Let's face it, we were wildly overrated.

[markchal]

I wanted to write off the early poor performances against not-good teams (Mizzou, Lehigh) as rust, but I think it's clear we just aren't a top-15 team this year. We have some nice players, but unless two of the big 3 (Tre/Jp/Ed) have a good game, we're not capable of winning. We're missing Remy more than I thought we would (he really took over those two Butler games) and just don't have enough consistency.

We're still a quality team, but I think we need to recalibrate the expectations we have. I think we are closer to a fringe top-25 team, with the capability of maybe getting to the second weekend if we get hot from beyond the arc. Plenty of people have talked about how much we miss Farr/Reynolds, but I think we're missing Farr's leadership more than I expected too.

[SemajParlor]

Anddddd now it's officially time for me to go to bed.

[XMuskieFTW]

Hawwwwwwwwwwt take. Not a very well played game, but we are going to be fine. Tonight we saw really nice productions from the bigs which I wasn't expecting. I'm actually slightly higher on this team right now than I was yesterday. It blows my mind we stopped feeding the post. Gaston and Sean were 9-12 and did they even feed the post in the last ten minutes? Too many possessions of waiting 15 seconds for any type of ball movement and way too many contested threes. This isn't a top 15 team right now, but honestly who cares? It's nonconference. We are playing for nothing but seeding right now. Now if the offensive chemistry isn't there and we are seeing this in conference play, then I'll start to worry a bit. Til then I expect us to be one of the best 15 teams come March. I'm not going to suddenly think we aren't that good because we played ten bad minutes in our first road game against a top 5 team and because we lost another road game on a quick turnaround. A college basketball season is a marathon.

[GoMuskies]

You must have been really low on the team yesterday. Or really drunk tonight.

[drudy23]

Just make the tournament...that's all I care about.

[XMuskieFTW]

You must have been really low on the team yesterday. Or really drunk tonight.

Not really. I think not jacking wild contested shots and creating ball movement especially with Myles coming back is a much much easier fix than getting absolutely nothing from our bigs. I thought the play from Rashid was extremely encouraging to the season as a whole.

[GoMuskies]

I don't have high hopes of Gaston repeating that performance regularly. Except the foul line part of his performance.

Scary for us to be capable of losing to what's probably a mediocre team on a night Gaston gives us so much, frankly.

[Juice]

I don't have high hopes of Gaston repeating that performance regularly. Except the foul line part of his performance.

Scary for us to be capable of losing to what's probably a mediocre team on a night Gaston gives us so much, frankly.

Balanced out by 3 points from Bernard, Jones, Gates, Goodin

[Xuperman]

The team we saw tonite loses 8 games in conference and struggles to get to 20 wins. Fortunately Myles is out there somewhere because we need a point guard BADLY!

[GoMuskies]

Balanced out by 3 points from Bernard, Jones, Gates, Goodin

Did Bernard even play? I really didn't notice him tonight. Unfortunately, Goodin was quite noticeable.

[OTRMUSKIE]

X just lost sat to what maybe the best team in basketball and then we turn around and play Colorado who has made the dance 4 out of the lastv5 years. We didn't lose to IPFW or Indiana St. X will be fine. The shots will fall soon enough. This is Xavier Basketball and we know the outcome come tournament time. Win the next 4 and they should and everybody will be back on Xavier's nuts.

[OTRMUSKIE]

Also why didn't the team just stay out west and get adjusted to the atmosphere?

[GoMuskies]

Also why didn't the team just stay out west and get adjusted to the atmosphere?

School

[xeus]

Also why didn't the team just stay out west and get adjusted to the atmosphere?

Thanks to that ridiculous "student" clause in student-athlete...

[X Factor]

The team we saw tonite loses 8 games in conference and struggles to get to 20 wins. Fortunately Myles is out there somewhere because we need a point guard BADLY!

You're gonna be waiting a while then, because Myles is NOT a PG. Sure, he played some minutes there last year when Ed was out, but Myles isn't a true point who can run a team. Either is Ed right now though.

I just want Myles shooting and toughness.

[D-West & PO-Z]

You're gonna be waiting a while then, because Myles is NOT a PG. Sure, he played some minutes there last year when Ed was out, but Myles isn't a true point who can run a team. Either is Ed right now though.

I just want Myles shooting and toughness.

Myles will do way more for us at PG when he comes back then what Goodin has done.

He did lead our team is assists last year btw.

[LA Muskie]

The team we saw tonite loses 8 games in conference and struggles to get to 20 wins. Fortunately Myles is out there somewhere because we need a point guard BADLY!

You do realize Myles is not our PG, right?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LA Muskie]

Myles will do way more for us at PG when he comes back then what Goodin has done.

He did lead our team is assists last year btw.

Myles will play very little at the point. He is, however, an excellent passer and a steady hand at the 2.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LA Muskie]

We'll be fine. This wasn't a "must win" game by any stretch. But it was a winnable road tilt that would have looked nice on our resume come March.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[D-West & PO-Z]

Myles will play very little at the point. He is, however, an excellent passer and a steady hand at the 2.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Call it what you want, he will be a ball handler who will be our best distributor on the floor most games. What position he is at is just semantics.

[Xville]

The geniuses who thought q was going to be a major contributer this year can stop now. Hate to say i told you so, but i told you so.

[X-Fan]

Hawwwwwwwwwwt take. Not a very well played game, but we are going to be fine. Tonight we saw really nice productions from the bigs which I wasn't expecting. I'm actually slightly higher on this team right now than I was yesterday. It blows my mind we stopped feeding the post. Gaston and Sean were 9-12 and did they even feed the post in the last ten minutes? Too many possessions of waiting 15 seconds for any type of ball movement and way too many contested threes. This isn't a top 15 team right now, but honestly who cares? It's nonconference. We are playing for nothing but seeding right now. Now if the offensive chemistry isn't there and we are seeing this in conference play, then I'll start to worry a bit. Til then I expect us to be one of the best 15 teams come March. I'm not going to suddenly think we aren't that good because we played ten bad minutes in our first road game against a top 5 team and because we lost another road game on a quick turnaround. A college basketball season is a marathon.
This.

If it's not obvious yet, this team and this season are different than last year. However, that doesn't mean they can't be better than last year in the end. Coach will work out the undisciplined and inconsistent play on offense. Myles returning will be a decent part of that. Guard play is SO important. X had Myles & Remy to steady the team last year, with two experienced bigs to keep everyone honest. We aren't seeing Kaiser at his best, not even close. Freshmen are freshman. And in many ways, this team is still figuring out their identity.

Make no mistake about it, X should have beat Colorado. They had control and let them back in the game with some really dumb play. That's a tough but important lesson they will hopefully learn from and handle better going forward. There's a good chance it will get worse before it gets better, but in the end they will be playing like the top 10 team we know they have the talent to be.

[XfansinKy]

I really swung and missed when I said we Myles coming back wasn't a necessity. I disagree that Q won't get minutes all year. To be honest, Bernard is the most disappointing player I can recall at Xavier. What exactly does he do on offense besides pass it to the closest guy to him on the perimeter? Q will improve. Gates will get his legs and shot back. Hopefully Myles doesn't need long to adjust if/when he gets back. JP, Myles, healthy Kaiser, Tre, along with either of our 3 bigs is actually a top 10 starting lineup in my opinion. I believe JP is a much better ball handler than Ed. He's not scared either. I'm just trying to figure out why Ed and Malcolm are so scared. It's like having two Brandon Randolph's on the court together.

[Xavier]

X just lost sat to what maybe the best team in basketball and then we turn around and play Colorado who has made the dance 4 out of the lastv5 years. We didn't lose to IPFW or Indiana St. X will be fine. The shots will fall soon enough. This is Xavier Basketball and we know the outcome come tournament time. Win the next 4 and they should and everybody will be back on Xavier's nuts.

You think Baylor could be the best team in college basketball?

For the thread, anyone who thought our bigs could be better this season then last were homers. Coming into the season I thought we'd have a worse regular season but perform better in March. I still see a top 3 finish in the Big East but we won't challenge Nova for regular season title.

Myles coming back will be big, we missed his senior leadership last night.

[OTRMUSKIE]

You think Baylor could be the best team in college basketball?

For the thread, anyone who thought our bigs could be better this season then last were homers. Coming into the season I thought we'd have a worse regular season but perform better in March. I still see a top 3 finish in the Big East but we won't challenge Nova for regular season title.

Myles coming back will be big, we missed his senior leadership last night.

Yes Baylor could be best team in basketball. They are ranked 4th with one hell of an impressive resume this early. Now that could change very quickly but there is a reason they are ranked 4th with a good amount of first place votes.

[Xville]

I feel like i have seen this same xavier team before...maybe 2-3 years ago. One that can shoot well at home and beat almost anyone and then plays awful in true road games becauee shooting isnt as good and leadership is lacking.

[Xuperman]

For those few posts that wanted to correct me on Myles not being a point guard, I say to hell with the PG mantra, we desperately need a FG........Floor general. He certainly is that and this team certainly doesn't have one. The O possessions for X in the last 50 minutes have been laughable.

[xu82]

Myles was worth more than 2 points in that game. Still, a valuable lesson for our team. I'm not worried.

[markchal]

I really think JP was our MVP in out first handful of games but he definitely struggled in the last two. Sumner has looked nothing like a go-to player, but I think that will change. I have been disappointed in our depth a bit, it feels like our scoring options are very limited, especially if shots aren't falling. And we really need to clean up the free throws.

[muskieindent]

I wanted to write off the early poor performances against not-good teams (Mizzou, Lehigh) as rust, but I think it's clear we just aren't a top-15 team this year. We have some nice players, but unless two of the big 3 (Tre/Jp/Ed) have a good game, we're not capable of winning. We're missing Remy more than I thought we would (he really took over those two Butler games) and just don't have enough consistency.

We're still a quality team, but I think we need to recalibrate the expectations we have. I think we are closer to a fringe top-25 team, with the capability of maybe getting to the second weekend if we get hot from beyond the arc. Plenty of people have talked about how much we miss Farr/Reynolds, but I think we're missing Farr's leadership more than I expected too.
I was surprised by the Top 10 preseason ranking but I think must people had Myles in there.I think with him we would be very good.He can hit the three and make foul shots which this team has struggled with.I worry about how much he'll contribute once he comes back.This team is no where near as good as last year.Abel,Farr and Reynolds have not been replaced.

[xubrew]

I wanted that one. I don't want to go off on a knee jerk reaction and say that we're overrated or not that good. Winning on the road against anyone is tough. Winning on the road against tournament teams, which I believe Colorado is, is even tougher. But, a top fifteen team should win that game. The reason teams get ranked that high and seeded that good is because they win games like that. Losing to Baylor is one thing, but this was one we should have had. It was a hard game to win, but good teams can win games that are hard to win. And, even with everything that went wrong (the field goal drought, the sloppy play) we STILL almost won it. Baylor beat us because it was a game where we could have played great and still lost. Colorado beat us because of us. Nothing against them, but we should have had this one.

I wanted an OOC true road win against a tournament team. It kinda sucks we didn't win this one. I'm just glad that we're gonna win at UC and get that OOC road win against a tournament team.

[xufan2434]

My main takeaway from that game, is a team that is really struggling to find their identity right now. And honestly, a lot of it is on Mack. That is now back to back games where they've basically run little to no good offense in the last 10 minutes. Granted, it's not his fault when Tre and JP are jacking terrible shots up. But honestly where are their offensive sets down the stretch? What happened to feeding the post and working inside out? This type of late game performance is the same thing that happened in the Wisco game, and THAT if anything is what scares me.

Am I worried for the season as a whole? Not at all. They're kind of just stuck though in limbo offensively sometimes where it feels like nothing they run works or the group they have out there doesn't mesh well enough right now to run anything. Does anyone else feel that way? Chemistry will come. One of the biggest objectives for the staff right now has to be figuring out who they want Ed to be. Because right now I think the poor kid is very confused on how he's supposed to play. He's still trying to figure how to run the offense, when to attack, when to sit back, when to set others up. And there's a lot on his plate. Tre will be consistent all year, but this team really won't reach their potential till Ed figures it all out as a leader. And THEN, watch out. Cause that's when they really could live up to that preseason ranking

[THRILLHOUSE]

I'm not in panic mode about this team, but that doesn't mean last night wasn't incredibly frustrating. I don't think Colorado is bad, but also wasn't super impressed by them. Definitely a game X should have won, and without much of an issue to be honest. Oh well, hopefully it's a wakeup call for the team and they learn from it.

[GetUp5]

Should have won the game last night.

A win would have looked really good, but let's be honest, that Colorado team isn't great and that environment wasn't exactly hostile.

This team's lack of basketball IQ and the glaring need for a floor general is frustrating.

Losing is never a good thing, but sometimes an early season L like this can wake a team the F up and make them realize they need to play with more focus and killer instinct.

Myles will be back.

We will get better.

Xavier will be Xavier.

Carry on.

[xufan2434]

I'm not in panic mode about this team, but that doesn't mean last night wasn't incredible frustrating. I don't think Colorado is bad, but also wasn't super impressed by them. Definitely a game X should have won, and without much of an issue to be honest. Oh well, hopefully it's a wakeup call for the team and they learn from it.

This isn't funny but I couldn't help myself but laugh last night while watching it. Was anyone else having A-10 nightmares during that 2nd half? Actually would compare it to the game at Depaul 2 years ago as well. Felt like anything X tried, it wasn't working, went on a long field goal drought, and everything Colorado threw up there went in. I knew it wasn't their night when they hit that prayer with 1 second left on the shot clock. Felt such like a typical road A-10 game X used to lose from time to time that would drive ya up the wall.

[muskiefan82]

I am officially blaming J.P.'s haircut.

[nuts4xu]

The season is a lifetime.

I admire those that can tell you exactly how this team will play the rest of the year based on a few games. If someone could pass me the crystal ball, I want to know the winning Powerball/MegaMillions numbers for this weekend. That's right, I want them both.

I understand criticism and concerns, but those who know this team isn't good, who know this team will not make the NCAA's, who can say for sure Malcolm Bernard is a bust....you people are fortune tellers who fail to understand the ebbs and flows of a college basketball season. I have seen good teams that shit the bed, and bad teams blow up to top 15 teams.

Xavier has had a lot of seasons that took them time to gel. Many years they have used the Christmas break to get things figured out. They may not suddenly become a 90% free throw shooting team, but I have all the reason in the world to be optimistic they will get better. For those ready to write of the year already, I pity you and encourage you to jump off the bandwagon.

But pass the crystal ball before you leave. I need to win both major lottery's this weekend, and I promise to share my wealth with the posters on Xavierhoops! These are my people!

[XU 87]

The one disappointing thing about this game was the lack of composure at times on offense. Way too many threes got jacked up early in the shot clock. I think Mack said after the game that this team needs to get mentally tougher. I think that's a fair assessment.

One reason X got the 8-9 point lead was taking the ball inside. And they stopped going inside and just kept shooting threes.

[bleedXblue]

I think we'll be a better team come mid January. Hopefully Myles comes back and guys like Gates can get his legs and get better.

I cant tell if we're in a shooting slump, or just a bad shooting team.

I have no expectation that the FT shooting will get better with Gaston.

If I'm Mack I'm thinking of going to a 4 guard lineup, pick up the pace some and press a little more once Myles gets back.

[Caf]

The one disappointing thing about this game was the lack of composure at times on offense. Way too many threes got jacked up early in the shot clock. I think Mack said after the game that this team needs to get mentally tougher. I think that's a fair assessment.

One reason X got the 8-9 point lead was taking the ball inside. And they stopped going inside and just kept shooting threes.

Agree 100%. Everyone is so down on our bigs this year, but they're quietly playing pretty well and will only get better with more reps. That and the fact that a balanced offense will lead to more and better 3pt opportunities, is enough reason for them to get a greater share of the offensive touches.

Gaston should be in a bulk of the game. He is a rebound machine and has made good progress in tapering the amount of fouls he commits.

[xufan2434]

I think we'll be a better team come mid January. Hopefully Myles comes back and guys like Gates can get his legs and get better.

I cant tell if we're in a shooting slump, or just a bad shooting team.

I have no expectation that the FT shooting will get better with Gaston.

If I'm Mack I'm thinking of going to a 4 guard lineup, pick up the pace some and press a little more once Myles gets back.

I think once Myles comes back, this will look more of a slump than as a bad shooting team. I think they were just taking the wrong shots last night. And that's bound to happen. Agree with the pace assessment though. I don't know about pressing, but if they can get after it from the beginning defensively like they did against NIU, and create some turnovers and get running, the offense will come a lot easier. Having to go half court every time down this early in the season is not ideal. I'm also interested to see how much Kaiser's game expands the more he plays. I think they'd like for him to be more than just a 3pt shooter and defensive rebounder because of the tools he has. But it's real early for him, so talking more January/Feb

[Olsingledigit]

I don't have high hopes of Gaston repeating that performance regularly. Except the foul line part of his performance.

Scary for us to be capable of losing to what's probably a mediocre team on a night Gaston gives us so much, frankly.

Picked fourth in the PAC 12. Not a top ten team but likely better than mediocre.

[X-band '01]

Last night does sting, but until last night Xavier did manage to hold serve in all their other games. The next road game is New Year's Eve at Georgetown.

Overrated, yes. Wildly? No (not with wins against Clemson and Northern Iowa in Orlando).

[markchal]

For those ready to write of the year already, I pity you and encourage you to jump off the bandwagon.


I don't think anyone is writing off the year, but I do think it's fair to recalibrate your expectations for this team. Rankings at the beginning of the season are always a crap shoot. Michigan was overrated last year, we were pretty underrated. It takes time for those to shake out the way they should.

I don't think people saying we are closer to a fringe top 25 team than a top 10 team is unfair. I think the voters put too much stock into the players we had returning being able to improve enough to offset the losses in the front court, and we see now that's not quite realistic. If you keep expecting Sumner to play like a top 10 draft pick all year and the team to be better than we were last year, you're probably gonna be bummed a lot this season.

We have some talent, we're not playing with a lot of cohesiveness or a lot of poise, but we're going to have some good patches of basketball and some bad patches. Fringe top 25, and potential to maybe make some noise in the tournament. It's not a bad year, it's not a down year, it just might not be the year a lot of people thought we'd have before the season.

[XU 87]

I don't think anyone is writing off the year, but I do think it's fair to recalibrate your expectations for this team. Rankings at the beginning of the season are always a crap shoot. Michigan was overrated last year, we were pretty underrated. It takes time for those to shake out the way they should.

I don't think people saying we are closer to a fringe top 25 team than a top 10 team is unfair. I think the voters put too much stock into the players we had returning being able to improve enough to offset the losses in the front court, and we see now that's not quite realistic. If you keep expecting Sumner to play like a top 10 draft pick all year and the team to be better than we were last year, you're probably gonna be bummed a lot this season.



I recommend you wait for the season to go a little longer (at least wait until Myles gets back and we're closer to the end of the season) before making such proclamations.

As esteemed poster Chico has said, " A season is a lifetime."

[THRILLHOUSE]

Don't worry guys. This is just a part of the plan to become unranked, so we can go back to sneaking up on everyone.

https://media.tenor.co/images/e2e501971a8b4ad89f3af3800dee76ba/tenor.gif

[xubrew]

Don't worry guys. This is just a part of the plan to become unranked, so we can go back to sneaking up on everyone.

https://media.tenor.co/images/e2e501971a8b4ad89f3af3800dee76ba/tenor.gif

We never should have started off ranked. It messed up everything!!

[nuts4xu]

I don't think anyone is writing off the year


It's not a bad year, it's not a down year, it just might not be the year a lot of people thought we'd have before the season.

You don't think anyone is writing off the year...yet after 9 friggin games you already know the team is a "fringe top 25 team" and has "potential to maybe make some noise in the tournament". There is a lot of basketball still to be played, the season is a lifetime.

So you are the person with the crystal ball!! Pass that fu**er to me, I have lotteries to win!

[xeus]

I just checked my calendar. It's December 8. Keep the faith.

[LA Muskie]

People get so sensitive after a loss. We're not a Top 10 team right now. We're probably a fringe Top 25 team right now. Hopefully we will improve. History is on our side. Myles may make a big difference. But I do worry that we're putting a lot of eggs in the basket of a young man who won't have played competitive basketball -- or even practiced with his team -- for nearly 6 months. I think folks are over-estimating his likely immediate impact. And given the timing of his likely return, we're really going to need a fairly immediate impact.

[xufan2434]

People get so sensitive after a loss. We're not a Top 10 team right now. We're probably a fringe Top 25 team right now. Hopefully we will improve. History is on our side. Myles may make a big difference. But I do worry that we're putting a lot of eggs in the basket of a young man who won't have played competitive basketball -- or even practiced with his team -- for nearly 6 months. I think folks are over-estimating his likely immediate impact. And given the timing of his likely return, we're really going to need a fairly immediate impact.

I would agree with the part about Myles. He's going to take his lumps as well whenever that happens to be. But at least for last night, if at the very least it would allow us to have some depth in case anyone has a night like JP did. Honestly, he shouldn't have been in the game the way he was playing, but there wasn't anyone else to put in.

[paulxu]

We never should have started off ranked. It messed up everything!!

It certainly reduces the whole "sneaking up on them" strategy's effectiveness.

[Thor in 204]

For those few posts that wanted to correct me on Myles not being a point guard, I say to hell with the PG mantra, we desperately need a FG........Floor general. He certainly is that and this team certainly doesn't have one. The O possessions for X in the last 50 minutes have been laughable.


I agree with this completely. Especially in crunch time, this team looks unsure about what it wants to do. Sorry to say, Ed is not a polished point guard. Myles was last year better at distributing the ball, getting into the lane and once there distributing or making a mid range jumper or floater, and occasionally getting to the rim for a layup, was money from the foul line, and last year a more reliable three point shooter.

I also am wondering if I'm seeing deja vu of the Jordan Crawford early games, where rest of the team tended to settle back into a supportive role with respect to the alpha dog. As Trevon has emerged as the most productive player, maybe some of the others are subconsciously stepping back a bit. My sense was that in the early Chris Mack years, he fostered that kind of focus on star power. I don't think he does that anymore. He's got to get across strongly to the team, imho, that they each and all have it in them to step up in the moment and come through with a play. That, plus good shooting across the board, is what separates a team like Villanova from X at this point.

I agree that this team needs to be tougher. I suspect good toughness is built in to each player, but that toughness needs a better sense of team function/team identity in order to express itself effectively. Team identity is not forged by the kind of "disappearance" that has been manifested by several of the players as this young season is evolving. Everyone needs to step up and not feel subordinate.

[Xuperman]

OK, the sting has somewhat subsided and now we get some much needed home cookin'. Any chance we lose one of these next 2? Naw......right? :frightened:

[drudy23]

Not to mention...HE CAN MAKE FREE THROWS!!!!!