Snipe
01-02-2016, 12:47 AM
Thursday was the first horrible few hours we have had this season. My prayers went out to Sumner from the get go and they keep flowing his way. My kids and I are huge fans of the young man and we would like to send our well wishes. Get Well Soon! (And my kids think your throwdowns are the greatest things ever).
I just want Edmond back healthy. We can beat Butler without him. Just knowing he seems to be doing fine is all I need right now.
Him going down was emotional for the players, families, coaches and fans. I was listening on the radio on my way to Danas to watch the game. I have never heard a place so quiet, and it went on for so long. I was terrified. You could have heard not only a pin drop, but one of Khans Krazy's farts in that auditorium. Which makes me smile, because if someone ripped one really loud in that sort of awkward situation it would be kind of classic. But seriously, I was emotional just driving the car and hearing the silence. I know it didn't last as long as I think it did but God it went on forever. By the time I got to Danas I didn't even want to go in I already felt so bad. I can only imagine what the players and coaches were feeling.
I don't think the play was dirty after seeing the replay but I have to confess I didn't really want to watch it or watch it more than once in slow mo. I just didn't want to see it.
I heard that some of the guys wear tearing up, like Larry Austin Jr. It is tough when your point guard goes down and then it looks like he might die, be paralyzed or never play again, and then you have to hand the ball over to the backup who is his teammate and friend who has tears in his eyes. And I don't fault LAJ. The kid is a soph, he is maybe 19 or 20, and he just saw something very traumatic happen to one of his friends and brothers in arms. Does it surprise me that he came out flat and less than exceptional? Hell no.
Some people have acted like this game proves LAJ is subpar. Give him a pass on this game please. That was not an easy experience. He is a Soph and our backup PG, and he is going to be able to do that job for us. I like the kid.
One guy left Danas and I am not making this up: We were down 30 and he was enraged and said that Coach Mack should be fired. Again, that actually happened. I was beside myself. I guess 12-0 and #6 in the nation isn't worth much to some people, not when you are about to lose your first game. FIRE COACH MACK!!! Again this guy is not a caricature that I made up. I can't even dismiss him as a UC or Dayton troll because it wasn't message-board-land, this guy is in full Xavier gear and he is at Danas for the Nova game.
Coach Mack was a bit shell shocked. I think it was classy that he tried to make sure Sumner's parents were informed that he was going to be OK. I am proud of him. I thought that maybe if we fought it back to 10 or 15 by half coach could rouse the spirits at half time to focus the team, but it was never going to happen. And give credit where credit is due, Nova is a great team and they were on fire. I don't think it was a dirty play, but I am all for using it to fire up message board controversy next time Nova comes to town. There is no populist cause that I will fail to exploit in my devotion to these Muskies.
Should Coach Mack or LAJ been more focused on winning this one single game? I don't know nor do I care. Check that, I actually am fine with the defeat. A season is a lifetime. This team isn't going undefeated, and nor is anyone else. I don't like that this happened, but if it is going to happen maybe @Nova is better than @St Johns. Nobody is ever going to question or hold this loss against us. We are still in the hunt for the title.
I think our first loss is a great time to take stock at the 12-0 run through the non-conference. It was a run that put us #1 in the RPI and #6 in the rankings. When #1 MSU went down we all got excited because a sweep of Nova and Butler meant we were going to get some first place votes, and beating them both convincingly might do astonishing things. I was so very pumped up I was doing everything to get off of work and meet friends for the game. Then Sumner goes down and you realize that this particular Thursday noontime game in December isn't very big at all in the scheme of things. It sucks to lose, and we lost some mojo and excitement. But we are playing a top 10 team today, and beating them will bring the drunken elixir of fanatic euphoria that we all crave. Having such a big game so soon could be a blessing or a curse to be frank. It is what it is, so lets make it a blessing. I put my faith in Coach Mack and the Boys in Blue.
At the end of the year and our schedules play our our non-con RPI could change. It might not be number 1. That wouldn't surprise me at all. But it isn't going to drop like a anvil either. I would expect us to stay Top 10, and couldn't imagine it to go below Top 20. Our non-con campaign is going to help us come Selection Sunday.
Also, and hear me out on this. I actually thank my lucky stars for every blow out loss we have, and this game was over in the first 10 minutes (or three minutes). The thing I love about blow out losses is that none of us at the end of the year will look back and say "If we only had that game, we would have been xxx" (Insert conference rank, poll rank, or NCAA seed, whatever you want for the xxx). When you lose a game on a fluke last shot, or some missed free throws, it hurts. When you lose a game because of some bad officiating in the final minute, your blood boils. Like say for instance, we played Butler a few years ago, you may have heard about the close loss we had. In fact I guarantee all Xavier fans still remember how poorly officiated that game was, and it wasn't just the shot clock/game clock fiasco. They had some horrible officiating in the last minute besides that. I was so incensed at that game that it not just ruined my day, it ruined several other times that year just thinking about it. I still remember it and you do to. This Nova game will leave no such scar on your memory, and long as we get our Freshman baby back, and he appears to be able to make a full recovery.
Let's beat Butler. Sumner or not, we got this. It is a home game. We do this and everything we want is still on track and on schedule.
Go Muskies!
I just want Edmond back healthy. We can beat Butler without him. Just knowing he seems to be doing fine is all I need right now.
Him going down was emotional for the players, families, coaches and fans. I was listening on the radio on my way to Danas to watch the game. I have never heard a place so quiet, and it went on for so long. I was terrified. You could have heard not only a pin drop, but one of Khans Krazy's farts in that auditorium. Which makes me smile, because if someone ripped one really loud in that sort of awkward situation it would be kind of classic. But seriously, I was emotional just driving the car and hearing the silence. I know it didn't last as long as I think it did but God it went on forever. By the time I got to Danas I didn't even want to go in I already felt so bad. I can only imagine what the players and coaches were feeling.
I don't think the play was dirty after seeing the replay but I have to confess I didn't really want to watch it or watch it more than once in slow mo. I just didn't want to see it.
I heard that some of the guys wear tearing up, like Larry Austin Jr. It is tough when your point guard goes down and then it looks like he might die, be paralyzed or never play again, and then you have to hand the ball over to the backup who is his teammate and friend who has tears in his eyes. And I don't fault LAJ. The kid is a soph, he is maybe 19 or 20, and he just saw something very traumatic happen to one of his friends and brothers in arms. Does it surprise me that he came out flat and less than exceptional? Hell no.
Some people have acted like this game proves LAJ is subpar. Give him a pass on this game please. That was not an easy experience. He is a Soph and our backup PG, and he is going to be able to do that job for us. I like the kid.
One guy left Danas and I am not making this up: We were down 30 and he was enraged and said that Coach Mack should be fired. Again, that actually happened. I was beside myself. I guess 12-0 and #6 in the nation isn't worth much to some people, not when you are about to lose your first game. FIRE COACH MACK!!! Again this guy is not a caricature that I made up. I can't even dismiss him as a UC or Dayton troll because it wasn't message-board-land, this guy is in full Xavier gear and he is at Danas for the Nova game.
Coach Mack was a bit shell shocked. I think it was classy that he tried to make sure Sumner's parents were informed that he was going to be OK. I am proud of him. I thought that maybe if we fought it back to 10 or 15 by half coach could rouse the spirits at half time to focus the team, but it was never going to happen. And give credit where credit is due, Nova is a great team and they were on fire. I don't think it was a dirty play, but I am all for using it to fire up message board controversy next time Nova comes to town. There is no populist cause that I will fail to exploit in my devotion to these Muskies.
Should Coach Mack or LAJ been more focused on winning this one single game? I don't know nor do I care. Check that, I actually am fine with the defeat. A season is a lifetime. This team isn't going undefeated, and nor is anyone else. I don't like that this happened, but if it is going to happen maybe @Nova is better than @St Johns. Nobody is ever going to question or hold this loss against us. We are still in the hunt for the title.
I think our first loss is a great time to take stock at the 12-0 run through the non-conference. It was a run that put us #1 in the RPI and #6 in the rankings. When #1 MSU went down we all got excited because a sweep of Nova and Butler meant we were going to get some first place votes, and beating them both convincingly might do astonishing things. I was so very pumped up I was doing everything to get off of work and meet friends for the game. Then Sumner goes down and you realize that this particular Thursday noontime game in December isn't very big at all in the scheme of things. It sucks to lose, and we lost some mojo and excitement. But we are playing a top 10 team today, and beating them will bring the drunken elixir of fanatic euphoria that we all crave. Having such a big game so soon could be a blessing or a curse to be frank. It is what it is, so lets make it a blessing. I put my faith in Coach Mack and the Boys in Blue.
At the end of the year and our schedules play our our non-con RPI could change. It might not be number 1. That wouldn't surprise me at all. But it isn't going to drop like a anvil either. I would expect us to stay Top 10, and couldn't imagine it to go below Top 20. Our non-con campaign is going to help us come Selection Sunday.
Also, and hear me out on this. I actually thank my lucky stars for every blow out loss we have, and this game was over in the first 10 minutes (or three minutes). The thing I love about blow out losses is that none of us at the end of the year will look back and say "If we only had that game, we would have been xxx" (Insert conference rank, poll rank, or NCAA seed, whatever you want for the xxx). When you lose a game on a fluke last shot, or some missed free throws, it hurts. When you lose a game because of some bad officiating in the final minute, your blood boils. Like say for instance, we played Butler a few years ago, you may have heard about the close loss we had. In fact I guarantee all Xavier fans still remember how poorly officiated that game was, and it wasn't just the shot clock/game clock fiasco. They had some horrible officiating in the last minute besides that. I was so incensed at that game that it not just ruined my day, it ruined several other times that year just thinking about it. I still remember it and you do to. This Nova game will leave no such scar on your memory, and long as we get our Freshman baby back, and he appears to be able to make a full recovery.
Let's beat Butler. Sumner or not, we got this. It is a home game. We do this and everything we want is still on track and on schedule.
Go Muskies!