If I have to lose, losing like this is OK. [Archive]

Snipe

02-10-2016, 12:57 AM

This is a team with a lot of youth. It is going to lose games.

I hate losing games where we blew a big lead. It busts me up and I want to have some violent retribution.

We lost this game from the outset, and I think that is outstanding. They never made us beg.

We went 1-20 from 3.

WOW

We are usually around 8 for 24, which is another 21 points to play with. With those points, anything can happen

The beauty of 1-20 from three is it becomes an end all. To be honest, if we could actually make the Final Four, 1-20 from three is always a loser. We would not win then either.

But tonight 1-20 from 3 actually lasted until the final 4 minutes. I thought that was impressive. I had the feeling that if we just hit the next shot we could win this game. We didn't hit the next shot, and as you know we lost badly. But for a second there with 4 minutes left you thought we could actually win this game without hitting outside shots. Which belies my original point, in which we never had a shot.

A loss is a good point to take stock

The stock in Xavier appears Strong. We have had great year.

We are going to lose games, though we have only incredibly lost only 3.

I predict we will actually lose more games.

If we only lost 2 more, I think it would be an incredible result. We are not a #1 Seed. That doesn't mean that we can't make the Final Four, because I know that we can.

I have been saying all along that Big Game James is our MVP. I think that is true. He is the man.

Our best player is Trevon, and he just showed us what can happen on a bad night. The young man is only a sophomore, so take it easy on him. He was averaging almost 16 points a game before tonight.

Last year roughly half his games were in double digit scoring and roughly half were not. This year he is scoring double digits in every game but UC coming into tonight. Now tonight for Trevon was an epic amount of suck. That is very rare for him. Trevon always gets his points.

My kids love him and they always gush about how he always gets his points. Tonight that didn't happen. In his absence his greatness can become legend. He is a candidate for the Xavier Hall Of Fame. He is still an underclassman. Without him tonight we were lacking. When he doesn't come to play we are a marginal team. He is the straw that stirs the drink.

I hate Villanova. Tonight we forfeited the chance to hold our own destiny in our own hands. We can get it back, but Nova looks unbeatable.

What we can do is actually BEAT VILLANOVA. They are #1 in the Nation, and if they do not falter they will be there when we come calling at the Cintas. I am personally tired of losing every matchup to them. If we do 1 thing this year, we need to bring them to their knees at the Cintas.

GIMMFD

02-10-2016, 02:08 AM

Beautifully timed post Snipe, and I agree with everything said here. If you put it into perspective, we shot 4% from the 3 and still came close to winning the game. We have a lot of things to figure out, gotta tighten up defensively for one, but I have complete and full faith in this team. Let's get a big win on Saturday, and get this ship back on track.

Strange Brew

02-10-2016, 02:23 AM

This one really didn't bother me. Some times, well the bear; it eats you.

That said, burn the tape and take it out on Butler! Let no water fountain go without re-fabrication!

Edit: Love the boys to get another shot at a #1 at home. I have tremendous memories of the last time they capitalized on that opportunity.

UCGRAD4X

02-10-2016, 06:28 AM

Yup, the shooting off-nights are going to happen. It's really the defense that concerns me about this game. Watson getting to the rim almost at will, among other defensive lapses (transitions / wide open threes) - is really inexcusable.

Luckily, those things are also fixable.

But, the boys have to come to play.

xukeith

02-10-2016, 07:02 AM

We could see this coming. Home games vs. SJU and Marquette were showcasing less than stellar defense and opponents coaches breaking down our defense much better.

Villanova is heads and shoulders better at this time, crushing BE teams away and home.

Best case scenario is maybe 2 more losses before BE tourney.

2-3 seed.

markchal

02-10-2016, 07:24 AM

Unless something changes fast, we could easily lose three more, and maybe another in the BE tourney. I think 4-5 seed much more likely than 2-3. We keep losing to the wrong teams.

bleedXblue

02-10-2016, 07:36 AM

Unless something changes fast, we could easily lose three more, and maybe another in the BE tourney. I think 4-5 seed much more likely than 2-3. We keep losing to the wrong teams.

Come on man. Really? Have you not been following this program for the last 10-15 years? We have bad stretches EVERY YEAR (just like 99.9% of all programs). Would rather be struggling now than in March. We're 21-3 ?

ammtd34

02-10-2016, 08:12 AM

Unless something changes fast, we could easily lose three more, and maybe another in the BE tourney. I think 4-5 seed much more likely than 2-3. We keep losing to the wrong teams.

Keep losing to the wrong teams? Xavier has 3 losses on the year, one of them is to the #1 team in the country.

3 more regular season losses makes us 24-6. Last year's 3 seeds had 10, 9, 8, and 5 losses. We're still way more likely to be a 2/3 than a 4/5.

gladdenguy

02-10-2016, 08:46 AM

boozehound

02-10-2016, 09:23 AM

I would be really happy with a 3 seed. I see most likely a 4 or 5 as well. Losses @Butler and @Seton Hall and probably Villanova at home.
Providence and Creighton should be wins at home. @Georgetown is a tossup. I don't expect this team to win the Big East tourney.

They could make a run in the NCAA tourney but unless they start locking teams down they aren't as special as I thought they would be at the beginning of January. Anything can happen though. This has been a fun year so far.

Agreed. This is sort of where I come down on this team. They have lots of guys who can shoot, and are capable of blowing people off the floor if a couple of guys are hitting from outside. If we collectively have an off night, we are in trouble. We don't really have a guy who can get to the rim and finish at all, although I expect Sumner to be that guy as early as next season. We also seem to lack a true 'lock down' defender, and struggle to stop outside shooting. If we got hot, we are capable of winning out - but recent evidence suggests that may be wishful thinking.

This game was a fluke though, IMHO. We got plenty of good looks, and went 1-19. Defensive performance should have been good enough to win. I do think we should have mixed in some more 1-3-1 earlier in the game, though.

I've really enjoyed this season so far, though.

GoMuskies

02-10-2016, 09:45 AM

Coming into this week, I'd have taken 1-1. If we beat Butler, yesterday is quickly forgotten. If we lose that one (particularly if we lose ugly like last night), then we may have a real problem.

bjf123

02-10-2016, 09:48 AM

I say this each year. Just about every team is going to lose a game that, on paper, they have no business losing. Let's hope this was it for us.

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X-band '01

02-10-2016, 10:23 AM

This game was a fluke though, IMHO. We got plenty of good looks, and went 1-19. Defensive performance should have been good enough to win. I do think we should have mixed in some more 1-3-1 earlier in the game, though.

I've really enjoyed this season so far, though.

Part of me wonders if Mack was willing to sacrifice the game last night as a teaching tool for the guys to be able to play man-to-man for longer periods of time.

markchal

02-10-2016, 10:28 AM

Come on man. Really? Have you not been following this program for the last 10-15 years? We have bad stretches EVERY YEAR (just like 99.9% of all programs). Would rather be struggling now than in March. We're 21-3 ?

Yeah, I get that, but I think we've been in our bad stretch for awhile, we've just been able to mask it because we were playing inferior teams. It's been awhile since we put together two solid halves of basketball, and now that we're in a brutal part of the schedule, if something doesn't change fast, then yeah, we could be in some trouble over the next few weeks.

markchal

02-10-2016, 10:28 AM

I say this each year. Just about every team is going to lose a game that, on paper, they have no business losing. Let's hope this was it for us.

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I sort of thought that game was going to be GT at home for us.

GoMuskies

02-10-2016, 10:29 AM

Part of me wonders if Mack was willing to sacrifice the game last night as a teaching tool for the guys to be able to play man-to-man for longer periods of time.

No

joe titan

02-10-2016, 10:36 AM

Can anybody tell me why at some point(s) Remy was not assigned to Watson or did I misunderstand Remy's role as defensive stopper ? Where are you SB ?

markchal

02-10-2016, 10:40 AM

I think Watson is too small for Remy to guard. Remy does play pretty good m2m against a 2 or 3, but just doesn't have the speed to effectively guard Watson.

XUFan09

02-10-2016, 12:08 PM

Can anybody tell me why at some point(s) Remy was not assigned to Watson or did I misunderstand Remy's role as defensive stopper ? Where are you SB ?
I think he spent most of his time on Milliken, whose also a scoring threat. Sumner on Watson wasn't great, but Myles or Macura on Milliken in man-to-man also isn't great.

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DoubleD86

02-10-2016, 12:10 PM

I say this each year. Just about every team is going to lose a game that, on paper, they have no business losing. Let's hope this was it for us.

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Not a shot at you, but I have seen this sentiment around. Xavier was a 1 point or a 1.5 point favorite. This game was a toss up, not one that they have no business losing. X avoided that by beating Depaul, SJU and Marquette. If anything, GTown at home was the game they had no business losing but did.

novachap

02-10-2016, 12:15 PM

I think Watson is too small for Remy to guard. Remy does play pretty good m2m against a 2 or 3, but just doesn't have the speed to effectively guard Watson.

In the for what it's worth category, Nova had success by starting Hart and then Arch on Watson. Granted nova defensive scheme is always switching so a 5 could end up on a 1, But he struggled with a bigger athletic guy on him. Same with providence putting Dunn on him. Clearly Hart and Dunn are exceptional defenders, but I was surprised Trevon wasn't on him for part of the m2m.

In terms of the horrific 3 point shooting, been there done it. Oklahoma packed it in after we couldn't through it in the pacific. Creighton could not stop Farr and reynolds, don't know why X stopped pounding it down.

So, looking forward to the game at Cintas. You guys obviously will not come out flat and nova usually does not let the road affect them. I circled this one way back as the best game of the year and I too think this is X's best chance to get nova, either way going to be a hell of a game.

xufan2434

02-10-2016, 12:22 PM

I mean I could see X getting a 4/5 seed if it really came to that, but I have a lot more confidence in this team than that. Not to mention, about 5 of the top 10 teams lose a game every week at this point. X isn't the only one this is going to happen to. Oklahoma just got smoked by KState. It happens. This team has also responded both times after a loss so I expect them to play well at Butler. Butler has to be pissed to get us twice after a loss right? They just need to re-group and start playing better defense. They'll have a couple of really intense and competitive practices to get em back.

I think they'll have 2-3 more losses but so will most teams. I think a 3 seed is very reasonable. Beating Nova at home would help secure a top 3 seed too imo. Trevon will be fired up at Butler and so will the rest of the guys. I like our matchup vs them. X owns Dunham, but gotta stop Martin. He's their best player imo

GoMuskies

02-10-2016, 12:24 PM

Xavier never stopped pounding it down low. They did that basically every possession in the second half to Farr, Reynolds and O'Mara. Too little, too late (particularly with Reynolds being 5-15....but major props on the FT shooting!).

nuts4xu

02-10-2016, 12:42 PM

Xavier never stopped pounding it down low.

I will never stop either...it keeps the edge off.

It is good to release the valve every now and then.

Fireball

02-10-2016, 12:46 PM

Here's really the story. If you go 1-21 from 3 point range, unless you are playing a bad team, you lose...especially on the road. I think X did every they could down low to stay in the game, but you have to be able to hit some outside shots, and they just couldn't last night. Reynolds also had plenty of bunnies that he missed last night, so while the inside game was effective, it wasn't nearly as effective as it could have been.

Second point...a 4-5 seed is the floor for this team, I honestly expect them to be a 2. If they have a really good finish and get some help, maybe a 1. If they lose more games than just Nova, then a 3. However, we'd have to almost collapse down the stretch to be a 4 or a 5 in my opinion.

XUFan09

02-10-2016, 12:59 PM

Are people seriously discussing an improvement of only 1 seed line from last year after Xavier lost on the road to a solid team? In a game where they held their opponent to less than a point per possession, even after a rough start defensively? In a game where if they had just shot poorly from three instead of horrifically bad, they would have won?

I mean, seriously?

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XMuskieFTW

02-10-2016, 01:02 PM

Just a reminder. Last year we were a 6 seed with a 21-13 record with a similar schedule in difficulty. In order for us to be a 5 we are really going to need to drop some. 8 total losses would probably have us at a 5. I don't see us losing 4 of our last 6 and then again in the big east tourney for a 5th.

I think we lose, at most, 4 more games this year. Assume one of those is the semis of the BE tourney and we are at 24-7. If we got a 6 at 21-13 last year, I can't see us being lower than a 4 at 24-7, especially with how often ranked teams are losing this year.

This team will be a 2-3 seed.

ArizonaXUGrad

02-10-2016, 01:10 PM

We all need to be discussing the decline of our man-to-man and the disappearance of Remy Abell. What happened to him?

xubrew

02-10-2016, 01:22 PM

Part of me wonders if Mack was willing to sacrifice the game last night as a teaching tool for the guys to be able to play man-to-man for longer periods of time.

I'm a person that can find something wrong with everything. I know that about myself. Now, having said that...

Having the 1-3-1 as part of our arsenal is good. Having it as a go-to defense when we're behind because nothing else is working is not a good thing. Conventional wisdom is that if you have the better athletes, then straight man is probably the way to go. A pack line is good for neutralizing another team's athleticism.

Zones can be effective at keeping teams in games. Zones can be effective at keeping the opponents out of the game. Rarely are zones effective when a team is trying to get back into a game. It's not good to turn to that when we're losing. I think Mack knows that. I realize it has worked out for us, but it has worked out against teams that aren't tournament teams, and that aren't good against the zone.

If you're scouting a team, and you realize that they have a good frontcourt and a strong post player, which Creighton does, then the zone is probably not going to be your first recommended option. What was so crazy is that Creighton had everything they needed to pick it apart. But, they just didn't do it. A tournament caliber team that's coached by someone other than McDermott with that kind of a front court would have eaten Xavier's lunch had we tried throwing a 1-3-1 at them, especially if they were already ahead.

In short, I know the 1-3-1 has bailed us out and has been highly effective in some of our recent games. I don't think that will be the case when we start playing against teams that actually know what the hell they're doing, and have the personnel to do it. Creighton only has half those things, yet they still beat us.

1-20 from three. That's the stat of the game. You're not going to win many games like that. We shoot our normal percentage and we probably win the game.

JohnW22

02-10-2016, 01:44 PM

In the for what it's worth category, Nova had success by starting Hart and then Arch on Watson. Granted nova defensive scheme is always switching so a 5 could end up on a 1, But he struggled with a bigger athletic guy on him. Same with providence putting Dunn on him. Clearly Hart and Dunn are exceptional defenders, but I was surprised Trevon wasn't on him for part of the m2m.

In terms of the horrific 3 point shooting, been there done it. Oklahoma packed it in after we couldn't through it in the pacific. Creighton could not stop Farr and reynolds, don't know why X stopped pounding it down.

So, looking forward to the game at Cintas. You guys obviously will not come out flat and nova usually does not let the road affect them. I circled this one way back as the best game of the year and I too think this is X's best chance to get nova, either way going to be a hell of a game.
Trevon is way too slow to guard Watson, that would be a nightmare

novachap

02-10-2016, 02:02 PM

Trevon is way too slow to guard Watson, that would be a nightmare

Wow, really? My bad, I saw him in that same athlete grouping of the other guys I mentioned, obviously I don't watch as closely as you guys. Regardless, @Creighton can be a house of horrors. I always feel like it's a big deal to get out of there with a w, no matter how close.

markchal

02-10-2016, 02:12 PM

A tournament caliber team that's coached by someone other than McDermott with that kind of a front court would have eaten Xavier's lunch had we tried throwing a 1-3-1 at them, especially if they were already ahead.

In short, I know the 1-3-1 has bailed us out and has been highly effective in some of our recent games. I don't think that will be the case when we start playing against teams that actually know what the hell they're doing, and have the personnel to do it. Creighton only has half those things, yet they still beat us.

I agree Creighton should've been able to handle it but I think it's going to help us in the tournament. We've seen a lot of teams that theoretically should be able to handle it look like they've never heard of a 1-3-1 before, and when we start facing teams that never practice for it or face it, it's going to be a tough wrinkle for teams to solve, at least in early rounds. Still wish our m2m wasn't so woeful, though.

markchal

02-10-2016, 02:13 PM

Wow, really? My bad, I saw him in that same athlete grouping of the other guys I mentioned, obviously I don't watch as closely as you guys. Regardless, @Creighton can be a house of horrors. I always feel like it's a big deal to get out of there with a w, no matter how close.

I've actually been impressed with how much his m2m has improved, especially when he guards a 4. He can guard a wing but yeah, too slow to guard a speedy pg.

XUFan09

02-10-2016, 02:15 PM

I'm a person that can find something wrong with everything. I know that about myself. Now, having said that...

Having the 1-3-1 as part of our arsenal is good. Having it as a go-to defense when we're behind because nothing else is working is not a good thing. Conventional wisdom is that if you have the better athletes, then straight man is probably the way to go. A pack line is good for neutralizing another team's athleticism.

Zones can be effective at keeping teams in games. Zones can be effective at keeping the opponents out of the game. Rarely are zones effective when a team is trying to get back into a game. It's not good to turn to that when we're losing. I think Mack knows that. I realize it has worked out for us, but it has worked out against teams that aren't tournament teams, and that aren't good against the zone.

If you're scouting a team, and you realize that they have a good frontcourt and a strong post player, which Creighton does, then the zone is probably not going to be your first recommended option. What was so crazy is that Creighton had everything they needed to pick it apart. But, they just didn't do it. A tournament caliber team that's coached by someone other than McDermott with that kind of a front court would have eaten Xavier's lunch had we tried throwing a 1-3-1 at them, especially if they were already ahead.

In short, I know the 1-3-1 has bailed us out and has been highly effective in some of our recent games. I don't think that will be the case when we start playing against teams that actually know what the hell they're doing, and have the personnel to do it. Creighton only has half those things, yet they still beat us.

1-20 from three. That's the stat of the game. You're not going to win many games like that. We shoot our normal percentage and we probably win the game.
I disagree to an extent. The 1-3-1 specifically can help you back into the game or put up a lead because even coaching doesn't completely prepare teams for it. In short, it's just too funky. If you stay in it long enough, teams will start to figure it out, as Creighton did. You just can't immediately be like, "Okay, coach told us to do this. Now, let's go execute."

There's a reason that teams in return games respond to the 1-3-1 better. It's not because the opposing coaches all come up with better game plans between game #1 and game #2. It's because the players recognize better what's going on after experiencing it and can now internalize the game plan that their coaches gave all along. Think of this baseball analogy: A coach can tell a player how to recognize and hit a curveball all he wants, but the player isn't going to consistently hit it until he's built up some experience.

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XUFan09

02-10-2016, 02:18 PM

I've actually been impressed with how much his m2m has improved, especially when he guards a 4. He can guard a wing but yeah, too slow to guard a speedy pg.
Yeah, I'd actually call Trevon a plus-defender now again something like 80% of matchups on the wing. It's certain types of players that can still be tough for him, but most don't have the skillset and athleticism to consistently burn him.

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vee4xu

02-10-2016, 02:40 PM

Early on, X's defense created lots of offense. Both transition points and points off turnovers created many run out baskets. That hasn't happened for a while now. Also, X had a much higher out rebounding margin versus every team, including many more offensive rebounds, creating more possessions. That also isn't happening now. Both have to get going again to a help X become the team they were the first third of the season. Otherwise, they are still good enough to win games, but the way they do so will be much more reliant on a good shooting percentage overall, which hasn't been X's strong suit to date. They have to, have to, have to beat Villanova at home.

xufan2434

02-10-2016, 03:00 PM

letskeepitreal

02-10-2016, 03:06 PM

I know that this is a message board but Bluiett on Watson? Not nearly fast enough. I know that the 1-3-1 has sometimes been effective and sometimes not. I think that the matchup on Watson should have been LAJ but the game is over.

Let's not worry about tournament seedings. That will take care of itself based on how we play the next few games. If we go 4-2 we will be ok, if not, it is what it is. Would love to try avoid the 4/5 line to avoid the #1 until later in the dance.

X-band '01

02-10-2016, 03:19 PM

gladdenguy

02-10-2016, 08:51 PM

4-2 is fantastic when you consider @Butler, Providence, @ Georgetown, Villanova, @ Seton Hall and Creighton are the last 6. 4 of those teams are NCAA Tournament teams at the moment; the other two are NIT-caliber as well.

Yeah 4-2 is the ceiling. Unfortunately I can see them easily going just 2-4 with home wins over Creighton and Providence. The Providence win on the road was nice but they might lose their 6th conference game tonight. Beating Butler on the road would be a great feat after the ass beating last night.

With the way Xavier is defending I can see Butler putting up 90 on Saturday. Better get that lid off the bucket to get out of Hinkle with a win.

Masterofreality

02-10-2016, 09:30 PM

I will never stop either...it keeps the edge off.

It is good to release the valve every now and then.

And that valve needed some kind of release after last night!

XUFan09

02-10-2016, 09:35 PM

With the way Xavier is defending I can see Butler putting up 90 on Saturday. Better get that lid off the bucket to get out of Hinkle with a win.

Creighton scored less than a point per possession, despite getting off to a hot start.

bleedXblue

02-10-2016, 09:50 PM

I think the key to Saturday is not letting Jones or Dunham go for 25. And of course, getting back to sharing the ball and knocking down open shots.

vee4xu

02-10-2016, 10:09 PM

X was 21-70 last night, including the already well documented 1-21 from the three point line. They only out rebounded Creighton 40-39. Bluiett (2-10), Sumner (2-12) and Davis (0-7), combined for a 4-29 shooting night. Both Farr and Reynolds combined for 31 points on 12-25 shooting. There's no way X goes 1-21 again this Saturday and the Big Three will not shoot a combined 13.7% from the field. Oh, and X shot 13-20 from the FT line. All of this and they lost by 14 points and had it cut to 5 late in the game. That final score was due to fouling at the end of regulation. Butler has struggled and they do have to contain Jones and Dunham. But if 4-29 turns into more like 13-29 and includes 5 more three's this Saturday, X wins. That assumes that Farr and Reynolds duplicate last night's performance.

XUFan09

02-10-2016, 10:56 PM

They only out rebounded Creighton 40-39.

It's common knowledge that defensive rebounds are easier to get than offensive rebounds. That being said, I don't know how you can complain about a team "only" winning a rebounding battle by 1 when they missed 17 more shots than the other team. Xavier's offensive rebounding rate was 30.3%, a little worse than their average of 36.6%. They held Creighton to an offensive rebounding rate of 21.1%, a little better than opponents' average of 25.6%. All in all, it was about an average rebounding game from Xavier. Just another example of how raw statistics are problematic.

JTG

02-11-2016, 10:45 AM

They have to, have to, have to beat Villanova at home.
No, we don't. What we have to do is beat Butler, and Gtown, and Seton Hall, Providence and Creighton. For whatever reason Villanova is our Kryptonite. Win the games we're supposed to, the rest will take care of itself.

Emp

02-11-2016, 02:56 PM

No, we don't. What we have to do is beat Butler, and Gtown, and Seton Hall, Providence and Creighton. For whatever reason Villanova is our Kryptonite. Win the games we're supposed to, the rest will take care of itself.

Beating Nova is worth two road losses for me in the long run. We need to get the monkey off our backs. A victory over a No 1 poll and RPI team: priceless.

smileyy

02-12-2016, 03:51 AM

UCGRAD4X

02-12-2016, 08:41 AM

This is a good time of year to be losing games. I suspect a couple of things are happening:
1. Teams are scouting Bluiett and especially Sumner more, and are more able to make their life a little harder
2. Teams are scouting the 1-3-1 more and finding weaknesses in Xavier's implementation of it

This is a good time of year for this to happen, because it gives Mack time to adjust, and carry what works and those adjustments into the NCAA tournament, when teams have a lot less time and ability to prepare for the unique looks Xavier throws at them on both ends.

There is no good time to lose. And even if there were, I don't know that I buy into this being it - too close to the end of the season. This is the time to start building momentum. It may not be the worst time, but it is getting pretty close. The earlier you lose, the less it matters, generally speaking (I know, it matters more; where and against whom).

As long as it stops here - it won't matter. But, each loss from here on out is going to be harder to overcome.

Look what one loss - on the road, against Creighton - did. Went from a decent shot at a one seed and a real shot at conference to a 3/4 and needing a lot of help to get the conference.

XMuskieFTW

02-12-2016, 08:47 AM

There is no good time to lose. And even if there were, I don't know that I buy into this being it - too close to the end of the season. This is the time to start building momentum. It may not be the worst time, but it is getting pretty close. The earlier you lose, the less it matters, generally speaking (I know, it matters more; where and against whom).

As long as it stops here - it won't matter. But, each loss from here on out is going to be harder to overcome.

Look what one loss - on the road, against Creighton - did. Went from a decent shot at a one seed and a real shot at conference to a 3/4 and needing a lot of help to get the conference.

I think this is more a kneejerk reaction by fans. I think we're still solidly on the two seed line and could even lose 1-2 more this season and stay there. Everyone is losing. It seems like ranked teams are losing more often than they win. In order for us to be a 4 seed we'd need to finish like 4-4 or something like that.

UCGRAD4X

02-12-2016, 08:54 AM

I think this is more a kneejerk reaction by fans. I think we're still solidly on the two seed line and could even lose 1-2 more this season and stay there. Everyone is losing. It seems like ranked teams are losing more often than they win. In order for us to be a 4 seed we'd need to finish like 4-4 or something like that.

I think the fear is, by many, is that Xavier will 'pay' for such losses more that the other ranked teams that are losing. I'm not sure this is totally unfounded, but only time will tell.

http://www.xavierhoops.com/showthread.php?30560-polls-today-predictions/page52

Why take the chance...JUST WIN BABY!

waggy

02-12-2016, 10:48 AM

It's not only about winning or losing. It's about efficiency too. We've seen that slide in X's numbers. And people are looking at those numbers, and using them in their evaluations of teams more and more.

DoubleD86

02-12-2016, 11:30 AM

For some perspective, and to talk some off the ledge, Bracket Matrix has Xavier as the second 2 seed with over half of their 88 bracketologies being submitted since the loss. With the caveat that there is still plenty of basketball to be played, Xavier is still firmly in the 2 seed range. The thing with plenty of basketball to be played and a team this good means they still have opportunities to either cement themselves as a 2 seed, play their way into a 1 seed or continue to fall. Barring a total collapse, I see the floor of this team as a 4 seed and much more likely they are looking at a 2 or, at worst, a 3 seed.

waggy

02-12-2016, 11:37 AM

Bracket Matrix has some issues frankly. For instance, as of yesterday they still had Butler out of the tournament, which is a glaring omission imho.

Snipe

02-13-2016, 02:51 AM

No, we don't. What we have to do is beat Butler, and Gtown, and Seton Hall, Providence and Creighton. For whatever reason Villanova is our Kryptonite. Win the games we're supposed to, the rest will take care of itself.

JTG, I could not disagree more

We have not yet beaten Villanova in conference play since we joined the league. But we did beat them the last time we played them before entering league play, in 2006. Stanley Burrell scored 26 points, and Josh Duncan was the only other Muskie in double digits as we beat Nova 71-66.

I was on Thanksgiving vacation in Florida at the time, and I couldn't get WLW in the Condo, but when I went out to the car low and behold the signal came in clear. So I left my wife and young boys to drink beer in the car for two hours of Stanley Burrell Bliss. That was a great victory.

But we are not playing in 2006.

And I think that JTG is taking the pussy way out. Shelf this Kryptonite meme please brother.

We need to draw a line in the sand, and we have to do it right now.

For too long we play Villanova and they get the girl and all we get is sand kicked in our face. This ends now. I don't care so much about the other teams. Sure I don't like losing, but it is not acceptable to lose to Nova again.

Draw that line in the sand. As Jean Luc would say "The line must be drawn here! This far, no farther"

I am sick and tired of this happening, and it needs to be remedied right away. JTG is a victim of a slave morality where he thinks it could be great if we just win the other games and don't piss off our betters.

At Xavier we are Champions, and we all know that. Any situation like this Villanova quandary must be addressed, and addressed with the full force and credit of the Xavier Nation.

There is no way we can let them out of our house with another win. I simply as a fan will not allow it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3RNsZvdYZQ

UCGRAD4X

02-13-2016, 07:57 AM

Love me some Jean Luc!

Snipe

02-25-2016, 01:07 AM

JTG, I could not disagree more

We have not yet beaten Villanova in conference play since we joined the league. But we did beat them the last time we played them before entering league play, in 2006. Stanley Burrell scored 26 points, and Josh Duncan was the only other Muskie in double digits as we beat Nova 71-66.

I was on Thanksgiving vacation in Florida at the time, and I couldn't get WLW in the Condo, but when I went out to the car low and behold the signal came in clear. So I left my wife and young boys to drink beer in the car for two hours of Stanley Burrell Bliss. That was a great victory.

But we are not playing in 2006.

And I think that JTG is taking the pussy way out. Shelf this Kryptonite meme please brother.

We need to draw a line in the sand, and we have to do it right now.

For too long we play Villanova and they get the girl and all we get is sand kicked in our face. This ends now. I don't care so much about the other teams. Sure I don't like losing, but it is not acceptable to lose to Nova again.

Draw that line in the sand. As Jean Luc would say "The line must be drawn here! This far, no farther"

I am sick and tired of this happening, and it needs to be remedied right away. JTG is a victim of a slave morality where he thinks it could be great if we just win the other games and don't piss off our betters.

At Xavier we are Champions, and we all know that. Any situation like this Villanova quandary must be addressed, and addressed with the full force and credit of the Xavier Nation.

There is no way we can let them out of our house with another win. I simply as a fan will not allow it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3RNsZvdYZQ

Looking back on this post I agree. I am so glad we beat those sorry bastards.

WooT WooT!