We need a change

[bleedXblue]

I think its pretty clear that this team lacks cohesion and any kind of identity on the offensive side of the ball. It's been painfully clear for the last 1.5 years. When we had Tre and JP, they pretty much shot us out of our problems for the most part. I think it starts and ends with not having a true PG/creator who stirs the pot and gets everything going. That I think gets fixed next year with Odom. But, what the hell are we supposed to do this year? KyKy right now doesn't look ready. Contrary to many peoples hopes that he was going to be a big help off the bench, he's not showing anyone he wants a much bigger role on this team.

Coach Steele gets paid the big bucks to figure this out, but I think we have only 1 choice right now. Paul Scruggs needs to running this team and have the ball in his hands way more. This is not a Q thread to bash him.....he simply isn't the right guy for THIS team. He doesn't create enough and when the ball isn't in his hands, he's not enough of a threat to hurt you from outside. Who moves to the 2? Its gotta be Bryce Moore until someone else steps up and proves that they want it. He can defend and he can shoot. Both KyKy and Dahmir have been given multiple chances to earn more minutes but haven't seized the opportunity. Q can come off the bench and still help this team, but we need a change in the worst way. I just don't see any other way we can keep going down this same path expecting something miraculous to happen.

[drudy23]

The team should run through Scruggs, with Naji as his complimentary 1A when he's cooking. This has been obvious for 2 years and hasn't happened.

Young coaches are much less likely to take personnel risks, when most of the time, that's exactly what turns out to be the difference.

At some point, you have to stop preaching about what they should be doing, and find someone that will actually do it.

[Xville]

I think most logical people understand that it needs to happen and we can say it, until we are blue in the face, but it's just not going to happen. Steele is going to stand by q mostly because I think if he did otherwise, it would create a giant problem in the locker room. I dont know q well, but he doesnt seem to be one to sacrifice for the overall team like a hammer did. So, I thi k we just need to deal with him for thankfully just one more year.

[JTG]

I think most logical people understand that it needs to happen and we can say it, until we are blue in the face, but it's just not going to happen. Steele is going to stand by q mostly because I think if he did otherwise, it would create a giant problem in the locker room. I dont know q well, but he doesnt seem to be one to sacrifice for the overall team like a hammer did. So, I thi k we just need to deal with him for thankfully just one more year.

What about a 3 guard offense, with Paul at the point, and Q as a stopper ? And I know he's very skinny, but what about biying the bullet and letting Miles help out at the 5 ? At least it's more fouls to give, plus he'd get some experience. If a guy, Q in this case, is wrecking your offense and causing you to look bad, do his teammates necessarily take offense at him being benched ? Just thinking out loud.

[whopper]

Miles is a redshirt but I would look to Ramsey as a stopgap. With Tyrique and Zach having 2 fouls quickly(regardless of reason) a 3-5 minute placeholder would help. I don't know why Tyrique got 2 fouls almost immediately the past 2 games (and it has something to do with overemphasizing him on offense at beginning of game Ala Kanter) but I feel the ease of layups from Wake was largely a result of that (and our inability to keep guys in front of us which is another issue at times)

[bleedXblue]

I think most logical people understand that it needs to happen and we can say it, until we are blue in the face, but it's just not going to happen. Steele is going to stand by q mostly because I think if he did otherwise, it would create a giant problem in the locker room. I dont know q well, but he doesnt seem to be one to sacrifice for the overall team like a hammer did. So, I thi k we just need to deal with him for thankfully just one more year.

Well if that's the case, then shame on Q for not being a team player. He's not being "benched", he is still gonna play and get minutes. You aren't hurting any professional oppty. If he wants to go play in Europe he can. Something has to change with the rotation...........

[whopper]

it would not just be Q but Tyrique, Naj, Paul who would feel a little awkward. The way they could prevent that is for them all to play 5% more efficiently (not even better but sharper cuts, coming to ball on passes, stepping through passes from the post(Tyrique), getting a little lower on defense, not getting fouls that accomplish nothing (and they ALL are good for one foul a game where they contest an already secured rebound in backcourt).)

[Juice]

A lot of people have been bashing Q, and I don't think he is even close to the main issue with the offense. Yesterday he had a 104 Orating, so slightly above average. What improves with this offense if Bryce comes in for him? Q is a better ball handler and passer. I love Bryce as a glue guy but he's one dimensional on offense as a set shooter from 3 but he needs guys to get it to him. I could maybe see Bryce coming in for Carter and playing 4 guards.

Regardless, I think everyone is taking too much from one game and extrapolating it as everything that happened yesterday as something that is happening in every game. The real issue wasn't our offense. X averaged 1.04 PPP yesterday. The real issue is the defense didn't show and X allowed 1.07 PPP. X allowed Florida to score 1.03 PPP.

[noteggs]

A lot of people have been bashing Q, and I don't think he is even close to the main issue with the offense. Yesterday he had a 104 Orating, so slightly above average. What improves with this offense if Bryce comes in for him? Q is a better ball handler and passer. I love Bryce as a glue guy but he's one dimensional on offense as a set shooter from 3 but he needs guys to get it to him. I could maybe see Bryce coming in for Carter and playing 4 guards.

Regardless, I think everyone is taking too much from one game and extrapolating it as everything that happened yesterday as something that is happening in every game. The real issue wasn't our offense. X averaged 1.04 PPP yesterday. The real issue is the defense didn't show and X allowed 1.07 PPP. X allowed Florida to score 1.03 PPP.

Exactly! We now have two who are capable of scoring 30 points. D is going to be the hallmark of this team, but it wasn’t there yesterday. Even though I didn’t comment and was not a member during early part of Paul’s freshman year, I read similar posts to his game as I do with Kyky and Dah’s.

Should be an interesting season because every team I’ve seen this year, all have their warts. including and most importantly, those in the BE.

[scoscox]

A lot of people have been bashing Q, and I don't think he is even close to the main issue with the offense. Yesterday he had a 104 Orating, so slightly above average. What improves with this offense if Bryce comes in for him? Q is a better ball handler and passer. I love Bryce as a glue guy but he's one dimensional on offense as a set shooter from 3 but he needs guys to get it to him. I could maybe see Bryce coming in for Carter and playing 4 guards.

Regardless, I think everyone is taking too much from one game and extrapolating it as everything that happened yesterday as something that is happening in every game. The real issue wasn't our offense. X averaged 1.04 PPP yesterday. The real issue is the defense didn't show and X allowed 1.07 PPP. X allowed Florida to score 1.03 PPP.

100%. defense was the problem. wake has no business scoring 80 on us. that's embarrassing frankly

on a different note, i don't think we look for bryce enough to shoot right now when he's in

[bleedXblue]

Completely astounded that some don't see an issue with this team offensively? We are a disaster. We rank 212th in the country in FG% and 324th in 3 PT%. You can chalk some of that up to simply not having enough good pure shooters on the roster. We all know that. Yesterday and several other games this year and almost all of last year there is almost to flow or cohesion with this group. Its pass it around the perimeter and then dump it into the post to Tyrique and hope he scores. That's pretty much the extent of what we do. If wasn't for Naji completely bailing us out in 3 games this year we'd have at least 2-3 more losses. Scruggs yesterday pretty much did the same thing in simply taking over and having a huge individual day. We had 8 assists on 27 made field goals. That's almost impossible to do.

Is it possible that our inability to score has a negative impact on us defensively? You can't tell me the guys don't get frustrated when the ball isn't going in and we have to take forced contested shots b/c our offense is struggling so much.

Sure we didn't play good D yesterday either and both Tyrique and Naji had some incredibly careless fouls that had a huge impact on the loss. I get that. What I don't understand is how anyone can feel good about the rest of the season knowing this team already struggles to shoot the ball. That means we have to find ways to get the ball in the right players hands in the right spot on the floor. That's not happening right now. I said it above, I'm not blaming Q. I'm simply suggesting its time to let someone else stir the drink and see if it has a positive impact on getting this team clicking more offensively. Q is still gonna get minutes and still have a role on the team.

[drudy23]

Regardless, I think everyone is taking too much from one game and extrapolating it as everything that happened yesterday as something that is happening in every game. The real issue wasn't our offense. X averaged 1.04 PPP yesterday. The real issue is the defense didn't show and X allowed 1.07 PPP. X allowed Florida to score 1.03 PPP.

One game?

As I said, we're extremely lucky to be 9-2. How can you ignore the trend since the beginning of the year?

Is the answer to just deal with it and try nothing new to get better? This team has weaknesses all over the place, they're not hard to see. Don't let the record fool you. We have not played good basketball the first 3rd of the year except in small spurts. There has been relatively zero consistency game to game.

I have no doubt Steele is preaching offensive continuity and trying to get the ball in the hands of his most efficient players. But we've seen the team be inconsistent with this execution. One game looks good, they next game they revert back to terrible execution. If the team is going to continue to ignore his path to success, you can't just ignore it. You have to try something new.

It's also safe to say that basketball IQ is not this team's strong suit.

[XMuskieFTW]

Our team already does run through Scruggs. He has the ball in his hands a ton and plays the 1 whenever he is on the floor(as long as Tandy isn't also on the floor). Q has played over 80% of his minutes off the ball as the non primary ball handler. Scruggs or Tandy are always the 1 when on the floor.

[xukeith]

I think its pretty clear that this team lacks cohesion and any kind of identity on the offensive side of the ball. It's been painfully clear for the last 1.5 years. When we had Tre and JP, they pretty much shot us out of our problems for the most part. I think it starts and ends with not having a true PG/creator who stirs the pot and gets everything going. That I think gets fixed next year with Odom. But, what the hell are we supposed to do this year? KyKy right now doesn't look ready. Contrary to many peoples hopes that he was going to be a big help off the bench, he's not showing anyone he wants a much bigger role on this team.

Coach Steele gets paid the big bucks to figure this out, but I think we have only 1 choice right now. Paul Scruggs needs to running this team and have the ball in his hands way more. This is not a Q thread to bash him.....he simply isn't the right guy for THIS team. He doesn't create enough and when the ball isn't in his hands, he's not enough of a threat to hurt you from outside. Who moves to the 2? Its gotta be Bryce Moore until someone else steps up and proves that they want it. He can defend and he can shoot. Both KyKy and Dahmir have been given multiple chances to earn more minutes but haven't seized the opportunity. Q can come off the bench and still help this team, but we need a change in the worst way. I just don't see any other way we can keep going down this same path expecting something miraculous to happen.
North Carolina lost 3rd consecutive game to day vs. Woffard. Drama drama drama

[xukeith]

Completely astounded that some don't see an issue with this team offensively? We are a disaster. We rank 212th in the country in FG% and 324th in 3 PT%. You can chalk some of that up to simply not having enough good pure shooters on the roster. We all know that. Yesterday and several other games this year and almost all of last year there is almost to flow or cohesion with this group. Its pass it around the perimeter and then dump it into the post to Tyrique and hope he scores. That's pretty much the extent of what we do. If wasn't for Naji completely bailing us out in 3 games this year we'd have at least 2-3 more losses. Scruggs yesterday pretty much did the same thing in simply taking over and having a huge individual day. We had 8 assists on 27 made field goals. That's almost impossible to do.

Is it possible that our inability to score has a negative impact on us defensively? You can't tell me the guys don't get frustrated when the ball isn't going in and we have to take forced contested shots b/c our offense is struggling so much.

Sure we didn't play good D yesterday either and both Tyrique and Naji had some incredibly careless fouls that had a huge impact on the loss. I get that. What I don't understand is how anyone can feel good about the rest of the season knowing this team already struggles to shoot the ball. That means we have to find ways to get the ball in the right players hands in the right spot on the floor. That's not happening right now. I said it above, I'm not blaming Q. I'm simply suggesting its time to let someone else stir the drink and see if it has a positive impact on getting this team clicking more offensively. Q is still gonna get minutes and still have a role on the team.
Virginia is worse offensively . They will make tourney

[drudy23]

Our team already does run through Scruggs. He has the ball in his hands a ton and plays the 1 whenever he is on the floor(as long as Tandy isn't also on the floor). Q has played over 80% of his minutes off the ball as the non primary ball handler. Scruggs or Tandy are always the 1 when on the floor.

So Q plays the 2 when he's in? The worst shooter on the team becomes the shooting guard?

[bleedXblue]

Virginia is worse offensively . They will make tourney

I love fans who want to gloss over things b/c other programs are struggling. Virginia has the # 1 defense in the country. NC is not good this year.

What the hell does any of that have to do with Xavier getting better?

[drudy23]

I love fans who want to gloss over things b/c other programs are struggling. Virginia has the # 1 defense in the country. NC is not good this year.

What the hell does any of that have to do with Xavier getting better?

Exactly.

Alot of people, including the coach, know that this team is kind of hanging on right now. It isn't "just one game".

[Juice]

One game?

As I said, we're extremely lucky to be 9-2. How can you ignore the trend since the beginning of the year?

Is the answer to just deal with it and try nothing new to get better? This team has weaknesses all over the place, they're not hard to see. Don't let the record fool you. We have not played good basketball the first 3rd of the year except in small spurts. There has been relatively zero consistency game to game.

I have no doubt Steele is preaching offensive continuity and trying to get the ball in the hands of his most efficient players. But we've seen the team be inconsistent with this execution. One game looks good, they next game they revert back to terrible execution. If the team is going to continue to ignore his path to success, you can't just ignore it. You have to try something new.

It's also safe to say that basketball IQ is not this team's strong suit.

Like shooting? No shit. But they aren't all of a sudden going to be a good shooting team. What do you want to do? What's your solution? I for one would like them to continue to play to their strength - defense. Don't weaken the team's defense chasing offense that probably won't improve by putting freshmen or a grad transfer in.

For reference:



Jeff (BPredict)
@BPredict
The Tar Heels were held to 0.98 PPP today, and have now been held below 1 PPP in 5 of their last 6 games.
Without Cole Anthony, this is a bubble team at best.

UNC would kill for our offense right now.

[XUGRAD80]

Perspective.....that’s what it has to do with X

Some act like the rest of the BE is made up of NBA championship level teams. News Flash!.....EVERY team has question marks and things that need improvements. X is certainly not unique in that respect. X certainly has areas that need improvement. Consistency of effort and concentration among them. And they could play a whole lot smarter too! But while it’s easy to just point out the flaws and to get hung up on the things that need fixing, it’s also good to not let ones fears make the opponents better than they actually are. Nobody is unbeatable and nobody is going undefeated this year. Relax.

[drudy23]

Nobody is pushing the panic button. That's not what anyone is saying.

But to continue to approach this the same way isn't the right path, either. To me, that's worse than panic to have that view.

[GoMuskies]

Some act like the rest of the BE is made up of NBA championship level teams. News Flash!.....EVERY team has question marks and things that need improvements. X is certainly not unique in that respect

For perspective, every Big East team other than St. John's has a KenPom better than Wake by at least 15 spots. And St. John's is only 6 spots behind Wake. Losing to teams like Wake doesn't translate well to Big East play.

[Drew]

I am attempting to have an open mind and see if this team can put it together.

That being said, as a pretty strong believer in group dynamics, part of me believes it starts and ends with Q. Like it or not, he is the leader of the team, by virtue of his seniority, minutes played, skill and position. And with him having that designation, he has absolutely shirked at this responsibility. His attitude starting junior year was totally apathetic. I get it, college athletics is not a dream come true, but there are people who would kill to get his responsibility.

Don't know if anyone has been following whats going on at Georgetown, but they have last some incredibly skilled players, but they were toxic. Basketball is a team sport and sometimes chemistry is more important than skillset. I would bench Goodin until his attitude improves and let Scruggs run the team. Minutes are earned not given.

[Jumpin_Jamal_Forever]

Our team already does run through Scruggs. He has the ball in his hands a ton and plays the 1 whenever he is on the floor(as long as Tandy isn't also on the floor). Q has played over 80% of his minutes off the ball as the non primary ball handler. Scruggs or Tandy are always the 1 when on the floor.

This statement is factually untrue.

[XUGRAD80]

For perspective, every Big East team other than St. John's has a KenPom better than Wake by at least 15 spots. And St. John's is only 6 spots behind Wake. Losing to teams like Wake doesn't translate well to Big East play.

Might as well cancel the rest of the season...KenPom has already decided who beats who, and who the national champion will be! No sense in actually playing the games, i guess?

[GoMuskies]

Might as well cancel the rest of the season...KenPom has already decided who beats who, and who the national champion will be! No sense in actually playing the games, i guess?

Or delete the message board. Only sunshine is allowed to be pumped.

[XUGRAD80]

Or delete the message board. Only sunshine is allowed to be pumped.

Only Sunshine Allowed? Go back and read my post. I certainly said that Xavier has problems. Anyone with half a brain can see they have problems. But don’t act like they are the only ones, and don’t act like other BE schools don’t lose games they shouldn’t. Rodgers just beat SH by 20. DePaul lost to a 6-3 MAC school, Buffalo. The rankings, the computers, the “experts”.....they don’t determine how a team does in any game. Just let them play the games and see what happens. I’m sure the Wake Forest people are not happy to hear that they are terrible and should only plan on winning a couple of more games the rest of the year. But since the experts here have said that’s what will happen, I guess they just have to accept it as true.

Well I hope y’all can find someway to enjoy the rest of the season, but it sure seems to me that there are a lot here that actually enjoy pointing out Xavier flaws and spreading doom and gloom. Well enjoy yourselves. I sure hope the team’s future success doesn’t ruin it to bad for you. Bye now! See ya next year! Mercy Christmas.

[GoMuskies]

I think the Wake Forest people know they're terrible. That's why they mostly go to the games dressed as empty seats. Yes, other Big East teams have issues as well, but they're all good to very good teams. Xavier has not performed well against good to very good teams this year. Pretty average against mediocre ones as well. That's going to become a problem. Actually, yesterday it officially became a problem. They're going to play the games, and we're going to see what happens, but we have message boards because people like to talk about it. When a team plays like shit, some people like to point out that the team played like shit. Others like to get offended that people are pointing out that shit is shit. Different strokes. We ALL enjoy it when Xavier plays well.

[XMuskieFTW]

This statement is factually untrue.

It actually isn't. The way Xavier runs their offense has Scruggs playing the 1. Tandy has only learned the 1 this year. Q plays the 2 80% of the time. The 2 position has zero correlation with "SG". There is no such thing as PG, SG, SF, PF, or C in today's college game.

Scruggs plays the 1 the majority of the time as he has the ability to get in the lane and make plays 1 v 1. Goodin plays off the ball as he needs to get the ball in motion in order to have a higher chance of success driving/kicking after a few passes.

[X Factor]

I love fans who want to gloss over things b/c other programs are struggling. Virginia has the # 1 defense in the country. NC is not good this year.

What the hell does any of that have to do with Xavier getting better?

Thank you. I hate when people bring up Duke losing to Stephen F. Austin. Duke beat Kansas and Michigan State this year too.

Who cares what other teams are doing.

[scoscox]

It actually isn't. The way Xavier runs their offense has Scruggs playing the 1. Tandy has only learned the 1 this year. Q plays the 2 80% of the time. The 2 position has zero correlation with "SG". There is no such thing as PG, SG, SF, PF, or C in today's college game.

Scruggs plays the 1 the majority of the time as he has the ability to get in the lane and make plays 1 v 1. Goodin plays off the ball as he needs to get the ball in motion in order to have a higher chance of success driving/kicking after a few passes.

uh what? this isn't true at all

[Xuperman]

All this about Wake being terrible is way off, based on the team I watched Saturday afternoon. Guessing only 2-3 BE teams could have gotten a W in there the way they played....give them some props. Besides we got out coached. If not in game, then definitely from a preparation standpoint. Take time to read Andy Mac’s game preview on MM. He highlights recent struggles, on the road, coming off OOC exam week and it was spot on here. Team came out flat and uninspired, especially from what was Xpected defensively....that is 100% on Coach, and I’m sure he would agree.

Another thing that stood out to me that no one has mentioned....apparently Coach Steele doesn’t have a well practiced set play for an “under 10 second/no time out” scenario. That was confused desperation and frankly quite embarrassing. But hey, no worries, just go on a mini 3 game win streak and get back into the top 25.
:drinks2:

[stammina0721]

You guys just have to accept what this team is. Its not ever going to be a team that shoots well and values the basketball while hitting free throws. That's not what the back of our baseball card says so that's not what we will be. We are going to fall in the 7 to 9 seed range and have a shot to make a run from there. It's just how it's going to be. Steele had the boys playing well toward the end of last year no reason we shouldn't trust he will again this year

[bleedXblue]

You guys just have to accept what this team is. Its not ever going to be a team that shoots well and values the basketball while hitting free throws. That's not what the back of our baseball card says so that's not what we will be. We are going to fall in the 7 to 9 seed range and have a shot to make a run from there. It's just how it's going to be. Steele had the boys playing well toward the end of last year no reason we shouldn't trust he will again this year

Well then I guess the two transfers (one touted as one of the best xfers in the country) and highly touted frosh class can have no impact on the team? I sort of get what you are saying, but simply brushing it off as "it is what it is" makes no sense to me. I guarantee you Steele and his coaches aren't resigned to this way of thinking. We are basically 1/3 of the way through the year.

[bleedXblue]

You guys just have to accept what this team is. Its not ever going to be a team that shoots well and values the basketball while hitting free throws. That's not what the back of our baseball card says so that's not what we will be. We are going to fall in the 7 to 9 seed range and have a shot to make a run from there. It's just how it's going to be. Steele had the boys playing well toward the end of last year no reason we shouldn't trust he will again this year

FWIW, Villanova has a freshman guard names Justin Moore who was ranked a little higher than KyKy. He's averaging 15 PPG.

[paulxu]

Moore is playing 28 min/game. Maybe we should give Kyky some more minutes to see if he develops.
Their per 40 min stats are one 3 pt shot different.

[scoscox]

Moore is playing 28 min/game. Maybe we should give Kyky some more minutes to see if he develops.
Their per 40 min stats are one 3 pt shot different.

yea, not a 1 to 1 comparison at all. moore was never hurt either and i think he's started all their games.

kyky will get it figured out

[Xville]

It actually isn't. The way Xavier runs their offense has Scruggs playing the 1. Tandy has only learned the 1 this year. Q plays the 2 80% of the time. The 2 position has zero correlation with "SG". There is no such thing as PG, SG, SF, PF, or C in today's college game.

Scruggs plays the 1 the majority of the time as he has the ability to get in the lane and make plays 1 v 1. Goodin plays off the ball as he needs to get the ball in motion in order to have a higher chance of success driving/kicking after a few passes.

This isnt true...at all. Scruggs plays the 1 when q is out which is pretty rare. If Scruggs, q and naji are out there together, it is q running the offense the majority of the time...even naji initiates the "offense" more than paul does.

[nuts4xu]

Here are the changes I would like to see...

1. Players to play better
2. Coaches to coach better
3. Score more points than all of our opponents

If we do this, I think we will win our fair share of games.

[noteggs]

yea, not a 1 to 1 comparison at all. moore was never hurt either and i think he's started all their games.

kyky will get it figured out

Moore is definitely a talent. However, when Antoine gets healthy, Moore’s numbers may take a hit. Also, Nova didn’t have any returners at the 2 and think Gillespie is playing the 1.

[Xville]

Moore is definitely a talent. However, when Antoine gets healthy, Moore’s numbers may take a hit. Also, Nova didn’t have any returners at the 2 and think Gillespie is playing the 1.

We have new player called antoine? Sweet! Was he a 4 or 5 star?

[X Factor]

Steele needs to develop some bench depth.

X got a whopping 3 points from his bench at Wake Forest.

Oh, and the first NET rankings just came out. Xavier is second to last in the BE, only ahead of Providence.

[Lamont Sanford]

Steele needs to develop some bench depth.

X got a whopping 3 points from his bench at Wake Forest.

Oh, and the first NET rankings just came out. Xavier is second to last in the BE, only ahead of Providence.

Totally agreed on developing the bench. Can't do that not playing Freshmen though. Freemantle needs more minutes. Tandy needs more minutes. Bishop needs a shrink. Get Ramsey some minutes or they should have redshirted him too.

We all used to complain about Prosser's lack of bench...Steele is looking like Skip lately.

[BandDad]

The person that needs to sit more is Tyrique. It is very sad that he has been there for four years and has developed almost no low post moves other than turning to his left shoulder and trying to overpower his opponent. He struggles with anyone that has near equal strength and is shooting 35% on shots that are not dunks. That is really poor for a post player. Play Freemantle more and even see what Ramsey can do. Tyrique only has 11 assists (1.0) per game despite being double and triple teamed.

Q's year to date stats aren't great, but they aren't awful either. He has the third highest 3 point rate behind Scruggs and Moore and he has 38 assists and 24 turnovers. He isn't forcing shots as badly this year as he is only taking just over seven a game.

And I liked the suggestion earlier that the players should play better and the coaches should coach better. Missed one thing there though. Referees should referee better too!

[XU 87]

Steele needs to develop some bench depth.

X got a whopping 3 points from his bench at Wake Forest.

Oh, and the first NET rankings just came out. Xavier is second to last in the BE, only ahead of Providence.

The problem is that neither KyKy nor Bishop has shown they deserve more minutes. KyKy played about 5 minutes on Saturday and took about 3-4 bad shots.

[BigMoeMusketeer]

The problem is that neither KyKy nor Bishop has shown they deserve more minutes. KyKy played about 5 minutes on Saturday and took about 3-4 bad shots.

Agreed.

I wish Tandy had been healthy enough in November to have gotten all of those minutes that Bishop received -- I think that would have been great for Tandy and for Xavier. As it is now, outside of Western Carolina, Tandy is going to have to develop and kick the rust off against big-boy teams.

I feel like we have had about 5 "Bishops" over the last 5-10 years, and most of them finished up their schooling somewhere else.

[JTG]

The problem is that neither KyKy nor Bishop has shown they deserve more minutes. KyKy played about 5 minutes on Saturday and took about 3-4 bad shots.

A player needs to play to get better. No one can develop playing 4 minutes a week. You have to learn from game action. Some guys are not great practice players. As long as they aren't goofing off in practice, give them a shot in the game. Especially if it's a game where the opponent is overmatched. Lord knows, our starters aren't that great. Ramsey, Bishop and Tandy all need to play, and they need to play this week.

[XU 87]

A player needs to play to get better. No one can develop playing 4 minutes a week. You have to learn from game action. Some guys are not great practice players. As long as they aren't goofing off in practice, give them a shot in the game. Especially if it's a game where the opponent is overmatched. Lord knows, our starters aren't that great. Ramsey, Bishop and Tandy all need to play, and they need to play this week.

Game minutes are earned by playing well in practice. A player doesn't get game minutes because he didn't "goof off" in practice.

If a player gets in a game, and plays like crap, most coaches aren't going to give him even more minutes the next game. Game minutes are earned from playing well.

KyKy hasn't played well so far. Same with Bishop. If they want more minutes, they need to play better.

[GoMuskies]

Western Carolina is a good chance for KyKy to go off. We need him badly this year to add the offensive spark he was recruited to deliver.

[Masterofreality]

I think its pretty clear that this team lacks cohesion and any kind of identity on the offensive side of the ball. It's been painfully clear for the last 1.5 years. When we had Tre and JP, they pretty much shot us out of our problems for the most part. I think it starts and ends with not having a true PG/creator who stirs the pot and gets everything going. That I think gets fixed next year with Odom. But, what the hell are we supposed to do this year? KyKy right now doesn't look ready. Contrary to many peoples hopes that he was going to be a big help off the bench, he's not showing anyone he wants a much bigger role on this team.

Coach Steele gets paid the big bucks to figure this out, but I think we have only 1 choice right now. Paul Scruggs needs to running this team and have the ball in his hands way more. This is not a Q thread to bash him.....he simply isn't the right guy for THIS team. He doesn't create enough and when the ball isn't in his hands, he's not enough of a threat to hurt you from outside. Who moves to the 2? Its gotta be Bryce Moore until someone else steps up and proves that they want it. He can defend and he can shoot. Both KyKy and Dahmir have been given multiple chances to earn more minutes but haven't seized the opportunity. Q can come off the bench and still help this team, but we need a change in the worst way. I just don't see any other way we can keep going down this same path expecting something miraculous to happen.

I 100% agree with this. Q has significantly regressed and still makes awful decisions. I'd rather see Moore get more (no pun intended) minutes because his defense is so awesome, plus he shoots a better 3 ball than Q.

There are locker room issues that may come into play, but like Skip Prosser said- "This isn't Halloween. Just because you have a costume on, doesn't mean you get candy". Q has underperformed since he didn't have the shooters around to bail him out and Scruggy can get it done. Steele seems to be real hesitant to even call out Q or give him a meeting with Mr. Pine to get his head straight, but in the best interest of this team he needs to do it. How many times LAST year did we post that the team seemed to function much better with Q off the floor? Welp, that is still the case.

Steele ignores it to his peril.

[Final4]

Steele can continue to "ride this horse" as it is currently configured (same player minutes, same combinations, same rotations, same offensive sets) all the way to another NIT bid. I don't see this team winning any BE road games and probably losing 2 to 3 at home. That's not going to get us an NCAA bid. Would be the first coach in almost 20 years to miss the tourney two years in a row. I'm hoping that's not a distinction he wants attached to his name.

[Masterofreality]

Oh, and the first NET rankings just came out. Xavier is second to last in the BE, only ahead of Providence.

For those of you that said that Wake wasn't a bad loss, I submit to you that 71 in the NET IS bad. This team has no real high quality wins and a lot of escapes vs secondary teams. This with a team with veterans and seniors. Steele is running out of excuses....quickly

[Masterofreality]

100%. defense was the problem. wake has no business scoring 80 on us. that's embarrassing frankly

on a different note, i don't think we look for bryce enough to shoot right now when he's in

You know why Wake scored 80 on us? Because bad shots with no rebound support (=outside the offensive flow) leads to long rebounds to the opposition which in turn leads to fast break runouts that are difficult if not impossible to defend.

See, jacking up 15 threes in the first half led to easy runouts for Wake. It all fits together. Between Goodin, Tandy and Bishop, they were 1-8 on threes. Ball clangs off the rim, no X guy is there to rebound and Wake gets an easy basket at the other end. That all happened in the first half where we were down by 9. Blaming the "Defense" for Saturday is a cop out.

[Masterofreality]

Virginia is worse offensively . They will make tourney

Virginia is 39 in the NET. We're 71. We ain't going with that rating. They are

[Xville]

You know why Wake scored 80 on us? Because bad shots with no rebound support (=outside the offensive flow) leads to long rebounds to the opposition which in turn leads to fast break runouts that are difficult if not impossible to defend.

See, jacking up 15 threes in the first half led to easy runouts for Wake. It all fits together. Between Goodin, Tandy and Bishop, they were 1-8 on threes. Ball clangs off the rim, no X guy is there to rebound and Wake gets an easy basket at the other end. That all happened in the first half where we were down by 9. Blaming the "Defense" for Saturday is a cop out.

Yeah...I didnt hear it directly from Steele but others here that said Steele lamented the defense against wake. While the defense was certainly bad, the offense is a real freaking problem and for some reason, steele isnt addressing it.

I have praised Steele up and down but the way the offense has been run so far this year is an issue both in coaching and player.

And I swear if I see one more stupid post about virginia and comparing x to then, I'm gonna freaking lose it.

[GoMuskies]

We're a lot like Virginia in that both Xavier and Virginia sponsor men's basketball and shoot like shit.

[Masterofreality]

Don't know if anyone has been following whats going on at Georgetown, but they have last some incredibly skilled players, but they were toxic. Basketball is a team sport and sometimes chemistry is more important than skillset. I would bench Goodin until his attitude improves and let Scruggs run the team. Minutes are earned not given.

And Akinjo leaves as well as those other toxic guys...and they start winning. Yeah, I'd take wins over Ok State, SMU and Syracuse.

If I'm Travis Steele, seeing some of his eyerolling and head dropping looks after Q takes stupid shots or does stupid stuff, I'm having a serious "Come to Jesus" meeting with the kid. There are issues. I don't know whether this started after Mack left, after his girlfriend got pregnant last year or what, but that guy has dropped off, big time. And no amount of "ignoring the haters" posts on Instagram is gonna change that fact.

[drudy23]

Yeah...I didnt hear it directly from Steele but others here that said Steele lamented the defense against wake. While the defense was certainly bad, the offense is a real freaking problem and for some reason, steele isnt addressing it.

I have praised Steele up and down but the way the offense has been run so far this year is an issue both in coaching and player.

And I swear if I see one more stupid post about virginia and comparing x to then, I'm gonna freaking lose it.

I've said this before, but I don't like the way Steele talks about defense similarly to the way Cronin did.

Defense is important - offense is more important.

It feels like he's more like Cronin than Mack, and that kind of scares me.

[GIMMFD]

And Akinjo leaves as well as those other toxic guys...and they start winning. Yeah, I'd take wins over Ok State, SMU and Syracuse.

If I'm Travis Steele, seeing some of his eyerolling and head dropping looks after Q takes stupid shots or does stupid stuff, I'm having a serious "Come to Jesus" meeting with the kid. There are issues. I don't know whether this started after Mack left, after his girlfriend got pregnant last year or what, but that guy has dropped off, big time. And no amount of "ignoring the haters" posts on Instagram is gonna change that fact.

You definitely aren't wrong, but I wonder if the dynamic of Steele being the assistant coach then moving to the head coach has led some of the guys to be less receptive to criticism or anything of that such. It was addressed in an Athletic article by Sharon that they had to change their mindset, maybe Steele could get someone like Tu to come in and give these guys a talk. We have boat loads of talent on this roster, but for some reason things aren't clicking offensively, from all of the defensive improvements, it's been an offensive regression. Losing to Wake is bad, the optics on it don't look good, but by their fans on Reddit it sounded like they played one of their best games all season if not all season, sometimes that type of shit happens. I'm more so worried because I thought the chemistry issue, and offense would be flowing a little better by now, but there's really not been much progress

[XU 87]

I've said this before, but I don't like the way Steele talks about defense similarly to the way Cronin did.

Defense is important - offense is more important.

It feels like he's more like Cronin than Mack, and that kind of scares me.

I think they are equally important, but lucky for us, Steele doesn't run Cronin's offense of passing the ball around the perimeter until 10 seconds left on the short clock, and then go one on one.

[noteggs]

We have new player called antoine? Sweet! Was he a 4 or 5 star?

Ummm... I was responding to a poster’s response to another who commented on Justin Moore from Nova not Bryce. Then again, maybe you knew that and I’m losing my sarcasm radar. Either way, as usual, I was confused lol.

[Xville]

Ummm... I was responding to a poster’s response to another who commented on Justin Moore from Nova not Bryce. Then again, maybe you knew that and I’m losing my sarcasm radar. Either way, as usual, I was confused lol.

Ha then I was also confused :) honestly thought you were talking about bryce moore

[IM4X]

When a team plays like shit, some people like to point out that the team played like shit. Others like to get offended that people are pointing out that shit is shit. Different strokes. We ALL enjoy it when Xavier plays well.

Put me in the camp pointing out the team came out thinking they were “The shit” while playing like “A pile of crap.”

[X-band '01]

The person that needs to sit more is Tyrique. It is very sad that he has been there for four years and has developed almost no low post moves other than turning to his left shoulder and trying to overpower his opponent. He struggles with anyone that has near equal strength and is shooting 35% on shots that are not dunks. That is really poor for a post player. Play Freemantle more and even see what Ramsey can do. Tyrique only has 11 assists (1.0) per game despite being double and triple teamed.

Q's year to date stats aren't great, but they aren't awful either. He has the third highest 3 point rate behind Scruggs and Moore and he has 38 assists and 24 turnovers. He isn't forcing shots as badly this year as he is only taking just over seven a game.

And I liked the suggestion earlier that the players should play better and the coaches should coach better. Missed one thing there though. Referees should referee better too!

He sat virtually the entire first half - look how wonderful that turned out to be.

[IM4X]

The problem is that neither KyKy nor Bishop has shown they deserve more minutes. KyKy played about 5 minutes on Saturday and took about 3-4 bad shots.

This is indeed a problem. Bishop and Kyky were serious net negatives out there: Missing several threes, turning the ball over, getting beat on defense. WTF. They were lawful. Bishop has been abysmal most games. Maybe that will change but, IÂ’d much rather see James in there. At least he never gets beat on defense. I would still give Kyky some minutes in the next game- it isnÂ’t like heÂ’s been struggling every game.

[GoMuskies]

SOME minutes? I'd have KyKy out there for about 35 minutes against Western Carolina. If he plays bad there, he can find some splinters in Ft. Worth, but the pastry-filled portion of the schedule is designed to get guys like KyKy going.

[OTRMUSKIE]

I didn’t think this would be a great year. I figured they go 10-3 and 12-6 and they still might. We have seen this before with miller and that turned out pretty good. Just make the dance this year, get in the new studs and get back on track. I have calmed down since Saturday and I have a feeling this team will turn things around like they are supposed to. Or not in which case fire Steele

[drudy23]

I didn’t think this would be a great year. I figured they go 10-3 and 12-6 and they still might. We have seen this before with miller and that turned out pretty good. Just make the dance this year, get in the new studs and get back on track. I have calmed down since Saturday and I have a feeling this team will turn things around like they are supposed to. Or not in which case fire Steele

I will take 22-9 in a heartbeat. But I think your Big East projection is too high. Hope you're right.

[paulxu]

SOME minutes? I'd have KyKy out there for about 35 minutes against Western Carolina. If he plays bad there, he can find some splinters in Ft. Worth, but the pastry-filled portion of the schedule is designed to get guys like KyKy going.

I agree. Put him out there with Scruggs for some long stretches and see what happens.

[bleedXblue]

I agree. Put him out there with Scruggs for some long stretches and see what happens.

Ugghh he better wake up then. B/c from what I've seen the last two games he looks like he just wants to go out and jack up threes and not play much D resulting in being benched the entire second half. He did see Dahmir get some of his minutes? I cant tell if he is still scared to death or simply not ready for this level yet. I don't see a huge desire to prove to himself and others he belongs.

[vee4xu]

Besides the obvious atrocious team-wide free throw shooting skills, does anyone else see shaky ball handling skills overall? I don't know if it's due to apprehension about how the offense should work, or just poor skill level. Specifically, Q, Naj and Carter make me cover my eyes whenever they have the ball. There are others to varying degrees, but some are frosh and others are not expected to be good ball handlers. Passing gets a bit scary too.

[Go Go Golston]

All this prognostication. What it boils down to is this: This team (players, coaches, philosophy) is just not very good. A little above average. As fans we see our own players and teams as something really special. There are probably 15 players in the league as good as our three best players. They will have to overachieve in every league game to be successful. That's a fact. Face it, for whatever reason this is not an elite program right now. It seems to me that with the exception of a few guys who have passed through, Xavier had better players top to bottom ten years ago. And definitely shooters. When you recruit athletes and want to get the crumbs of the 4 star recruits and not recruit basketball players-especially shooters, this is what you get. Occasional spectacular individual achievement, piss poor team play (check out the assist totals for this squad) and an average to above average team.

[scoscox]

Put me in the camp pointing out the team came out thinking they were “The shit” while playing like “A pile of crap.”

i don't know if i've ever commented on it before, but this attitude from a lot of the team has been obvious for a long time and it's really annoying. it's why we can't open up leads/always give up leads and can't play a full forty minutes. i can't stand it. and the fact that these dudes will read and respond to random stupid fans on twitter is embarrassing as hell. it's soft beyond belief. don't fight with your own fans, even if they're trashing you, ultimately all they want is for you to play better. i would be very content to see those kind of things stop happening. i'm not really sure how much a coach is to blame for that though

[IM4X]

i don't know if i've ever commented on it before, but this attitude from a lot of the team has been obvious for a long time and it's really annoying. it's why we can't open up leads/always give up leads and can't play a full forty minutes. i can't stand it. and the fact that these dudes will read and respond to random stupid fans on twitter is embarrassing as hell. it's soft beyond belief. don't fight with your own fans, even if they're trashing you, ultimately all they want is for you to play better. i would be very content to see those kind of things stop happening. i'm not really sure how much a coach is to blame for that though

Yes. Some players come across with a bit of an attitude like they Know it all. Like they are veterans who have arrived and have nothing more to learn. Sometimes they say things that make one wonder if they care to get serious about doing the little things to get better every week or just keep playing their same way (even if they are not playing smart) and things will simply fall into place.

I really still like the hire of Steele. He does recognize the importance of the little details. Unfortunately he has not been able to get his players to fully to buy into that belief. Oh they may say they buy in, but, as the saying goes: the proof is in the pudding... and the pudding they are serving up is awfully lumpy and mediocre because they really don’t care to stay disciplined and pay attention to the specific ingredients and measurements needed to make something truly special. Oh how I hope that changes. Jones may have to be that senior (like Farr was his senior year when they were struggling) to say enough is enough- we need to be honest about

Steele had his worst game as a HC against Wake: Bad lineups. Too long to call timeouts. Players with foul trouble left in too long. He must learn to get players like Jason CarterOut of the game sooner when he becomes a liability. Either he and Bishop play like they are worthy or Steele needs to sit them. When Carter misses an easy layup and Bishop misses a 3, it seems to affect the rest of their play.

[Muskie]

The Team (to me) has been what I expected so far. The returning nucleaus was not a strong shooting team. I'd describe them as streaky. Many on here were confident that some of the Freshman were day one starters or day one contributors. So far that has not happened on a consistent basis. This team will get better as the season goes on, just like last year. Is this a tourney team at this point? I don't know. Can it be by the end of the season, sure. The cupboard was left bare for shooters a few seasons ago. It'll take awhile to restock. That said, X still has some very good players on the floor.

[Masterofreality]

Gotta say-After listening to Travis’ show last night, I feel better that he ticked off all of the issues that I was concerned about in the Wake game. That’s after watching tape tho.
The question is if he sees it “in game” and immediately makes adjustments before game is lost. Good coaches do. Can Travis?

[Masterofreality]

I think they are equally important, but lucky for us, Steele doesn't run Cronin's offense of passing the ball around the perimeter until 10 seconds left on the short clock, and then go one on one.

Apparently Jarron Cumberland liked Micks “offense” cause he was always the one on one guy with the ball at the end.

[stammina0721]

Well then I guess the two transfers (one touted as one of the best xfers in the country) and highly touted frosh class can have no impact on the team? I sort of get what you are saying, but simply brushing it off as "it is what it is" makes no sense to me. I guarantee you Steele and his coaches aren't resigned to this way of thinking. We are basically 1/3 of the way through the year.

Of course it is their job to try and change what they can. However, as a fan I don't have to take that mindset and don't want to. It's not my job to worry about how to get a guy to shoot freethrows or take care of the ball. It's my job to get tanked and have fun for a couple hours watching basketball.

I don't take this shit that seriously cause quite frankly it isn't worth it. I'm not going to let game results change my day or mindset anymore. I used to be a slave to the results of games but not anymore, and you know what? I'm enjoying watching now more than ever.

[Mrs. Garrett]

We had a very good core of 4 players coming back. But the 2 grad transfers plus the freshmen class just happens to be a lot of newcomers that need to gel. We saw it last year with Hankins, Welage and Castlin.

My biggest issue would be the bad turnovers, I'm concerned that players that have been here 3-4 years are still making freshmen mistakes with the basketball. That's a much bigger concern to me than missing 3 pointers.

I'm probably most disappointed in Carter right now. He seems to have zero confidence and rarely looks for his shot. At this point I would be willing to give Dontarius James some of his minutes. I think the guy is hungry. Throw him in for a couple 4 minute stretches and see what happens.Got to do something to light a fire under these guys.

[XUMIOH12]

Ugghh he better wake up then. B/c from what I've seen the last two games he looks like he just wants to go out and jack up threes and not play much D resulting in being benched the entire second half. He did see Dahmir get some of his minutes? I cant tell if he is still scared to death or simply not ready for this level yet. I don't see a huge desire to prove to himself and others he belongs.

he wasn't available in the 2nd half due to his foot injury. seems like that wont be 100% this season at all. Although i do agree he needs to be more engaged on D from when he has played. On the other hand i would also like to see him play more because of the offensive ability and see what he can do/provide a spark.

[nuts4xu]

Besides the obvious atrocious team-wide free throw shooting skills...

Q and Tyrique are bad at free throws, the rest of the team is at least decent...and Q has only taken 18 so far (12-18 on the season. We have 6 players shooting 70% or better, including Naji who has taken the second most FT's on the team. As a team, we are shooting FT's at a 67% clip, and Tyrique is the most responsible for dragging this % down. He has taken roughly 1/3 of our free throws this season, and has missed roughly 40% of them!! Remove his numbers from the team %, and this is actually a good FT shooting team.

[Jumpin_Jamal_Forever]

Gotta say-After listening to Travis’ show last night, I feel better that he ticked off all of the issues that I was concerned about in the Wake game. That’s after watching tape tho.
The question is if he sees it “in game” and immediately makes adjustments before game is lost. Good coaches do. Can Travis?

I understand your point. it is, at least, comforting when the coach indicates he has a clue. There have been a couple of instances when I have heard Steele make post game comments with which I agree. I say to myself, "yeah, this guy has a handle on things. He knows what he is doing".

And, the truth is he probably does know what he's doing. But, what causes me to question him as a coach (just a tiny bit) is that he will talk about issues like, for example "dumb turnovers", and the next game I see more "dumb turnovers". I understand he is coaching young people and he cannot just press a button and change behavior or choose a "low turnover game" from the pre-game menu. But, I see behaviors continue on long after Steel addresses them publicly. And, then I ask myself if he is better at managing the media than managing his team.

[bleedXblue]

Of course it is their job to try and change what they can. However, as a fan I don't have to take that mindset and don't want to. It's not my job to worry about how to get a guy to shoot freethrows or take care of the ball. It's my job to get tanked and have fun for a couple hours watching basketball.

I don't take this shit that seriously cause quite frankly it isn't worth it. I'm not going to let game results change my day or mindset anymore. I used to be a slave to the results of games but not anymore, and you know what? I'm enjoying watching now more than ever.

Good for you. I used to not be able to sleep at night after a loss. LOL Much better now..... I love this board and like to talk about the X's and O's and what if's. Its a bit of an escape from my boring job......

[bleedXblue]

Yeah ....yet Travis said last night he had a great practice on Monday? I'm not going down a rabbit hole. Would just be nice to see him grab the bull by the horns and settle in more. Lord knows if he wants the minutes there is plenty of opportunity

[Masterofreality]

Good for you. I used to not be able to sleep at night after a loss. LOL Much better now..... I love this board and like to talk about the X's and O's and what if's. Its a bit of an escape from my boring job......

Until we win a National Championship!

[stammina0721]

Good for you. I used to not be able to sleep at night after a loss. LOL Much better now..... I love this board and like to talk about the X's and O's and what if's. Its a bit of an escape from my boring job......

The turning point for me was the last Bengals playoff game. That ruined my whole week. On top.of that my buddy punched his tv, cracked the screen so he opened his window and tossed it out on the street. Thing was I saw interviews where guys were smiling and laughing in the locker room and I was thinking why do I care more than these guys? So from that day I stopped caring more and it's so much better.

[IM4X]

I understand your point. it is, at least, comforting when the coach indicates he has a clue. There have been a couple of instances when I have heard Steele make post game comments with which I agree. I say to myself, "yeah, this guy has a handle on things. He knows what he is doing".

And, the truth is he probably does know what he's doing. But, what causes me to question him as a coach (just a tiny bit) is that he will talk about issues like, for example "dumb turnovers", and the next game I see more "dumb turnovers". I understand he is coaching young people and he cannot just press a button and change behavior or choose a "low turnover game" from the pre-game menu. But, I see behaviors continue on long after Steel addresses them publicly. And, then I ask myself if he is better at managing the media than managing his team.


Good post.

I agree. On the one hand it’s encouraging to hear Steele touching on most of the key issues the team has. Get’s you thinking, “He is on it.” Then the players go and continue to do the same stupid things the following game.

I swear every game I see Naji at least once taking a really bad, quick 3 and then patting his chest and looking at the bench as if to say “that was on me.” What is so hard about remembering not to taking a 3 just a few seconds into the shot clock? Steele tells the media his team needs to work it inside first
and take care of the ball, yet here we are 11 games into the season and still they launch bad shots, force bad passes (partly because teammates don’t help to make it an easier pass).

I’d love to see exactly what is going on in practice - is Steele “showing them how he wants it done” or just telling them that he wants them he wants it done better. Apparently Nova and Butler’s coaches are show their players in practice or maybe it’s just that those players just listen and take what their coaches are saying more seriously.

[UCGRAD4X]

We have new player called antoine? Sweet! Was he a 4 or 5 star?

picked him up off the wire

[UCGRAD4X]

The good new is, they are going to change jock straps. The bad news is, Q is changing with Scruggs, Naji is changing with Tyrique, Carter is changing with Freemantle because they're both white....I think the coaching staff is
in solidarity with this.

Sounds like a new halftime entertainment idea.

[XUMIOH12]

Yeah ....yet Travis said last night he had a great practice on Monday? I'm not going down a rabbit hole. Would just be nice to see him grab the bull by the horns and settle in more. Lord knows if he wants the minutes there is plenty of opportunity

yeah lol that was odd. Right. Would be nice if he could assert himself enough to take some of the PG minutes.

[GIMMFD]

Good post.

I agree. On the one hand it’s encouraging to hear Steele touching on most of the key issues the team has. Get’s you thinking, “He is on it.” Then the players go and continue to do the same stupid things the following game.

I swear every game I see Naji at least once taking a really bad, quick 3 and then patting his chest and looking at the bench as if to say “that was on me.” What is so hard about remembering not to taking a 3 just a few seconds into the shot clock? Steele tells the media his team needs to work it inside first
and take care of the ball, yet here we are 11 games into the season and still they launch bad shots, force bad passes (partly because teammates don’t help to make it an easier pass).

I’d love to see exactly what is going on in practice - is Steele “showing them how he wants it done” or just telling them that he wants them he wants it done better. Apparently Nova and Butler’s coaches are show their players in practice or maybe it’s just that those players just listen and take what their coaches are saying more seriously.

In Nova's case I think it's a little different, Jay Wright has the experience, he's shown he can be successful, if you play at Nova you have to buy into Jay Wright. I mean he even recruits the guys that he's sure understand the value of being unselfish and playing for the team. Butler is more closely related to our situation, though Jordan was a head coach at Milwaukee for a year. I'm again just wondering how much of a difference it is in seeing an assistant that you were close to at a different relationship become your head coach, ultimately I do believe Steele has an understanding of what's going wrong. The guy is a smart coach by all means, getting players to buy in completely is different, especially when they saw you as an assistant in the past.

[noteggs]

bit.ly/2YWcSeI

Might answer some of the questions where Steele’s head is about this team.

Edit: Try again on video

�� | Travis Steele speaks with the media prior to Xavier's game against Western Carolina in the second game of the Skip Prosser Classic. bit.ly/2YWcSeI

Edit: third time is a charm...hopefully lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX_FzcswS6I

[drudy23]

bit.ly/2YWcSeI

Might answer some of the questions where Steele’s head is about this team.

Edit: Try again on video

�� | Travis Steele speaks with the media prior to Xavier's game against Western Carolina in the second game of the Skip Prosser Classic. bit.ly/2YWcSeI

Edit: third time is a charm...hopefully lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX_FzcswS6I

I think everyone watching this is nodding their head. You can see a landslide coming if things don't change.

The one thing I didn't like is his Croninesque preaching for DEFENSE. I know defense is important, but he said if the defensive effort is where it should be, the offense will take care of itself. I don't buy it - in fact, I've heard that for years at UC and continued to watch great defensive teams struggle to score pretty much every year. How about we shoot for a good balance of good offense and good defense?

[scoscox]

I think everyone watching this is nodding their head. You can see a landslide coming if things don't change.

The one thing I didn't like is his Croninesque preaching for DEFENSE. I know defense is important, but he said if the defensive effort is where it should be, the offense will take care of itself. I don't buy it - in fact, I've heard that for years at UC and continued to watch great defensive teams struggle to score pretty much every year. How about we shoot for a good balance of good offense and good defense?

in coach steele's defense, we actually improved our offensive efficiency against wake and our defensive efficiency dropped almost ten spots. that said it's never comforting to hear a coach say a problem will "take care of itself"

[scoscox]

when he talks about how the players don't seem to grasp that 9-2 isn't good enough, you can sense that from the players. there is no sense of urgency. i don't get how you could be a player and not sense that you're nowhere near where you need to be.

[IM4X]

In Nova's case I think it's a little different, Jay Wright has the experience, he's shown he can be successful, if you play at Nova you have to buy into Jay Wright. I mean he even recruits the guys that he's sure understand the value of being unselfish and playing for the team. Butler is more closely related to our situation, though Jordan was a head coach at Milwaukee for a year. I'm again just wondering how much of a difference it is in seeing an assistant that you were close to at a different relationship become your head coach, ultimately I do believe Steele has an understanding of what's going wrong. The guy is a smart coach by all means, getting players to buy in completely is different, especially when they saw you as an assistant in the past.

Travis can sit guys who don’t don’t follow what he says. “You don’t listen and keep doing what I tell you not to do and you are on the bench- and if we lose because you are on the bench a lot then that’s on you.” He has done a this to some extent in some games, but he certainly take it further.

One thing I heard Steele say in Steele’s latest press conference that I liked hearing was at about the 2:35 mark- talking about the trust factor with his players while speaking to Jones because he is a senior... “You’re going to leave your legacy -good or bad - you have three months -that’s it - figure it out. ”

I also have been waiting to here from Steele what he said right after that... “I’m tired of ‘My bads’... my bad doesn’t cut it - it’s show me.” This repose speaks to the very thing I mentioned in my previous post: Naji taking a bad 3 just a few seconds into the shot clock- missing it - and then turning to the bench and patting his chest as if to say “My bad... that was on me.” So yeah, it is good that Steele sees that it is not enough for players to just recognize what is a bad Shot (or pass for that matter)- they have to actually show him they know to make the good passes and take the good shots... and that requires tremendous discipline and focus. Are these guys willing to do what it takes to be a better “team” or are they okay with continuing the “Today it’s my show and tomorrow it is yours” approach.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iX_FzcswS6I&feature=youtu.be

[IM4X]

What seems a very key part in this team getting better is for a senior leader to step up and have a heart to heart with his teammates. It is almost always a senior because they, more than any other teammate, have a real expiration date. This is it for them and their college career. Farr took it upon himself his senior year for the come-to-Jesus moment with his teammates during the 2015-16 season as did Bernard in 2016-17. Tyrique has to be that guy this year to put the things into perspective and remind them how they felt last year when they were left out of the NCAA tournament.


Jones needs a come-to-Jesus moment with his teammates

“This is it for me and Q. We don't have next year. And none of us want a repeat of last year. I don’t want us all looking back and thinking about what could have been. I want us to look back and see that we showed up and kicked ass. I want us to be the X team that did what those before us were unable to do - I want us to not only win the Big East regular season but I want to make sure the other teams in the conference don’t forget that we are the best by wining the Big East Tournament too. Then I want to win game after game in the NCAA Tournament until we make the final 4... and then I want us to win the whole damn thing.” (Jones pauses for the cheers and then continues)

“See but here’s the thing: we are never going to get there... not if we continue to playing the way we have so far this year. Sure, we've each had some good games, but collectively we have been shit. The only way we are taking that next step is if everyone on this team plays smarter and harder together. We have to stop making every stupid mistake that come from laziness or lack of focus. We need to be more disciplined and tenacious than every opponent we face for every possession of every game. Taking the smart shots. Making only the wise passes. Rebounding like we own the paint. Getting to the line twice as much as our opponent. Playing top 10 defense for 40 minutes. We do that and ain’t nothing going to stop us from getting to where we wanna be. I am done screwing around fellas. From here on out, you are always going to get my best. Can I count on you all to give yours?”

[bleedXblue]

What seems a very key part in this team getting better is for a senior leader to step up and have a heart to heart with his teammates. It is almost always a senior because they, more than any other teammate, have a real expiration date. This is it for them and their college career. Farr took it upon himself his senior year for the come-to-Jesus moment with his teammates during the 2015-16 season as did Bernard in 2016-17. Tyrique has to be that guy this year to put the things into perspective and remind them how they felt last year when they were left out of the NCAA tournament.


Jones needs a come-to-Jesus moment with his teammates

“This is it for me and Q. We don't have next year. And none of us want a repeat of last year. I don’t want us all looking back and thinking about what could have been. I want us to look back and see that we showed up and kicked ass. I want us to be the X team that did what those before us were unable to do - I want us to not only win the Big East regular season but I want to make sure the other teams in the conference don’t forget that we are the best by wining the Big East Tournament too. Then I want to win game after game in the NCAA Tournament until we make the final 4... and then I want us to win the whole damn thing.” (Jones pauses for the cheers and then continues)

“See but here’s the thing: we are never going to get there... not if we continue to playing the way we have so far this year. Sure, we've each had some good games, but collectively we have been shit. The only way we are taking that next step is if everyone on this team plays smarter and harder together. We have to stop making every stupid mistake that come from laziness or lack of focus. We need to be more disciplined and tenacious than every opponent we face for every possession of every game. Taking the smart shots. Making only the wise passes. Rebounding like we own the paint. Getting to the line twice as much as our opponent. Playing top 10 defense for 40 minutes. We do that and ain’t nothing going to stop us from getting to where we wanna be. I am done screwing around fellas. From here on out, you are always going to get my best. Can I count on you all to give yours?”

This is simply a case of how bad does this team and these veterans want it? I see the core 4 as the guys who have to LEAD BY EXAMPLE and BRING IT EVERY GAME. The rest of the team will follow.........

[American X]

it's never comforting to hear a coach say a problem will "take care of itself"


https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fthe-digital-reader.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F01%2Funderpants-gnomes.jpeg&f=1&nofb=1

[Michigan Muskie]

The one thing I didn't like is his Croninesque preaching for DEFENSE. I know defense is important, but he said if the defensive effort is where it should be, the offense will take care of itself. I don't buy it - in fact, I've heard that for years at UC and continued to watch great defensive teams struggle to score pretty much every year. How about we shoot for a good balance of good offense and good defense?

Steele is clearly frustrated and he's calling out the players for not committing to the defensive system for the full 40 minutes. I don't interpret his comment to imply that he is indifferent about the team's offense, but rather an indictment on the players' effort and/or attitude. I believe he understands that success on defense starts and ends with effort and attitude - and he made it very clear that the players (including the seniors) are not giving that for the full 40 every game.

He did address the offensive struggles with the "my bad" remark, and I think that sums up the two glaring problems we fans see on the floor: Turnovers and poor shooting. He refers to the mindset and lack of urgency which is precisely what leads to these mistakes. Players are going to miss shots - in fact, about half of them on a good night. But this team is missing shots that simply MUST fall, and it seems to me that Steele is attributing those types of misses to lack of urgency (which breaks down to concentration and execution.) I suspect poor shot selection (followed by "my bad") also grinds his gears.

Lastly, I suspect he's coaching this team to its strengths. Xavier is not a sharp-shooting squad. There are guys who can shoot the 3, and they will continue to attempt those shots. But this team is not blessed with a deep roster of shooters. However, this team is big and physical. The guards are tall, the forwards are long, and the frontcourt is big & strong. These types of measurables can (and do) make it very difficult for opponents to impose their will on offense, unless the effort and attitude are lacking. I imagine we won't see a lack of effort tonight.

[xcellentx]

Steele is clearly frustrated and he's calling out the players for not committing to the defensive system for the full 40 minutes. I don't interpret his comment to imply that he is indifferent about the team's offense, but rather an indictment on the players' effort and/or attitude. I believe he understands that success on defense starts and ends with effort and attitude - and he made it very clear that the players (including the seniors) are not giving that for the full 40 every game.

He did address the offensive struggles with the "my bad" remark, and I think that sums up the two glaring problems we fans see on the floor: Turnovers and poor shooting. He refers to the mindset and lack of urgency which is precisely what leads to these mistakes. Players are going to miss shots - in fact, about half of them on a good night. But this team is missing shots that simply MUST fall, and it seems to me that Steele is attributing those types of misses to lack of urgency (which breaks down to concentration and execution.) I suspect poor shot selection (followed by "my bad") also grinds his gears.

Lastly, I suspect he's coaching this team to its strengths. Xavier is not a sharp-shooting squad. There are guys who can shoot the 3, and they will continue to attempt those shots. But this team is not blessed with a deep roster of shooters. However, this team is big and physical. The guards are tall, the forwards are long, and the frontcourt is big & strong. These types of measurables can (and do) make it very difficult for opponents to impose their will on offense, unless the effort and attitude are lacking. I imagine we won't see a lack of effort tonight.

I agree that Steele is trying to coach to this teams strengths. And just because he mostly talks about defense and stuff like "the offense will take care of itself" doesn't mean that he isn't working on improving the offense at all. Even if he sounds a bit like Cronin, you can't watch Cronin's offense and Steele's offense and think they are at all similar.

[xu koop scoop]

Our shooting may suck. Esp 3 pt shots. We have company. Kentucky is 286th in 3 pt %. North Carolina is 308. We are 319. Dayton is 19th in 3 pt % and #1 in overall shooting %. Coach Steele needs to worry less about victories until BE Play. He only has 2 games to do that. The Freshmen need lots of minutes these next 2 games. Ramsey needs to play, is he still hurt? If Ramsey can't play, redshirt him - but not both him & Miles. Part of the problem with our Defense in the WF game I put on the Refs. They refused to call a charge on either team. Therefore, our Defense felt they couldn't try to stop them cause all the fouls would be against the Defense. The full court pressure near end of WF game allowed us to cut lead from 13 to 1. Seems coach has a tendency to wait too long to make changes. I don't see this team as much improved from last year. The Core 4 have very little improvement & I think I'd take Hankins, Welage & Castlin over Freemantle, Carter & Moore. We only had 7 to play last year. Our 8 & 9 (Bishop & Tandy) didn't exist last year. If Coach had the balls to start Leighton 1st two games, he should have the balls to play Bishop, Tandy & James a lot to find out who fits in the best. This is not a great cast of characters (see NIT last year)

[BMoreX]

Q played well.

[BigMoeMusketeer]

This team just isn't fun to watch. I hate saying that, but it is honestly how I feel.

[Xville]

This team just isn't fun to watch. I hate saying that, but it is honestly how I feel.

They are just way too complacent half the time. They looked great the first five minutes and the last 12 minutes. The other 23 they looked uninterested and as if a grade school team could beat them. I dont know how many more times they need to be told to play a full 40 minutes.

[Jehoya]

This team just isn't fun to watch. I hate saying that, but it is honestly how I feel.

Agreed. And I’ve never felt that about ANY Xavier team, even 2013’s version. The teams offensive flow is flat out ugly! They don’t look like a Xavier team we’ve come to expect by any means.

[X Factor]

Should we be worried about this freshman class outside of Freemantle?

I just don't see Dahmir and KyKy getting many minutes in BE play. They're play tonight was less than encouraging.

[Xville]

Should we be worried about this freshman class outside of Freemantle?

I just don't see Dahmir and KyKy getting many minutes in BE play. They're play tonight was less than encouraging.

I think tandy will be fine. Bishop to me looks like Elias harden part 2

[X Factor]

I think tandy will be fine. Bishop to me looks like Elias harden part 2

I agree, I do think Tandy will be ok. And I agree, Bishop definitely has the Elias Harden vibe.

[stammina0721]

I think everyone watching this is nodding their head. You can see a landslide coming if things don't change.

The one thing I didn't like is his Croninesque preaching for DEFENSE. I know defense is important, but he said if the defensive effort is where it should be, the offense will take care of itself. I don't buy it - in fact, I've heard that for years at UC and continued to watch great defensive teams struggle to score pretty much every year. How about we shoot for a good balance of good offense and good defense?

Tell that to Michigan State, Virginia, and Texas Tech.

[Lloyd Braun]

The Bishop to Harden comp better be a joke. They are nothing alike... I’ve mentioned it before but go back and watch highlights of Harden in HS. I never understood why people expected anything from him. Bishop is on a different level and I expect more from him in the future.

[X-Fan]

Certainly has been frustrating to see them underperform compared to what was expected. However, we have a 2nd year coach working 5 new guys into the system. Part of the defensive lapses can be attributed to various individuals not playing well together. Also, the offensive struggles hurt them in multiple ways as many if the bad shots/misses lead to fast breaks for the opponent. Hope they can start to mesh soon, because they’ll be very good once they do.

[Xville]

The Bishop to Harden comp better be a joke. They are nothing alike... I’ve mentioned it before but go back and watch highlights of Harden in HS. I never understood why people expected anything from him. Bishop is on a different level and I expect more from him in the future.

I know nothing of either players high school career. They were similarly ranked, have the same type of build, but mostly it is that their freshman years are starting to look the same.

Obviously I hope he progresses and turns into a star.

[Lloyd Braun]

I know nothing of either players high school career. They were similarly ranked, have the same type of build, but mostly it is that their freshman years are starting to look the same.

Obviously I hope he progresses and turns into a star.

I agree results are similar.... if he is Harden 2.0 it would be a shock to me. At least Bishop has tape of high level athleticism and attitude. Never saw that on any tape of Harden. And by tape I mean YouTube highlights :)

I could do research in their offers but am lazy. Anyone recall if Harden had any other serious high major offers? I feel like Bishop was more heavily recruited.

[Jumpin_Jamal_Forever]

The Bishop to Harden comp better be a joke. They are nothing alike... I’ve mentioned it before but go back and watch highlights of Harden in HS. I never understood why people expected anything from him. Bishop is on a different level and I expect more from him in the future.

I don't recall Hardin seeing as many minutes in his freshman year, as has Bishop. Not saying Bishop has seen much playing time but it is materially more than Hardin. I don't hold out much hope for Bishop contributing this year. He is very athletic, more so than Hardin, but he's just not ready. I hope the time he has earned this year will give him a familiarity and confidence for next year. I recall Hardin, last year his sophomore year, getting into the game and having a "deer in the headlights" look in his eyes. You could just see he wasn't confident. Hopefully, that will not happen to Bishop next year.

Tandy, I think, can still contribute this year. We cannot ignore his injury. His shots haven't fallen but he's created some open looks and that shows me that he does, indeed, have offensive skills. Defense is a bit behind but he's young and lack of defensive prowess isn't surprising. He can learn to play defense and I hope Steele forces him to do so to earn more time.

The varied experiences of our freshman this year demonstrate how hard it is to predict who is going to produce immediately and who is not. My conclusion is that most freshman will not be immediate contributors. If you agree, think about what that means for next year's team. Freemantle clearly deserves an "A". I give Tandy a "C" because of his injury and Bishop a "C-" and I think that's generous. The other two earn "Inc".

I really liked how the players and coaches rallied last night. They looked, in the first half, like they were going down to a really bad home loss. But, they came back so I'm happy for them---really happy for Q. And, how about Mark Prosser? The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. That guy can coach.

[bleedXblue]

I agree results are similar.... if he is Harden 2.0 it would be a shock to me. At least Bishop has tape of high level athleticism and attitude. Never saw that on any tape of Harden. And by tape I mean YouTube highlights :)

I could do research in their offers but am lazy. Anyone recall if Harden had any other serious high major offers? I feel like Bishop was more heavily recruited.

Bishop is from Philly and Nova didn't recruit him. That should tell you something.

I like his athleticism and he looks like he may be able to defend and rebound at a high level. His shooting is another story...........flat ball with a ugly release. I don't think he will ever be a "good" shooter.

[X Factor]

I agree results are similar.... if he is Harden 2.0 it would be a shock to me. At least Bishop has tape of high level athleticism and attitude. Never saw that on any tape of Harden. And by tape I mean YouTube highlights :)

I could do research in their offers but am lazy. Anyone recall if Harden had any other serious high major offers? I feel like Bishop was more heavily recruited.

Elias was ranked #136 in the Class of 2017. He was ranked the 28th best SG in his class.

Bishop was ranked #119 in the Class of 2019. He was ranked the 20th best SG in his class.

Elias played a total of 101 minutes his freshman year. He was 4-17 from the field, 1-8 from 3, and 3-4 from the FT line. That team also featured Trevon, JP, Goodin, Kaiser Gates, etc. so he was buried on the bench.

So far this year, Bishop has played 120 minutes. He is 5-28 from the field, 2-17 from 3, and 4-13 from the FT line. This team doesn't have nearly the offensive firepower as the team had during Elias' freshman year though, and Bishop has been given more of an opportunity.

[XUBison]

Bishop is from Philly and Nova didn't recruit him. That should tell you something.


This always tempered my expectation of him. Funny thing is, I remember Steele saying in the preseason that Bishop was the most game-ready of all the freshman. Ugh.

[XU 87]

KyKy can't throw the ball in the ocean right now, and his shot selection has been lousy so far, but he appears to be really, really quick and athletic. I am hoping he will start contributing once he gets comfortable out there.

[Xville]

I agree results are similar.... if he is Harden 2.0 it would be a shock to me. At least Bishop has tape of high level athleticism and attitude. Never saw that on any tape of Harden. And by tape I mean YouTube highlights :)

I could do research in their offers but am lazy. Anyone recall if Harden had any other serious high major offers? I feel like Bishop was more heavily recruited.

According to 24/7, harden was offered by texas tech, auburn, ole miss and maryland...so pretty good list.

I'm only going by what I have seen in games regarding bishop. I feel much more confident in tandy turning a corner because I saw him live quite a bit in high school against solid competition and he looked like he belonged.

[bleedXblue]

Isn't it ironic in this thread that I called for Q to get less minutes and the ball be more in the hands of Scruggs?

Next game out Q has a career high and Scruggs turns it over 8 times....LOL

Box of chocolate this team is.....

[Xville]

Isn't it ironic in this thread that I called for Q to get less minutes and the ball be more in the hands of Scruggs?

Next game out Q has a career high and Scruggs turns it over 8 times....LOL

Box of chocolate this team is.....

Paul looked completely out of sorts last night. I wonder if he was getting over the virus or it is coming on because he looked like he was on a different planet.

[IM4X]

Funny thing is, I remember Steele saying in the preseason that Bishop was the most game-ready of all the freshman. Ugh.

I remember that too. I was surprised with that comment. Not sure if he someone who plays like he is worthy during practice and someone who is not in games. What ever the case, Steele apparently read that one wrong.

[IM4X]

Elias was ranked #136 in the Class of 2017. He was ranked the 28th best SG in his class.

Bishop was ranked #119 in the Class of 2019. He was ranked the 20th best SG in his class.

Elias played a total of 101 minutes his freshman year. He was 4-17 from the field, 1-8 from 3, and 3-4 from the FT line. That team also featured Trevon, JP, Goodin, Kaiser Gates, etc. so he was buried on the bench.

So far this year, Bishop has played 120 minutes. He is 5-28 from the field, 2-17 from 3, and 4-13 from the FT line. This team doesn't have nearly the offensive firepower as the team had during Elias' freshman year though, and Bishop has been given more of an opportunity.


Wow- those are some seriously bad stats by Bishop. He apparently has a confidence issue and a issue with his stoke. Got to wonder if Steele is now thinking he was the one Steel should have red shirted. I’d love to see more James in his place. I think he is a better shooter and a better defender at this point.

[IM4X]

I agree results are similar.... if he is Harden 2.0 it would be a shock to me. At least Bishop has tape of high level athleticism and attitude. Never saw that on any tape of Harden. And by tape I mean YouTube highlights :)

I could do research in their offers but am lazy. Anyone recall if Harden had any other serious high major offers? I feel like Bishop was more heavily recruited.

I will admit that I may have been the first one to make the comparison between Bishop to Harden -maybe after his third game this year. I have not seen anything since to suggest I was too off in making that comparison.

They have a very similar build.
Their defense is hit or miss.
They both like to shoot the 3 but are not particularly good at it.
They both look a bit out of place and overmatched and unworthy to be on the floor at times-

Both Harden and Bishop have been a liability more times than not when on the floor (whether it is because of their poor shooting or their iffy defense.

I will say that Bishop tries harder to get rebounds.

I didnÂ’t look it up yet, but I would be interested to know how he has done thus far in terms of turnovers.

[IM4X]

Isn't it ironic in this thread that I called for Q to get less minutes and the ball be more in the hands of Scruggs?

Next game out Q has a career high and Scruggs turns it over 8 times....LOL

YODA: Box of chocolate this team is.

Fixed it for you.

[Jumpin_Jamal_Forever]

Wow- those are some seriously bad stats by Bishop. He apparently has a confidence issue and a issue with his stoke. Got to wonder if Steele is now thinking he was the one Steel should have red shirted. I’d love to see more James in his place. I think he is a better shooter and a better defender at this point.

I have been wondering why we aren't seeing more of James. He doesn't appear to be hesitant to shoot (although that's not always a good thing). In the limited minutes he has played, I don't recall him throwing up bricks. I have assumed, since last year, that he isn't playing because he is a defensive liability. But, I haven't seen enough of him to judge his defensive skills deficient. We have a team with shooting deficiencies, so why not give him more opportunity? There must be a reason.

[BandDad]

Paul looked completely out of sorts last night. I wonder if he was getting over the virus or it is coming on because he looked like he was on a different planet.

My son said that several of the players have been sick in addition to Naji and that one or more of them were throwing up in the locker room before the game. I would bet one of them was Scruggs because I agree that he did not look anywhere near 100%.

[IM4X]

I have been wondering why we aren't seeing more of James. He doesn't appear to be hesitant to shoot (although that's not always a good thing). In the limited minutes he has played, I don't recall him throwing up bricks. I have assumed, since last year, that he isn't playing because he is a defensive liability. But, I haven't seen enough of him to judge his defensive skills deficient. We have a team with shooting deficiencies, so why not give him more opportunity?

Yup... feel the same way.

[UCGRAD4X]

I will admit that I may have been the first one to make the comparison between Bishop to Harden -maybe after his third game this year. I have not seen anything since to suggest I was too off in making that comparison.

They have a very similar build.
Their defense is hit or miss.
They both like to shoot the 3 but are not particularly good at it.
They both look a bit out of place and overmatched and unworthy to be on the floor at times-

Both Harden and Bishop have been a liability more times than not when on the floor (whether it is because of their poor shooting or their iffy defense.

I will say that Bishop tries harder to get rebounds.

I didnÂ’t look it up yet, but I would be interested to know how he has done thus far in terms of turnovers.


I have been wondering why we aren't seeing more of James. He doesn't appear to be hesitant to shoot (although that's not always a good thing). In the limited minutes he has played, I don't recall him throwing up bricks. I have assumed, since last year, that he isn't playing because he is a defensive liability. But, I haven't seen enough of him to judge his defensive skills deficient. We have a team with shooting deficiencies, so why not give him more opportunity? There must be a reason.

Um.....

[XUGRAD80]

I have been wondering why we aren't seeing more of James. He doesn't appear to be hesitant to shoot (although that's not always a good thing). In the limited minutes he has played, I don't recall him throwing up bricks. I have assumed, since last year, that he isn't playing because he is a defensive liability. But, I haven't seen enough of him to judge his defensive skills deficient. We have a team with shooting deficiencies, so why not give him more opportunity? There must be a reason.

Go back and watch his time on the floor in this last game....

A few seconds into his time on the floor he commits a foul for reaching in, 94 feet from the basket. He then proceeds to allow a straight line drive down the baseline for a score he next time down the floor. He is then taken out and is on the bench the rest of the way.

When he does shoot, it’s usually three point shots. When they miss they generally lead to long rebounds. When X doesn’t get the rebounds the other team usually gets a fast break going the other way, that leads to easy scores. The problem that X had in the WF game, and the WC game, was giving up easy scores...many times after long rebounds. X doesn’t need any more players that throw up three pointers that lead to long rebounds and easy scores, they have enough players that can do that already.

So he appears to be a defensive liability that adds nothing to the offense that they don’t already have. If he had a low post or midrange game of the offensive end, and could play adequate defense, I’m sure he would be seeing more minutes.

[bleedXblue]

Go back and watch his time on the floor in this last game....

A few seconds into his time on the floor he commits a foul for reaching in, 94 feet from the basket. He then proceeds to allow a straight line drive down the baseline for a score he next time down the floor. He is then taken out and is on the bench the rest of the way.

When he does shoot, it’s usually three point shots. When they miss they generally lead to long rebounds. When X doesn’t get the rebounds the other team usually gets a fast break going the other way, that leads to easy scores. The problem that X had in the WF game, and the WC game, was giving up easy scores...many times after long rebounds. X doesn’t need any more players that throw up three pointers that lead to long rebounds and easy scores, they have enough players that can do that already.

So he appears to be a defensive liability that adds nothing to the offense that they don’t already have. If he had a low post or midrange game of the offensive end, and could play adequate defense, I’m sure he would be seeing more minutes.

This. Exactly.

[IM4X]

Go back and watch his time on the floor in this last game....

A few seconds into his time on the floor he commits a foul for reaching in, 94 feet from the basket. He then proceeds to allow a straight line drive down the baseline for a score he next time down the floor. He is then taken out and is on the bench the rest of the way.

Have to assume that he isn’t showing much more during practice time or his leash would be a little longer. From a coaching standpoint, I’ve always felt that if a kid was not playing and competing at a high level in practice, he/she probably wasn’t going to do much better in the game. I’ve seen kids that were terrific in practice, but never were able to replicate it in a game. But I don’t remember ever seeing a kid that was terrible in practice, but somehow became a star when it was game time. Sometimes would put a kid that has been practicing well into a game just to see what they had when it really counted but, at the level of college play that X is at, the room for error is very small. Sometimes as a coach you let certain kids play through their mistakes, knowing that they lack experience and not talent or skill or desire. But there are other kids that just don’t have the athletic talent or skills, and no amount of experience is going to overcome that. Then there are the kids that somehow, because of an abundance of heart, determination, and will are able to overcome their physical limitations and become solid performers. In most cases those are the kids that play “smart”, are always in the right place at the right time and make the right pass or take the right shot or make the right play on defense. Moore seems to be that kind of player. James might become that kind of player, but he’s certainly not there yet. I would guess that he has shown flashes of it in practice, which is why is was put into the game at all. But he hasn’t shown it in games yet that I can see.

Your post makes if sound a bit like James is someone who doesn’t play at a high level in practice. Did you hear that somewhere? The little bit I did hear about him has all been positive. It would not be fair to speculate that he is less talented player than Bishop at this point. Besides, we could say “Go back and look at Bishop’s time in the floor for most games.” It would not look any better than Bishop’s time on the floor. In fact, Bishop has had much more time on the court to show he deserves more minutes, but hasn’t done much other than grab a few rebounds. When someone continues to shoot as poorly as he has (17.9 % from the field, 30% from the line, 11.8% from 3) it’s hard to see how keeping him in is helping the team.

If Bishop is allowed to stay on the floor after bricking two consecutive threes and being blown by for an easy bucket on defense in a game, I think it’s only fair to let James play through a few mistakes and in an effort to see what he’s got. He is known to be a better 3 point shooter than Bishop and I think he has played defense at least as solid as Bishop.

Frankly, neither has shot well. I hope they both can turn it on soon. My point is that I would like to see at least as much time on the court for James as Bishop has been getting to give James enough of an opportunity to shine.

[bleedXblue]

Your post makes if sound a bit like James is someone who doesn’t play at a high level in practice. Did you hear that somewhere? The little bit I did hear about him has all been positive. It would not be fair to speculate that he is less talented player than Bishop at this point. Besides, we could say “Go back and look at Bishop’s time in the floor for most games.” It would not look any better than Bishop’s time on the floor. In fact, Bishop has had much more time on the court to show he deserves more minutes, but hasn’t done much other than grab a few rebounds. When someone continues to shoot as poorly as he has (17.9 % from the field, 30% from the line, 11.8% from 3) it’s hard to see how keeping him in is helping the team.

If Bishop is allowed to stay on the floor after bricking two consecutive threes and being blown by for an easy bucket on defense in a game, I think it’s only fair to let James play through a few mistakes and in an effort to see what he’s got. He is known to be a better 3 point shooter than Bishop and I think he has played defense at least as solid as Bishop.

Frankly, neither has shot well. I hope they both can turn it on soon. My point is that I would like to see at least as much time on the court for James as Bishop has been getting to give James enough of an opportunity to shine.

If you want minutes you gotta do something at some point to earn them. Frankly neither has domne that and that's the reason why both are getting little time.

[AviatorX]

Not sure I really understand the calls for more Dontarious James...I mean the staff has seen him in practice for two years now. There has to be more upside to Bishop (and he can allegedly handle the ball some).

[GoMuskies]

Personally I want to see a TON more of Dontarious James....celebrating on the sideline because of his teammates' big plays.

[Jumpin_Jamal_Forever]

Go back and watch his time on the floor in this last game....

A few seconds into his time on the floor he commits a foul for reaching in, 94 feet from the basket. He then proceeds to allow a straight line drive down the baseline for a score he next time down the floor. He is then taken out and is on the bench the rest of the way.

When he does shoot, it’s usually three point shots. When they miss they generally lead to long rebounds. When X doesn’t get the rebounds the other team usually gets a fast break going the other way, that leads to easy scores. The problem that X had in the WF game, and the WC game, was giving up easy scores...many times after long rebounds. X doesn’t need any more players that throw up three pointers that lead to long rebounds and easy scores, they have enough players that can do that already.

So he appears to be a defensive liability that adds nothing to the offense that they don’t already have. If he had a low post or midrange game of the offensive end, and could play adequate defense, I’m sure he would be seeing more minutes.

That's not much time on the floor to state such a definitive analysis especially when one could make the same statements about so many others on the team. I'm interested in a larger sample size of playing time so I have enough information to make my own analysis. When you describe him as so undeserving, so conclusively, I ask myself how did this guy earn a scholarship?

[bleedXblue]

That's not much time on the floor to state such a definitive analysis especially when one could make the same statements about so many others on the team. I'm interested in a larger sample size of playing time so I have enough information to make my own analysis. When you describe him as so undeserving, so conclusively, I ask myself how did this guy earn a scholarship?

Recruiting is a total guessing game sometimes. You hit home runs and you strike out sometimes.

As Aviator explains above, the coaching staff has been watching him for almost 2 years.......there's a reason why he isn't playing

[AviatorX]

Recruiting is a total guessing game sometimes. You hit home runs and you strike out sometimes.

As Aviator explains above, the coaching staff has been watching him for almost 2 years.......there's a reason why he isn't playing

Also, not to pile on Dontarious, and hopefully we're all wrong and he carves out a role over the next few years, but he was absolutely a reach recruit in an extremely down class for X that was further hampered by a coaching change. So if we want to talk about how he earned a scholarship...

[noteggs]

Coach Steele gets paid the big bucks to figure this out, but I think we have only 1 choice right now. Paul Scruggs needs to running this team and have the ball in his hands way more. This is not a Q thread to bash him.....he simply isn't the right guy for THIS team. He doesn't create enough and when the ball isn't in his hands, he's not enough of a threat to hurt you from outside. Who moves to the 2? Its gotta be Bryce Moore until someone else steps up and proves that they want it. He can defend and he can shoot. Both KyKy and Dahmir have been given multiple chances to earn more minutes but haven't seized the opportunity. Q can come off the bench and still help this team, but we need a change in the worst way. I just don't see any other way we can keep going down this same path expecting something miraculous to happen.

This has been a fun thread to read and follow so thanks for starting. Interesting this is the post that started this discussion. I realize WC game is an extremely small sample size, but this is why we should believe (for now) in what Steele is doing with this team. When he took over last year, he understood what was left with core 4 - an athletic team that doesn’t have a history of shooting well (think Scruggs surprised all last year with 3pt%).

So what does he do, tells the base this going to be the best defensive team and continued with this mantra this year. Did the players buy into this philosophy at the beginning of last year? Of course not and even Naji stated as much in a presser this year. I mean, guess Steele could’ve just been honest with all (players and fans) and say: “this group really sucks at shooting and we need to take advantage of our athleticism and play great defense for us to win.”

Yes this style of basketball is hard to watch at times, but this reality. Naji, Paul, Q, and Tyrique all have the ability to put this team on their shoulders on any given night and help this team win (oh BTW, all 4 are pretty damn good at D). However, until Steele has an opportunity to replenish the cupboard, it just won’t look the same.

[XUGRAD80]

James and Bishop are 2 different players and should be playing 2 different positions.

Bishop is a tall guard, but thin in build..6’5” and 170 lbs. James is a forward...6’7”-6’8” and 225-230lbs.

Hardly interchangeable.

Bishop would be taking minutes from Goodin, Scruggs, KyKy, and Moore.

James is taking minutes from Naji and Carter primarily.

I’d have to go back and check, but I think that in this last game James and Bishop were on the floor together, although neither played very long. I think that we all hoped that WCU would have been an opportunity for all of the backups to get extended minutes, but evidently WCU didn’t get that memo. Getting the younger players experience playing in the games is always something coaches look to do, but the priority has to be to win the game first and foremost. It’s always a balancing act, and the opportunity to get younger players some playing time figures into the scheduling that programs do. But the experienced players need to do their part and provide teams with the luxury to do it. There’s only been a couple of games this year where they have had that opportunity and that’s on the upperclassmen, not so much the coaches. Remember...”You play to win the game”.

[XUGRAD80]

Also, not to pile on Dontarious, and hopefully we're all wrong and he carves out a role over the next few years, but he was absolutely a reach recruit in an extremely down class for X that was further hampered by a coaching change. So if we want to talk about how he earned a scholarship...

Absolutely correct. X has a history of doing well with those kinds of recruits, but many of them didn’t get significant minutes until their junior, or even senior, years. There is still time for him to become a real asset and contributor, but he’s not there yet. He may never be. I would think that we are all rooting that he turns out to be a stellar player for X, but only time will tell.

[xcellentx]

Absolutely correct. X has a history of doing well with those kinds of recruits, but many of them didn’t get significant minutes until their junior, or even senior, years. There is still time for him to become a real asset and contributor, but he’s not there yet. He may never be. I would think that we are all rooting that he turns out to be a stellar player for X, but only time will tell.

Just for reference, 247sports had James ranked as 222 nationally, he and Kennedy were our lowest ranked recruits by far in the past decade. That doesn't mean he can't get it together, but it's not like he is the type of guy guaranteed to get significant minutes in his second year.

[Xville]

24/7 lists that Kansas offered james. Is that real? I mean that just seems odd to say the least.

[noteggs]

24/7 lists that Kansas offered james. Is that real? I mean that just seems odd to say the least.

Rumor had it he was offered to get to another player who knew James. Not sure how valid that rumor was.