Things are pretty good in TS's second year.

[Murph85]

As a Xavier fan it is worth taking note on another successful coaching change. Whether it is promoting from within or being in a very good league it is hard to argue that we didn’t suffer much in the transition. ( if at all) TS is only in his second year and we are projected to be very good.

We have a roster that is loaded with both veteran talent and very impressive freshman. This does not even touch on the transfers who are getting rave reviews for practice and game performance in the 3 opponent Spain trip. They fill real needs and it should shape up to be a very great year.

The 2020 class has two very strong commits and if the recruiting experts are getting it right we are going to have a few more to pile on. The site I subscribe to for recruiting touts our staff as one on the most organized and innovative staffs they have seen and they cover multiple schools so they are not looking at this with blue glasses.

Contrast that with another school that ran their coach off just a few miles away. This year might not be a dumpster fire but unless things pick up 2020 is not going to be pretty. They just struck out with several recruits and now are turning to targets rated in the 180 – 350 range. We know from history that a few of those have strong careers but most do not set a foundation for a top 30 team. They got Harvey but we know that was because he had limited options. The transfer from NKU and the other commit for 2020 ( Saunders) are nothing to get excited about.

I can’t wait until the season gets here.

[bleedXblue]

Would agree that things are looking pretty solid for Steele. If he can land another 4 star to next years class......that would be very impressive. Now he has to learn and grow FAST as a HC. We will see......

A slight dig here........when are X fans going to stop comparing our program to UC's? So frustrating to me...........if we want to take the next step, we have to set our sights on the TOP programs in the country.

[scoscox]

I agree life is good and i'm as excited for the future as anyone, but I'm not sure we can declare Travis a complete success just yet. Let's play a few games first.

And Bleed,
Let's hope he lands two more 4 stars. Carlson and Jones/Lane

[XU 87]

Let's hope he lands two more 4 stars.

I think the odds are in our favor that that's going to happen.

[drudy23]

Contrast that with another school that ran their coach off just a few miles away. This year might not be a dumpster fire but unless things pick up 2020 is not going to be pretty. They just struck out with several recruits and now are turning to targets rated in the 180 – 350 range. We know from history that a few of those have strong careers but most do not set a foundation for a top 30 team. They got Harvey but we know that was because he had limited options. The transfer from NKU and the other commit for 2020 ( Saunders) are nothing to get excited about.

.

It's a different recruiting profile. They have a tougher time than us consistently getting top 50 guys to pay attention.

They have to build a team based on kids they can develop over 4 years. It will likely work out better for them in the end, but they're not going to pass us.

Basically, they're us when we dominated the A10.

[GoMuskies]

I agree life is good and i'm as excited for the future as anyone, but I'm not sure we can declare Travis a complete success just yet. Let's play a few games first.

Yes, at least one in the NCAA Tournament before that "S" word is thrown around too broadly. But the vital signs are certainly positive.

[noteggs]

Let's hope he lands two more 4 stars. Carlson and Jones/Lane

Out of curiosity and if we can land one of the two, in your opinion who would you rather have or is a better fit Jones or Lane? I know Lane has a better 247 ranking, but not enough to concern me and they can always change (rivals has them ranked more closely).

[XUOHTX]

Would agree that things are looking pretty solid for Steele. If he can land another 4 star to next years class......that would be very impressive. Now he has to learn and grow FAST as a HC. We will see......

A slight dig here........when are X fans going to stop comparing our program to UC's? So frustrating to me...........if we want to take the next step, we have to set our sights on the TOP programs in the country.

I think the comparison in this case is valid only because we both just went through/are going through coaching changes.

[Murph85]

It's a different recruiting profile. They have a tougher time than us consistently getting top 50 guys to pay attention.

They have to build a team based on kids they can develop over 4 years. It will likely work out better for them in the end, but they're not going to pass us.

Basically, they're us when we dominated the A10.

I guess that's close. The A 10 was better overall when we played in it but the AAC actually gets pretty good recruiting classes. Better than the A -10 ever got.

[Murph85]

Out of curiosity and if we can land one of the two, in your opinion who would you rather have or is a better fit Jones or Lane? I know Lane has a better 247 ranking, but not enough to concern me and they can always change (rivals has them ranked more closely).

From what I read they really want Jones. He kind of blew up over the summer.

[GIMMFD]

Yes, at least one in the NCAA Tournament before that "S" word is thrown around too broadly. But the vital signs are certainly positive.

Exactly this, it's kind of a problem in college athletics, fans aren't patient enough, and coaches get fired before a system, etc. can get implemented. Very happy with the way the program looks right now for the future, Steele hired a stand out recruiting staff, and we get Dante back! Coaching wise, I was also happy with his growth towards the end of the year, seemed like he was figuring things out more, and the guys bought in more. Steele has the resources, and the personality to be successful here, and I'm hoping that it all comes into fruition. It's exciting to think about, but not "set it stone," so to speak.

[JTG]

A slight dig here........when are X fans going to stop comparing our program to UC's? So frustrating to me...........if we want to take the next step, we have to set our sights on the TOP programs in the country.[/QUOTE]
This bugs me also. But my guess is the bulk of the folks here are either from Cincy or are current residents. Personally, being from out of state, I could care less. But then no one is gonna be giving me a hard time if we lose the Shootout. The only reason I care at all is because I want X to win every game. It seems very " little brotherish" to constantly be saying, "Yeah, but we're better than UC" Worry about being better than Villanova !!

[Xuperman]

I agree life is good and i'm as excited for the future as anyone, but I'm not sure we can declare Travis a complete success just yet. Let's play a few games first.

Steele and staff are already elite recruiters and no reason to think that will change anytime soon, so he will have the talent to succeed going forward. I think most of us here think he can implement an effective system and potentially be a fine X and O guy but here’s the thing. He won’t be seriously tested until 2020-21. Coach did a nice job of getting us through Mack’s lost 2015 class but Mack’s 2018 looks to be worse. If Marshall/Scruggs forgo as expected (along with the inevitable injury/transfer), he will do well to keep us competitive in his 3rd year. Yes, it looks like he hit a home run with this class and next years as well but can you seriously challenge in the BEast with frosh/sophs/transfers? Let’s hope that along with serious recruiting chops, Coach can excel in player development as well.

[XUGRAD80]

Xavier has always been known for developing players. The difference is that now they are developing players that are coming into school as highly regarded recruits and not as (many times in the past) unknowns. It would appear that the ceiling is higher now.

The question would now appear to be......can 3-4 Star players compete successfully with top 25 players, once they have been given a year or two to develop?

Remember, it’s not just how well the PLAYERS develop, it’s also how well they learn to play together as a TEAM. We have all seen schools where they just seem to roll out the ball and let the players play, with little or no real organization it seems, just individual talent on display. Kentucky comes to mind. I believe that in order for Steele to be as successful as he might be, he needs to take the players in the 75-150 range that he is getting as recruits, help them to develop their individual talents, and then teach them how to play within his system. I also believe that he, and the rest of the coaches, are going to do just that and are going to be successful.

[bleedXblue]

Xavier has always been known for developing players. The difference is that now they are developing players that are coming into school as highly regarded recruits and not as (many times in the past) unknowns. It would appear that the ceiling is higher now.

The question would now appear to be......can 3-4 Star players compete successfully with top 25 players, once they have been given a year or two to develop?

Remember, it’s not just how well the PLAYERS develop, it’s also how well they learn to play together as a TEAM. We have all seen schools where they just seem to roll out the ball and let the players play, with little or no real organization it seems, just individual talent on display. Kentucky comes to mind. I believe that in order for Steele to be as successful as he might be, he needs to take the players in the 75-150 range that he is getting as recruits, help them to develop their individual talents, and then teach them how to play within his system. I also believe that he, and the rest of the coaches, are going to do just that and are going to be successful.

If Xavier is ever going to compete for National titles, we need better players. Simple as that. Development and team work only take you so far. I think we have pretty much almost maximized that over the last 20 years. X has to break through and start getting top 50 guys at some point on a consistent basis.

Im not saying that we cant win Big East titles and make nice tourney runs.......very doable with where we are now.......

[xukeith]

If Xavier is ever going to compete for National titles, we need better players. Simple as that. Development and team work only take you so far. I think we have pretty much almost maximized that over the last 20 years. X has to break through and start getting top 50 guys at some point on a consistent basis.

Im not saying that we cant win Big East titles and make nice tourney runs.......very doable with where we are now.......

So true, better talent = more wins against better schools. Recruiting is the qxygen to a winning program. Steele in a perfect world would LOVE 3-4 top 10 talent that goes to Duke, UNC, Kentucky, MSU, and Kansas. Even Gonzaga gets better talent and then rolls through their easier conference and gets a top 4 seed every year.

[fellahmuskie]

So true, better talent = more wins against better schools. Recruiting is the qxygen to a winning program. Steele in a perfect world would LOVE 3-4 top 10 talent that goes to Duke, UNC, Kentucky, MSU, and Kansas. Even Gonzaga gets better talent and then rolls through their easier conference and gets a top 4 seed every year.

I think the Nova approach is pretty ideal. Couple top 20-30 guys, then a bunch of 50-100.

We already get the 50-100 guys, the key is picking up 1-2 top 50 every single year.

[xufan02]

Odom is a top 50 talent. Paul and Naji were top 50 kids. Also fit has a lot to do with it. You look at Quinnerly at Nova, he was a 5 star top 25 player. It never worked out, was it fit or was he overrated?

Our 2019 class was a foundational class to inject talent into the program. 2020 is plugging needs and upgrading the roster. I think 2021 will have more limited spots, and will be swing for the fences.

[bleedXblue]

Odom is a top 50 talent. Paul and Naji were top 50 kids. Also fit has a lot to do with it. You look at Quinnerly at Nova, he was a 5 star top 25 player. It never worked out, was it fit or was he overrated?

Our 2019 class was a foundational class to inject talent into the program. 2020 is plugging needs and upgrading the roster. I think 2021 will have more limited spots, and will be swing for the fences.

Yeah but the point is that the top programs are getting 3-4 top 50 guys every year. I like the Nova reference.......I think that is doable, but expecting more from what we have been doing the last 10-15 years is not going to be a game changer. I think Steele can step up and improve the recruiting.......I have faith

[Xuperman]

NCAA D1 Basketball is an unusual sport in this regard, making the Final Four is celebrated almost as much as winning the dang thing. It certainly generates as much fan excitement as getting to the championship game and losing. Look what making ONE F4 did for Hugg’s reputation. Obviously teams make the final weekend, on a regular basis, with less talent than what X has most years. Usually with several 4 year guys or 1 surprise superstar or a combination of both. This perfectly describes what The Men of Steele will roll out in the fall.

We got this! :munch:

[scoscox]

Odom is a top 50 talent. Paul and Naji were top 50 kids. Also fit has a lot to do with it. You look at Quinnerly at Nova, he was a 5 star top 25 player. It never worked out, was it fit or was he overrated?

Our 2019 class was a foundational class to inject talent into the program. 2020 is plugging needs and upgrading the roster. I think 2021 will have more limited spots, and will be swing for the fences.

Recruiting doesn't need to improve drastically by any means and I think this is a good assessment. Look at Villanova's classes building up to their 2016 team and you'll see a lot of similarities to the first two classes under Travis. Lots of guys in the 50-150 range (Josh Hart 79, Kris Jenkins 76, Arcidiacono 57, Ochefu 49, Phil Booth 75, Mikal Bridges 81, Divincenzo 124, and Brunson 22 the only 5 star). Travis is recruiting in that range very well right now. (Dwon Odom 60, Wilcher 91, Tandy 89, etc.) If we can swing for the fences and get that top 30 kid in the 2021 or 2022 classes (someone like Paul McMillan IV maybe) we'll be cooking with grease.

Moreover, Virginia didn't have any five stars. Diakite was their highest rated recruit at 32, just two spots higher than Paul Scruggs. We're recruiting well within final four range and not too far away from national title contenders

BTW we just got evan daniels crystal ball of colby jones, so it looks like we'll be getting him instead of lane. b snow just changed his lane crystal ball from X to undecided. according to nate walroth, jones isn't going on anymore visits and will be deciding soon, so a commitment to us would make sense there. his commitment would move us up to the #2 class in the country behind Virginia

also, count me in the quinerly was just overrated camp. we'll see how he does at bama, but i'm not holding my breath

[Muskie]

Recruiting doesn’t have to improve but it does have to be more consistent. You can’t have the peaks and valleys we’ve seen from class to class.


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[fellahmuskie]

Recruiting doesn't need to improve drastically by any means and I think this is a good assessment. Look at Villanova's classes building up to their 2016 team and you'll see a lot of similarities to the first two classes under Travis. Lots of guys in the 50-150 range (Josh Hart 79, Kris Jenkins 76, Arcidiacono 57, Ochefu 49, Phil Booth 75, Mikal Bridges 81, Divincenzo 124, and Brunson 22 the only 5 star). Travis is recruiting in that range very well right now. (Dwon Odom 60, Wilcher 91, Tandy 89, etc.) If we can swing for the fences and get that top 30 kid in the 2021 or 2022 classes (someone like Paul McMillan IV maybe) we'll be cooking with grease.

Moreover, Virginia didn't have any five stars. Diakite was their highest rated recruit at 32, just two spots higher than Paul Scruggs. We're recruiting well within final four range and not too far away from national title contenders

BTW we just got evan daniels crystal ball of colby jones, so it looks like we'll be getting him instead of lane. b snow just changed his lane crystal ball from X to undecided. according to nate walroth, jones isn't going on anymore visits and will be deciding soon, so a commitment to us would make sense there. his commitment would move us up to the #2 class in the country behind Virginia

also, count me in the quinerly was just overrated camp. we'll see how he does at bama, but i'm not holding my breath

Those are all good points. I guess the real answer is to recruit with consistency every single year AND avoid any more coaching turnover for the foreseeable future. Mack could get big names, but there were too many off years to reach the next step. Luckily, Steele so far looks much more likely to thrive where Mack struggled on the recruiting trail.

[scoscox]

Recruiting doesn’t have to improve but it does have to be more consistent. You can’t have the peaks and valleys we’ve seen from class to class.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I think we're seeing that under Travis. He's about to stack two top 25 (atleast) classes on top of each other and is in on some big names in the 2021 and 2022 classes already as well. dude is tireless on the trail and seemingly more dedicated to recruiting than Mack was. I think that will be a feature of the mack era we won't see under travis.

[surfxu]

From what I read they really want Jones. He kind of blew up over the summer.

There's some cryptic stuff flying around the Twitter machine about this... may hear something very soon and it sounds positive.

[paulxu]

Please don't use initials for our players or coaches.
I get Fayer Flashback when you do.

https://giphy.com/gifs/8y2mJ3sxp6TPa/html5

[xudash]

Please don't use initials for our players or coaches.
I get Fayer Flashback when you do.

https://giphy.com/gifs/8y2mJ3sxp6TPa/html5

Ha! And losing to St. Bonaventure at home! That is a sinking program. Graphs, charts and wanting to pass Xavier - and embarrassing cheerleader moments. Onward VD.

[RetireFiftyTu]

I really like the direction the program is heading under Travis' leadership. And a cool bonus is his wife (and her family) is from Cincinnati and comes from a very wealthy family.

[XMuskieFTW]

I think if the ideal 4 man class were to shake out for X it would either be:

Jones/Bridges or
Clark or Lane/Carlson

If we land Jones, we already are bringing in two players in him and Odom who aren't great shooters. Would love to land Bridges who is a high level shooter(think more athletic Kaiser).

If we land Carlson, Clark or Lane are probably a better compliment player as they're both better shooters than Jones.

Odom, Jones, Wilcher, and Carlson would be an amazing class, but you'd only be bringing in only one good shooter out of 4 guards/wings. Wouldn't be a huge deal though with Tandy and Bishop.

[throwbackmuskie]

looks like the 3rd man will be know shortly, Steele tweeted the power X...

[throwbackmuskie]

looks like the 3rd man will be know shortly, Steele tweeted the power X...

that didn't take long, it's Colby Jones!

[xu82]

that didn't take long, it's Colby Jones!

OK, sort of out of the loop....fill me in!

[paulxu]

Nice to get some print. But at the end of this article they rank the conferences...and have us behind the AAC.

??????

https://bustingbrackets.com/2019/08/25/xavier-basketball-can-core-four-lead-musketeers-bounce-back-season/?utm_campaign=FanSided+Daily&utm_source=FanSided+Daily&utm_medium=email

[xukeith]

Nice to get some print. But at the end of this article they rank the conferences...and have us behind the AAC.

??????

https://bustingbrackets.com/2019/08/25/xavier-basketball-can-core-four-lead-musketeers-bounce-back-season/?utm_campaign=FanSided+Daily&utm_source=FanSided+Daily&utm_medium=email

I saw that on Twitter. Shows how reliable and good their reporting is. Nobody who has a clue would predict the BE to be worse than 3rd or 4th in conference rankings this upcoming season.
I informed them abut all the BE returnees and they "liked" my tweet.
Silly.

[bleedXblue]

I saw that on Twitter. Shows how reliable and good their reporting is. Nobody who has a clue would predict the BE to be worse than 3rd or 4th in conference rankings this upcoming season.
I informed them abut all the BE returnees and they "liked" my tweet.
Silly.

That is an absolute joke/hack job of a prediction. BE has Nova, SH, X, Creighton, GT, MARQ all with very good teams and an excellent chance to make the tourney.....who does the AAAAAC have? Memphis and marginal teams in UC and Houston????

[Muskie]

The media has fallen in love with Memphis because Penny Hardaway is back.


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[GoMuskies]

The media has fallen in love with Memphis because Penny Hardaway is back.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

That and their monster recruiting class. What's not to love?

[sirthought]

That is an absolute joke/hack job of a prediction. BE has Nova, SH, X, Creighton, GT, MARQ all with very good teams and an excellent chance to make the tourney.....who does the AAAAAC have? Memphis and marginal teams in UC and Houston????

Man, Houston and UC will likely have really good teams this year. Haven't looked at WSU's roster, but that Memphis team will be pretty interesting to see how they do. I'd say the AAC is definitely on an upswing. Hard to say if Big East is in the right spot or not. I always feel like SEC is overhyped but they had a really great season last year.

[bleedXblue]

Man, Houston and UC will likely have really good teams this year. Haven't looked at WSU's roster, but that Memphis team will be pretty interesting to see how they do. I'd say the AAC is definitely on an upswing. Hard to say if Big East is in the right spot or not. I always feel like SEC is overhyped but they had a really great season last year.

I don't know about UC being really good........I think they will win 20 games, but a drop off from last year for sure.

[GoMuskies]

The AAC at the top is always likely to be pretty good. It's the bottom of the leauge that is the boat anchor. It's the same thing we used to deal with in the A-10.

[Jumpin_Jamal_Forever]

UCONN voted on this debate with their feet.

[xudash]

The AAC at the top is always likely to be pretty good. It's the bottom of the leauge that is the boat anchor. It's the same thing we used to deal with in the A-10.

This.

And mind you almost with mirror image circumstances, in the sense that some of the bottom-dwellers simply don't care, which means they're likely to not come out of the trash heap for a long, long time, if ever.

[Murph85]

I don't know about UC being really good........I think they will win 20 games, but a drop off from last year for sure.

It is basically being assuming UC will be good but they are losing about 24 points of scoring, 3-4 blocked shots a game and really don't have a ball handler that is proven. It could work out but it could also be that Cumberland 2 shot well in a lower level conference and now will be guarded better resulting in a % drop off. Sound familiar?

It also assumes a seamless transition fo a new coach and system. I could care less as long as we give them a solid beat down December 7th. Our boys shit the bed last year.