Are we in the Sweet Sixteen ?

[JTG]

Well, I'm on my monthly business trip to the Carolinas. Got off the plane in Raleigh at 8am, and got into my satellite radio equipped rental car. Listened to ESPN, Mad Dog Sports and College Sports Radio. Heard Tom Izzo interviewed a zillion times, heard Seth ( I'd have trouble coaching against a CYO team) Greenberg, and others. No mention of X by anyone until 4:30 this afternoon by Mark Packer, on his College Sports Show. I was just about to call the XU athletic dept. and ask if we had somehow been disqualified. Granted, we are a heavy dog to Zona, but networks were even interviewing coaches who lost. It's like we are a 16 seed playing against the Jordan Bulls.
To Mark Packers credit, he did mention our 3 trips to the S16, and that it would be an interesting game due to Miller and Mack both being at X, before Miller left.
Hope we manage to make a game of it. Like someone said , Zona would beat us 9 times out of 10, but we only need to be better than them once for 40 minutes.

Go X

[X-band '01]

Chris Mack was also on Jim Rome's radio show today.

Audio Interview - about 8 minutes long (http://jimrome.com/2015/03/23/chris-mack/)

There are also links to previous Chris Mack interviews on the page, including his interview from November when he also discussed Lauren Hill's game at Cintas earlier this season.

[THRILLHOUSE]

Mack was on Jim Rome's show today.

*edit* XBand just beat me to it, and even posted a link. Pubic reps to him.

[GoMuskies]

I think we're kind of "sneaking up on people" since we didn't have a real storyline to our two wins. To most people, we are probably just the team that was fortunate enough to get two double digit seeds in the first two rounds and knocked out one of the fun Cinderellas. Neither of our games would have been particularly memorable to anyone who's not a Xavier fan, either (which is a good thing). Xavier will start to be a story when Myles Davis hits a three at the 10 minute mark of the second half to give us our first lead of the game Thursday night.

[Snipe]

I love sneaking up on people. I love the Sweet 16.

We are going to ride roughshod over Arizona. Hope Miller got the Lexus roadside assistance package.

[MADXSTER]

Dave Rose was interviewed and was excited about playing in the sweet sixteen. ;)

[markchal]

Someone needs to let the media know one of our players is an uber driver. They might be interested in that.

[xu82]

Someone needs to let the media know one of our players is an uber driver. They might be interested in that.

That might result in an exposé on Uber, with a bobblehead on the dashboard that may (or may not) have had an "X" on it. Maybe an X hat on a seat. The media seems to be on board with our stealth approach. Or, responsible for it

[wkrq59]

that might result in an exposé on uber, with a bobblehead on the dashboard that may (or may not) have had an "x" on it. Maybe an x hat on a seat. The media seems to be on board with our stealth approach. Or, responsible for it

sadly, not in this town.. Enemaquirer sucketh

[X-band '01]

Dave Rose was interviewed and was excited about playing in the sweet sixteen. ;)

Carolina fans have to be bent that the media only wants to talk about BYU-Arizona and the potential Arizona-Wisconsin matchup.

[Masterofreality]

Driving that Buick to LA.....and riding dirty!
1684

[Caveat]

Driving that Buick to LA.....and riding dirty!
1684

Stainbrook has his Buick ready. It's off to L.A.

http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2014/1210/ncb_stainbrook_ms_608x342.jpg

[JTG]

Who is Dave Rose , why should we care ?

[X-Fan]

Dave Rose was interviewed and was excited about playing in the sweet sixteen. ;)


Who is Dave Rose , why should we care ?
He's the head coach of BYU.

THAT was funny MADXSTER! Reps!

[RealDeal]

I didn't read it, but didn't paul d write a column on huggins yesterday? Wow, really?

[Muskie]

The Indianapolis Star ranked all of the remaining teams in the Sweet 16. We were ranked last. They pointed out (correctly) they we played the weakest two teams to get there (on paper).

I still don't care. X is in the Sweet 16.

[xavierj]

The Indianapolis Star ranked all of the remaining teams in the Sweet 16. We were ranked last. They pointed out (correctly) they we played the weakest two teams to get there (on paper).

I still don't care. X is in the Sweet 16.

The weakest teams with one giving KY its biggest scare on their home court.

[GoMuskies]

The Indianapolis Star ranked all of the remaining teams in the Sweet 16. We were ranked last. They pointed out (correctly) they we played the weakest two teams to get there (on paper).

I still don't care. X is in the Sweet 16.

Better to be the weakest team standing than the best team eliminated (I'm looking at you Villanova!).

[boozehound]

The Indianapolis Star ranked all of the remaining teams in the Sweet 16. We were ranked last. They pointed out (correctly) they we played the weakest two teams to get there (on paper).

I still don't care. X is in the Sweet 16.

I don't really have a problem with that, and frankly tt's quite possibly an accurate statement. I don't think many of us thought this was a Sweet 16 team for most of the season. That's how the tournament works: you make the dance every year (or almost every year) with a good team and a decent seed and sometimes you catch a few breaks. Many of the teams that have gone on to make a Final Four have had some lucky breaks in the tournament and aren't necessarily the 'best' 4 teams, or the 4 teams that played the toughest schedule.

[Steve A]

While I hate him, Doug Gottlieb did have Matt Stainbrook on his show Monday. It was a very good interview. Unfortunately, he did not apologize for being a total complete moron towards X on Selection Sunday.

EDIT: Sorry, didn't see this posted in another thread.

[nuts4xu]

I am over the whole Rodney Dangerfield way of thinking. We keep making sweet 16 appearances, and winning big games, people will know who we are and give us plenty of respect.

[D-West & PO-Z]

There is no way UCLA is better than XU. And it isnt like they lit it up to get to the Sweet 16. They beat SMU on a controversial last second goaltending call and then beat UAB who isnt better than GA St. But as others have said, who cares, we are in the Sweet 16, again.

[XUFan09]

There is no way UCLA is better than XU. And it isnt like they lit it up to get to the Sweet 16. They beat SMU on a controversial last second goaltending call and then beat UAB who isnt better than GA St. But as others have said, who cares, we are in the Sweet 16, again.
I would have much rather faced UAB. They didn't have an NBA prospect leading them.

[Xavier]

The Indianapolis Star ranked all of the remaining teams in the Sweet 16. We were ranked last. They pointed out (correctly) they we played the weakest two teams to get there (on paper).

I still don't care. X is in the Sweet 16.

ESPN did something similar, Xavier was 11th.

[XUFan09]

The Indianapolis Star ranked all of the remaining teams in the Sweet 16. We were ranked last. They pointed out (correctly) they we played the weakest two teams to get there (on paper).

I still don't care. X is in the Sweet 16.
It's such weak reasoning, though. Should Wisconsin be ranked lower than UNC because they only faced a 16 and an 8 instead of a 13 and a 5?

I like the parenthetical "on paper" comment. The way Georgia State played, they would have beat a few of the Round of 32 opponents but instead they faced Xavier.

[XAVI3R23]

Just win baby, Thursday night can not get here soon enough.

[Muskie]

It's such weak reasoning, though. Should Wisconsin be ranked lower than UNC because they only faced a 16 and an 8 instead of a 13 and a 5?

I like the parenthetical "on paper" comment. The way Georgia State played, they would have beat a few of the Round of 32 opponents but instead they faced Xavier.
The parenthetical comments were mine. The way I see it. X played who the committee put in front of them.

We are in the Sweet 16. Anything can happen. Remember everyone was picking Texas 10 years ago.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[X-Fan]

I didn't read it, but didn't paul d write a column on huggins yesterday? Wow, really?

It was his TML (The Morning Line) daily blog post. He lead with Huggins, talked about UC, and then gave X like 20 characters. Said he just listened to the 2nd half on the radio as he was driving back from Lexington. Like it would have killed him to find a local sports bar, watch the game, and delay his drive a couple hours. Paul wont come out and say it, but he could give a chit about Xavier. In some senses I'd prefer if he'd not talk about them, because his opinion is uneducated when it comes to X.

[LadyMuskie]

It was his TML (The Morning Line) daily blog post. He lead with Huggins, talked about UC, and then gave X like 20 characters. Said he just listened to the 2nd half on the radio as he was driving back from Lexington. Like it would have killed him to find a local sports bar, watch the game, and delay his drive a couple hours. Paul wont come out and say it, but he could give a chit about Xavier. In some senses I'd prefer if he'd not talk about them, because his opinion is uneducated when it comes to X.

His opinion is uneducated about just about everything. I'd say he's a hack, but that's unfair to hack writers. What's below hack? Let's put it this way, if a column of his appeared with nothing but rude, elementary cave drawings in it I'd applaud that he's finally acknowledged his true level of ability.

[RealDeal]

It was his TML (The Morning Line) daily blog post. He lead with Huggins, talked about UC, and then gave X like 20 characters. Said he just listened to the 2nd half on the radio as he was driving back from Lexington. Like it would have killed him to find a local sports bar, watch the game, and delay his drive a couple hours. Paul wont come out and say it, but he could give a chit about Xavier. In some senses I'd prefer if he'd not talk about them, because his opinion is uneducated when it comes to X.

It's just so pathetic that he and others in this town can't let go of the train wreck that is huggs (and his family). Paul is a low major writer, he should cover the kardashians (sp?) and housewives reality shows.

[markchal]

I'm not surprised we don't get more mentions. A lot of the talk goes to the power teams still standing, because there are no Cinderellas. Even locally, is it really newsworthy anymore? "Xavier goes to another Sweet 16" is getting to be as common a headline as "Another disagreement over the streetcar."

[XU 87]

It's such weak reasoning, though. Should Wisconsin be ranked lower than UNC because they only faced a 16 and an 8 instead of a 13 and a 5?

I like the parenthetical "on paper" comment. The way Georgia State played, they would have beat a few of the Round of 32 opponents but instead they faced Xavier.

I thought G. State was a decent team. They lacked some size but were very athletic, were well coached, and could shoot a bit. And Hunter's kid can play. I think he's an NBA potential first rounder.

[markchal]

I thought G. State was a decent team. They lacked some size but were very athletic, were well coached, and could shoot a bit. And Hunter's kid can play. I think he's an NBA potential first rounder.

I thought they were decent but there's a reason they had no marquee wins before Baylor. They were pounded by Iowa State, lost to Colorado St. and almost lost to IUPUI. They needed a 13-0 run to close out the game against Baylor. Impressive, yes, but I'm not sure how many of the round of 32 teams they would beat.

[ArizonaXUGrad]

Once in the tourney, there are no easy games unless you are Kentucky. You have to play your game, execute, and play defense to win. Period! Sweet 16 for this team is a bit beyond expectations for me, keep winning and make it WAY beyond them.


I thought they were decent but there's a reason they had no marquee wins before Baylor. They were pounded by Iowa State, lost to Colorado St. and almost lost to IUPUI. They needed a 13-0 run to close out the game against Baylor. Impressive, yes, but I'm not sure how many of the round of 32 teams they would beat.

[XUFan09]

I thought they were decent but there's a reason they had no marquee wins before Baylor. They were pounded by Iowa State, lost to Colorado St. and almost lost to IUPUI. They needed a 13-0 run to close out the game against Baylor. Impressive, yes, but I'm not sure how many of the round of 32 teams they would beat.
Don't get me wrong, their overall resume was weak. Everything was just clicking at the right time. Some of the Round of 32 losers didn't put together the best showing on Saturday/Sunday, though, and I'm just saying that Georgia State played better against Xavier than a few of those single-digit seeds against their Sweet 16 opponents. They played much better than fellow 14 seed UAB too. Xavier had one of the easier roads, but it's not like they faced a pair of crappy teams.

[XUFan09]

The parenthetical comments were mine. The way I see it. X played who the committee put in front of them.

We are in the Sweet 16. Anything can happen. Remember everyone was picking Texas 10 years ago.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I don't disagree with you. Just criticizing the reasoning for Xavier's ranking, as strength of schedule isn't everything.

[RealDeal]

I thought they were decent but there's a reason they had no marquee wins before Baylor. They were pounded by Iowa State, lost to Colorado St. and almost lost to IUPUI. They needed a 13-0 run to close out the game against Baylor. Impressive, yes, but I'm not sure how many of the round of 32 teams they would beat.

I know you're not sure, that's why they play the games.

[markchal]

I know you're not sure, that's why they play the games.

I said that in reference to the poster who said they would've beaten some round 2 teams. It was in no way a post to demean our accomplishment, you play who is in front of you. And the OP was right, they were playing pretty well, I just think their depth would've made another win tough to pull off.

[X-band '01]

I may have to rethink my premise on UCLA a little bit. Both the Bruins and Muskies have become the heels of this tournament this year. UCLA's win over Stanford is just like someone winning a WWE match after getting a shot in with a steel chair/brass knuckles.

[_LH]

I may have to rethink my premise on UCLA a little bit. Both the Bruins and Muskies have become the heels of this tournament this year. UCLA's win over Stanford is just like someone winning a WWE match after getting a shot in with a steel chair/brass knuckles.

Please make sure to let us know your conclusion.