been the absolute lowest I’d have thought heading into Selection Sunday. Oh well, all three A-10 teams have decent opportunities to reach the Sweet Sixteen.
I hate admitting how much I like the draw Xavier got. Now don’t get me wrong, Minnesota has more than enough talent to beat us come Friday early afternoon, but we can just get past them we’ll have revenge factor match-ups against (barring upsets) Pittsburgh and Kansas State. And from there, take our chances against Syracuse.
But let’s put the brakes on that line of thought right quick. Minnesota is a good team coming from a good conference. Tubby Smith is an interesting character from my perspective. Where I’m from it’s all about Kentucky, Louisville and Indiana basketball. And Tubby was basically run out of Kentucky because of what they deemed poor results. His son Saul, now an assistant on the team, was probably the most hated player I’ve ever seen by his own fans. I mean people truly hated him. He was a solid player, but by UK fan’s insane standards, he just wasn’t up to par. Throw in the coach’s kid factor and the hate only intensified. So it will be weird having both of them in my life for a couple hours Friday afternoon.
A couple things to expect from Tubby teams is solid half-court man to man defense and a motion half-court offense. Basically a classic Big Ten team. They do not appear to be overly athletic in the games I’ve seen them play in this year which is what we’ve struggled with the entire season. They have some very good wins and some kinda bad losses. So it’s hard to know what to expect from them come game time.
Chris Mack is the only rookie Head Coach to guide his team to the NCAA Tournament this year. He’s been apart of the past few trips with this team as well so it’s hard to imagine he would be overwhelmed by the process of getting the team ready to play Minnesota. And with Jason, Dante, Jamel, Kenny, Terrell and Brad all having multiple tourney wins on their resumes I would think the players look upon this as a business trip and not a joy ride.
Once again, this bracket sets up very well for us, but we must get the ball rolling and start off with a victory over Minnesota. It’s the most important time of the year dammit!
Let’s Go X!
After another regular season title (although this time we gotta share). We Xavier fans have become very spoiled. So good times! Chris Mack and company have shown great improvement as the team embark on what will hopefully be a successful A-10 tournament.
Winning the tournament for the first time since 2006 would be a great accomplishment because it would probably take consecutive wins over Dayton, Richmond and Temple in as many days. Plus, with Dayton needing the win to get back to the bubble and Richmond out for revenge just getting to the title game would be great. Honestly, I just want to see my boys on CBS in HD for a national television audience.
Now it’s time to bring up the requisite hate brought on by the A-10 and their post season awards. For Jordan Crawford not to be named the conference POY is just mind boggling. Not only is he superior in almost every statistical category but we finished tied for 1st in the league. Oh by way, Jordan was just named Sporting News 3rd team All-American. Same goes for Jason Love only getting 3rd team all A-10. Jason could be the best big man in the league. But it’s whatevs… And to anyone reading this that isn’t a Xavier fan I fully realize that we are an arrogant fan base. At least a decent chunk of it anyways. And to that I say, “sorry I’m not sorry.”
Right now Lunardi has us a #6 seed. If our boys can win the aforementioned three games in row this weekend then it’s probably safe to assume a #5 seed would be in order. But really, I am just happy to have piece of mind to know that we are in the tournament regardless. Hopefully the players don’t feel that way and come out tomorrow night to put Dayton out of its misery.
Let’s go X!
Musketeer Blogosphere 
