Honorary Steel Ballz Award - Georgetown

[BandAid]

Time for our second Honorary Steel Ballz Award in as many games. This edition is for the best performer in today's roadkill: Georgetown.

It was kind of hard to select the top three for tonight. Myles was a definite, Remy and Stain's defense were superlative, Dee continued his clean play, and Trevon kind of quietly filled out the stat sheet.



Candidates:

Myles Davis - 19 points on 6/9 shooting (3/5 from 3, 4/4 from the line), 5 assists and 3 rebounds

Matt Stainbrook - 12 points on 4/6 shooting (4/5 from the line), 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and defensive effort against Josh Smith

Remy Abell - 11 points on 3/7 shooting (5/6 from the line), 8 rebounds and defensive effort against D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera

Other - please include who ya got and why



Remember, don't let the stats alone dictate your choice. Consider their entire effect on the game.

All stats from goxavier.com.

[XMuskieFTW]

Myles. He has really seemed to turn the corner in all facets of his game the past few weeks. Obviously his scoring has increased, but also his 8 rebounds from Saturday and all his assists leading to points tonight rounded out nicely. Let me lastly mention his defense. Oh his defense. He was absolutely abysmal on defense a month or two ago. Tonight I saw a defensive intensity from him I honestly did not think he was capable of. His defense tonight was night and day from a few weeks ago. Although he made one questionable play off the top of my head when he went to cover DSR when remy fell down to leave his man wide open, aside from that he played great team defense. Defense was what had been most lacking in his game and most exciting to see from him tonight. If he can keep that defense up along with the D we get from remy, stainbrook, and dee, we will be very solid.

[D-West & PO-Z]

This is easier than last time.

Myles. Heart of our team at this point in my opinion. Think he has the ability to carry us and has the most refuse to lose type mentality of anyone on our team.

[wkrq59]

This was the best team defense I have seen Xavier play since the days of Stanley Burrell and Dante Jackson. But the most impressive stat to me was 14 assists on 18 made field goals. That my friends (and enemies for that matter) is teamwork. That and 90.5 percent free throw shooting in the second half when Georgetown was mounting comeback after comeback with their fans screaming and pressure the greatest. That was fine wine. Between them Myles and Dee had: 26 points, 11 assists, 1 ONE turnover, six rebounds and two steals and Dee had a second black eye to match the one he got last Saturday. Incidentally, where were the fouls on those two eye shots. The one was obvious Tuesday night and the other, an elbow, should have resulted in a Flagrant 2 and disqualification or at least Flagrant 1, a couple of shots and the ball. Oh well, can't have everything. Was also impressed by the oft maligned Chris Mack for his game management, substitutions, and overall coaching.

[XU-PA]

Normally I would go with Myles, because of his offensive output in the first half. Those shots, and his infectious attitude really whipped the team into a positive frenzy.
BUT,,,, for the second time, Remy owned DSR, absolutely shut him down. No small feat, and this was a defensive victory
Give it to Remy!

[XUFan09]

Myles, with the honorary mention going to Dee for getting knocked around yet not backing down.

[XUOWNSUC]

Normally I would go with Myles, because of his offensive output in the first half. Those shots, and his infectious attitude really whipped the team into a positive frenzy.
BUT,,,, for the second time, Remy owned DSR, absolutely shut him down. No small feat, and this was a defensive victory
Give it to Remy!

Agreed - Remy.

[bleedXblue]

I would like to nominate the TEAM. Without Remy, Myles, Dee, Stain etc. doing what they did, we don't get this W.......Steel Balls for ALL!

If pressed I would have to give it to my man, Myles though!

[Masterofreality]

No question a team win.

Myles for making shots early and giving the team confidence.
Stain for containing Smith.
Remy for containing Smith-Rivera
Dee for overall floor Generalship.
Positive contributions from the rest.

Yeah, baby!

[chico]

Myles, with the honorary mention going to Dee for getting knocked around yet not backing down.

Agreed.

[MADXSTER]

DSR will probably get BE POY and Remy shut him down twice. HUGE

[kyxu]

DSR will probably get BE POY and Remy shut him down twice. HUGE

I don't know about "shut him down." DSR averaged 15.5 ppg in both games against us. I would say Remy contained him and/or didn't allow DSR to beat us, which DSR is certainly capable of doing.

[xu82]

With all due respect to the great job by Remy, the way Myles took over the primary ball handling duties when Dee was out (or helped when he was in), plus the obvious stats, put him over the top for me. I thought of him much more of a shooter and less of a "get it up the floor against pressure guy" in the past, but that's been changing.

[drudy23]

I gotta go with Myles...him stepping up his game IN A SMART WAY has improved this team.

[LA Muskie]

I don't know about "shut him down." DSR averaged 15.5 ppg in both games against us. I would say Remy contained him and/or didn't allow DSR to beat us, which DSR is certainly capable of doing.

All points are not equal. Remy kept DSR from being a factor in both games. DSR didn't even score until the 2nd half yesterday. Remy played outstanding D against DSR in both games, which contributed significantly to both wins (not a coincidence...). Debating whether it was "shutdown" D misses the point.

[drudy23]

Agreed...by the time DSR got some juice, it was too late. He hit a couple late second half threes that gave them some hope, but that was the extent of it.

[xuwin]

I'll take Stainbrook for his ability to control Smith for the second time this year. He had the toughest job on the floor and handled it well.

[kyxu]

All points are not equal. Remy kept DSR from being a factor in both games. DSR didn't even score until the 2nd half yesterday. Remy played outstanding D against DSR in both games, which contributed significantly to both wins (not a coincidence...). Debating whether it was "shutdown" D misses the point.

Good point. Agreed.

[gladdenguy]

Myles Davis is a completely different player. He takes it to the rim hard. He's going up strong and drawing fouls and we have known he can knock down his freebies. So now he has an arsenal.....not just deadly from long range.

Add to all that being the vocal leader of this team and Chris Mack has a big time weapon. Other players will respect him much more because not only is he leading vocally.....but now he's leading by example on the court (25 and 19 in the last 2 games).

What a transformation from year one to two. Hope he keeps it up because he is fun to watch. I like the head shaved too.

[XUFan09]

All points are not equal. Remy kept DSR from being a factor in both games. DSR didn't even score until the 2nd half yesterday. Remy played outstanding D against DSR in both games, which contributed significantly to both wins (not a coincidence...). Debating whether it was "shutdown" D misses the point.

Also, DSR was not very efficient in this game, with an offensive rating of 79 (100 is a point per possession). That's different from the last game, where he was actually pretty efficient (109) at an extremely high usage rate, though I think once again, he didn't really start scoring until Xavier had a bit of a lead in the second half.

[BandAid]

Myles Davis is a completely different player. He takes it to the rim hard. He's going up strong and drawing fouls and we have known he can knock down his freebies. So now he has an arsenal.....not just deadly from long range.

Add to all that being the vocal leader of this team and Chris Mack has a big time weapon. Other players will respect him much more because not only is he leading vocally.....but now he's leading by example on the court (25 and 19 in the last 2 games).

What a transformation from year one to two. Hope he keeps it up because he is fun to watch. I like the head shaved too.

Yes. He should keep that look. Might've been the biggest improvement over the DePaul game.

[xu82]

While I voted for Myles, I'm not sure I'd want to hope for steel ballz for anyone I like who ever planned to do any air travel.

[bobbiemcgee]

The play at the end of the game where Myles just ripped the ball from two G'Town guys without getting tied up, and then pushed it down the left side of the court before being fouled, was my fav. Showed guts and deterrmination. Hopefully, the bench was watching. this is how you get starts.

[xu82]

The play at the end of the game where Myles just ripped the ball from two G'Town guys without getting tied up, and then pushed it down the left side of the court before being fouled, was my fav. Showed guts and deterrmination. Hopefully, the bench was watching. this is how you get starts.

He rebounds very aggressively. I love that about him, and I hope it rubs off on the others who may need a boost in aggressiveness on both ends.

[smileyy]

Myles is such a different player compared to last year.

[XU-PA]

Myles Davis is a completely different player.,,,,,, Hope he keeps it up because he is fun to watch. I like the head shaved too.

Keep the goatee coming out, and keep the dome shaved clean, he looks more and more like a David West "mini me", in appearance and the way he is able to rally the troops around him.
Lovin it!!!!