Travis Discussion

[xuphan]

I hope so. It just really doesn't feel like that's the way this is headed. Travis seems very frustrated with him, and he seems frustrated with his role on the team.

Frustrated with Tandy for what reason? Must be in practice because Tandy seems to play decent for the crap minutes he is getting. Travis needs to take that frustration out on Carter who as a senior is getting a ton of minutes and isn’t producing very much for the team.

[drudy23]

Carter is going to end up hitting the biggest 3 of the year to get us to the Sweet 16 and is going to come on here to troll us lol

[paulxu]

I'd be OK with that.

[Xavier]

I would 100% sign up for a wide open buzzer beating 3 attempt from Carter to get us to the sweet 16.

[AviatorX]

I would 100% sign up for a wide open buzzer beating 3 attempt from Carter to get us to the sweet 16.

I would have to think about this...whether it went in or not, probably not worth the 10 pages of back and forth it would spark on here.

[JTG]

I would 100% sign up for a wide open buzzer beating 3 attempt from Carter to get us to the sweet 16.

I'm thinking a number of us will need to have a defibrillator handy if this comes to pass.

[Strange Brew]

Carter is going to end up hitting the biggest 3 of the year to get us to the Sweet 16 and is going to come on here to troll us lol

I’m fully aware my being down on Carter is serving as a pre-order for a huge steaming pile of crow...

[SM#24]

I would 100% sign up for a wide open buzzer beating 3 attempt from Carter to get us to the sweet 16.

My guess is that Carter would not be on the court in that situation.

[GoMuskies]

My guess is that Carter would not be on the court in that situation.

You assume he would either be hurt or have fouled out?

[atljar]

You assume he would either be hurt or have fouled out?

:unsure:

[UCGRAD4X]

You assume he would either be hurt or have fouled out?


:unsure:

Why wouldn't he be out there otherwise. He's the MAN!

[xudash]

Baylor barely gets past a hapless Iowa State team at home after a layoff that has been going on since February 2?

Post game interviews were very direct, in that they all mentioned how hard it was, coming back from such a long layoff.

Some of you guys have convinced me that Travis is failing with respect to his substitution patterns. Specifically, with Tandy, it may be a little egregious insofar as Tandy appears to be trying harder and has provided positive results on the floor, yet he is being limited.

Nonetheless, it is an absolute given that this has been a crazy, abnormal season.

[boozehound]

Baylor barely gets past a hapless Iowa State team at home after a layoff that has been going on since February 2?

Post game interviews were very direct, in that they all mentioned how hard it was, coming back from such a long layoff.

Some of you guys have convinced me that Travis is failing with respect to his substitution patterns. Specifically, with Tandy, it may be a little egregious insofar as Tandy appears to be trying harder and has provided positive results on the floor, yet he is being limited.

Nonetheless, it is an absolute given that this has been a crazy, abnormal season.

I would bet that none of us really know how hard it is to come back from an extended layoff mid-season, and I'm willing to accept we may not be giving the team enough credit for that. I do think Xavier was someone uniquely positioned to struggle coming out of an extended layoff due to our having a lot of new players coupled with a reliance on perimeter shooting. We will see how they look tonight, but they should be rounding back into form if the layoff was the problem.

Some of the themes are multi-season which obviously adds to the level of concern a bit.

[Xville]

I would bet that none of us really know how hard it is to come back from an extended layoff mid-season, and I'm willing to accept we may not be giving the team enough credit for that. I do think Xavier was someone uniquely positioned to struggle coming out of an extended layoff due to our having a lot of new players coupled with a reliance on perimeter shooting. We will see how they look tonight, but they should be rounding back into form if the layoff was the problem.

Some of the themes are multi-season which obviously adds to the level of concern a bit.

Yep completely agree with this 1000%. I didn't give them enough leeway in the return from the layoff, so that is my bad and I have changed my tune on that one. Yet, it is the multi-season same mistakes that I am seeing from Steele that is giving me as a fan, concern. I know that some don't think we are supposed to take much from a press conference, and to an extent I agree, but I actually see this as a beacon into how a coach thinks and feels about the game and his team itself, and Steele doesn't give me warm fuzzies. He seems extremely stubborn and almost comes off as condescending which to me, is not a good look.

[xudash]

I would bet that none of us really know how hard it is to come back from an extended layoff mid-season, and I'm willing to accept we may not be giving the team enough credit for that. I do think Xavier was someone uniquely positioned to struggle coming out of an extended layoff due to our having a lot of new players coupled with a reliance on perimeter shooting. We will see how they look tonight, but they should be rounding back into form if the layoff was the problem.

Some of the themes are multi-season which obviously adds to the level of concern a bit.

Agreed. How much of the multi-season stuff is on Travis and his coaching ability versus decisions he made - had to make - as a function of the initial roster constraints, and perhaps the team chemistry issues he faced.

He has - and continues - to make some baffling decisions, according to our optics.

What would all of this had looked like had Mack had better recruiting results prior to his exit and had we never experienced COVID?

Who knows.

[OTRMUSKIE]

Please put Travis out of his misery. He has zero clue on how to coach. Zero!!!! Zero defense, zero offense, zero plays. He shouldn’t have a job after this year. He is awful. These poor kids have no clue what to do out there. Is there anyway we can get another 5 kids so we can run out 22 different players instead of 17! Awful awful.

[xavierj]

Please put Travis out of his misery. He has zero clue on how to coach. Zero!!!! Zero defense, zero offense, zero plays. He shouldn’t have a job after this year. He is awful. These poor kids have no clue what to do out there. Is there anyway we can get another 5 kids so we can run out 22 different players instead of 17! Awful awful.

If he sucks next year I agree that it probably would be time to make a move. No excuses next year. Thing is though guys are getting open looks and the players have to make shots. I mean they were 10% on threes first half against Butler and 11% tonight. That’s hard to do.

[markchal]

If he sucks next year I agree that it probably would be time to make a move. No excuses next year. Thing is though guys are getting open looks and the players have to make shots. I mean they were 10% on threes first half against Butler and 11% tonight. That’s hard to do.

We lose two of our top three players, can’t see how we’re better next year.

[xuwillie]

Exactly. Why drag this on another year

[Xville]

Fire him. I’m beyond done with whatever stupid stubborn little man syndrome shit he has against kyky, and I’m sick of the love affair with white stiffs

[XUBob]

When I discuss Travis with my XU compadres, they always accuse me of just ranting and raving, and have patience. I can take losing, but not when you waste talent. We have seen the same offensive mistakes and poor defense for almost three years. Steele has had several different rosters. What makes you think it’s gonna change. X hired a good guy but not the right guy. It was bound to happen.

[beatuc]

Why all the excuses for Steele? Are we Dayton or Thomas Moore? This is pathetic!! And is everyone aware that Steele turned down games when other teams had covid issues because he wanted to practice. Steele is a joke and anyone defending him is getting what they deserve.

[Hink]

In a game where Nate is out, Kunkel is horrible , we shoot 1/9 from 3 in the first half, and the defense is horrid. How are there no lineup changes?

Tandy deserves some run in that situation. Was Ramsey not available? Carter was -8 in the first 10 mins. I cannot imagine him being much worse.

[OTRMUSKIE]

Well Xavier is getting no more money from me and I know they don’t care about one person. However, more people will follow suit of Travis isn’t fired. Screw one more year. He needs to go now. Also please stop with all the transfers. Players need to play together for a couple of years. Look at UK, it’s hard for players to gel when there are so many fresh faces. Lets get back to recruiting players and them staying for 3 years. YOU SUCK TRAVIS!!!

[drudy23]

This program has lost its identity - no doubt.

It's pretty obvious Trav is trying to forge a new way forward, but you simply can't compete in the Big East being 90% finesse.

We are way too skewed with guards and perimeter players and have lost the toughness and edge this program once had. We've become Boston College and Virgina Tech - meddling in the middle but not really a threat to anyone.

[XUBison]

Hey now, we are right where we should be... meeting expectations.

[MauriceX]

I've been pretty ok with Steele up until these past few games. We've had rough patches throughout the years, but I've always chalked it up to not having his roster, still learning the ropes, etc. But these past few games have been super frustrating. Why he refuses to play Tandy is beyond me. The Banners on the Parkway article (https://www.bannersontheparkway.com/2021/2/22/22296231/the-coaching-is-becoming-a-concern-xavier-basketball-travis-steele) the other day did a good job of summing up my feelings, but here are some other interesting Tandy stats. His season basically breaks down into three segments:

First 5 games - 28.6 minutes/game & 14.8 pts/game
Next 5 games - 11.6 minutes/game & 3.8 pts/game
Last 7 games - 3.1 minutes/game & 1.4 pts/game

I know we were playing some inferior competition in those first five games, but I feel like we could use those extra points per game. And with him showing he is willing to play decent defense and hustle for loose balls (see again the Banners on the Parkway article), there is no reason to not give him more chances, especially in games like today against Providence. He couldn't have been any worse than someone like Carter (2pts/2reb/2ast in 33 minutes).

Not bashing Carter, he has had decent games for us in the past. But gosh, try something different if he isn't doing anything.

[SemajParlor]

I've been pretty ok with Steele up until these past few games. We've had rough patches throughout the years, but I've always chalked it up to not having his roster, still learning the ropes, etc. But these past few games have been super frustrating. Why he refuses to play Tandy is beyond me. The Banners on the Parkway article (https://www.bannersontheparkway.com/2021/2/22/22296231/the-coaching-is-becoming-a-concern-xavier-basketball-travis-steele) the other day did a good job of summing up my feelings, but here are some other interesting Tandy stats. His season basically breaks down into three segments:

First 5 games - 28.6 minutes/game & 14.8 pts/game
Next 5 games - 11.6 minutes/game & 3.8 pts/game
Last 7 games - 3.1 minutes/game & 1.4 pts/game

I know we were playing some inferior competition in those first five games, but I feel like we could use those extra points per game. And with him showing he is willing to play decent defense and hustle for loose balls (see again the Banners on the Parkway article), there is no reason to not give him more chances, especially in games like today against Providence. He couldn't have been any worse than someone like Carter (2pts/2reb/2ast in 33 minutes).

Not bashing Carter, he has had decent games for us in the past. But gosh, try something different if he isn't doing anything.

Agreed with everything here.

[xavierj]

I would have more respect for the guy if he would just try something different. Like maybe say this isn’t working and play a different lineup. Maybe give Griffin 25 minutes instead of Carter. Maybe let Wilcher or Tandy play 20 minutes and see what happens. Change the style and push the ball and be on the attack instead of getting attacked. Realize you are not doing the team any favors by continuing to play the exact way every freaking game.

[Drew]

do we schedule another game?

[drudy23]

do we schedule another game?

That will take away from the Xavier Way practice points.

[whopper]

Steele is doubling down on a bad hand this year and may pay the price. By over playing Carter he has taken away whatever confidence he may have had as I see a guy who is just looking to defend without fouling , boxing his man out and be a safety valve on offense(which is what a practice player would to like tim stainbrook). He is actually better than that but confidence is everything. Griffin not a world beater but no worse. Ramsey has some upside and we may never see it. Poor performance last night and this is hindsight but you can see what confidence can do with HOrchler (who played little early in season and because he is white everyone THOUGHT was a poor athlete). Lots of soul searching and damn i would have liked to see if Stanley could have taken some minutes (think we could judging by Creighton and Seton Hall games). Sick of them talking about Mike Decourcey and bubble..we seem well on the wrong side now.

[markchal]

Not sure why everyone thinks Tandy is gonna save everything. Defense is our biggest weakness and he adds nothing there, and he didn’t give us anything on the other end either last night. Jones had an off night but we shouldn’t be that reliable on freshmen either. For all our talk of depth, we basically have three players who can score, and one of them is in a boot with an injury that doesn’t have a timetable. Feels an awful lot like our collapse down the stretch last year.

[Lloyd Braun]

Tandy played 4 minutes so it’s tough to say he had much of a chance to give them something. We can’t have 5 guys play 85% of the minutes and expect to win. Not only will they get tired, but it makes the opposing coach’s job very easy to scheme and adjust. Not having Johnson was a big blow but that does not appear to be a short term issue if he’s in a walking boot.

They were down double digits and then decided to press and speed the game up, which is fine. But that would have been the perfect time to go small and sub Tandy or Witcher for Carter. This team is never going to be a defensive juggernaut, so why not play to the strengths of the team and speed the tempo up, expand the bench?

[X Factor]

Carter is averaging 2.2 rebounds in his last four games, and 3.5 points in his last six games. And, he got taken to the woodshed last night by Noah Norchler!

People flamed me when I suggested Xavier hire Eric Musselman three years ago.

[paulxu]

At the risk of oversimplifying, our problem seems to be one of 3's.
We shot a respectable 55% from 2. A horrible 17% from 3.
They shot 55% from 2....but 52% from 3 !

So, we don't go out far enough to defend the 3 (no trust of help defense if they drive by?),
And our supposed recruiting of good shooters, who we were missing the last few years, has not worked out at all.
They can afford to come out and make our 3 point shots difficult, because our post players are out there on the arc too :(

When the other team scores 8 more 3's, you generally lose.

[Xville]

I’m done with him unless he completely changes the way he is currently handling the team. I could partly understand the losing if he was putting the players in the best chance to win games. However, in my opinion, he is not. There has been three years of awful lineup management and about 90% of the time, the offense is everyone go stand on the three point line and pass the ball around.

Handling of q, Hankins, carter, kunkel and Tandy are the ones I’m thinking off the top of my head in which Steele has effed up. (It took him almost a full year to figure out that Hankins was good.) I’m sure there are others I’m not thinking of.

However, I’m sure Saturday we will see the same awesome lineup with carter starting, and not going with 4 guards along with Tandy seeing 2 minutes and then sitting the bench the rest of the time.

I was in the camp of give him until the end of next year, but last night was a complete abomination. Cut your ties and hire someone that actually knows how to coach basketballl

[drudy23]

He promised to bring Villanova ball to Xavier - we're all gonna watch it implode as ego prohibits him from changing back to the methods that made this a perennial top 25 program.

[Final4]

I may be mistaken on the following but I believe Steele initially signed a 5-year contract. Said contract was extended one year after his first season. To my knowledge the contract wasn’t extended another year after last season so he entered this season with 4 years remaining. I seriously doubt if his contract will be extended after this year so he enters next season with only 3 years remaining. Is that accurate?

[Xavier]

Handling of q, Hankins, carter, kunkel and Tandy are the ones I’m thinking off the top of my head in which Steele has effed up. (It took him almost a full year to figure out that Hankins was good.) I’m sure there are others I’m not thinking of.


I was in the camp of give him until the end of next year, but last night was a complete abomination. Cut your ties and hire someone that actually knows how to coach basketballl

I think this team is really close- as in they have a lot of really good pieces but we are missing something to put it all together. A player like Hankins is it. I think if Hankis were on this team we would be extremely strong. A strong enough post player that is big, can play decent in the post and more importantly is a really strong passer out of the post.

I was in the camp of give him next year also and I guess I still am. But it is probably more because the reality is after a year where the budget took a huge hit, X can't afford the buyout. I also don't think a coach can come in and get a fair chance in just 3 years...but at least in most of those cases you can see the direction the coach is taking the team. I have no clue what Travis wants his team to be and he shows no signs of knowing either.

[xavierj]

I think this team is really close- as in they have a lot of really good pieces but we are missing something to put it all together. A player like Hankins is it. I think if Hankis were on this team we would be extremely strong. A strong enough post player that is big, can play decent in the post and more importantly is a really strong passer out of the post.

I was in the camp of give him next year also and I guess I still am. But it is probably more because the reality is after a year where the budget took a huge hit, X can't afford the buyout. I also don't think a coach can come in and get a fair chance in just 3 years...but at least in most of those cases you can see the direction the coach is taking the team. I have no clue what Travis wants his team to be and he shows no signs of knowing either.

Yes this team definitely misses a true center who can help Zach. Someone who can rebound, block some shots, play good interior defense and score a little. I think Odom, Wilcher, Jones and Zach are a really good foundation, but they need to add a few more pieces and that can make Travis’s job easier, I think Tucker can help next year and hopefully Miles can get bigger and stronger to at least help on defense and rebounding. So yeah next year is a really big year for Travis and the program.

[boozehound]

I think this team is really close- as in they have a lot of really good pieces but we are missing something to put it all together. A player like Hankins is it. I think if Hankis were on this team we would be extremely strong. A strong enough post player that is big, can play decent in the post and more importantly is a really strong passer out of the post.

I was in the camp of give him next year also and I guess I still am. But it is probably more because the reality is after a year where the budget took a huge hit, X can't afford the buyout. I also don't think a coach can come in and get a fair chance in just 3 years...but at least in most of those cases you can see the direction the coach is taking the team. I have no clue what Travis wants his team to be and he shows no signs of knowing either.

It kind of seems like he wants us to be Villanova, but are aren't Villanova and he damn sure isn't Jay Wright. The problem with that style of ball is when the shooting isn't there, it's really hard to overcome it. When you look at the Oklahoma game we looked like a good Villanova team - guys were sinking shots which created space on the floor for players to drive. In our slump nobody has been able to hit a 3 pointer, so the whole house of cards falls apart on offense. If that doesn't work he has no ideas and his whole offensive philosophy breaks down. I remain baffled he isn't at least trying Tandy out there more to see if he can sink some shots. I get that his defense isn't great, but plenty of other guys have multiple major defensive lapses per game and don't seem to have their playing time impacted.

[drudy23]

I 100% agree that a significant missing piece is another capable Big East big man. Problem is, Villanova doesn't recruit those guys, so neither will we.

Shooters, shooters, shooters!!!

[Masterofreality]

Steele’s contract runs through the 2023-2024 season. I have no idea what a buyout amount would be but it can’t be very high.
The fact that his Father In Law is on the Xavier Board of Trustees and there is a new Xavier President who won’t want to rock the boat tells one that we’ll be watching this for 3 more years! YAY!!!

[paulxu]

I remain confused (what's new) about our offense.
Carter is not quick enough to go rebound on a shot if he's parked behind the 3 point line.
But that has to be a designed offensive set because I see it all the time.
With Freemantle out there also, we often had all 5 beyond the arc.
What's wrong with having one in the post? Just maybe they'd get a rebound off all our misses.

[Masterofreality]

From the 2019 Press Release:
“ Steele and his staff have put together one of the nation's top recruiting classes in his first year at the helm. Steele welcomes a five-member incoming freshman class is ranked No. 21 in the nation by 247Sports. He also welcomes a pair of talented graduate transfers to the mix for the 2019-20 season”

How’s that Recruiting Guru working out?

Seems as if we have some roster mismanagement occurring here. And, damn. That offense is a thing of beauty. Hmmmm. Kinda like the last 2 years that I’ve pointed out before being shouted down.
Enjoy the games!!

[murray87]

I remain confused (what's new) about our offense.

What's wrong with having one in the post? Just maybe they'd get a rebound off all our misses.


This basketball 101 kind of thinking seems foreign to the coaching staff for some reason.

[xavierj]

SteeleÂ’s contract runs through the 2023-2024 season. I have no idea what a buyout amount would be but it canÂ’t be very high.
The fact that his Father In Law is on the Xavier Board of Trustees and there is a new Xavier President who wonÂ’t want to rock the boat tells one that weÂ’ll be watching this for 3 more years! YAY!!!

Not very high but after this year it would probably still be in the $4 to $5 million range. Not money Xavier has laying around I do not think. I am fine with another year but if no significant improvement then move on. The problem is Xavier is not alone in letting big east coaches be mediocre. The entire conference has coaches that donÂ’t do anything and never get fired.

Kevin Willard has won 58% of his games at Seton Hall, wasnÂ’t very good at Iona. McDermott never made it out of the first weekend, has gone to several NitÂ’s. LaVall Jordan 55% at Butler. Ed Cooley 58% career record, 50% in the Big East. Dan Hurley 56%, 48% in league play at UConn. Wojo 57%, 46% points n Big East play. So Xavier isnÂ’t going to be different than any of those other private universities. He will be here for awhile.

[Xavier]

I kind of like the recruiting actually. Basically Freemantle, Kyky, Jones, Odom, Wilcher. He gets a lot of garbage (from me included) but Freemantle is really solid, he becomes even better when we have a real Center. Jones and Odom seem to be a strong future backcourt. KyKy and Wilcher, when given playing time, have shown what they can bring.

IMO it is a pretty good core of young guys to build around. I don't really trust that we have a coach and coaching staff that can develop the talent though.

[Final4]

Steele’s contract runs through the 2023-2024 season. I have no idea what a buyout amount would be but it can’t be very high.
The fact that his Father In Law is on the Xavier Board of Trustees and there is a new Xavier President who won’t want to rock the boat tells one that we’ll be watching this for 3 more years! YAY!!!


That’s the reason I brought it up……….to illustrate the dilemma we’re facing. I’m assuming (and I could be completely wrong) that the buyout for without cause termination would be equal to the remaining value of the contract. If that’s correct then letting him go with three years remaining is not chump change. On the flip side, a coach with 3 years or 2 years remaining on his contract is at a huge disadvantage when trying to recruit. Does X not extend the contract to mitigate the potential financial exposure at the expense of seeing your short term recruiting pipeline dry up?

[Xville]

We will find out if Steele is willing to make adjustments next game. Creighton is the worst matchup outside of maybe Villanova for Carter. There is zero reason X should not play 4 out 1 in next game with 4 guards, unless he really is that much of a stubborn fool.

Xavier was lucky to even be in the last Creighton game as they were atrocious from 3....they won't be again. This could be a massive blowout unless Steele figures out the lineups that will give X the best chance to win.

[Mrs. Garrett]

We will find out if Steele is willing to make adjustments next game. Creighton is the worst matchup outside of maybe Villanova for Carter. There is zero reason X should not play 4 out 1 in next game with 4 guards, unless he really is that much of a stubborn fool.

Xavier was lucky to even be in the last Creighton game as they were atrocious from 3....they won't be again. This could be a massive blowout unless Steele figures out the lineups that will give X the best chance to win.

I'll take stubborn fool for $1000, Alex

[markchal]

I kind of like the recruiting actually. Basically Freemantle, Kyky, Jones, Odom, Wilcher. He gets a lot of garbage (from me included) but Freemantle is really solid, he becomes even better when we have a real Center. Jones and Odom seem to be a strong future backcourt. KyKy and Wilcher, when given playing time, have shown what they can bring.

IMO it is a pretty good core of young guys to build around. I don't really trust that we have a coach and coaching staff that can develop the talent though.

I agree that Steele is a capable recruiter. We don't seem to be developing our guys anymore though. Scruggs and Jones may be the two exceptions, but everyone else seems like the same player (or worse, in some cases like Q) they were when they got here. I guess Free has shown improvement offensively, but he's still a matador on D.

[drudy23]

It seems like he has a vision in mind and will do whatever he can to make that vision work, even if the vision isn't working.

At what point do you realize it's you?

[Strange Brew]

I agree that Steele is a capable recruiter. We don't seem to be developing our guys anymore though. Scruggs and Jones may be the two exceptions, but everyone else seems like the same player (or worse, in some cases like Q) they were when they got here. I guess Free has shown improvement offensively, but he's still a matador on D.

I’m still giving Free a pass on D because he’s the only big playing and can’t afford foul trouble.

[markchal]

I’m still giving Free a pass on D because he’s the only big playing and can’t afford foul trouble.

That's a good point, actually. And also why Carter gets so much PT, because someone has to be able to guard a 5 and give some fouls.

[boozehound]

That's a good point, actually. And also why Carter gets so much PT, because someone has to be able to guard a 5 and give some fouls.

Which is where I think not having Griffin or Stanley available to play hurts us.

[XUOWNSUC]

Who did Greg Christopher interview (besides Steele & Kelsey) for head coach when Mack left? There was a mid major guy (or possibly even lower than that) that he interviewed but I can’t remember his name. I was curious to see how that guy has done the last few years. Anybody know who it was?

[GoMuskies]

I don't really remember much in the way of news at the time. He certainly should have (IMO of course) considered Wes Miller of UNCG at the time to at least see if he was interested. He was an exactly even 112-112 at that point after 7 seasons, but the trajectory was fantastic. He was coming off his first NCAA Tournament appearance at the time. He's 67-20 there since.

Miller would have been 35 at the time as he is now 38.

[Masterofreality]

Was Steele’s Father In Law on Xavier’s Board at the time of the interview?
It might have been a fait accompli.

[JTG]

That's a good point, actually. And also why Carter gets so much PT, because someone has to be able to guard a 5 and give some fouls.

This is a HUGE part of the problem. Last year Jones would have leveled Watson and the Beach Boy. And they would have thought twice about trying those dunks. I would have at least tried Ramsey last night.

[XU 87]

Who did Greg Christopher interview (besides Steele & Kelsey) for head coach when Mack left? There was a mid major guy (or possibly even lower than that) that he interviewed but I can’t remember his name. I was curious to see how that guy has done the last few years. Anybody know who it was?

I know they interviewed John Brannen. Sean Miller also threw his hat in the ring. I also think the coach from one of the Dakotas interviewed.

[Xuperman]

X has been an embarrassing 16 of 76 from 3 in the last three games.....those are JV girls type numbers. Players play the game, they are high D1 guys on scholarship and you simply can not win with that kind of inept production, but I am guessing by reading this thread that people here could compile a long list of reason to blame Travis Steele for that.

[XU 87]

From the 2019 Press Release:
“ Steele and his staff have put together one of the nation's top recruiting classes in his first year at the helm. Steele welcomes a five-member incoming freshman class is ranked No. 21 in the nation by 247Sports. He also welcomes a pair of talented graduate transfers to the mix for the 2019-20 season”

How’s that Recruiting Guru working out?

Seems as if we have some roster mismanagement occurring here. And, damn. That offense is a thing of beauty. Hmmmm. Kinda like the last 2 years that I’ve pointed out before being shouted down.
Enjoy the games!!

You made a LOT of criticisms and claims about Steele, many which were simply not accurate, to say the least. For example, you criticized Steele for "running off" Elias Harden, who is now playing D3. You criticized Steele for not giving Dahmir Bishop a chance. Bishop is now playing for the 4-13 St. Joe Hawks and is shooting 32% from the field. And you had many more other unfounded criticisms.

There are things to criticize about Steele. I just don't think many of yours were accurate.

By the way- St. Joe beat UD last night for its 4th win of the season.

[GoMuskies]

Third win. They are 3-14.

But on a two game winning streak!

Bishop was hurt and did not play last night.

[XU 87]

Third win. They are 3-14.

But on a two game winning streak!

Bishop was hurt and did not play last night.

Not sure how they won without his 32% fg% and his 29% from the three.

He also has an assist/turnover ratio of 1.5/2.8. I honestly wonder what exactly X saw in him. If he keeps this up, he could be going the Elias Harden route and transfer again to a lesser program.

[Final4]

Just for shits and giggles………..who would be possible replacements for Steele should he part ways with Xavier? Is it inconceivable to think any of the following scenarios could come to fruition? Would anybody be in favor of any of these hires? Point of reference……..Bob Staak is his podcast twice mentioned that if he had to do it all over again he never would have left XU.

Thad Matta: it is my understanding that his health is better than it has been in many years and he’s still a reasonably young man.

Sean Miller: I believe he only has one year left on his contract after this season. Too much baggage? We still butthurt over the Lexus comment?

Chris Mack: this is purely hypothetical but what if the relationship at UL was to sour. What if Mack’s wife is routinely accosted in the grocery store or his kids start coming home from school in tears.

[XU 87]

Bring back the Staak attack!!

[boozehound]

Just for shits and giggles………..who would be possible replacements for Steele should he part ways with Xavier? Is it inconceivable to think any of the following scenarios could come to fruition? Would anybody be in favor of any of these hires? Point of reference……..Bob Staak is his podcast twice mentioned that if he had to do it all over again he never would have left XU.

Thad Matta: it is my understanding that his health is better than it has been in many years and he’s still a reasonably young man.

Sean Miller: I believe he only has one year left on his contract after this season. Too much baggage? We still butthurt over the Lexus comment?

Chris Mack: this is purely hypothetical but what if the relationship at UL was to sour. What if Mack’s wife is routinely accosted in the grocery store or his kids start coming home from school in tears.

Are we only considering former Xavier coaches for this exercise?

I would take Sean Miller back. I don't see much chance of that happening, but I would be OK with it.

[XUOWNSUC]

I know they interviewed John Brannen. Sean Miller also threw his hat in the ring. I also think the coach from one of the Dakotas interviewed.

That’s it - TJ Oltzenberger from South Dakota. He’s at UNLV now.

[XU 87]

That’s it - TJ Oltzenberger from South Dakota. He’s at UNLV now.

At the time, when looking at the candidate list, I thought Steele was the best. I thought Brannen might be good, but look how's he struggled so far.

[XUOWNSUC]

At the time, when looking at the candidate list, I thought Steele was the best. I thought Brannen might be good, but look how's he struggled so far.

I agree with you - I thought Travis was the best candidate as well. However, after 2+ years, I don't feel encouraged about the direction of the program. I have a hard time believing Steele is the coach who takes us to a Final Four. I hope I'm wrong.

[Xville]

That list of candidates are/were pretty much crap. I’m surprised Xavier didn’t have a few more suitors in the mix. Maybe no one said much because they just assumed it was going to be Steele.

[boozehound]

I agree with you - I thought Travis was the best candidate as well. However, after 2+ years, I don't feel encouraged about the direction of the program. I have a hard time believing Steele is the coach who takes us to a Final Four. I hope I'm wrong.

Right. I really hope we could muster up a better list of candidates than we did when we hired Steele. But we didn't then...

[XU 87]

That list of candidates are/were pretty much crap. I’m surprised Xavier didn’t have a few more suitors in the mix. Maybe no one said much because they just assumed it was going to be Steele.

Yea, I was a little surprised that neither Calipari nor Coach K showed any interest. I thought maybe Roy Williams or Izzo would be interested, but surprisingly neither was.

[Xville]

Yea, I was a little surprised that neither Calipari nor Coach K showed any interest. I thought maybe Roy Williams or Izzo would be interested, but surprisingly neither was.

Ha....I just meant more up and coming mid major type coaches is all.

[drudy23]

Our only hope at the coaching spot is to find an up-and-comer and hope he's the next star. They just can't afford a known, successful commodity.

If he's a star, he's likely to leave. When someone is willing to 5-10x your pay, they're all going to leave. That's the draw to X - success means generational money if you perform.

If we find a coach that simply just wants to stick around forever, that's probably not the guy that's going to elevate. It's just not how it works - the best are hyper driven to achieve. Sounds like Trav already has generational money - not saying he's not working hard - but is he driven to achieve that next level like every one of his recent predecessors, or is he just happy to be the coach at Xavier because now it's his way?

And this isn't made possible by working 20 hours a day, it's about the decisions he makes. Does the coaching tree need an upgrade and are you willing to fire a friend? Does your recruiting profile need changing? Do certain guys he calls "my guys" really need to sit on the bench instead? Does he have that in him? Is success more important than ruffling some feathers and being the bad guy?

[IM4X]

Just for shits and gigglesÂ…Â…Â…..who would be possible replacements for Steele should he part ways with Xavier? Is it inconceivable to think any of the following scenarios could come to fruition? Would anybody be in favor of any of these hires? Point of referenceÂ…Â…..Bob Staak is his podcast twice mentioned that if he had to do it all over again he never would have left XU.

Thad Matta: it is my understanding that his health is better than it has been in many years and he’s still a reasonably young man.

Sean Miller: I believe he only has one year left on his contract after this season. Too much baggage? We still butthurt over the Lexus comment?

Chris Mack: this is purely hypothetical but what if the relationship at UL was to sour. What if Mack’s wife is routinely accosted in the grocery store or his kids start coming home from school in tears.

Hey... let’s not forget Pete Gillen. He has mentioned how different it would be to be coaching at X now that they are in the BE where recruiting would be players would be easier.

If Steele can’t get it figured out, I would be thrilled to have Matta back as head coach with a staff of Gillen or Staak + Dante and David West.

Matta is winner. He is the only coach that left X who went on to make it to the final four... and he did it twice.

I never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever want to see Mack coaching back at X. After the statements that ungrateful punk made when he left, I wouldn’t hire him back even if he offered to coach for free.

[JTG]

Matta and Miller have each already banked life changing money, so I don't think that would be an issue. I would take either back, but isn't Miller younger and healthier than Thad. FYI, Sean's brother Archie is probably out at IU. This will be their 4th year not in tournament, if they miss. And the natives are way beyond restless in Bloomington.

[xuphan]

Matta and Miller have each already banked life changing money, so I don't think that would be an issue. I would take either back, but isn't Miller younger and healthier than Thad. FYI, Sean's brother Archie is probably out at IU. This will be their 4th year not in tournament, if they miss. And the natives are way beyond restless in Bloomington.

What would Steele have to do this year and next year for you to restore faith in him being our head coach?

[drudy23]

What would Steele have to do this year and next year for you to restore faith in him being our head coach?

Make the tournament - pretty simple.

[xuphan]

Make the tournament - pretty simple.

Well, he still has a chance of doing that so lets get behind him and the team. This can be discussed in the off-season if we don’t make the tournament. I didn’t expect us to even have a season this year so it’s nice to even be able to watch Xavier basketball.

[paulxu]

It is nice watch Xavier basketball. And sometimes hard on the eyes.

[JTG]

Either get in the tournament this year and next. Or at least go deep in the NIT this year. The first 4 out are 1 seeds in the NIT. Yeah, I know, it's the NIT, but a deep run would prove he has figured out coaching, and definitely make the Dance next year.

[drudy23]

Well, he still has a chance of doing that so lets get behind him and the team. This can be discussed in the off-season if we don’t make the tournament. I didn’t expect us to even have a season this year so it’s nice to even be able to watch Xavier basketball.

It's very hard not to react negatively knowing we've seen this before...and we likely know where it's headed.

Making the tournament is step 1 for Trav - but damn when it feels like it's imploding all around him again - it doesn't give you warm and fuzzies.

Making the tournament takes off a ton of pressure from the fans, and probably his boss too. It's the most important milestone - next is winning games there, which all of his predecessors have done.

[xuphan]

It's very hard not to react negatively knowing we've seen this before...and we likely know where it's headed.

Making the tournament is step 1 for Trav - but damn when it feels like it's imploding all around him again - it doesn't give you warm and fuzzies.

Making the tournament takes off a ton of pressure from the fans, and probably his boss too. It's the most important milestone - next is winning games there, which all of his predecessors have done.

Does anyone know when his contract is up? I just can’t see the University fire him with the financial state we are in currently.

[xavierj]

Does anyone know when his contract is up? I just can’t see the University fire him with the financial state we are in currently.

2024 so three more years after this. Would assume that’s in the $4.5 to $5 million range.

[LOLmickcronin]

They will absolutely not fire him after the covid season. Whether you hate the product on the court or not the administration is not gonna axe a guy after this season it’s a bad look. Plus you’d have zero recruits next year.

But really even for fans he oughta stick around at least another year in my opinion. With this freshman class being a core class (and looking pretty good) I’d hate to see him leave and Odom or Jones transfer. If he can hopefully get kyky to stay we can at least get the dead weight like carter to leave and have a pretty good core of Odom-wilcher-Jones-free-kyky coming back with miles and Ramsey able to give some front court depth. If he can’t win with a full roster of his guys sure let him go.

[Xville]

They will absolutely not fire him after the covid season. Whether you hate the product on the court or not the administration is not gonna axe a guy after this season it’s a bad look. Plus you’d have zero recruits next year.

But really even for fans he oughta stick around at least another year in my opinion. With this freshman class being a core class (and looking pretty good) I’d hate to see him leave and Odom or Jones transfer. If he can hopefully get kyky to stay we can at least get the dead weight like carter to leave and have a pretty good core of Odom-wilcher-Jones-free-kyky coming back with miles and Ramsey able to give some front court depth. If he can’t win with a full roster of his guys sure let him go.

Why would kyky stay? So Steele could f him up even more?

[xuphan]

They will absolutely not fire him after the covid season. Whether you hate the product on the court or not the administration is not gonna axe a guy after this season it’s a bad look. Plus you’d have zero recruits next year.

But really even for fans he oughta stick around at least another year in my opinion. With this freshman class being a core class (and looking pretty good) I’d hate to see him leave and Odom or Jones transfer. If he can hopefully get kyky to stay we can at least get the dead weight like carter to leave and have a pretty good core of Odom-wilcher-Jones-free-kyky coming back with miles and Ramsey able to give some front court depth. If he can’t win with a full roster of his guys sure let him go.

I agree with most of what you are saying but he currently has a roster full of his guys. Scruggs would be the only argument though he was the main recruiter for Scruggs.

[Xavier]

Why would kyky stay? So Steele could f him up even more?

You love that guy. Something about barely beating EKU, Belmont, and Toledo while he was getting minutes tell you he would make a difference right now? The team wasn’t exactly humming with him playing as they squeaked by inferior competition. He makes as many dumb plays as the next guy when he does get minutes. Is not exactly taking advantage of opportunities. I’m not defending Steele, hope he proves me wrong but id bet he is gone after next season. I just don't think kyky is the difference maker you seem to.

[Xville]

You love that guy. Something about barely beating EKU, Belmont, and Toledo while he was getting minutes tell you he would make a difference right now? The team wasn’t exactly humming with him playing as they squeaked by inferior competition. He makes as many dumb plays as the next guy when he does get minutes. Is not exactly taking advantage of opportunities. I’m not defending Steele, hope he proves me wrong but id bet he is gone after next season. I just don't think kyky is the difference maker you seem to.

He may or may not be, but what I do know is that he can score. He proved it last year, and he proved it early this season. I also know that after seeing two years of carter starting, the q situation, the love affair that Steele has with kunkel, and the Hankins fiasco of not figuring out he could play for almost the whle season, not giving Ramsey any time since the first half against butler, that Steele has little clue on how to manage a lineup at this point.

I firmly believe that Steele has mentally effed him up big time, and I don’t know how much of an impact one is supposed to have when given 5 minutes a game. Against St. John’s he had 3 points, 2 assists and 2 steals in 6 minutes. Don’t think I need to remind you what carter and kunkel did in 20 plus minutes that game...about the same as kyky in 6. Kyky and Ramsey provided a big offensive spark in first half against butler, never saw them again. Providence? An abomination.

[Xavgrad08]

I would love to know who the realistic candidates were before Steele was hired. I assume Christopher spoke with Nate Oats? He would have been a solid hire who has tremendous upside. Not sure if he was interested. The next couple years will be vert important for the program and will hopefully make it clear if Travis is the guy for the job.

[SM#24]

Was Steele’s Father In Law on Xavier’s Board at the time of the interview?
It might have been a fait accompli.

I don't think he was. I believe it was Prosser, Miller and Mack that made it a fait accompli.

[SM#24]

Maybe we were just due. I can't think of any school that has hit a home run on 7 consecutive coaches.

[Lloyd Braun]

I don’t think it’s crazy to think Tandy needs more minutes. I also don’t think it’s crazy to think he’s really good. Watch him play and you see he is oozing with talent and athleticism. He needs some fucking run and it’s frustrating to watch the same 5 guys on the floor the entire game. Travis doesn’t trust him or anyone else on the bench after halftime and it’s infuriating.

[xavierj]

Maybe we were just due. I can't think of any school that has hit a home run on 7 consecutive coaches.

Not sure Xavier hit 7 home runs. Staak got it going, Gillen built it better, Skip was ok but not great, Thad was good then left, Sean got it going after a couple of years and Mack kind of kept it somewhat from what Miller was doing. The thing that sucked in all of it though was they all left before they could really make a bigger impact. Maybe if Matta never left Xavier, and wouldn’t have had health problems, maybe Xavier would be Gonzaga, maybe if Miller stayed we would have been to two final 4’s by now, maybe if Mack would have put his foot down and said I am not leaving Xavier they would have had some better recruiting classes and Xavier would have built on his #1 seed.

But none of that happened and Xavier has changed coaches too frequently, which in my opinion is why the program is where it is. Close but never close enough and then we get a new coach. Losing Mack had a big impact because it left a brand new head coach without a recruiting class and a limited roster, in a pretty tough conference. A coach that was going to have to learn how to be a head coach. Sean went through it but in the A-10 and still struggled. Chris did it also in the A-10 but was left with a damn good roster when Sean left. Travis had a tough gig in my opinion, but it doesn’t excuse the fact that he is making mistakes.

I hope Travis figures it out. I hope next year he wins 25 games and Xavier is a top 4 seed and then the program takes off. I have no idea if that will happen and a lot would have to change, but I would rather Travis succeed and take this program to another level than to have to go through another coaching change, lose a couple of recruits and players and start all over.

[xudash]

Not sure Xavier hit 7 home runs. Staak got it going, Gillen built it better, Skip was ok but not great, Thad was good then left, Sean got it going after a couple of years and Mack kind of kept it somewhat from what Miller was doing. The thing that sucked in all of it though was they all left before they could really make a bigger impact. Maybe if Matta never left Xavier, and wouldn’t have had health problems, maybe Xavier would be Gonzaga, maybe if Miller stayed we would have been to two final 4’s by now, maybe if Mack would have put his foot down and said I am not leaving Xavier they would have had some better recruiting classes and Xavier would have built on his #1 seed.

But none of that happened and Xavier has changed coaches too frequently, which in my opinion is why the program is where it is. Close but never close enough and then we get a new coach. Losing Mack had a big impact because it left a brand new head coach without a recruiting class and a limited roster, in a pretty tough conference. A coach that was going to have to learn how to be a head coach. Sean went through it but in the A-10 and still struggled. Chris did it also in the A-10 but was left with a damn good roster when Sean left. Travis had a tough gig in my opinion, but it doesn’t excuse the fact that he is making mistakes.

I hope Travis figures it out. I hope next year he wins 25 games and Xavier is a top 4 seed and then the program takes off. I have no idea if that will happen and a lot would have to change, but I would rather Travis succeed and take this program to another level than to have to go through another coaching change, lose a couple of recruits and players and start all over.

Couldn’t agree with you more.

I really do believe he will be our long-term guy (Jay Wright) if he can figure it all out.

[boozehound]

Couldn’t agree with you more.

I really do believe he will be our long-term guy (Jay Wright) if he can figure it all out.

Didn't we all kind of feel that way about Mack, though? The guy was a Xavier Alum from the West Side. The fact that they even got him outside of a 20 mile radius from Cincinnati is surprising for that reason alone.

I think that the fact that we have some deep pocketed large schools so close has to hurt us in terms of coaching retention. Miller went far away, but Matta moved 90 min up 71 for a boat load more money. Mack went about the same distance the other way on 71 for similar reasons. You also have IU and KY all within about 2 hours drive.

In the case of Chris Mack I'm not sure he would have taken the Louisville job if it had been 8 hours from Cincinnati or something like that.

[xavierj]

Didn't we all kind of feel that way about Mack, though? The guy was a Xavier Alum from the West Side. The fact that they even got him outside of a 20 mile radius from Cincinnati is surprising for that reason alone.

I think that the fact that we have some deep pocketed large schools so close has to hurt us in terms of coaching retention. Miller went far away, but Matta moved 90 min up 71 for a boat load more money. Mack went about the same distance the other way on 71 for similar reasons. You also have IU and KY all within about 2 hours drive.

In the case of Chris Mack I'm not sure he would have taken the Louisville job if it had been 8 hours from Cincinnati or something like that.

Wouldn’t have gone anywhere if it were not for his wife.

[markchal]

But none of that happened and Xavier has changed coaches too frequently, which in my opinion is why the program is where it is. Close but never close enough and then we get a new coach.

OK sign me up for those cycles of very good every few years. I'll take that over whatever Cronin was at UC (they got what-- 2 S16s?). We'd all love to have a Jay Wright, but there are many more coaches who stay at one program awhile because they are fine, but never that consistent.

[boozehound]

Wouldn’t have gone anywhere if it were not for his wife.

That is the narrative, but I don't believe it to be entirely accurate. Mack wanted to coach at a higher level and Louisville is a higher level program than Xavier. He turned town the other jobs he had entertained largely because he didn't want to be too far from Cincinnati, but when Louisville went after him it was a pretty easy choice. I have heard the same thing from two different sources who were both very close to Chris - one a friend, and the other a close relative. He loved Xavier and would probably only have left for Louisville or UK.

[xavierj]

That is the narrative, but I don't believe it to be entirely accurate. Mack wanted to coach at a higher level and Louisville is a higher level program than Xavier. He turned town the other jobs he had entertained largely because he didn't want to be too far from Cincinnati, but when Louisville went after him it was a pretty easy choice. I have heard the same thing from two different sources who were both very close to Chris - one a friend, and the other a close relative. He loved Xavier and would probably only have left for Louisville or UK.

Right but if his wife wasn’t from Louisville and her family was not huge Louisville fans, than there would have been a much bigger chance he stays at Xavier considering the issues going on at Louisville.

[MauriceX]

Not sure why everyone thinks Tandy is gonna save everything. Defense is our biggest weakness and he adds nothing there, and he didn’t give us anything on the other end either last night. Jones had an off night but we shouldn’t be that reliable on freshmen either. For all our talk of depth, we basically have three players who can score, and one of them is in a boot with an injury that doesn’t have a timetable. Feels an awful lot like our collapse down the stretch last year.

I don't know that he is going to save everything. But at the beginning of the year, a lot of people were expecting Tandy to be the star of the show this year. Our best athlete, our best pure scorer, an above average shooter. I was expecting him to easily lead the team in scoring. Who knows, maybe playing Tandy more would hurt us. But the point is - we don't know. Why aren't we giving the player many thought would be our best player this season more of an opportunity to be our best player?

And to your point on defense - neither our offense or our defense is particularly strong. 48 AdjO and 81 AdjD on Kenpom. Sure, defense is weaker, but it isn't like Notre Dame (AdjO 16, AdjD 148).

I'm just saying, it seems like we need to try something different. Maybe it is better, maybe it is worse. But at least it isn't the same exact losing formula every night.

[boozehound]

I don't know that he is going to save everything. But at the beginning of the year, a lot of people were expecting Tandy to be the star of the show this year. Our best athlete, our best pure scorer, an above average shooter. I was expecting him to easily lead the team in scoring. Who knows, maybe playing Tandy more would hurt us. But the point is - we don't know. Why aren't we giving the player many thought would be our best player this season more of an opportunity to be our best player?

And to your point on defense - neither our offense or our defense is particularly strong. 48 AdjO and 81 AdjD on Kenpom. Sure, defense is weaker, but it isn't like Notre Dame (AdjO 16, AdjD 148).

I'm just saying, it seems like we need to try something different. Maybe it is better, maybe it is worse. But at least it isn't the same exact losing formula every night.

Yeah. I don't think Tandy is the difference maker for this team, but he gives us another scoring option on the floor. Unless he is completely dogging it in practice, or Steele already knows for sure he is transferring after the season (a possibility), I don't see why we aren't at least giving KyKy a shot. All we really need most games is for 1 guy to start hitting 3's and the whole offense would change. If nobody else can hit a shot, why not give Tandy some leash to try to make something happen. I get that he takes bad shots early in the clock at times and doesn't always make the best decisions, but I watched Jason Carter shoot multiple 3 pointers last game. I'd rather take my chances on an early pull-up 3 by Tandy.

[Blue Blooded-05]

Didn't we all kind of feel that way about Mack, though? The guy was a Xavier Alum from the West Side. The fact that they even got him outside of a 20 mile radius from Cincinnati is surprising for that reason alone.

I think that the fact that we have some deep pocketed large schools so close has to hurt us in terms of coaching retention. Miller went far away, but Matta moved 90 min up 71 for a boat load more money. Mack went about the same distance the other way on 71 for similar reasons. You also have IU and KY all within about 2 hours drive.

In the case of Chris Mack I'm not sure he would have taken the Louisville job if it had been 8 hours from Cincinnati or something like that.

A lot of truth in that highlighted sentence. A 5 hour drive in any direction will get you to the following schools: Cincinnati, Ohio State, Indiana, Butler, Notre Dame, Louisville, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt, Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State... I am sure I am forgetting some...

The head coach of Xavier has all the time commitments and performance expectations of these schools yet (with the possible exception of Butler) makes a fraction of what their head coaches make. That has to wear on them after awhile.

It sucks.

I am 100% certain Travis would leave us in the dust if he were performing at a high enough level to generate interest from one of those programs. We need to develop that same mentality. Stop looking for “the one” and tell Steele he has the rest of this season and next to either carry the torch or carry his things to his car.

[nuts4xu]

That is the narrative, but I don't believe it to be entirely accurate.


He loved Xavier and would probably only have left for Louisville or UK.

You don't believe his wife influenced him to take the U of L job, but in the same post say U of L was one of 2 schools he would have taken when he was at X??

It was said long before Pitino was fired that Louisville was one of the few schools that he would listen to. Mack took U of L for of a lot of reasons, one of which was his wife was from there and wanted their girls to go to the same schools she did growing up.

[GoMuskies]

his wife was from there and wanted their girls to go to the same schools she did growing up.

His wife is from there, but she DEFINITELY does not want their girls going to the same schools she did growing up. The grade school that their girls attend didn't exist when she was growing up, and there is literally zero chance their kids are going to Holy Cross. That's for the poors!

[nuts4xu]

I watched Jason Carter shoot multiple 3 pointers last game.

Carter was 0-1 from 3 last game. But I get your point, as Carter is shooting 16% on the season from behind the arc.

[boozehound]

You don't believe his wife influenced him to take the U of L job, but in the same post say U of L was one of 2 schools he would have taken when he was at X??

It was said long before Pitino was fired that Louisville was one of the few schools that he would listen to. Mack took U of L for of a lot of reasons, one of which was his wife was from there and wanted their girls to go to the same schools she did growing up.

I didn't say it wasn't a factor, just that the narrative that he would still be at Xavier if his wife hadn't wanted to move back home isn't really the whole truth as I understand it. He got offered a massive raise to go to an undeniably higher profile program that just happened to be close to his home and really close to his wife's home. He didn't reluctantly go to make his wife happy. He happily went to what he saw as a much better opportunity.

[xudash]

Wouldn’t have gone anywhere if it were not for his wife.

I do believe you are correct.

Opposite dynamic with Travis. A Butler grad with a Xavier-centric wife tied to Cincinnati.

[Strange Brew]

I do believe you are correct.

Opposite dynamic with Travis. A Butler grad with a Xavier-centric wife tied to Cincinnati.

Another opposite dynamic is Mack seems to be a capable coach at this point. I want Steele to do well but I don't believe for a minute he's a lifer. I'd pull the plug this year if he doesn't get it done. But I'm sure they'll give him one more year. Frankly, they should due to the virus. It's messed up just about everyone's plans/business. Hoping he can pull it together and sneak up on the tourney field and get it back on the rails next year.

[AviatorX]

This isn't a point in favor of or against Steele, but I'm not sure some are appreciating how off market it is to fire a coach for performance after just three seasons. Does anyone have recent examples?

[GoMuskies]

I think you get a pass if you haven't fired a coach in 40 years and the last 6 coaches before this one have all earned big promotions (at least at the time they took the jobs they were considered big promotions). An up and comer is almost certainly going to take the chance he's not going to suck and get fired in three years for a shot at the Ohio State, Arizona and Louisville jobs of the world.

[AviatorX]

I think you get a pass if you haven't fired a coach in 40 years and the last 6 coaches before this one have all earned big promotions (at least at the time they took the jobs they were considered big promotions). An up and comer is almost certainly going to take the chance he's not going to suck and get fired in three years for a shot at the Ohio State, Arizona and Louisville jobs of the world.

I think this is probably right, just pointing out it's not very common. Kevin Stallings is a recent example. I mean even at IU Archie is in year 4 of basically no promise with way more talent that has come through and it seems like he'll get another year.

[boozehound]

I think you get a pass if you haven't fired a coach in 40 years and the last 6 coaches before this one have all earned big promotions (at least at the time they took the jobs they were considered big promotions). An up and comer is almost certainly going to take the chance he's not going to suck and get fired in three years for a shot at the Ohio State, Arizona and Louisville jobs of the world.

I think you are probably right about that, but in the specific case of Steele I do think it would be a bit strange to fire him for the 3 seasons he has had. None of them have been terrible by any means. Well below our expectations, but not actually all that bad in the scheme of College basketball.

[GoMuskies]

I think you are probably right about that, but in the specific case of Steele I do think it would be a bit strange to fire him for the 3 seasons he has had. None of them have been terrible by any means. Well below our expectations, but not actually all that bad in the scheme of College basketball.

Agree. I'm not in favor of ousting Steele this year even if we lose out, and I'm sure it won't happen anyway. Just saying, if it DID happen I think we'd be okay.

[MHettel]

Here is what I cannot understand, and which is my biggest cause for concern.

Steele keeps saying that the guys KNOW the defensive scheme, yet they just aren't doing what they need to. But this has been a consistent problem.Like all year long.

Maybe a DIFFERENT WAY to see the situation is like this. They KNOW the system. They are doing what they need to do, but it's not the right type of system for this group of guys!!!

You cannot change your players mid year. But you CAN change the system. And I would say that these players are generally "offensive" minded players. so WIN by playing to your strengths. I see scoring and depth on this roster. But PT is awarded based on ability to play the defensive system?

I mean it's pretty obvious that Tandy has defensive limitations. Did Travis NOT scout this dude? Why bring in a top shelf scorer that is a defensive liability if playing good defense is the only way to see the court.

Steel's commitment to his system is the problem.

What happened 2 years ago when Hankins and Tyrique started playing together? We WON, that's what. But it was too little, too late.

Make some changes Travis. Find a defensive system that fits our roster better, and then go out and just try to OUTSCORE the opponent.

When we get behind (like we always do), we are forced to rely on the 3 ball, and situation gets worse, not better.

[Strange Brew]

Here is what I cannot understand, and which is my biggest cause for concern.

Steele keeps saying that the guys KNOW the defensive scheme, yet they just aren't doing what they need to. But this has been a consistent problem.Like all year long.

Maybe a DIFFERENT WAY to see the situation is like this. They KNOW the system. They are doing what they need to do, but it's not the right type of system for this group of guys!!!

You cannot change your players mid year. But you CAN change the system. And I would say that these players are generally "offensive" minded players. so WIN by playing to your strengths. I see scoring and depth on this roster. But PT is awarded based on ability to play the defensive system?

I mean it's pretty obvious that Tandy has defensive limitations. Did Travis NOT scout this dude? Why bring in a top shelf scorer that is a defensive liability if playing good defense is the only way to see the court.

Steel's commitment to his system is the problem.

What happened 2 years ago when Hankins and Tyrique started playing together? We WON, that's what. But it was too little, too late.

Make some changes Travis. Find a defensive system that fits our roster better, and then go out and just try to OUTSCORE the opponent.

When we get behind (like we always do), we are forced to rely on the 3 ball, and situation gets worse, not better.

Simple then. Sit Carter and play Griffin and Ramsey with Free.

[Xville]

Simple then. Sit Carter and play Griffin and Ramsey with Free.

Or go 4 out, 1 in and play to our supposed strengths. Pretty sure X can survive without Carter's average d and offensive prowess.

[Strange Brew]

Or go 4 out, 1 in and play to our supposed strengths. Pretty sure X can survive without Carter's average d and offensive prowess.

Agree against SJU and Nova but that would require Tandy to get more than 10mins and he doesn’t have enough practice points.

[muskiefan82]

Let's go full on 1989-90 Loyola Marymount Press and Shoot within 10 seconds on offense. WTH? It would be fun if nothing else

[GoMuskies]

I think we're missing a Hank Gathers. And a Bo Kimble. Hell, we don't even have a Per Stumer!

[Masterofreality]

Here is what I cannot understand, and which is my biggest cause for concern.

Steele keeps saying that the guys KNOW the defensive scheme, yet they just aren't doing what they need to. But this has been a consistent problem.Like all year long.

Maybe a DIFFERENT WAY to see the situation is like this. They KNOW the system. They are doing what they need to do, but it's not the right type of system for this group of guys!!!

You cannot change your players mid year. But you CAN change the system. And I would say that these players are generally "offensive" minded players. so WIN by playing to your strengths. I see scoring and depth on this roster. But PT is awarded based on ability to play the defensive system?

I mean it's pretty obvious that Tandy has defensive limitations. Did Travis NOT scout this dude? Why bring in a top shelf scorer that is a defensive liability if playing good defense is the only way to see the court.

Steel's commitment to his system is the problem.

What happened 2 years ago when Hankins and Tyrique started playing together? We WON, that's what. But it was too little, too late.

Make some changes Travis. Find a defensive system that fits our roster better, and then go out and just try to OUTSCORE the opponent.

When we get behind (like we always do), we are forced to rely on the 3 ball, and situation gets worse, not better.

Outstanding post Hett.
I will continue to believe, as I said last year and the year before, that the talent available outstripped the coaching performance.
“Let him get his guys in here!! Welp, he’s got the guys he recruited in here and he is still mis using them, not playing to their strengths and stuck to his own stubborn “system”.
Jason Carter probably plays that system perfect in Steele’s practices with 25 Billion Practice Points. But the Prince of Practice refuses to be a Poohbah of Performance in real games.
After a while you gotta look at yourself as the problem not the solver as a coach. I can’t think of a single player that Steele, as a Head Coach, has used to help him reach his full potential. Naji had to go outside the system many times to do what he did.

[muskiefan82]

I think we're missing a Hank Gathers. And a Bo Kimble. Hell, we don't even have a Per Stumer!

True. Man those were fun games to watch

[GoMuskies]

True. Man those were fun games to watch

Yeah, how many other teams that didn't even make the Final Four are people still talking about 30+ years later? Hell, Xavier beat Mourning and Mutombo Georgetown on a Sunday afternoon, and even I know that was a distant second to the LMU/Michigan in terms of impactful games played that day!

[xuphan]

Outstanding post Hett.
I will continue to believe, as I said last year and the year before, that the talent available outstripped the coaching performance.
“Let him get his guys in here!! Welp, he’s got the guys he recruited in here and he is still mis using them, not playing to their strengths and stuck to his own stubborn “system”.
Jason Carter probably plays that system perfect in Steele’s practices with 25 Billion Practice Points. But the Prince of Practice refuses to be a Poohbah of Performance in real games.
After a while you gotta look at yourself as the problem not the solver as a coach. I can’t think of a single player that Steele, as a Head Coach, has used to help him reach his full potential. Naji had to go outside the system many times to do what he did.

Did I missing something? Did someone say he still doesn’t have his own guys? The only argument I could see is that his first full class are only sophomores but even that is pushing it.

[Strange Brew]

True. Man those were fun games to watch

Not as much as BYU!

[Xville]

Did I missing something? Did someone say he still doesn’t have his own guys? The only argument I could see is that his first full class are only sophomores but even that is pushing it.

He’s referring to what many of us (myself included) said about him in the first and/or second year. Now i just think he is either too stubborn to change, or simply not a good coach, I hope it’s the first one and he makes adjustments quickly.

[OTRMUSKIE]

X is still in this if they win the next 3 and they can do that. It’s up to Steele to decide if he wants to practice or play. Currently he is in practicing mode. There was a time during the year that I thought this team was final four good. Now I don’t even think they are CBI final four good. Plus we have Hanky Mcspanky running his yapper about how X fans are acting. For a lot of us, Xavier basketball is what gets us excited to get out of bed on a Weds. Three years in a row I haven’t asked off work for the tournament. That’s is F’N BS IMO.

[drudy23]

Yeah, how many other teams that didn't even make the Final Four are people still talking about 30+ years later? Hell, Xavier beat Mourning and Mutombo Georgetown on a Sunday afternoon, and even I know that was a distant second to the LMU/Michigan in terms of impactful games played that day!

If I recall, X beat that team with Bo and Hank - it was like 120-117 or something crazy.

Hill and Strong had monster games, as did Bo, and Jumpin Jamal felt like he was back in Brooklyn.

[GoMuskies]

Xavier beat them back to back years . Both games had about 230 points, and Xavier won both by 5 points or less.

[Strange Brew]

Xavier beat them back to back years . Both games had about 230 points, and Xavier won both by 5 points or less.

That was a very different Xavier with a very different mindset.

[OTRMUSKIE]

The man can flat out coach. Dealing with injuries and Covid and he wins the biggest game of his career. BALLS OF STEELE.

[XU_Lou]

The man can flat out coach. Dealing with injuries and Covid and he wins the biggest game of his career. BALLS OF STEELE.

Amen!!

[UCGRAD4X]

Amen!!

Momentum is only one game away.

I heard that somewhere.

I don't know what it means.

[Xavier]

All that and two wins over top 15 teams in the country.

[xuphan]

The man can flat out coach. Dealing with injuries and Covid and he wins the biggest game of his career. BALLS OF STEELE.

Let’s see how the rest of the season plays out first. I feel really good after this game but this doesn’t guarantee us a spot in NCAA tournament. Hope this team continues the momentum and we easily make it in the tournament.

[xu82]

Momentum is only one game away.

I heard that somewhere.

I don't know what it means.

It’s related to “Free Beer Tomorrow”.

Confusing, I know.....

Not being bi-polar myself, I’m very happy with a great win and looking forward to (hopefully) seeing continued improvement from both the players and the coaches. GREAT WIN!

[Xuperman]

I am not an X alum, but I have a long history with X. Primarily because I worked at the Gardens in the 80s/90s. I feel at home on this board, even though I'm sure most of the outspoken posters here are X Alumni.

As a regular homegrown fan, I am appalled with the lack of ANY FAITH from some veteran posters here concerning Coach Steele and some of our players specific.

I am going to assume that the majority of those are younger-ish X grads fans like XVILLE and OTR.....that have been marinated in the painful "I want it now" culture.....and that certainly does include MOR, who is the secret mastermind in the "Blood Eagle Travis Steele" initiative.

Get a grip and have some faith/patience....LETS GO X!!!
:rtfm:

[XU_Lou]

I am not an X alum, but I have a long history with X. Primarily because I worked at the Gardens in the 80s/90s. I feel at home on this board, even though I'm sure most of the outspoken posters here are X Alumni.

As a regular homegrown fan, I am appalled with the lack of ANY FAITH from some veteran posters here concerning Coach Steele and some of our players specific.

I am going to assume that the majority of those are younger-ish X grads fans like XVILLE and OTR.....that have been marinated in the painful "I want it now" culture.....But that certainly does include MOR, who is the secret mastermind in the "Blood Eagle Travis Steele" initiative.

Get a grip and have some faith/patience....LETS GO X!!!
:rtfm:

Great post! Couldn't of said it better!!

[IM4X]

Travis deserves some props today.

While he still played Carter a bit more than he should have- he had better lineups. Did a better job with his timeouts. His players were much hungrier and much played tighter and more aggressive on defense.

I even liked how Paul didn’t make it easy for them to just bring it up court. Our guys looked very much “on the attack” all night. This is much more like it coach!

[xu82]

I am not an X alum, but I have a long history with X. Primarily because I worked at the Gardens in the 80s/90s. I feel at home on this board, even though I'm sure most of the outspoken posters here are X Alumni.

As a regular homegrown fan, I am appalled with the lack of ANY FAITH from some veteran posters here concerning Coach Steele and some of our players specific.

I am going to assume that the majority of those are younger-ish X grads fans like XVILLE and OTR.....that have been marinated in the painful "I want it now" culture.....But that certainly does include MOR, who is the secret mastermind in the "Blood Eagle Travis Steele" initiative.

Get a grip and have some faith/patience....LETS GO X!!!
:rtfm:

Yeah, the Fire the Coach shit is just that, shit. If I or my kids were being recruited to any school, I’d check out those message boards to get the temp of the crowd. It’s not everything, but it’s something and that something can be very counterproductive. Realistic conversations are fair, negative sensationalism is something else. But that’s just the opinion of one grown up.

[xudash]

Travis deserves some props today.

While he still plays Carter a bit more than he should have- he had better lineups. Did a better job with his timeouts. His players were much hungrier and much played tighter and more aggressive on defense.

I even liked how Paul didn’t make it easy for them to just bring it up court. Our guys looked very much “on the attack” all night. This is much more like it coach!

+1

[Xuperman]

Great post! Couldn't of said it better!!

I know Lou,
At my age, it is SOOO hard to understand the ridiculous lack of "team spirit". There are actually people here....assumingly informed fans?...that want Coach Steele GONE!

I CAN NOT F'ING BELIEVE IT!
:stop:

[STL_XUfan]

I am not an X alum, but I have a long history with X. Primarily because I worked at the Gardens in the 80s/90s. I feel at home on this board, even though I'm sure most of the outspoken posters here are X Alumni.

As a regular homegrown fan, I am appalled with the lack of ANY FAITH from some veteran posters here concerning Coach Steele and some of our players specific.

I am going to assume that the majority of those are younger-ish X grads fans like XVILLE and OTR.....that have been marinated in the painful "I want it now" culture.....and that certainly does include MOR, who is the secret mastermind in the "Blood Eagle Travis Steele" initiative.

Get a grip and have some faith/patience....LETS GO X!!!
:rtfm:

I want to preface this with I am not a “I want it now person” and generally think those takes are moronic.

This is a message board where our real identity for the most part is shielded (94grad I think we have figured you out). That means we can say stupid shit with little worry of blow back. Because of that some people are a little looser than they would otherwise be. I think they are legit opinions that should be heard as a check on optimists like me.

With that being said, and in support of my position we get to say shit we want, if you were calling for Steele to be fired I hope you ordered a big bag of dicks to choke down after that game.

[xu82]

Travis deserves some props today.

While he still plays Carter a bit more than he should have- he had better lineups. Did a better job with his timeouts. His players were much hungrier and much played tighter and more aggressive on defense.

I even liked how Paul didn’t make it easy for them to just bring it up court. Our guys looked very much “on the attack” all night. This is much more like it coach!

Just like the players, the coaches can keep improving. This was my hope all along. Don’t expect a straight linear progression, but progress is progress. Great win! Sorry some of our “fans” won’t get to complain again for a while.

[Xuperman]

Just like the players, the coaches can keep improving. This was my hope all along. Don’t expect a straight linear progression, but progress is progress. Great win! Sorry some of our “fans” won’t get to complain again for a while.

Everyone knows those fans.....they SUCK!

Ok, X is not in the world beaters category... YET.

STOP with the dang gloom and doom guys. This is a phenomenal young foundation that Coach/Staff has given us fans.
BE POSITIVE or bite your tongue IMO.

[boozehound]

Much better ball movement on offense, and much better perimeter defense this game than we have seen for a while. Some shots finally falling helped too. We looked like the team we all saw earlier in the season. This seemed to be a well coached and well played game.

[Xuperman]

Ok, but what happens is that some people on boards like this, go full bore insane . There seems to be NO patience from some, to allow TIME for things to form a true reality.

LET'S GO X!!!

[xavierj]

Much better ball movement on offense, and much better perimeter defense this game than we have seen for a while. Some shots finally falling helped too. We looked like the team we all saw earlier in the season. This seemed to be a well coached and well played game.

Creighton still made 36% of their threes but I thought X did a great job controlling the paint and the lane and held them to 47% on twos and rebounded the misses.

[IM4X]

Just like the players, the coaches can keep improving. This was my hope all along. Don’t expect a straight linear progression, but progress is progress. Great win! Sorry some of our “fans” won’t get to complain again for a while.

I’ll admit, I went from being a big fan to a big critic when it seemed he got stuck trying to sell the same messages and lineups that clearly were not working. It is good to see him take a big step forward, being part of the positive change that is happening. I hope we see a lot more of it. We are going to need it.

We can all now certainly see what these players are capable of doing when the right buttons are being pressed and when the coach puts them in situations to help them win (i.e. finding better line ups, subbing more frequently, calling time outs when needed and getting his players to play aggressive on offense and defense).

[xuphan]

I am not an X alum, but I have a long history with X. Primarily because I worked at the Gardens in the 80s/90s. I feel at home on this board, even though I'm sure most of the outspoken posters here are X Alumni.

As a regular homegrown fan, I am appalled with the lack of ANY FAITH from some veteran posters here concerning Coach Steele and some of our players specific.

I am going to assume that the majority of those are younger-ish X grads fans like XVILLE and OTR.....that have been marinated in the painful "I want it now" culture.....and that certainly does include MOR, who is the secret mastermind in the "Blood Eagle Travis Steele" initiative.

Get a grip and have some faith/patience....LETS GO X!!!
:rtfm:

This is Steele’s third season at Xavier with a roster full of players he has recruited. As a third year coach at Xavier, I expect that he would make the NCAA tournament at least once during those three years. The first round big east tournament exit to DePaul makes me feel like we wouldn’t have made the tournament last year. This year was looking much the same and I am thrilled for Steele picked up the win to take some pressure off of him. This should hopefully get us in the tournament but we still need to get some more wins. I still don’t get why you have to either be Steele out or Steele in on this board. Why not wait until the end of the season to see how the team finished and if they get into the tournament? I felt like the team played a great game with Scruggs doing what seniors should do on senior night. However, I still saw questionable coaching decisions made by Steele that I have seen throughout much of this season. Again, I am thrilled for Steele and the team for pulling out a victory against a top 15 program. Wonderful win. However, I need to see more from Steele through out the rest of the season before being Steele in.

[XU_Lou]

I know Lou,
At my age, it is SOOO hard to understand the ridiculous lack of "team spirit". There are actually people here....assumingly informed fans?...that want Coach Steele GONE!

I CAN NOT F'ING BELIEVE IT!
:stop:


Ok, but what happens is that some people on boards like this, go full bore insane . There seems to be NO patience from some, to allow TIME for things to form a true reality.

LET'S GO X!!!

Their positions and their arguments are purely unreasonable and irrational. They lack any sense of perspective. As if practicing just 3 times in 5 weeks a team with 3 freshmen and 3 other newcomers is supposed to compete in a top tier league without missing a beat. C'mon man! That's simply unrealistic!

Not to mention that Steele's cupboard was left a little empty, and has been in the process or rebuilding a roster. To me, I believe he's done an outstanding job of recruiting. Colby could go down as one of the all-time greats at X! Odom and Freemantle are studs as well. I believe next year, and especially the following year, will be great seasons for X.

[xu82]

This is Steele’s third season at Xavier with a roster full of players he has recruited. As a third year coach at Xavier, I expect that he would make the NCAA tournament at least once during those three years. The first round big east tournament exit to DePaul makes me feel like we wouldn’t have made the tournament last year. This year was looking much the same and I am thrilled for Steele picked up the win to take some pressure off of him. This should hopefully get us in the tournament but we still need to get some more wins. I still don’t get why you have to either be Steele out or Steele in on this board. Why not wait until the end of the season to see how the team finished and if they get into the tournament? I felt like the team played a great game with Scruggs doing what seniors should do on senior night. However, I still saw questionable coaching decisions made by Steele that I have seen throughout much of this season. Again, I am thrilled for Steele and the team for pulling out a victory against a top 15 program. Wonderful win. However, I need to see more from Steele through out the rest of the season before being Steele in.

See where the red dots come from.

Your “very happy ultimatum” is quite inspiring.

[xu82]

Their positions and their arguments are purely unreasonable and irrational. They lack any sense of perspective. As if practicing just 3 times in 5 weeks a team with 3 freshmen and 3 other newcomers is supposed to compete in a top tier league without missing a beat. C'mon man! That's simply unrealistic!

Not to mention that Steele's cupboard was left a little empty, and has been in the process or rebuilding a roster. To me, I believe he's done an outstanding job of recruiting. Colby could go down as one of the all-time greats at X! Odom and Freemantle are studs as well. I believe next year, and especially the following year, will be great seasons for X.


While we may not see ALL things in the same light, I agree with this.

[xuphan]

See where the red dots come from.

Your “very happy ultimatum” is quite inspiring.

This comment makes my argument. You either have to be Steele in or Steele out on this board. If your not one or the other you get criticized for it.

[xu82]

This comment makes my argument. You either have to be Steele in or Steele out on this board. If your not one or the other you get criticized for it.

NO......I’m give Steele a chance. I’m not in OR out. You are just making shit up. You are more like “good win, BUT...” Very different vibes.

[xuphan]

NO......I’m give Steele a chance. I’m not in OR out. You are just making shit up. You are more like “good win, BUT...” Very different vibes.

Who says I am not giving Steele a chance? I am just saying I’m not sold on him yet to give him some big extension like others on here. Like I said, great win but one win doesn’t make the season.

[markchal]

Probably the biggest win of his tenure, and it was so good to see our guys playing with some fire. We obviously can’t play Scruggs and free as much as we did today, outside of that I thought the rotation was great. Carter plays better when he’s at 20 mins, not 30, and our bench played hard.

Every Steele critic on this board would love to be proven wrong over the next few weeks.

[xu82]

Who says I am not giving Steele a chance? I am just saying I’m not sold on him yet to give him some big extension like others on here. Like I said, great win but one win doesn’t make the season.

I’m pretty sure the “extension” gag was just a counter to the “Fire Steele” crap. I don’t think anyone (in their right mind) took that literally. Did YOU? If you did, I apologize because life must be very difficult for you.

[xuphan]

I’m pretty sure the “extension” gag was just a counter to the “Fire Steele” crap. I don’t think anyone (in their right mind) took that literally. Did YOU? If you did, I apologize because life must be very difficult for you.

What is the matter with you? Why would you post something like this? Can you not accept that people may not share the same views as you? What a terrible thing to say to someone you don’t personally know especially with the pandemic going on.

[Xuperman]

A
I’m pretty sure the “extension” gag was just a counter to the “Fire Steele” crap. I don’t think anyone (in their right mind) took that literally. Did YOU? If you did, I apologize because life must be very difficult for you.

XUPHAN has just been tipping his toes into the Travis Steele public beheading. OTR, XVILLE, Drudy, Skywalker have been donating to the guillotine construction.

Get a grip and be POSITIVE!

X is loaded with some really special young guys!!!!
:neo:

[OTRMUSKIE]

I started the fire Travis thread and This one. Steele still has so much to prove. Beating Creighton is great but we have a long way to go to be happy with the coach. Creighton IMO is one of the most overrated teams since joint the big east. Doug’s dad really hasn’t done much.

[xu82]

I started the fire Travis thread and This one. Steele still has so much to prove. Beating Creighton is great but we have a long way to go to be happy with the coach. Creighton IMO is one of the most overrated teams since joint the big east. Doug’s dad really hasn’t done much.

Was it really just one? It seemed like more.

Of course he has a lot to prove. I’m just for giving him time to prove it before trying to undermine him.

[Xuperman]

I started the fire Travis thread and This one. Steele still has so much to prove. Beating Creighton is great but we have a long way to go to be happy with the coach. Creighton IMO is one of the most overrated teams since joint the big east. Doug’s dad really hasn’t done much.

That is the f'ing most bitch hedge of all time. You ARE the FIRE STEELE top propagandist.....don't even try to make good now.

[Xuperman]

Creighton...OVER RATED!
LMAO!!!
:loco:

[Xuperman]

OTR,
When I look at your recent posts here, it is obvious that you are a major negative factor. In what way are you related to the X basketball program?
Some people here may be curious about that.

[xukeith]

I am not an X alum, but I have a long history with X. Primarily because I worked at the Gardens in the 80s/90s. I feel at home on this board, even though I'm sure most of the outspoken posters here are X Alumni.

As a regular homegrown fan, I am appalled with the lack of ANY FAITH from some veteran posters here concerning Coach Steele and some of our players specific.

I am going to assume that the majority of those are younger-ish X grads fans like XVILLE and OTR.....that have been marinated in the painful "I want it now" culture.....and that certainly does include MOR, who is the secret mastermind in the "Blood Eagle Travis Steele" initiative.

Get a grip and have some faith/patience....LETS GO X!!!
:rtfm:

so true

[xukeith]

I started the fire Travis thread and This one. Steele still has so much to prove. Beating Creighton is great but we have a long way to go to be happy with the coach. Creighton IMO is one of the most overrated teams since joint the big east. Doug’s dad really hasn’t done much.

Wish you made this observation before the game. Gee you are so down and mopey.

[Xuperman]

My apologies,
I tend to get a bit angry at those who doubt this fine Basketball program. I just have too much time/passion invested to not defend this programs integrity, when thing get a little uncomfortable.

I pray at the alter of SNIPE!

[xavierj]

Probably the biggest win of his tenure, and it was so good to see our guys playing with some fire. We obviously can’t play Scruggs and free as much as we did today, outside of that I thought the rotation was great. Carter plays better when he’s at 20 mins, not 30, and our bench played hard.

Every Steele critic on this board would love to be proven wrong over the next few weeks.

I think both Zach and Paul are just fine playing big minutes as long as they are not in foul trouble. There are a lot of teams where their main guys play 35-37 minutes. These guys are young and in great shape and can handle the minutes. I think Colby, Zach, Paul and Free need to be on the floor 30 to 36 minutes and then fill in the other minutes with Kunkel, Tandy, Wilcher, Carter and Griffin. The minutes today were perfect in my opinion. Maybe Zach played a few too many but the others were good.

[waggy]

There are posters on here that have gone to extreme lengths to hide they are trolls. They love to post stupid shit and watch X fans respond not having a clue. I don't bother to call them out because the mods generally know who they are, and apparently don't care enough to ban them, so doing so just makes the board worse. But don't be stupid.

[xudash]

What a refreshing change of pace for this thread.

[xu82]

What a refreshing change of pace for this thread.

Amen!

[xudash]

He told them to have fun, and they did.

But the biggest thing that was evident on Saturday night was Xavier looked like it was having fun again on a basketball court and it had been some time since that was the case.

"I kind of just told our guys you gotta go back to when you were in third grade or ... fourth grade," said Steele. "Go back, why did you start playing basketball? Sometimes, you create this block in you head and you put so much pressure on yourself and it's like just play free, enjoy the moment, have fun. You know, be where your feet are, live in the moment. Don't worry about what's next, what's to come or what people think. None of that matters at the end of the day, what matters is what our mindset is towards that. When you starting thinking about yourself less that's when you start to find happiness."

[xukeith]

I would simply appreciate an answer from the coaching staff about the following:

X plays horrible defense in loss to SJU. X plays better defense against Butler in win. Then X travels to Providence and plays horrible defense. Then today X plays best defense of the year vs Creighton.

Question: Why in the world did X play horrible defense and offense At Providence AFTER coaches said defense that is crappy cannot be played. That is on Steele. Is Providence just a poor matchup with X?

[Xuperman]

There are posters on here that have gone to extreme lengths to hide they are trolls. They love to post stupid shit and watch X fans respond not having a clue. I don't bother to call them out because the mods generally know who they are, and apparently don't care enough to ban them, so doing so just makes the board worse. But don't be stupid.

So Waggy,
You are a seasoned vet, but are you serious?

I am not an X alum, just a grassroots fan of 40 years. I like this board. Come clean....are we dealing with some unscrupulous posters here?
Most seem sincere, but misguided.

[waggy]

So Waggy,
You are a seasoned vet, but are you serious?

I am not an X alum, just a grassroots fan of 40 years. I like this board. Come clean....are we dealing with some unscrupulous posters here?
Most seem sincere, but misguided.

Unscrupulous posters?? Ha ha. No, they're fucking trolls.

I thought I was wrong once, ..but I was wrong.

[xu82]

I would simply appreciate an answer from the coaching staff about the following:

X plays horrible defense in loss to SJU. X plays better defense against Butler in win. Then X travels to Providence and plays horrible defense. Then today X plays best defense of the year vs Creighton.

Question: Why in the world did X play horrible defense and offense At Providence AFTER coaches said defense that is crappy cannot be played. That is on Steele. Is Providence just a poor matchup with X?

I’ll give it a shot: That’s how sports work?

I’m a Bills fan. Sometimes we can run the ball, sometimes we pass on 20 straight plays because it’s a bad matchup and we can’t run it to save our lives. Sometimes we can stop the run, sometimes it’s hopeless. There are no straight or easy answers, but it’s not ALL on the coach. Especially in a year where you rarely get to even practice!

This year is crazy. I’d be thrilled if it was confusing in a good way. I won’t get too down if it’s confusing in a bad way.

[waggy]

I would simply appreciate an answer from the coaching staff about the following:

X plays horrible defense in loss to SJU. X plays better defense against Butler in win. Then X travels to Providence and plays horrible defense. Then today X plays best defense of the year vs Creighton.

Question: Why in the world did X play horrible defense and offense At Providence AFTER coaches said defense that is crappy cannot be played. That is on Steele. Is Providence just a poor matchup with X?


It's called match-ups. X is going to struggle against big athletic frontcourts.

[xuphan]

There are posters on here that have gone to extreme lengths to hide they are trolls. They love to post stupid shit and watch X fans respond not having a clue. I don't bother to call them out because the mods generally know who they are, and apparently don't care enough to ban them, so doing so just makes the board worse. But don't be stupid.

There will always be trolls on any message board. However, the lack of respect for different points of view of the program on the board seems to be getting worse on here. There seems to be more and more internet tough guys who try to belittle others with different points of view. If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all or don’t post something you wouldn’t say to someone’s face.

[waggy]

There will always be trolls on any message board. However, the lack of respect for different points of view of the program on the board seems to be getting worse on here. There seems to be more and more internet tough guys who try to belittle others with different points of view. If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all or don’t post something you wouldn’t say to someone’s face.

I can generally tell who is meaningful, and who is not. I've been on the X boards from almost the very beginning.

[Xuperman]

Can you expose just ONE of these ingrates?

[Xville]

Gotta give Steele props for this one and I hope it’s a sign of things to come. Lineup mgmt and timeouts were almost perfect, and the players came with a different energy and focus. Hell of a win and looking forward to seeing the rest of the season with this kind of bb. Play the four out 1 in more even against big frontcourts...most of the talent on this team are 1-3s, use it to your advantage.

Oh and for those who want to act all high and mighty about their fandom after a win, give it a rest. Some of us like myself get highly emotional about their favorite teams and head to negative town when we see things that are not being executed well and can improve. Really don’t need to be told how to fan.

[Xville]

Love the people telling others how to be fans. Just salivating after a win to come on here and attack other fans. That’s Awesome. Basically doing the exact thing they have a problem with certain posters doing. Gotta love irony.

Oh and to whoever said I’m part of an I want it now culture. It’s the third year, not the first, and you can check my posts of the last two seasons. I defended Steele up and down. I was one of those posters that mor quoted about “wait until he gets his players.”

[Xavier]

Posters that don’t like Steele and what he has done are still rooting for him to succeed. They would be as happy as anyone to see him turn it around and be the right guy for the Muskies.

What we saw yesterday was great. The team played with effort I haven’t seen in awhile. Loved it, play like that the rest of the way and we may just have something. Win out, win a couple in Big East tournament and x can climb quite a bit in the seeding. Crazy what one win can do to change momentum.

[stammina0721]

Posters that don’t like Steele and what he has done are still rooting for him to succeed. They would be as happy as anyone to see him turn it around and be the right guy for the Muskies.

What we saw yesterday was great. The team played with effort I haven’t seen in awhile. Loved it, play like that the rest of the way and we may just have something. Win out, win a couple in Big East tournament and x can climb quite a bit in the seeding. Crazy what one win can do to change momentum.

Your first line in great here. I'm still cheering for their success, but I also look for certain things that shape my opinion about a coach, player and team. Once I see certain things then I make up my mind. I love the win yesterday but also still do not believe in Steele. That is allowed.

As Xville put it... Don't tell me how to fan

[xavierj]

Your first line in great here. I'm still cheering for their success, but I also look for certain things that shape my opinion about a coach, player and team. Once I see certain things then I make up my mind. I love the win yesterday but also still do not believe in Steele. That is allowed.

As Xville put it... Don't tell me how to fan

Yep you are correct. Never tell a fan how to fan. Anyone can see what they see. There have been a lot of questions but in my opinion I saw a lot of hope yesterday. Good offense and defense, solid rotations and a lot of young talent that you can build around. Guards were rebounding and that is huge for this team. Keep adding to that and the sky is the limit in my opinion.

Now moving forward I hope to see the coach change up the lineup when the guys on the floor are struggling. Plenty of options on this team. But if you do not build on it against a Georgetown then yesterday doesn’t mean a ton for this season. I feel this team has a really good two way PG with Odom, really good Forward/Center with Zach, really good senior in Paul, very smart offensive and defensive player in Jones and then 4 other guys who contribute in different ways after that. So moving forward a good solid group of 9 guys, who if they play within roles and play hard on both ends, they can be successful.

[UCGRAD4X]

Yesterday was certainly a good step, for sure. But I'm not going to say Travis is a great coach because of one game. Just as he has not been criticized because of one game. It's been a 2+ year pattern mainly the last year or so that has formed these assessments.

It is possible that the players just 'got hot' just as it is possible that in some previous losses the players were just cold (and the opposition was hot).

If anybody here is not rooting for this to be the beginning of an upward trend and a continued indication that both coaches and players are making necessary adjustments to continue that trend, it would make one wonder why they are on here at all except to troll.

[Xuperman]

Love the people telling others how to be fans. Just salivating after a win to come on here and attack other fans. That’s Awesome. Basically doing the exact thing they have a problem with certain posters doing. Gotta love irony.”

Irony?



Well Xavier is getting no more money from me and I know they don’t care about one person. However, more people will follow suit of Travis isn’t fired. Screw one more year. He needs to go now. Also please stop with all the transfers. Players need to play together for a couple of years. Lets get back to recruiting players and them staying for 3 years. YOU SUCK TRAVIS!!!

If you're going to "fan" with this type of over the top negativity, expect some harsh blow back......you're not going to get the old' "I respect your opinion".

I am surprised this post didn't get deleted.

[xavierj]

Yesterday was certainly a good step, for sure. But I'm not going to say Travis is a great coach because of one game. Just as he has not been criticized because of one game. It's been a 2+ year pattern mainly the last year or so that has formed these assessments.

It is possible that the players just 'got hot' just as it is possible that in some previous losses the players were just cold (and the opposition was hot).

If anybody here is not rooting for this to be the beginning of an upward trend and a continued indication that both coaches and players are making necessary adjustments to continue that trend, it would make one wonder why they are on here at all except to troll.

I wouldn’t say Xavier was hot and Creighton not, as Xavier was 33% from three and Creighton was 36%, but Xavier attacked and got great looks at the rim, hitting over 66% inside the three point line, and that was even with several missed good looks at the rim in the first half. Xavier also defended the paint well, holding Creighton around 47% inside the three. So attack and take good look threes and the offense will be good.

[XU_Lou]

Gotta give Steele props for this one and I hope it’s a sign of things to come. Lineup mgmt and timeouts were almost perfect, and the players came with a different energy and focus. Hell of a win and looking forward to seeing the rest of the season with this kind of bb. Play the four out 1 in more even against big frontcourts...most of the talent on this team are 1-3s, use it to your advantage.

Oh and for those who want to act all high and mighty about their fandom after a win, give it a rest. Some of us like myself get highly emotional about their favorite teams and head to negative town when we see things that are not being executed well and can improve. Really don’t need to be told how to fan.


Your first line in great here. I'm still cheering for their success, but I also look for certain things that shape my opinion about a coach, player and team. Once I see certain things then I make up my mind. I love the win yesterday but also still do not believe in Steele. That is allowed.

As Xville put it... Don't tell me how to fan

Wait - just so we're all clear here, you guys don't like to be criticized for your irrational opinions, BUT!, you feel it's alright to criticize Steel for his perceived coaching mistakes.

[Strange Brew]

Nice game for Steele. Better game for the players. I’m still in the make the Tourney or bust crowd. The team is more than capable of winning the next two games so that’s the expectation.

[stammina0721]

Wait - just so we're all clear here, you guys don't like to be criticized for your irrational opinions, BUT!, you feel it's alright to criticize Steel for his perceived coaching mistakes.

No we are not clear at all. If you want to criticize what I say then have at it. Criticize away. The only thing I am against is people calling for moderation of material or even banning just because someone takes a critical approach, or rationalizes what they see differently than the majority. As long as we are not taking it to that level then criticize any material I put in a public forum.

But I'll be a fan on my terms not yours or anyone else's. Don't tell me how to fan because anyone who does can just pound rocks for all I care

[XU 87]

I know they interviewed John Brannen. Sean Miller also threw his hat in the ring. I also think the coach from one of the Dakotas interviewed.

In following up on the above, I think there were MANY other coaches who wanted the X job that I'm not sure if X even interviewed. I heard the Loyola coach was interested. I also heard Steve Alford was interested. I'm not sure if Loyola coach was interviewed, and I'm fairly certain Alford wasn't. I'm also sure there were a lot of other names out there that wanted an interview, but didn't get one.

[Xavier]

Wonder if Sean actually threw his name in. Rumor I saw was he was interested but wouldn’t interview. Kind of unfortunate timing, I think they were fresh off his biggest scandal. X woulda taken a huge risk. If Steele didn’t work out Miller would still be my first choice.

[xudash]

I wouldn’t say Xavier was hot and Creighton not, as Xavier was 33% from three and Creighton was 36%, but Xavier attacked and got great looks at the rim, hitting over 66% inside the three point line, and that was even with several missed good looks at the rim in the first half. Xavier also defended the paint well, holding Creighton around 47% inside the three. So attack and take good look threes and the offense will be good.

You saw what I saw, and with a particular heavy dose of Odom driving and making or dishing. Paul was Paul - Paul was VERY GOOD PAUL. Hell, Kunkel drove to the basket effectively. And they brought it on defense for 40 minutes.

Yesterday, we finally decided to collectively dictate the pace and style of the game. More to the point, we stopped playing on our heels.

[UCGRAD4X]

I wouldn’t say Xavier was hot and Creighton not, as Xavier was 33% from three and Creighton was 36%, but Xavier attacked and got great looks at the rim, hitting over 66% inside the three point line, and that was even with several missed good looks at the rim in the first half. Xavier also defended the paint well, holding Creighton around 47% inside the three. So attack and take good look threes and the offense will be good.

First, got hot is a relative term. For Xavier, especially recently, I don't think it is a stretch.
Second, I did say it might be.
Third, regardless of either above arguments / elements, my point was how much is attributed to coaching. Likely a combination.
Finally, my main point was that what I, and, it seems, many others, is a trend that games like this will be more the exception than the rule, and that Xavier (players and coaches) will continue to show progress and more consistency.

I don't think that is too much to expect. Nor do I think a lack of it should reasonably be a legitimate source of criticism.

Here's to hoping it is a moot point.

Go Muskies. Beat G'town.

[OTRMUSKIE]

Steele still sucks but he has time to change my mind. I’m rooting for him BC I don’t want to go through a rebuilding period again. But nobody is overreacting about his ability or lack there of, to coach. Honestly, if you’re not criticizing him, I wonder if you’re really a true fan. He deserves all the criticism he is receiving and I bet he would agree.

[xuphan]

Steele still sucks but he has time to change my mind. I’m rooting for him BC I don’t want to go through a rebuilding period again. But nobody is overreacting about his ability or lack there of, to coach. Honestly, if you’re not criticizing him, I wonder if you’re really a true fan. He deserves all the criticism he is receiving and I bet he would agree.

I respect your opinion but no need to bash other fans for their opinions.

[xu82]

I respect your opinion but no need to bash other fans for their opinions.

The funny part is he doesn’t realize it’s just his opinion. Saying “Steele still sucks” means he thinks it’s fact. It’s his opinion. News flash! Steele doesn’t give a shit if he EVER wins over OTRMUSKIE.

Steele needs to grow into the job, IMO. He’s done some things well, including bringing in some young talent I like. Nate Johnson was a solid player and we will miss him. In game stuff can certainly be iffy.

This is all my OPINION. The people who say stuff like “he had the right (or wrong) group on the floor that time” are just guessing. I’ll respect his opinion when he acknowledges that it is ONLY his opinion. We all get one. His has no more value than any other, and IMO less. I’m not blindly supporting Steele, I just want to be reasonable and not undermine the man before we know how this turns out.

Threads like “Fire Steele” are childish and counterproductive, IMO. I prefer adult conversation and constructive criticism. If your kid gets poor grade on a test, you work to improve it, you don’t bash them. Negativism is generally not the way to make things better, IMO.

[Strange Brew]

The funny part is he doesn’t realize it’s just his opinion. Saying “Steele still sucks” means he thinks it’s fact. It’s his opinion. News flash! Steele doesn’t give a shit if he EVER wins over OTRMUSKIE.

Steele needs to grow into the job, IMO. He’s done some things well, including bringing in some young talent I like. Nate Johnson was a solid player and we will miss him. In game stuff can certainly be iffy.

This is all my OPINION. The people who say stuff like “he had the right (or wrong) group on the floor that time” are just guessing. I’ll respect his opinion when he acknowledges that it is ONLY his opinion. We all get one. His has no mare value than any other, and IMO less. I’m not blindly supporting Steele, I just want to be reasonable and not undermine the man before we know how this turns out.

Threads like “Fire Steele” are childish and counterproductive, IMO. I prefer adult conversation and constructive criticism. If your kid gets poor grade on a test, you work to improve it, you don’t bash them. Negativism is generally not the way to make things better, IMO.

Yeah, well. That’s like your opinion man.

Lebowski always makes sense. I have been very un-Dude in my opinions lately.

[xu82]

Yeah, well. That’s like your opinion man.

Lebowski always makes sense. I have been very un-Dude in my opinions lately.

I know the difference.

[xudash]

The funny part is he doesn’t realize it’s just his opinion. Saying “Steele still sucks” means he thinks it’s fact. It’s his opinion. News flash! Steele doesn’t give a shit if he EVER wins over OTRMUSKIE.

Steele needs to grow into the job, IMO. He’s done some things well, including bringing in some young talent I like. Nate Johnson was a solid player and we will miss him. In game stuff can certainly be iffy.

This is all my OPINION. The people who say stuff like “he had the right (or wrong) group on the floor that time” are just guessing. I’ll respect his opinion when he acknowledges that it is ONLY his opinion. We all get one. His has no more value than any other, and IMO less. I’m not blindly supporting Steele, I just want to be reasonable and not undermine the man before we know how this turns out.

Threads like “Fire Steele” are childish and counterproductive, IMO. I prefer adult conversation and constructive criticism. If your kid gets poor grade on a test, you work to improve it, you don’t bash them. Negativism is generally not the way to make things better, IMO.

Great post.

[Strange Brew]

I know the difference.

I know 82. It was getting tense in here. :)

[xu82]

I know 82. It was getting tense in here. :)

It gets tense when people act like they know everything and go to either extreme. The truth is almost always somewhere in the middle.

Some people need to grow up and recognize this. Life in general will turn out better if you look for the positive and build on it rather than look for the negative and focus on it. Are things perfect? No, of course not. Could it get really good? Keep recruiting at a high level and grow as a coach and the future could be very bright. I’ll wait to see how things go before I start tearing it down. As I’ve said before, if I’m a recruit I look for the mood in the room. One of the ways to do that would be going to a team’s message board. If there are fire the coach threads, I won’t know if that poster is a well know clown, I’ll just see a Fire The Coach thread. That would concern me as a recruit.

Now, grown up discussion about what we can do better is all fair game. Nobody wants a Pollyanna blindly trusting discussion. If we act like grown ups I think we have a better board and we don’t undermine our coach and team. It’s too soon to know how this is going to turn out. I’ll hope for the best rather than harp on the worst case.

[Strange Brew]

It gets tense when people act like they know everything and go to either extreme. The truth is almost always somewhere in the middle.

Some people need to grow up and recognize this. Life in general will turn out better if you look for the positive and build on it rather than look for the negative and focus on it. Are things perfect? No, of course not. Could it get really good? Keep recruiting at a high level and grow as a coach and the future could be very bright. I’ll wait to see how things go before I start tearing it down. As I’ve said before, if I’m a recruit I look for the mood in the room. One of the ways to do that would be going to a team’s message board. If there are fire the coach threads, I won’t know if that poster is a well know clown, I’ll just see a Fire The Coach thread. That would concern me as a recruit.

Now, grown up discussion about what we can do better is all fair game. Nobody wants a Pollyanna blindly trusting discussion. If we act like grown ups I think we have a better board and we don’t undermine our coach and team. It’s too soon to know how this is going to turn out. I’ll hope for the best rather than harp on the worst case.

If this message board affects the team that much than I’m glad I bumped Snipe’s legendary We Ride thread.

I don’t think it’s out of bounds at this point to call into question TSs employment. Making the Tourney would show improvement not another late season collapse. It’s year three. His guys, his system.

That said. Ride the snake this week! It’s March! It’s winning time!

[xu82]

If this message board affects the team that much than I’m glad I bumped Snipe’s legendary We Ride thread.

I don’t think it’s out of bounds at this point to call into question TSs employment. Making the Tourney would show improvement not another late season collapse. It’s year three. His guys, his system.

That said. Ride the snake this week! It’s March! It’s winning time!

It’s certainly not THE thing, but I think it is one little thing. Let’s just win and take this conversation to the archives in the basement!

I have been trained to lean more toward the positive and I’ve found it’s a better way of life. Not blind to reality, but looking for the positive and solutions rather than the negative and whining with no solutions.

[drudy23]

Just make the damn tournament and the noise goes away.

Can't lay an egg with Georgetown or Marquette otherwise we're right back on the wrong side, likely.

[XU 87]

Wonder if Sean actually threw his name in. Rumor I saw was he was interested but wouldn’t interview. Kind of unfortunate timing, I think they were fresh off his biggest scandal. X woulda taken a huge risk. If Steele didn’t work out Miller would still be my first choice.

I heard that if offered the job, Miller would take it. But he wasn’t going to throw his hat in the ring if he wasn’t assured of getting the job. Hence, he wasn’t interviewing for it.

And given what was going on with Miller’s program at the time, I don’t think there was any way for X to offer him the job.

[xukeith]

The funny part is he doesn’t realize it’s just his opinion. Saying “Steele still sucks” means he thinks it’s fact. It’s his opinion. News flash! Steele doesn’t give a shit if he EVER wins over OTRMUSKIE.

Steele needs to grow into the job, IMO. He’s done some things well, including bringing in some young talent I like. Nate Johnson was a solid player and we will miss him. In game stuff can certainly be iffy.

This is all my OPINION. The people who say stuff like “he had the right (or wrong) group on the floor that time” are just guessing. I’ll respect his opinion when he acknowledges that it is ONLY his opinion. We all get one. His has no more value than any other, and IMO less. I’m not blindly supporting Steele, I just want to be reasonable and not undermine the man before we know how this turns out.

Threads like “Fire Steele” are childish and counterproductive, IMO. I prefer adult conversation and constructive criticism. If your kid gets poor grade on a test, you work to improve it, you don’t bash them. Negativism is generally not the way to make things better, IMO.

Yesterday Steele said that the team was very close to turning in a complete and solid game. Steele saw something I couldn't see vs. Providence. He eats drinks and sleeps with XU's team. HE personally sees development. I believe X is very close to hitting it's peak performance. If X blows chunks vs Hoyas and Marquette, then Steele was blowing smoke up you know where. Johnson and Stanley injuries were very bad in this team's development. It is simply awesome seeing Odom, Jones and Wilcher. Imagine Jones with 15 -20 pounds of muscle and 5-9 months of perimeter shooting to add to his weapons.

It is another great day to be a Muskie fan.

[Xuperman]

The funny part is he doesn’t realize it’s just his opinion. Saying “Steele still sucks” means he thinks it’s fact. It’s his opinion. News flash! Steele doesn’t give a shit if he EVER wins over OTRMUSKIE.

Threads like “Fire Steele” are childish and counterproductive, IMO. I prefer adult conversation and constructive criticism. If your kid gets poor grade on a test, you work to improve it, you don’t bash them. Negativism is generally not the way to make things better, IMO.

Now this is very well said!!!



As I’ve said before, if I’m a recruit I look for the mood in the room. One of the ways to do that would be going to a team’s message board. If there are fire the coach threads, I won’t know if that poster is a well know clown, I’ll just see a Fire The Coach thread. That would concern me as a recruit.

If we act like grown ups I think we have a better board and we don’t undermine our coach and team. It’s too soon to know how this is going to turn out. I’ll hope for the best rather than harp on the worst case.

Well done 82!!!!

[Xavier]

I have been seeing if X wins the last two games they have a chance at the 3 seed at the Big East tournament. After all the ups and downs, all the anger towards Steele (From myself included) and he could have these guys be a tournament team and finish 3rd in the Big East still? Lets hope that Creighton game is the start of a great finish to the season.

[boozehound]

I heard that if offered the job, Miller would take it. But he wasn’t going to throw his hat in the ring if he wasn’t assured of getting the job. Hence, he wasn’t interviewing for it.

And given what was going on with Miller’s program at the time, I don’t think there was any way for X to offer him the job.

Man. That would have been wild. I'm pretty sure I would have welcomed Sean back, although I forget the specific details of what was going down at AZ at the time. If I recall it was pretty bad and nobody really thought he would actually survive it as their head coach. I think he may have even half-assed stepped down and then changed his mind at one point?

[bleedXblue]

One of the main reasons why Steele was hired was his length of time with the program, his involvement/success with recruiting and not having to overhaul the entire coaching staff and system. So with that, I expected SOME growing pains and him to take some time to develop as a head coach. Yes, this year has been tough.......but it's been tough on all programs. I'm not in the camp of making excuses. I think that sets a very bad precedent. I sure hope we finish strong. If not, I think the seat is very warm next year.

[markchal]

I think that sets a very bad precedent. I sure hope we finish strong. If not, I think the seat is very warm next year.

agreed. The Creighton win changed the trajectory of the season, and showed something we hadn't seen from them this year, but now we need to finish the job. There's certainly more reason to be optimistic they can, but they still need to keep it going and deliver on these two very winnable road games.

[boozehound]

This season started out pretty well, then got pretty rough in the middle with all the COVID suspensions. If they finish strong by winning the last 2 games I'd feel pretty good about how things went overall, and I'd be more willing to forgive the rough stretch in the middle of the season and attribute it to lost practice and game time.

Just look at the number of games played for X relative to most other teams - we have missed more time than many/most other programs due to COVID. It's been a strange year.

If we fall apart to end the season I'll be much more concerned. I don't think Travis' seat is 'very warm' next year regardless of how we finish, but that isn't to say that it shouldn't be.

[Masterofreality]

Just make the damn tournament and the noise goes away.

Can't lay an egg with Georgetown or Marquette otherwise we're right back on the wrong side, likely.

This. GTown is 97 in the NET and Marquette 88. All the goodwill and benefit from Saturday will be totally lost if they don't win tomorrow night especially.
It's Winning Time March. If you are good enough you will. If you aren't you won't. Very black and white.

High Expectations/No Excuses!

[IM4X]

Man. That would have been wild. I'm pretty sure I would have welcomed Sean back, although I forget the specific details of what was going down at AZ at the time. If I recall it was pretty bad and nobody really thought he would actually survive it as their head coach. I think he may have even half-assed stepped down and then changed his mind at one point?

To this day I still can’t believe how he didn’t lose his job.

As for taking Miller back- Hell no!

He can keep his corrupt ass at Lexus University. I don’t want any former cheating or ungrateful coach (point to you Miller and Mack) who had the audacity to talk condescendingly about the place that allowed him to get the job they have today. It would be a slippery slope to rehire such a coach - admitting to the world you are only worth a damn because of that coach. We’ve gotta show these coaches they would not be where they are without X. We need to show them we are a “Next man up” University who will be just fine should a coach leave.

We also need to keep our integrity not to mention our current status as a top tier BE basketball program that can recruit at a high level and is expected to make the tournament and go on to make deep runs regularly - not some little mid major school just lucky to have any above average coach.

Let’s remember X beat the Miller coached Arizona team. If Steele continues to keep making decisions like he did in the Creighton game- not doubt we can beat a Mack coached Louisville team too. If for some reason Steele doesn’t work out (though I think he will), I could see being open to hiring talented former X coaches like Matta or Gillen who left with a bit of class. Otherwise, we gotta go get the best up-and-coming coach available.

With Steele now showing he can dial up the pressure on defense, call faster timeouts. and get his players to stick to their strengths while staying in attack mode on offense, we might just be alright. Though we desperately need a another big other than just Free to be playing at a much higher level.



I’m not saying I hate Miller and Mack- I just no longer trust or respect them... nor should X (if only for their condescending comments).

[Strange Brew]

To this day I still can’t believe how he didn’t lose his job.

As for taking Miller back- Hell no!

He can keep his corrupt ass at Lexus University. I don’t want any former cheating or ungrateful coach (point to you Miller and Mack) who had the audacity to talk condescendingly about the place that allowed him to get the job they have today. It would be a slippery slope to rehire such a coach - admitting to the world you are only worth a damn because of that coach. We’ve gotta show these coaches they would not be where they are without X. We need to show them we are a “Next man up” University who will be just fine should a coach leave.

We also need to keep our integrity not to mention our current status as a top tier BE basketball program that can recruit at a high level and is expected to make the tournament and go on to make deep runs regularly - not some little mid major school just lucky to have any above average coach.

Let’s remember X beat the Miller coached Arizona team. If Steele continues to keep making decisions like he did in the Creighton game- not doubt we can beat a Mack coached Louisville team too. If for some reason Steele doesn’t work out (though I think he will), I could see being open to hiring talented former X coaches like Matta or Gillen who left with a bit of class. Otherwise, we gotta go get the best up-and-coming coach available.

With Steele now showing he can dial up the pressure on defense, call faster timeouts. and get his players to stick to their strengths while staying in attack mode on offense, we might just be alright. Though we desperately need a another big other than just Free to be playing at a much higher level.



I’m not saying I hate Miller and Mack- I just no longer trust or respect them... nor should X (if only for their condescending comments).

We’ll see this week. Griff and Ram better get minutes because this team needs a banger to give Free some breathing room to do his thing.

[boozehound]

To this day I still can’t believe how he didn’t lose his job.

As for taking Miller back- Hell no!

He can keep his corrupt ass at Lexus University. I don’t want any former cheating or ungrateful coach (point to you Miller and Mack) who had the audacity to talk condescendingly about the place that allowed him to get the job they have today. It would be a slippery slope to rehire such a coach - admitting to the world you are only worth a damn because of that coach. We’ve gotta show these coaches they would not be where they are without X. We need to show them we are a “Next man up” University who will be just fine should a coach leave.

We also need to keep our integrity not to mention our current status as a top tier BE basketball program that can recruit at a high level and is expected to make the tournament and go on to make deep runs regularly - not some little mid major school just lucky to have any above average coach.

Let’s remember X beat the Miller coached Arizona team. If Steele continues to keep making decisions like he did in the Creighton game- not doubt we can beat a Mack coached Louisville team too. If for some reason Steele doesn’t work out (though I think he will), I could see being open to hiring talented former X coaches like Matta or Gillen who left with a bit of class. Otherwise, we gotta go get the best up-and-coming coach available.

With Steele now showing he can dial up the pressure on defense, call faster timeouts. and get his players to stick to their strengths while staying in attack mode on offense, we might just be alright. Though we desperately need a another big other than just Free to be playing at a much higher level.



I’m not saying I hate Miller and Mack- I just no longer trust or respect them... nor should X (if only for their condescending comments).

I totally understand this mentality. I'm not sure if I would view us 'taking back' Miller (or Mack) as an admission that Xavier is only worth a damn because of that coach, though. You could also argue that they left Xavier for 'greener pastures' that weren't actually that green.

[GoMuskies]

Oh, those pastures were $$$$$$GREEN$$$$$$

[Blue Blooded-05]

To this day I still can’t believe how he didn’t lose his job.

As for taking Miller back- Hell no!

He can keep his corrupt ass at Lexus University. I don’t want any former cheating or ungrateful coach (point to you Miller and Mack) who had the audacity to talk condescendingly about the place that allowed him to get the job they have today. It would be a slippery slope to rehire such a coach - admitting to the world you are only worth a damn because of that coach. We’ve gotta show these coaches they would not be where they are without X. We need to show them we are a “Next man up” University who will be just fine should a coach leave.

We also need to keep our integrity not to mention our current status as a top tier BE basketball program that can recruit at a high level and is expected to make the tournament and go on to make deep runs regularly - not some little mid major school just lucky to have any above average coach.

Let’s remember X beat the Miller coached Arizona team. If Steele continues to keep making decisions like he did in the Creighton game- not doubt we can beat a Mack coached Louisville team too. If for some reason Steele doesn’t work out (though I think he will), I could see being open to hiring talented former X coaches like Matta or Gillen who left with a bit of class. Otherwise, we gotta go get the best up-and-coming coach available.

With Steele now showing he can dial up the pressure on defense, call faster timeouts. and get his players to stick to their strengths while staying in attack mode on offense, we might just be alright. Though we desperately need a another big other than just Free to be playing at a much higher level.



I’m not saying I hate Miller and Mack- I just no longer trust or respect them... nor should X (if only for their condescending comments).

I was nodding along with everything you wrote until I got to the part about Matta leaving X with a little bit of class.

I have no way of proving this, but I would bet if you asked Matta/Miller/Mack to give an honest take on their decision to leave X for more money, only Miller would express a shred of remorse.

Oh well. F the M’s. C’mon Steele....keep the momentum!!

[AviatorX]

Three hours until Travis is fired again or just at the start of building a dynasty.

[Double Down]

Let’s see the man of Steele’s game plan and whether this team plays to its ability. Go Muskies!

[xudash]

Three hours until Travis is fired again or just at the start of building a dynasty.

Absolute 180-degree disposition. A rather remarkable achievement for this board. Who needs bi-polar.

[UCGRAD4X]

Absolute 180-degree disposition. A rather remarkable achievement for this board. Who needs bi-polar.

Coming to Cintas next year at the last media timeout: Lithium drop from the catwalk.

Those in the cheap seats just need beer.

[bjf123]

Three hours until Travis is fired again or just at the start of building a dynasty.

Public reps!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[IM4X]

Just like the players, the coaches can keep improving. This was my hope all along. Don’t expect a straight linear progression, but progress is progress. Great win! Sorry some of our “fans” won’t get to complain again for a while.

Yes. There were significant improvements in both the coaching and playing against Creighton. A beautiful thing to see indeed.

Mistakes are expected and acceptable by a newish coach but only if the coach acknowledges he has made mistakes and is correcting them. While it was frustrating to watch many of the mistakes not being fixed for several games, it is encouraging to see him finally fix some of them and make a number of smart decisions that put his team in a better position to win last game. As the saying goes, the standard is the standard. Our current coaches and players have gotta keep up there game to live up to the very high X-pectations set at X. Let’s hope They can do it.

[markchal]

the expectations are what they are here, and to take that momentum on the road, in a game you're favored to win, and get absolutely smacked by a sub-.500 team (with nothing to play for) for most of the game is incredibly disappointing.

You can make all the excuses you want (injuries/covid/etc.), and some programs do that for coaches for YEARS. The question after this season (and probably next, because he'll get another year even if its not deserved) is if we've become one of those programs.

[Xville]

He’s not a good coach. Period. He may develop into one, but it’s been 3 years of terrible lineup management and not making adjustments in game. I hope things change very quickly and he turns into a top half sock in the big east but right now he is not a good x and o coach.

[AviatorX]

the expectations are what they are here, and to take that momentum on the road, in a game you're favored to win, and get absolutely smacked by a sub-.500 team (with nothing to play for) for most of the game is incredibly disappointing.

You can make all the excuses you want (injuries/covid/etc.), and some programs do that for coaches for YEARS. The question after this season (and probably next, because he'll get another year even if its not deserved) is if we've become one of those programs.

I don't even think we have to wait on that. IMO, the answer is yes, Xavier has become (or always was) one of those programs. I really, really doubt there is any serious consideration to Travis being on the hot seat at the senior level of the athletic department as it stands today.

Maybe it's just Covid draining my general sports fandom, and I'm sure many will disagree with me, but I'm starting to feel that Xavier is 80% of the program we think it is, and that extra 20% we feel it should be has been built on some great NCAA runs on the heels of flimsy seasons. Toss in the lack of coaching stability and serious lack of roster stability (at least within the last two regimes) and you have a really solid, but not great basketball program.

Am I excited about years 4, 5, 6, whatever of the Steele era right now? Absolutely not. But part of me is also coming to grips with the fact that I support a program that realistically isn't going to go pay top dollar for a slam dunk hire that can immediately have things rolling. Probably defeatist, but that's how it feels.

Edit: To be clear, to date Steele is not meeting expectations, whether the 80% or the full 100% from my rambling above.

[OTRMUSKIE]

Absolutely BS post dog! X is a great program and up till 3 years ago one of the most consistent programs the past 30 years. Mack totally F’d us and I hope he Rots in hell for that. With that said, this is just a small hiccup in the program. They will be fine. My guess is Travis squeezes into the PIG next year and loses and then they let him go. Then the fun begins!!! Tons of names they could get. I’m for Jabber Jaw Steve Lavin.

[XUOWNSUC]

Travis = Marvin Lewis

[AviatorX]

Absolutely BS post dog! X is a great program and up till 3 years ago one of the most consistent programs the past 30 years. Mack totally F’d us and I hope he Rots in hell for that. With that said, this is just a small hiccup in the program. They will be fine. My guess is Travis squeezes into the PIG next year and loses and then they let him go. Then the fun begins!!! Tons of names they could get. I’m for Jabber Jaw Steve Lavin.

Xavier is definitely a consistently solid program. I’m not disputing that at all. I just think there was still a long way to go to become a consistent high end NCAA tournament team when Mack left and now that gulf might as well be the Pacific. There’s a difference between stringing a few Sweet 16’s together by getting hot at the right time or getting a favorable draw and expecting to be wearing white jerseys in the second round year in year out. As they say, flags fly forever so not knocking any of those runs, but we’re talking about program building here.

So far, Steele has turned that final 2% he talked about into the final 20%.

[HAAS_U]

I wish we didn’t have to suffer through another year of Steele next year... I’m convinced he’s in over his head and won’t figure it out. I’d love to be proven wrong.

Greg Christopher needs to conduct an actual extensive search for the next head coach.

[Xavier]

Travis = Marvin Lewis

That’s underselling Marvin. We need to find a coach who took a program down a few notches but hovered around mediocrity. At least Marvin did a lot of good in turning the freakin Bengals into playoff teams.

My concern is the program falling like some of the programs that left Big East after the shake up. IE Pitt. The program feels closer to falling off rather than staying average.

[drudy23]

There have been times we've been on the edge of the program taking a step back - and we leaped forward.

We've officially taken a step back for the first time in probably 40 years. We're closer to DePaul than we are to Nova - and that ain't good for a school that hangs it's hat on hoops.

[Xavier]

Greg Christopher needs to conduct an actual extensive search for the next head coach.

I mean, I have zero confidence that Greg can find the right guy.

[drudy23]

That’s underselling Marvin. We need to find a coach who took a program down a few notches but hovered around mediocrity. At least Marvin did a lot of good in turning the freakin Bengals into playoff teams.

My concern is the program falling like some of the programs that left Big East after the shake up. IE Pitt. The program feels closer to falling off rather than staying average.

Wow - posted this at about the same time. Couldn't agree more - Pitt is a great analogy.

[GoMuskies]

I don't even think we have to wait on that. IMO, the answer is yes, Xavier has become (or always was) one of those programs. I really, really doubt there is any serious consideration to Travis being on the hot seat at the senior level of the athletic department as it stands today.

Maybe it's just Covid draining my general sports fandom, and I'm sure many will disagree with me, but I'm starting to feel that Xavier is 80% of the program we think it is, and that extra 20% we feel it should be has been built on some great NCAA runs on the heels of flimsy seasons. Toss in the lack of coaching stability and serious lack of roster stability (at least within the last two regimes) and you have a really solid, but not great basketball program.

Am I excited about years 4, 5, 6, whatever of the Steele era right now? Absolutely not. But part of me is also coming to grips with the fact that I support a program that realistically isn't going to go pay top dollar for a slam dunk hire that can immediately have things rolling. Probably defeatist, but that's how it feels.

Edit: To be clear, to date Steele is not meeting expectations, whether the 80% or the full 100% from my rambling above.

See A-10 v Big East thread. Xavier is definitely not "elite". But we're a significantly better program than the results from these last three years.

[AviatorX]

See A-10 v Big East thread. Xavier is definitely not "elite". But we're a significantly better program than the results from these last three years.

Yep, that’s basically the point I’m trying to convey. While also keeping in mind Mack parlayed a few years that looked like this one on March 2 into a Sweet 16 and an Elite 8, which obviously puts a serious shine on those years. It’s laughable to even think Steele could do the same.

[boozehound]

Xavier is definitely a consistently solid program. I’m not disputing that at all. I just think there was still a long way to go to become a consistent high end NCAA tournament team when Mack left and now that gulf might as well be the Pacific. There’s a difference between stringing a few Sweet 16’s together by getting hot at the right time or getting a favorable draw and expecting to be wearing white jerseys in the second round year in year out. As they say, flags fly forever so not knocking any of those runs, but we’re talking about program building here.

So far, Steele has turned that final 2% he talked about into the final 20%.

For sure. Mack had a bizarre stretch where he lost in the first weekend as both a 1 seed and a 2 seed, but made the Elite 8 with a team that finished .500 in the Big East. If you take that Cinderella run in the middle out it really changes the equation.

If I'm being honest I'm not sure that we really were where we thought we were under Mack, but we have definitely taken a pretty big leap back under Steele. I actually think Steele's recruiting has been pretty comparable to Mack, but his coaching has been far worse.

[boozehound]

That’s underselling Marvin. We need to find a coach who took a program down a few notches but hovered around mediocrity. At least Marvin did a lot of good in turning the freakin Bengals into playoff teams.

My concern is the program falling like some of the programs that left Big East after the shake up. IE Pitt. The program feels closer to falling off rather than staying average.

I agree with this. Also - don't underestimate how stupid the Brown family is. Post-Marvin the Bengals don't seem anywhere at all close to making the playoffs anytime soon. I was hoping Marvin would get a HC job somewhere else and succeed just to spite the Browns.

[Masterofreality]

No pile on, just objective analysis.
Steele comes on the post game pissed that his guys didn’t come out with enough fire.
How perfect Cronin. Dude, your garbage slow down the offense game plan caused that. The players were just following your instructions. Instead of you aggressively planning to take the game to GTown, you allowed them to take it to you with their big guys.
On a text thread I was on, I called for a press and small lineup with 12 minutes to go in the first half to make Wahab run and speed them up with energy. Nope. They fell behind by 14.
Second half speed up? Win the half by 9.
And you can’t blame any Covid delay now. They’ve had plenty of practice and consistent games. Can’t use Nate Johnson as an excuse either. Last time I checked he didn’t play in the second half either.
Sorry. This dude is so damn stubborn and married to his lineups and faulty plan, he blows games. He also isn’t the CEO to command respect. Tonight was a perfect example.
Saturday’s goodwill and numbers bump is blown. And no way this group beats Marquette on Senior Day.
Coach NIT it is!

[Muskie in dayton]

I’ve lived in Cincinnati my whole life, so I know bad coaches. Time for this experiment to end.

[chico]

Steele's tenure so far reminds me of the first couple years of Sean Miller's. Miller struggled his first couple years, and I remember rumblings about having hired the wrong guy. But winning 4 games in 4 days in the A-10 tourney seemed to have kicked him into gear. Steele is kind of at the same crossroads. We've seen flashes but more often than not these last 3 years have been disappointing. I really hope Steele can put it together like Miller did, but right now I don't have that confidence.

[boozehound]

Steele's tenure so far reminds me of the first couple years of Sean Miller's. Miller struggled his first couple years, and I remember rumblings about having hired the wrong guy. But winning 4 games in 4 days in the A-10 tourney seemed to have kicked him into gear. Steele is kind of at the same crossroads. We've seen flashes but more often than not these last 3 years have been disappointing. I really hope Steele can put it together like Miller did, but right now I don't have that confidence.

I agree and I also lack confidence in Steele at this point. The play on the court coupled with his post-game comments has me worried. We were successful twice in a relatively short time period with the 'promote from within' coaching philosophy. Eventually you are going to get a bad hire. The key question is what you do after that.

[AviatorX]

Steele's tenure so far reminds me of the first couple years of Sean Miller's. Miller struggled his first couple years, and I remember rumblings about having hired the wrong guy. But winning 4 games in 4 days in the A-10 tourney seemed to have kicked him into gear. Steele is kind of at the same crossroads. We've seen flashes but more often than not these last 3 years have been disappointing. I really hope Steele can put it together like Miller did, but right now I don't have that confidence.

This is basically exactly how I feel, but I also have to imagine there's no way in hell any of us had that confidence in Miller to put it together before he did. But it's impossible to look at it objectively knowing what we know now about Sean's coaching ability.

Miller's second year was "better" than Steele's in that he went .500 in a HORRENDOUS A-10 and then ran through the conference tournament. Miller's third year was a 9 seed that really came together down the stretch and should have upset OSU. It's impossible to make direct comparisons across different conferences though. There's also the COVID factor to this season which really can't be discounted. It's hard to know.