Game Thread: Xavier v. Eastern Washington (December 20, 2016)

[Muskie]

http://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/ncaa/500/2752.png&h=150&w=150vs.http://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/ncaa/500/331.png&h=150&w=150

December 20, 2016

Game Time: 6:30 p.m.
Cintas Center
TV: FS1

Live Chat (http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=XavierHoops)
Live Stats (http://www.sidearmstats.com/xavier/mbball/)

[Muskie]

I dig EWU's logo.

[spursy]

I dig EWU's logo.

Agreed. Certainly one of the better ones out there, if for no other reason than its originality. Nice change of pace from BLOCK LETTER/ANIMAL FACE.

[XUMIOH12]

Agreed. Certainly one of the better ones out there, if for no other reason than its originality. Nice change of pace from BLOCK LETTER/ANIMAL FACE.

now Xavier on the other hand, with that stupid generic block X......haha

[spursy]

now Xavier on the other hand, with that stupid generic block X......haha

Let's just say that I find Xavier's logo leaving a lot to be desired.

[XUMIOH12]

Let's just say that I find Xavier's logo leaving a lot to be desired.

haha. Xavier's is good though because nobody else has an X

[muskiefan82]

NKU just smacked this team around Sunday 70-48, so a better finish is expected tonight than we got on Saturday.

[X-band '01]

I saw that NKU-Eastern Washington game on Sunday - I was very impressed at NKU's defense. They held the Eagles over 30 points below their scoring average for the season. NKU had a nice freshman class during the offseason - they may be 2-3 years away from being a serious contender in the Horizon.

The Big Sky is a tire fire in comparison.

[BMoreX]

Cant imagine a big crowd today with the students gone and a 6:30 start.

[mistabeecee41]

Are we going to lose a buy game?

[GoMuskies]

Uhhh, guys? Guys?

Someone tell Xavier they've started.

[X-band '01]

Cant imagine a big crowd today with the students gone and a 6:30 start.

It was announced on GoXavier.com as a sellout. I'm calling shenanigans so far.

[X-band '01]

Are we going to lose a buy game?

If it's before Christmas, there's always a greater than 50% chance the answer is yes.

[RealDeal]

I can't express my feelings about this game without being vulgar.

[BMoreX]

I'd prefer a little less settling for jumpers here.

[skyking]

Why are we shooting all the 3s? I thought that was Eastern Washington's game plan.

[XfansinKy]

This is tough to watch

[Blue Blobs Bro]

Time to wake the fuck up guys

[GoMuskies]

How'd the guy with the porn stache end up at EWU? Guys with that size and game don't usually play in the Big Sky.

[X Factor]

We suck at shooting

[GreatWhiteNorth]

Terrible shooting by X so far.

[skyking]

Two on one under the basket and we can't score!

[nasdadjr]

Just saying X will figure it out and will play well come march. That said this team has NO NBA ready players and if anyone disagrees they are blind. We will have all back next year unless Blueitt and Sumner want to play with Amari in Israel

[GoMuskies]

It's understandable that Xavier's players thought this game started at 7. 6:30 is a stupid start time.

[GoMuskies]

Kaiser Gates is alive.

[RealDeal]

Well that's more like it.

[XfansinKy]

Kaiser Gates is alive.
That's what I been waiting on. He's the difference maker imo.

[skyking]

Different team to end the half. Great turnaround.

[xudash]

What a nice comeback.

I can't imagine what's going on in the Eastern Washington locker room right now. Bulldozer is the only word that comes to mind.

[GreatWhiteNorth]

Gate has become our official 3-pt shooter. E. W. Has suddenly stop scoring and we let them have it. Leading by 16 at the half.

[AviatorX]

[QUOTE=nasdadjr;571158]Just saying X will figure it out and will play well come march. That said this team has NO NBA ready players and if anyone disagrees they are blind. We will have all back next year unless Blueitt and Sumner want to play with Amari in Israel[/]

This does not even come close to accounting for how the NBA draft actually works or how guys make decisions to leave/stay.

[skyking]

Only three turnovers and three team fouls. Great execution to end the half.

[letskeepitreal]

WTF? That half had two halves. From awful to awesome!

[American X]

Easily Sumner's best half of the year.

THIS is the Gates I would like to see in the starting lineup.

Flip the ON switch at tip-off next time.

[letskeepitreal]

Was a little surprised that we came back without pounding it inside. I was thinking that we were settling for too many early outside shots and then they started dropping.

[mistabeecee41]

Bench (minus Sean) has taken Mack's criticism well. Q had one of his bonehead turnovers, but has been playing great D and hit his foul shots.

[bobbiemcgee]

Last 8 minutes were played the way I thought we would with Gates and Shid. Kaiser need to really get it going now for conf. play. We need his production badly, esp. in the fight for rebounds.

[GoMuskies]

Who knew that our center was the villain from Beauty and the Beast?

[skyking]

Shooting 53% overall and 50% from 3 pt range.

[skyking]

Certainly Ed's best game so far. Good three quarters for X.

[xu82]

Painful start, awesome finish!!!


P.S. I love our coach!

[XUGRAD80]

Once they settled down and started playing defense they did alright, but I was a little concerned for a bit.

[X Factor]

The final score was about what I expected, but I didn't think Xavier would have to go on a 35-8 run to take a 16 point lead into halftime.

The start was pretty bad, but the rest of the game went pretty well. I like Ed's 9 assists and 0 turnovers.

[bobbiemcgee]

Painful start, awesome finish!!!


P.S. I love our coach!

Mack took the blame. Said he had wrong defense.

[xu82]

Mack took the blame. Said he had wrong defense.

Saw that, and again loved it. We're not a denying team, gave it a shot and learned a lesson.

[MauriceX]

Who knew that our center was the villain from Beauty and the Beast?

Nooooooo oooooooone scores like Gaston
No one dunks like Gaston
No one grabs all those tough boards like Gaston
For there's no man in town half as manly
Perfect, a pure paragon!
You can ask any Tre, Ed, or Kaiser
And they'll tell you whose team they prefer to be on!

[scoscox]

Nooooooo oooooooone scores like Gaston
No one dunks like Gaston
No one grabs all those tough boards like Gaston
For there's no man in town half as manly
Perfect, a pure paragon!
You can ask any Tre, Ed, or Kaiser
And they'll tell you whose team they prefer to be on!

Leave it to kooky old Maurice to completely jumble all the lyrics

[TUclutch]

Just saying X will figure it out and will play well come march. That said this team has NO NBA ready players and if anyone disagrees they are blind. We will have all back next year unless Blueitt and Sumner want to play with Amari in Israel

No chance. Sumner will be drafted highly strictly on the potential and his physical skill set. MCW was a similar skilled player for Syracuse with eerily similar stats and went 11th overall. Barring injury, there's a 99% chance Sumner is gone. NBA guys will believe he can improve way more under their coaching as well as not having to worry about school and such. Strictly basketball

[xukeith]

Some system will gel with this team. Missing that guaranteed day in and day out consistent rebounding/scoring threat from inside.
We may play similar to Villanova with our small line up.
Hope we see our great 1-3-1 zone become effective in periods.
We shall see. BE will be very very tough.
Hoping for better than 11-7 record.

[xukeith]

Last 8 minutes were played the way I thought we would with Gates and Shid. Kaiser need to really get it going now for conf. play. We need his production badly, esp. in the fight for rebounds.

Agree 100% !

Gates may be our inside threat that can score inside and score outside but defense and rebounding are a must. Forget OMara unless there is a BE team that is slow and not so athletic (SJ, DP).
OMARA may bang with UC players.

[American X]

I will take that performance from Edmond Sumner every day of the week, but in the greedy spirit of the Grinch I would like to see him more systematically breaking down defenses with his unique slashing ability. Fine tune finishing shots and setting up teammates for easy looks.

[Xville]

No chance. Sumner will be drafted highly strictly on the potential and his physical skill set. MCW was a similar skilled player for Syracuse with eerily similar stats and went 11th overall. Barring injury, there's a 99% chance Sumner is gone. NBA guys will believe he can improve way more under their coaching as well as not having to worry about school and such. Strictly basketball

Agreed....NBA doesn't necessarily care about college stats, its way more about potential and physical abilities. Hard to teach 6'5 or 6'6 point guard....I'd be 100% shocked if Sumner is back next year.

[XU 87]

The last 25 minutes was the way I have been expecting this team to play all year. Just dominated. NKU beat this team by about 20, but it was still a dominating performance for the last 25 minutes.

Nice adjustment by the staff to double team the guard after he penetrated and then did that spin move. It shut down EWU's offense.

[Xville]

Some system will gel with this team. Missing that guaranteed day in and day out consistent rebounding/scoring threat from inside.
We may play similar to Villanova with our small line up.
Hope we see our great 1-3-1 zone become effective in periods.
We shall see. BE will be very very tough.
Hoping for better than 11-7 record.

With the Big East looking to be a pretty formidable conference, I will take 11 wins right now. Going to be extremely difficult to get road wins outside of the bottom 4, and I think we drop at least 1 at home if not 2. The top 5 in this conference are extremely good, probably the best it has been since the league was formed.

[Juice]

The last 25 minutes was the way I have been expecting this team to play all year. Just dominated. NKU beat this team by about 20, but it was still a dominating performance for the last 25 minutes.

Nice adjustment by the staff to double team the guard after he penetrated and then did that spin move. It shut down EWU's offense.

The line was X -23 or 24 so X did what they were supposed to do and then some. I wouldn't worry too much about this in relation to NKU. Their line was NKU -6, so it seems like NKU just played lights out.

[Smails]

I'm willing to chalk up the first 10 minutes to Mack playing around with the defense and the guys not feeling comfortable. From there it was complete domination, as it should have been. I had a chance to sit down pretty low for this game and one thing that really caught my attention was Goodin's combination of size and athleticism. I knew he was big and had some bounce but to see it from 20 feet away was really impressive. Kid's got a crazy high ceiling.

Also pleasantly surprised with the size of the crowd. I thought the game time and the holidays would have the place only 3/4 full. That was definitely not the case.

[BandAid]

So I wasn't able to watch this game because of work, here's what I gathered from this thread:

Edmund and Kaiser were good. The first ten minutes sucked. Did I miss anything?

Hopefully this game helps those two get their groove back. Is O'Mara still playing like someone kicked his dog?

[xuwin]

So I wasn't able to watch this game because of work, here's what I gathered from this thread:

Edmund and Kaiser were good. The first ten minutes sucked. Did I miss anything?

Hopefully this game helps those two get their groove back. Is O'Mara still playing like someone kicked his dog?

Both freshmen played very well. Teams seem to have caught on to O'Mara's offensive moves and he is getting more and more shot's blocked plus he has disappeared on the boards. He is playing himself to the end of the bench.

[throwbackmuskie]

O'Mara had a really nice take to the hoop in the 2nd half, that was about it. He is so frustrating to watch. Kid his size should be owning the blocks against a team like this. He needs to learn to take it in strong. Hell he was a high regarded OT in hs as well, where is the mean streak? The toughness? Need Kevin Frey to come show him how it's done.

[mirabilelectu]

Agreed....NBA doesn't necessarily care about college stats, its way more about potential and physical abilities. Hard to teach 6'5 or 6'6 point guard....I'd be 100% shocked if Sumner is back next year.

I wouldn't be so sure that Ed is a lock to leave after this year. What I mean by that is, if he keeps playing like he is right now, he might be a second rounder imo, and might be encouraged to stay for one more year. I love Ed, but idk how some of our fans are so sure he's leaving. MCW is the closest comp, but MCW was much more skilled than Ed coming out. Ed still can't change directions very well, he favors his right, and he can't break people down off the dribble. He's a PG who still has a ways to go with his handle, not to mention is shot. Again I think Ed is a tremendous player and I'm not knocking him but to be certain that he's going to be drafted AND leave (as above, I think he might wait if he hears he could improve draft stock), seems premature. Bottom line, even if he leaves after being drafted, he's a couple of years away from the league, IMO. I just have trouble imagining what position Ed would play in the NBA, if he were to leave after this season.

[muskiefan82]

O'Mara had a really nice take to the hoop in the 2nd half, that was about it. He is so frustrating to watch. Kid his size should be owning the blocks against a team like this. He needs to learn to take it in strong. Hell he was a high regarded OT in hs as well, where is the mean streak? The toughness? Need Kevin Frey to come show him how it's done.

Perhaps he is one bloody nose away from bringing the pain. Maybe.

[paulxu]

http://www.reformation.org/e-kaiser-william1.jpg https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/29/7d/f9/297df9f2bd5a5ab475fd9f9744a48186.jpg

[xukeith]

I wouldn't be so sure that Ed is a lock to leave after this year. What I mean by that is, if he keeps playing like he is right now, he might be a second rounder imo, and might be encouraged to stay for one more year. I love Ed, but idk how some of our fans are so sure he's leaving. MCW is the closest comp, but MCW was much more skilled than Ed coming out. Ed still can't change directions very well, he favors his right, and he can't break people down off the dribble. He's a PG who still has a ways to go with his handle, not to mention is shot. Again I think Ed is a tremendous player and I'm not knocking him but to be certain that he's going to be drafted AND leave (as above, I think he might wait if he hears he could improve draft stock), seems premature. Bottom line, even if he leaves after being drafted, he's a couple of years away from the league, IMO. I just have trouble imagining what position Ed would play in the NBA, if he were to leave after this season.

Maybe. Maybe not.
Kriss Dunn was picked 5th overall and he did was not unstoppable in the Big East.

[xu82]

http://www.reformation.org/e-kaiser-william1.jpg https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/29/7d/f9/297df9f2bd5a5ab475fd9f9744a48186.jpg

Hey, how did you get access to my high school yearbook? It was either that or the powder blue tux, but photo day wasn't prom day.

[bobbiemcgee]

O'Mara had a really nice take to the hoop in the 2nd half, that was about it. He is so frustrating to watch. Kid his size should be owning the blocks against a team like this. He needs to learn to take it in strong. Hell he was a high regarded OT in hs as well, where is the mean streak? The toughness? Need Kevin Frey to come show him how it's done.

Was a slow, measured shot at that. I could have bought a beer and been back in my seat by the time he shot it. Not going to get it in BE play.

[XfansinKy]

I'm not ready to give up on Sean yet. That spin move he did before anybody was guarding him looked odd though.

[XUFan09]

I'm not ready to give up on Sean yet. That spin move he did before anybody was guarding him looked odd though.
His defender tried to intercept the pass but failed. He had to act quickly to get the easy score before help defense stepped in, so a 180 into a hop step set him up nicely for a dunk. If he was just going for a layup, that wouldn't be necessary.

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[Harryfe]

Sean seems to have very little interest or energy. Seems to be just putting in his time. No enthusiasm. I didn't agree with all of Reynolds antics. But at least he showed some enthusiasm. Watch Sean on the bench. He will clap for a good play but it is a mild clap like at the symphony

[American X]

Watch Sean on the bench. He will clap for a good play but it is a mild clap like at the symphony.


http://i.imgur.com/bztQWHu.gif


Now criticizing how a player claps while on the bench? Are you the guy who yelled at Kenny Frease to stand still during the National Anthem?

[Harryfe]

Good photo of a non enthusiastic clap. Just wish Sean would show the energy of Rashid or Tyrique. I guess CM is thinking less of Sean as a player since he is no longer in the starting line up and seeing less and less playing time.

[XUFan09]

Rashid is playing better than he was earlier in the season, now that he's shaken off the transfer rust. I don't think people really appreciate that even if Sean wasn't in this slump, he would probably be coming off the bench right now. If Sean comes out of this slump, he'll start playing more minutes, and Mack is clearly still giving him run to try to break that slump. He's still subbing in around the under-16 or under-12 timeout.

Still, at that point, he'll probably be around 16 minutes per game, because Mack only plays one big most of the time and Gaston is first choice this season. This is similar to the setup with Farr and Reynolds last year. Also, keep in mind that in the short term, Gaston/O'Mara/Jones might be logging similar total minutes to Farr/Reynolds/O'Mara, but in the long term the new trio will probably be logging fewer minutes. Gates coming back and Myles soon returning allows Xavier to play the 4-out lineup basically all the time if they want to, and the 1-3-1 isn't used as much this season due to a change of personnel. In the conference season, we'll probably see almost exclusively one big at a time. It's already started without Myles even back yet. In the last five games, 98% of lineups included Bluiett or Gates at the 4.

[xu82]

You can get away with one "big" easier when the "small guys" average about 6'6". They are fun to watch! I'm hoping things are just going a little too fast between Sean's ears due to self imposed pressure, and they begin to slow down.

[Harryfe]

Rashid is playing better than he was earlier in the season, now that he's shaken off the transfer rust. I don't think people really appreciate that even if Sean wasn't in this slump, he would probably be coming off the bench right now. If Sean comes out of this slump, he'll start playing more minutes, and Mack is clearly still giving him run to try to break that slump. He's still subbing in around the under-16 or under-12 timeout.

Still, at that point, he'll probably be around 16 minutes per game, because Mack only plays one big most of the time and Gaston is first choice this season. This is similar to the setup with Farr and Reynolds last year. Also, keep in mind that in the short term, Gaston/O'Mara/Jones might be logging similar total minutes to Farr/Reynolds/O'Mara, but in the long term the new trio will probably be logging fewer minutes. Gates coming back and Myles soon returning allows Xavier to play the 4-out lineup basically all the time if they want to, and the 1-3-1 isn't used as much this season due to a change of personnel. In the conference season, we'll probably see almost exclusively one big at a time. It's already started without Myles even back yet. In the last five games, 98% of lineups included Bluiett or Gates at the 4.
Sean's minutes definitely going down. First 10 games about 18 min/g. Last 4 9/game. Suspect less in Big East unless foul problems on other bigs.

[XUFan09]

Sean's minutes definitely going down. First 10 games about 18 min/g. Last 4 9/game. Suspect less in Big East unless foul problems on other bigs.
I still think it's a slump, based off his earlier career and his play in most games earlier this season.

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[xu82]

I still think it's a slump, based off his earlier career and his play in most games earlier this season.

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I'm pretty sure Sean will come back to at least where he was. He's just pressing thinking it's time for him to step up. Relax and let it flow.

[XUFan09]

I'm pretty sure Sean will come back to at least where he was. He's just pressing thinking it's time for him to step up. Relax and let it flow.
Yeah, my expectation is he'll be a reliable role player, while Gaston will be the key big on the team.

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[xu82]

Yeah, my expectation is he'll be a reliable role player, while Gaston will be the key big on the team.

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No question Gaston is the guy, and Jones is VERY intriguing, despite being VERY raw.