Sweet 16!

[xubball93]

What a comeback! Amber was not to be denied!!!

[D-West & PO-Z]

Great finish! Amber Harris is a monster, I had no doubt she would score there. Great to have the men and women in the sweet 16. Now they get Gonzaga.

[Retire33]

That was very well played game. Both sides draining 3s back and forth, an intense comeback, and a well deserved win.

How many teams with men and women in sweet 16?

[XUOWNSUC]

Unbelievable! Holy crap! I thought that Vandy put-back after the missed three-pointer was goiong in! Way to go Lady Muskies!

[Drew's Crew]

WOW, Amber Harris just TOOK OVER that game.

Fantastic win for the X women and I am so happy for McGuff that he finally got the Sweet Sixteen monkey off his back.

To begin their game against Gonzaga, they need to just give Amber Harris the damn ball. She and Phillips need to really impose their will if X has a chance to win.

[KC4X]

And Katie hit some threes just in time!

Congratulations, ladies!

GO X!!

[The_Mack_Pack]

What a comeback, that was awesome. Kill those Zags.

[NoDaker84]

Hats off to the ladies on a great comeback and punching at ticket to the Sweet 16!! The revenge tour continues!! Beat the Zags!!

[BandAid]

Congratulations Ladies! Way to storm back at the end!

2nd Sweet 16 all time for the women. Well deserved.

:sword:

[xuwin]

They need to hit some three's to keep teams from sagging in the middle and fortunately Rutan started hitting them in the end. The lack of ability to hit the three's is what got them in the hole. Rutan has really been cold in the tournament up until those last three shots so maybe that will get her going. If Rutan's scoring from the outside they are almost impossible to stop. They also really tightened up the defense those last 5 minutes.

[xuwin]

Phillips has been a monster on the boards.
38 rebounds in 2 games.

[rhyno2110]

Boy, did that feel good or what? I mean, what a comeback. I can't give Harris and Phillips enough credit, as well as Routan for stepping up big time at the end. She really struggled at first, and her defense seemed shotty, but Katie picked a good time to pick up her play.

Pleas just give it to Phillips and Harris the whole game against the Zags. I'm pleasantly beggin you Mcguff:D. Congrats ladies!

[blobfan]

Way to go ladies!!!

[jakeXU]

Awesome, awesome comeback by the XU women! Every time it looked like Vandy made a back breaking 3, Rutan answered back with one of her own! Glad to see the women advancing in the tourney because my cousin that played for the women in the 90s is what led me to become a huge X fan in the first place! GO X!

[American X]

High awesomeness. Congratulations ladies.

Willy Wonka's factory is practically on Victory Parkway it is so Sweet these days.

[xudash]

Well done ladies.

Way to stick with it. Vandy seemed to not be able to miss there for a few key minutes.

You stuck with it and made Xavier proud.

No kick some west coast Jesuit butt!!

[JimmyTwoTimes37]

Boy, did that feel good or what? I mean, what a comeback. I can't give Harris and Phillips enough credit, as well as Routan for stepping up big time at the end
Pleas just give it to Phillips and Harris the whole game against the Zags. I'm pleasantly beggin you Mcguff:D. Congrats ladies!

And Speeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeecial

What a great comeback and everyone contributed!

[XU05and07]

Great finish! Amber Harris is a monster, I had no doubt she would score there. Great to have the men and women in the sweet 16. Now they get Gonzaga.

The men and women are on revenge tours right now

[xuwin]

Unfortunately in women's ball everybody is playing for 2nd place. UConn has won their first two games by 110 points.

[WCWIII]

Congrats Lady Muskies! You do us alumni proud. Great to watch on the U - the crowd sounded great!

Xavier women ... the first Xavier team to the Elite 8!

[X-band '01]

Certainly the crowd came alive in the final 8 minutes - nobody was sitting down after that point. It wasn't just Vandy not missing; they were setting perfect screens just about every time to free up #20 behind the arc.

They had absolutely no answer for Amber or Ta'Shia down low, and Phillips had most of her points on putback shots. All it took was one 3 for Katie to finally get going and set the table for Amber. Vandy has to be devastated considering they had control of the game for 37-38 minutes.

But, as people have realized, the women will now have a revenge game against Gonzaga. Their player Vandersloot (sp?) torched Xavier last year, but Xavier will now have the twin bigs down low this year (they missed Amber last year at this time). Excellent comeback tonight.

[X-band '01]

That was very well played game. Both sides draining 3s back and forth, an intense comeback, and a well deserved win.

How many teams with men and women in sweet 16?

So far, just Xavier and Tennessee. West Virginia could be the 3rd team to do so.

[coasterville95]

Wow, what an exciting game. The structural integrity of the lower bowl may never be the same, what with all the standing up, jumping up and down and yelling at the top of your lungs. (I personally have no voice right now, thank goodness this is text)

Gotta admit the chips looked down more than once during that game. The start wasn't the best we could have hoped for, but we dug ourselves back to even for the halftime.

In the second half it looked like they were going to put on the Three Point Clinic, at times it looked like we were playing 5 on 8 ball if you know what I mean. What was it Under 4? Under 3? 10 down.

Then it happened, Amber Harris took the team on her back, and she pulled a Crawford. That was a statement win, the statement was "We WILL get to the Sweet 16 if I have to put the entire team on my back to do it!" From the under 8 TO for most of the second half, if you were sitting down you'd didn't see much of the game. Talk about your electric atmosphere.

I almost had a XU/Pitt like heart attack when Vandy got what 2 or 3 shots on goal in the final 5 seconds of the game, any one of which would have sent us home with thoughts of "What might have been"

So XU stats experts - how long has it been since our Women's team last made Sweet 16?

There is something sweet at Cintas Center, and its not the overpriced cotton candy!

On a nuetral court, we would have lost that, at Vandy, it would have been ugly. No wait, can anything be uglier than the buzzsaw the Temple Owls ran into?

Vandy may have had the better band, they may have had more cheerleaders, they may have gien every vandy fan in the place a free pom pom. But, when it really counted, the 6th Man award goes to the thousands of screaming Xavier fans who may have just redefined Rowdy.

And we get to host this tournament again next year? Major Kudos to whomever at Xavier decided to land a tournament hosting contract! Program changing play, right there!

HOW SWEET IT IS! March Madness is truly the monst wonderful time of the year!

ESPN tells me the turnstile report was 3,637 - it sure as heck sounded like 10,250 in there during the final 3 minutes of the game!

:logo: :shield: :sword:

Forget the A-10, do we have to put the ENTIRE STATE OF OHIO on our backs when it comes to men's and women's basketball??!!??

The Show is making its way out West, playing at both Sacramento and Salt Lake City!

Have I reached the exuberance limit for one post?

[JAPER]

way to go XU! Way to search for the soul in the closing minutes! Very excited for your accomplishments.

Also want to give a shout out to former coach Balcomb for continuing to do things the right way.

Coach McGuff and company Keep the ball rolling. Congrats seniors and parents!

[XURunner85]

Just got home from the game. It was awesome. Surf and I sat in the front row behind the Vandy cheerleaders (yes they have some good looking cheerleaders)....by the 10 minute mark we did nothing but stand and yell and scream. And all of it sober. It was an incredible game....Both programs with sweet16 teams in the same year...wow

[xu_fan]

So far, just Xavier and Tennessee. West Virginia could be the 3rd team to do so.

Kentucky also

[X-band '01]

Duke and Baylor are also part of the list now.

[SixFig]

Have I reached the exuberance limit for one post?

Wait till Thursday at about midnight:D

[blobfan]

Just got home from the game. It was awesome. Surf and I sat in the front row behind the Vandy cheerleaders (yes they have some good looking cheerleaders)....by the 10 minute mark we did nothing but stand and yell and scream. And all of it sober. It was an incredible game....Both programs with sweet16 teams in the same year...wow

That would have been too close to that creepy mascot for my comfort. He/it is going to give me nightmares.

Definitely got our money's worth with this game. The crowd was mad at the end. I've been to quieter Crosstown Shootouts.

[XU-PA]

So XU stats experts - how long has it been since our Women's team last made Sweet 16?



Not an expert, but it was 2001. That year they had home games, blew through the first 2 rounds at Cintas, then went on the road and knocked of Tennesee to go to the elite, lost there to Purdue.

That team had 3 players drafted to the WNBA. Jen Phillips, Tar Tuukannen and Nicole Levandusky. Nicole ended up being the only one who played and she was on a WNBA champion with LA.


Gonzaga????? Crap, another team that loves the 3 ball, I'm not sure my heart can take another!

[coasterville95]

I took a few general photos of the seating bowl so you can see what all they did to prepare the seating area for the games:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/coasterville/sets/72157623557843179/

The best $54 I spent on Xavier Women's basketball this year:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4026/4459248542_4069995bbb.jpg

[xuwin]

Not an expert, but it was 2001. That year they had home games, blew through the first 2 rounds at Cintas, then went on the road and knocked of Tennesee to go to the elite, lost there to Purdue.

That team had 3 players drafted to the WNBA. Jen Phillips, Tar Tuukannen and Nicole Levandusky. Nicole ended up being the only one who played and she was on a WNBA champion with LA.


Gonzaga????? Crap, another team that loves the 3 ball, I'm not sure my heart can take another!

I'm not sure why Xavier has so much trouble defending the three ball. With the twin towers underneath they should be able to overplay the three point shooters without having to worry too much about getting beat off the dribble.

[XU-PA]

Just a thought from one who is not even close to being an expert. But watching the defense play, Xaiver seems to be very "help" oriented, meaning that those ladies are flying all over the court trying to force a trap with a double team, or keep a pass from getting inside, and switching quick on screens away from the basket. When you have bigs like Ta'Shia and Amber you are going to be a little slower across the lineup. While Special, Alesia, and Mossy can fly to the ball, a very very quick pass and a 3 point shooter that has a quick release has a chance at beating it. Defending a very good 3 point shooting team is much harder than it looks, when you over committ to try and tie up a three point shooter, then there are times when a simple ball screen can free a big for an uncontested layup. K-Mac's defense wants to be all places at all times, not the easiest thing in the world to do.
On the other side of the coin, XU has seen a slew of very good perimeter shooting opponents of late, and every one of them has gone down to defeat. I think the combination they have this year, Amber, Ta'Shia, playing down low, Dee-Dee and April slashing feeding, Mossy, Katie, Special and help from Alessia on the perimeter add up to be one hell of a potent offense, they've been able to be just a couple points better than some very tough opponents in the last couple weeks.

[JimmyTwoTimes37]

From what the analysts were saying, Gonzaga plays a lot like Vandy - except they are bigger...
But I agree with everyone on here about our 3 point shooting defense.