Top 25 Accountability

[STL_XUfan]

Thought this was a good article on ESPN.com. It grades all of their preseason picks based on what we know now. Hopefully they will do this a few more times throughout the season.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=oneil_dana&id=5923108

My favorite line in the article is about the awful ranking of UNC: "We're human. We're susceptible to those meaningless buzzwords like "upside" and "potential" like everyone else and with the Tar Heels, we got sucked into the vortex of hype. Expecting a freshman (Harrison Barnes) to lift a team out of its doldrums was probably a little silly -- although, as with all these teams, it's still early."

[smileyy]

A freshman can lift a team out of the doldrums. But you have to be better than Harrison Barnes to do it.

[GoMuskies]

Xavier, for one, is going to be counting on freshmen to do a lot of heavy lifting next year, that's for certain!

[The_Mack_Pack]

Xavier, for one, is going to be counting on freshmen to do a lot of heavy lifting next year, that's for certain!

I feel like the only freshman we need to be really good next season is Martin, a redshirt, and it's not like he needs to be a star player either. We'll be very deep at every position next season baring any injuries or early departures.

[GoMuskies]

Unless Jay Canty becomes a new man, I think we're going to need Dez Wells to be more than your average freshman as well.

[The_Mack_Pack]

Unless Jay Canty becomes a new man, I think we're going to need Dez Wells to be more than your average freshman as well.

Yea SF will be the biggest problem with experience next season. Luckily we won't need Canty or Wells to be big scorers next season, just solid defenders and rebounders. With Holloway, Lyons, Redford, Martin, Frease, and Taylor next season there will be plenty of guys looking to score over Canty/ Wells.

[SixFig]

Since freshman only learn one position in Mack's system, I wonder what position Wells will learn. SG or SF?

Will Jay Canty learn the SG in addition to the SF he is learning now?

Will position will Justin Martin learn? Will he learn more than one because it is his second year in the system, albeit in a non-playing role.

Where does Redford factor in?

Who is the starting SF next year? Methinks its Canty.

Who is the starting PF? Takeoff Travis Taylor or Robinson?


So many questions but they are all great problems to have, especially compared to this year's lack of depth.

[Muskied]

Unless Jay Canty becomes a new man, I think we're going to need Dez Wells to be more than your average freshman as well.

New man, or maybe he just spends the next 275 days learning Xavier basketball...which will be 3x as much time as he's had already. As much as I'd love to see our new 18 year old players get it already, its mostly unreasonable. Remember, the best thing about freshman...they become sophmores.

Next year we'll have Redford and 5 players who have been in the system for a year, and will be able to contribute vastly over this year....Wells may be the most prepared, and earn minutes, but I woudn't say we'll DEPEND on him.

[xavierj]

Unless Jay Canty becomes a new man, I think we're going to need Dez Wells to be more than your average freshman as well.

I like jay canty and think he will be a very good xavier player. He will play big minutes by March.

[CinciX12]

Props to them for doing this. Hopefully we get to a point where we don't even bother with preseason rankings.

[smileyy]

Props to them for doing this. Hopefully we get to a point where we don't even bother with preseason rankings.

qft