But were we even going to beat Gonzaga?

[BCole4Life]

I am as frustrated as many on this site, and am in the camp of people who fear this school is years away from getting to the Final Four --- a thought based more on the current mental make up and perimeter defensive abilities of the program, not the talent we are able to attract to X. What Mack has done with recruiting has been exceptional, and this year's rotation had the talent, but not certain intangibles, to get to San Antonio.

Being a one seed in a down year in college hoops, there was, and may not be, a better chance for Xavier to have finally won a region. And we failed.

With that though... were we even going to beat Gonzaga? Of course you have to play the games out, and anything can happen, but what I see from this year's Bulldogs club was a horrible matchup for X.

They have physical and versatile bigs.
They have athletic guards that can shoot.
They have experience.

Florida State missed a lot of wide open 3s. Mack probably employed the 1-3-1 to give the Seminoles those shots knowing they wouldn't make them, but guys like Norvell, Tillie, Perkins, and even Melson would feast on all the wide open corner 3s our zone usually creates (Exhibit: Villanova).

If we get to LA, and lose to Gonzaga, is the narrative and fallout from our fans any different following that game than what we are seeing today?

Would you be more or less upset if we suffered another big blowout loss in the next round to Mark Few?

Perhaps we were just delaying the inevitable, but I am in the camp that it's Final Four or bust for a team like this. Another Sweet 16 appearance doesn't excite me, and I am not sure our ceiling was beyond a tough Zags team.

[Caf]

Alright now this is just dumb. Hell of a first post.

[markchal]

I think we would have beaten them. I think it would've been a toss-up, but I could've lived with a loss to them. Sweet 16 is the bar for a successful season for me. Once you're there, it's all about bounces and matchups, etc. I know people were afraid of them, but they almost lost twice to two teams who are worse than us. Also, Gonzaga was a top 10, top 12 team, so losing to them would've been marginally better. They are a heck of a lot better than FSU.

[BCole4Life]

What makes it dumb?

[GoMuskies]

They are a heck of a lot better than FSU.

They'll probably be more than 5.5 point favorites, but I still wouldn't be surprised to see Gonzaga win the game. March is crazy.

[xu82]

Alright now this is just dumb. Hell of a first post.

I didn’t even read it. I’m sorry you did. The title told me all I needed to know.

[LadyMuskie]

What makes it dumb?

A. It's your first post and it's about how the team can't win.
B. It's all hypothetical, so who the hell cares? Why not wonder if we could have gotten past the '92 Olympic Dream Team?
C. Reality was sucktastic enough last night. Who wants to examine why we would have lost to another team?
D. Your conclusion seems to be if we're put in a bracket where we'll potentially meet up with Gonzaga we should decline to play because we will never beat them and therefore not reach our goal.

[BCole4Life]

A. It's your first post and it's about how the team can't win.
B. It's all hypothetical, so who the hell cares? Why not wonder if we could have gotten past the '92 Olympic Dream Team?
C. Reality was sucktastic enough last night. Who wants to examine why we would have lost to another team?
D. Your conclusion seems to be if we're put in a bracket where we'll potentially meet up with Gonzaga we should decline to play because we will never beat them and therefore not reach our goal.

well i don't think the point of a message board is to avoid posing hypothetical questions that could spark discussion, so here i am.

the next game was going to be very difficult and a bad matchup for X. if you are unwilling to accept that you're jaded.

if they were to lose in the next round, would you sit here and call the season a disappointment or be satisfied w/ another second weekend appearance?

we're sitting here pissed at what happened last night. im curious if/how the sentiment would have been different if X beat FSU but failed to make the final four.

that doesn't seem like a dumb topic to explore for this fan base.

[cutterX]

A valid post BCole and that thought was in my head as well. But I was certainly welcoming the opportunity to see if X could make another notch on their revenge tour!

[XU 87]

To answer the question posed on this thread- "I don't know, but I sure would have liked the opportunity to find out."

[Caf]

What makes it dumb?

It's a moot point. We're not going to play them. It's exactly the same reason why it would be dumb to ask if we could beat Duke or Kansas.


Being a one seed in a down year in college hoops, there was, and may not be, a better chance for Xavier to have finally won a region. And we failed. With that though... were we even going to beat Gonzaga?

Here you basically say, "We failed, but were we going to fail next week?" Who cares? Then your justification for this thought is that sweet 16s don't excite you. Good to know.

The cherry on top is that we would have just delayed the inevitable by winning this week. No shit. Literally every team in this tournament except one is delaying the inevitable by playing any of the games. So to play along, would we have beaten Gonzaga? Maybe not, but we sure as hell would have better odds if we beat FSU.

Oh and your post isn't dumb because it's not the point of a message board. I've lost months of my life to global warming debates on this site. It's dumb because it's dumb.

[IM4X]

The answer is "Yes" without a doubt -They would have beaten Gonzaga... if in that next game with the Zags Naji was actually able to play for much of it and if our best player was able to perform anywhere close to his potential ... and if the refs in that game understand that "No contact" means no foul.

[dethwing]

Given the beat down we just saw last night, I think we can say for sure: "Yes. Yes we would have."

[SemajParlor]

Yes.

[GoMuskies]

But were we even going to beat Michigan......

They have Muhammad Ali on their team for God's sake. And he's the Greatest.

[Caf]

It's almost like you can't predict what's going to happen in the tournament these days. Crazy

[BandAid]

But were we even going to beat Michigan......

They have Muhammad Ali on their team for God's sake. And he's the Greatest.


It's almost like you can't predict what's going to happen in the tournament these days. Crazy

But were we going to beat Kentucky?

[BCole4Life]

Yeah I feel a little silly about this now.

Regardless, there is nothing about FSU's roster and game that you can point to and say.. 'yes, i understand why they're playing in a regional final.' All this is fluky, which bums me out even more. Top teams were going down and those top teams clearly weren't dominant. Everything was aligned for our first Final Four. Maybe even more.

It's Friday. I am an adult with plenty of other things to worry about and spend time on, yet I am still upset like a 12 year old fan would be.

[GreatWhiteNorth]

The ways teams are playing in this tournament, I really feel that, on a normal night, X can beat any one of them.

[LadyMuskie]

Yeah I feel a little silly about this now.

.

Admitting it is half the battle!

[Strange Brew]

Who knows....
Now I know how the Bishop from Caddyshack felt.

[whopper]

Yeah I feel a little silly about this now.

Regardless, there is nothing about FSU's roster and game that you can point to and say.. 'yes, i understand why they're playing in a regional final.' All this is fluky, which bums me out even more. Top teams were going down and those top teams clearly weren't dominant. Everything was aligned for our first Final Four. Maybe even more.

It's Friday. I am an adult with plenty of other things to worry about and spend time on, yet I am still upset like a 12 year old fan would be.Of course you must let it go but it is tough. I hesitated to watch the DVR (which in my case stops at us up 70-68) but did from the mid second half on for a few minutes and tortured myself. Could point out half a dozen things (which I had forgotten) and am tempted to delete so as not to watch in July. Still I had a great 4 years of fandom while my daughters there(starting with Stainbrook and Dee Davis) and ending last Sunday. Thanks to all the players and fans and I will be monitoring developments this summer. I may be the only poster that watched Evan Bordeaux and he has Andrew Charbarz potential. Against the Yale team with an athletic front line(rare in Ivy) which beat Baylor and lost to Duke by 6(2 years ago) he has 12 and 7 and more than held his own as Dartmouth lost in OT on Yale senior night. I was surprised