Butler 68, Xavier women 66

[cinskyline]

Xavier is eliminated in the first round of the Big East Tournament.

Butler is now 6-24 this season, with 2 of those wins being against X.

Xavier finishes another bad season at 12-18.

[X-band '01]

With both of those wins either in the closing seconds or in OT. Not good.

[WCWIII]

It was a competitive back and forth game ... the whole 2nd half. Xavier seemed like it was about to go up by 2 scores when Butler would hit a 3. Tie game, final 36 sec. One empty possession, a Butler 2, and a missed desperation attempt. Game over. Season over.

Best especially to the seniors.

[cinskyline]

It's interesting to look at the season stats.

The Field Goal % Defense was actually pretty decent this year. They only allowed 38.8% to opponents overall. That should win more than 12 games in a season.

However, they were 335th in the country in turnovers forced. Opponents only turned it over 12.3 times per game. That's a problem because that's gives your offense few opportunities for easy shots at the other end.

Combine that with the fact that the team really didn't do anything well on offense. 40.5% shooting overall, 32.5% from three, and an awful 66.6% from the free throw line (259th in the country).

The team was 44th in the country in fewest fouls committed. That's good, but it may also be a sign that the defense isn't aggressive enough (hence the few turnovers by opponents).

One area where there was improvement was turnovers. The team turned it over 14.5 times per game. That's an improvement over past seasons.

[XU 87]

XU women are a good reminder of what can happen when a program with success hires the wrong coach (or coaches).

[hogster]

Need a new coach . Brian Neal 55-69 in 4 years. His recruiting and coaching is not up to division 1. If X do not replace him, they are not interested in a top flight women's program. I am a one of very few season ticket holders. If he is back I will not be.

[Muskie]

What does the recruiting class look like for next year? I have no idea.

[cinskyline]

Here's our freshman class for next year:

Jordyn Dawson 5-10 G/F Huntington, W.V. (Huntington HS)
Aaliyah Dunham 5-4 G South Charleston, W.V. (South Charleston HS)
A'riana Gray 6-0 F Cleveland, Ohio (Maple Heights HS)
Alyson Reiff 5-11 G South Whitley, Ind. (Whitko HS)
Deja Ross 6-0 F Providence, R.I. (Pomfret HS)
Princess Stewart 5-9 G Frankfort, Ky. (Franklin Co. HS)


Link: http://goxavier.com/news/2016/11/28/womens-basketball-signs-six-players-to-nlis.aspx?

[Cheesehead]

Here's our freshman class for next year:

Jordyn Dawson 5-10 G/F Huntington, W.V. (Huntington HS)
Aaliyah Dunham 5-4 G South Charleston, W.V. (South Charleston HS)
A'riana Gray 6-0 F Cleveland, Ohio (Maple Heights HS)
Alyson Reiff 5-11 G South Whitley, Ind. (Whitko HS)
Deja Ross 6-0 F Providence, R.I. (Pomfret HS)
Princess Stewart 5-9 G Frankfort, Ky. (Franklin Co. HS)


Link: http://goxavier.com/news/2016/11/28/womens-basketball-signs-six-players-to-nlis.aspx?

Why so guard heavy?

[HomerCecil]

Why so guard heavy?

Agreed, this team needs some post presence. And while the bios sound nice, there's no mention of any rankings for any of these recruits.

My feeling is that the administration went all in on WBB with McGuff, and when he left, it seems like they decided for whatever reason that it wasn't worth the investment. Hope I'm wrong, but it doesn't seem like the case.

[X-band '01]

When sports like men's soccer, baseball and volleyball are competitive more often than not, I doubt that Xavier would just "give up" on the sport.

But frankly, the interest in the women's program took a nosedive after McGuff left.