Xavier hasn’t missed the tournament 3 years in a row since...

[OTRMUSKIE]

1961-82 Better win the next 4/5 games if they plan on keeping that from happening.

[XU 23]

I mean does last year count?

[D-West & PO-Z]

I mean does last year count?

No

[OTRMUSKIE]

Xavier wasn’t making the dance last year. It counts in my book. When it comes to Steele and progress last year was another failed year. If you don’t count last year then you def shouldn’t count this year.

[xavierj]

Xavier wasn’t making the dance last year. It counts in my book. When it comes to Steele and progress last year was another failed year. If you don’t count last year then you def shouldn’t count this year.

Right. Which is why next year will pretty much tell us all we need to know with Travis. I thought year one showed some promise, last year didn’t end well and this year with everything considered has been a shit show. Have not had the entire team all year and lots of shutdowns. Obviously Travis has not navigated well, but I can see it being difficult on the coaches and the players. All I can say is he better not do the same shit and have the same mediocre results next year. Definitely have some younger talent that I am excited about but the team needs to play smarter and harder. Need to also get tougher. Travis better have a plan for solid player development in the off season because he has to to get Ramsey and Miles ready to contribute. Xavier needs to be able to be strong down low on offense and defense to be good.

[XUOWNSUC]

I think Travis needs to be let go if Xavier doesn't make the tournament this year. Screw giving him a 4th year. I have no confidence that he can take this program to a Final Four.

It won't happen though.

[xukeith]

I think Travis needs to be let go if Xavier doesn't make the tournament this year. Screw giving him a 4th year. I have no confidence that he can take this program to a Final Four.

It won't happen though.

Xavier is not going to let Steele go this year. Why? Administration understands the struggle with Covid and all the lockdowns. Freshman are the future. He will be let go next year if no NCAA tourney. How does Sean Miller stay at Arizona for so many years and so many disappointing teams. Love him as a coach.

[boozehound]

I think Travis needs to be let go if Xavier doesn't make the tournament this year. Screw giving him a 4th year. I have no confidence that he can take this program to a Final Four.

It won't happen though.

I think you would be sending a pretty bad message RE: job stability to potential future coaches by doing that. I would be fine with firing Steele after this season if we had a significant upgrade 'in the bag' so to speak. I'm not sure I think we should just fire him and them begin a search for a new head coach after his 3rd season, one of which was the COVID season.

I'm more on the side that Travis isn't going to work out long term at this point, but still think that firing him after this year would be tough.

[markchal]

Why does Travis get COVID as an excuse? Every single other team had to deal with it. Just because we handled it worse than most shouldn't be a pass.

Also, I understand rationally why he'll get another year (father-in-law, etc.), next year's team is shaping up to be considerably worse than this year's. We were hoping for some addition by subtraction heading into the year, and Scruggs has been a good senior, and Nate was an outstanding pickup. But transfers have been a real crapshoot lately for us (a Castlin/Moore/Welage aint moving the meter for us next year), and our incoming freshmen are pretty underwhelming to replace our starting backcourt and fill our glaring frontcourt hole.

He'll get another year, but I don't see how we'll even be as good as we are now honestly.

[GoMuskies]

Xavier hasn't fired a coach in 40 years. Canning Steele this year wouldn't scare anyone off. That said, they're not going to and shouldn't. Next year is huge, though.

[boozehound]

It's not like Steele has been a total disaster though. None of his seasons have been the kind of shit show that I think it should take to fire a coach that quickly. If we were sitting at like 6-16 right now, or something like that, I'd be on board for firing him ASAP. He's just kind of been mediocre, which we as fans obviously aren't happy with.

[markchal]

is this what UC fans went through with Cronin? Where they were never truly terrible, but always sort of middling?

[xavierj]

is this what UC fans went through with Cronin? Where they were never truly terrible, but always sort of middling?

Well he did make 9 straight tournaments. I would take that and take my chances.

[Xville]

Realistically, this is what X has next year I'm assuming Stanley leaves but can add him if you'd like. No way Tandy is staying around to be effed by Steele for another year:

Odom
Jones
Free
Kunkel
Miles
Ramsey
Wilcher
Tucker
Edwards

Anyone feel good about making the tourney with that? I know the reality is that Steele is going to get another year, but for al the recruiting prowess he supposedly has, that leaves a lot to be desired

[xavierj]

Realistically, this is what X has next year I'm assuming Stanley leaves but can add him if you'd like. No way Tandy is staying around to be effed by Steele for another year:

Odom
Jones
Free
Kunkel
Miles
Ramsey
Wilcher
Tucker
Edwards

Anyone feel good about making the tourney with that? I know the reality is that Steele is going to get another year, but for al the recruiting prowess he supposedly has, that leaves a lot to be desired

Yes that group has a lot of potential for sure, but the coach has to develop them. Have no idea why Stanley would leave as he was planning on two years any way and I can also see Griffin return. I think it will be a huge off season for Miles and for Travis.

[markchal]

Realistically, this is what X has next year I'm assuming Stanley leaves but can add him if you'd like. No way Tandy is staying around to be effed by Steele for another year:

Odom
Jones
Free
Kunkel
Miles
Ramsey
Wilcher
Tucker
Edwards

Anyone feel good about making the tourney with that? I know the reality is that Steele is going to get another year, but for al the recruiting prowess he supposedly has, that leaves a lot to be desired

To be fair, I don’t feel good about making the tournament even if you add Tandy to that. He’s not replacing Scruggs/Johnson. Next year is a rebuilding year for sure

[GoMuskies]

What are the chances Jason Carter returns? Steele's not saying no if Carter wants to play another year.

Would love to convince Johnson to stick for another year.

[Xavier]

Why does Travis get COVID as an excuse? Every single other team had to deal with it. Just because we handled it worse than most shouldn't be a pass.


He'll get another year, but I don't see how we'll even be as good as we are now honestly.

I think just chalking it up to "everyone had to deal with it" is too simple. Losing all the practice time, all the games, it hurts. Maybe with more games Travis would have the rotation under control? Maybe more practices allow Tandy to earn more time (lol...just wanted to rile xville up).

It hurt the team, no question about that. I still agree with most everyone that he hasn't shown much to give hope. Like another poster said- unless X had a sure fire coach who wanted to come, Travis is back next year.

[boozehound]

Carter actually strikes me as a guy who might take advantage of the other year. He's probably not playing pro ball anywhere, and he can get another free year of college. Johnson could be similar, although he probably has a better chance of playing overseas, which he might want to go ahead and do.

[boozehound]

I think just chalking it up to "everyone had to deal with it" is too simple. Losing all the practice time, all the games, it hurts. Maybe with more games Travis would have the rotation under control? Maybe more practices allow Tandy to earn more time (lol...just wanted to rile xville up).

It hurt the team, no question about that. I still agree with most everyone that he hasn't shown much to give hope. Like another poster said- unless X had a sure fire coach who wanted to come, Travis is back next year.

I agree. We also missed more time than a lot of other teams. The amount of time Griffin has missed might be one of the biggest impacts. It's hard to say exactly, but between Stanley getting hurt and Griffin missing a ton of time, our front court has been pretty thin. Not that I think Steele would have done much with Griffin if he had been healthy...

[Mrs. Garrett]

Carter actually strikes me as a guy who might take advantage of the other year. He's probably not playing pro ball anywhere, and he can get another free year of college. Johnson could be similar, although he probably has a better chance of playing overseas, which he might want to go ahead and do.

If Carter comes back, I'm taking a one year hiatus from Xavier basketball.

[nuts4xu]

If Carter comes back, I'm taking a one year hiatus from Xavier basketball.

If Carter comes back, I think MOR's head would explode. It would also lend more credibility to those who believe JC has compromising pics/information on Travis Steele, forcing Steele to play him 33 minutes per game with only 2 rebounds.

[xuphan]

Realistically, this is what X has next year I'm assuming Stanley leaves but can add him if you'd like. No way Tandy is staying around to be effed by Steele for another year:

Odom
Jones
Free
Kunkel
Miles
Ramsey
Wilcher
Tucker
Edwards

Anyone feel good about making the tourney with that? I know the reality is that Steele is going to get another year, but for al the recruiting prowess he supposedly has, that leaves a lot to be desired

I do not think we have a solid core of impact guys (Odom, Jones, Freemantle) on this team to make it to the NCAA tournament next year. A couple of role players (Tandy, Stanley, Wilcher,) and not big East quality players (Miles, Kunkel, Ramsey due to injuries). I also do not see either freshman making an impact next year which is a lot to expect. By this point in his coaching career at X, he should have at least 5 impact players on his team and he does not. I am sure we will be offering more transfers during the spring/summer but transfers are not going to give him the quality of players he needs. At the end of the day, Steele doesn’t have the quality of players to make up for his coaching deficiencies.

[markchal]

I agree. We also missed more time than a lot of other teams. The amount of time Griffin has missed might be one of the biggest impacts. It's hard to say exactly, but between Stanley getting hurt and Griffin missing a ton of time, our front court has been pretty thin. Not that I think Steele would have done much with Griffin if he had been healthy...

Why did we miss so much more time than other teams though? Do other programs get credit for keeping things locked down better? I'm not sure I get what challenges are unique to Xavier when it comes to COVID.

[boozehound]

If Carter comes back, I think MOR's head would explode. It would also lend more credibility to those who believe JC has compromising pics/information on Travis Steele, forcing Steele to play him 33 minutes per game with only 2 rebounds.

But he's a stretch 4!

[boozehound]

Why did we miss so much more time than other teams though? Do other programs get credit for keeping things locked down better? I'm not sure I get what challenges are unique to Xavier when it comes to COVID.

I mean, it could be just plain old bad luck with respect to COVID infections and exposures. I think it would be hard to deny that there is a luck component to the whole COVID thing in general.

[xu82]

I think you would be sending a pretty bad message RE: job stability to potential future coaches by doing that. I would be fine with firing Steele after this season if we had a significant upgrade 'in the bag' so to speak. I'm not sure I think we should just fire him and them begin a search for a new head coach after his 3rd season, one of which was the COVID season.

I'm more on the side that Travis isn't going to work out long term at this point, but still think that firing him after this year would be tough.

This is pretty much how I see it. I think it’s unreasonable to make any kind of decision after a season like this and it’s a bad message to send. I can’t fully blame a guy who isn’t allowed to practice and I hope he grows into the position regarding the in game stuff.

[Masterofreality]

Carter actually strikes me as a guy who might take advantage of the other year. He's probably not playing pro ball anywhere, and he can get another free year of college. Johnson could be similar, although he probably has a better chance of playing overseas, which he might want to go ahead and do.

No question. Plan on seeing another year of White Noise!! YAAAAAYY!!
Can’t wait to see the Banner hanging in Cintas proclaiming Jason Carter’s Xavier Way Practice Points Record!!!!

[Masterofreality]

If Carter comes back, I think MOR's head would explode. It would also lend more credibility to those who believe JC has compromising pics/information on Travis Steele, forcing Steele to play him 33 minutes per game with only 2 rebounds.

I’ve already accepted it
5 cases of Advil are being shipped to my home today!

I NEED my 2 ppg /2 rpg!!!!

[drudy23]

He's a serviceable role player - no legit reason he should be playing as much as he does.

[Masterofreality]

I do not think we have a solid core of impact guys (Odom, Jones, Freemantle) on this team to make it to the NCAA tournament next year. A couple of role players (Tandy, Stanley, Wilcher,) and not big East quality players (Miles, Kunkel, Ramsey due to injuries). I also do not see either freshman making an impact next year which is a lot to expect. By this point in his coaching career at X, he should have at least 5 impact players on his team and he does not. I am sure we will be offering more transfers during the spring/summer but transfers are not going to give him the quality of players he needs. At the end of the day, Steele doesn’t have the quality of players to make up for his coaching deficiencies.

We’re not getting DJ Carton type transfers. We’re getting D2/Low D1 guys...cause that’s the Xavier Way!

[xubrew]

Right now, I think Xavier's chances of making the NCAA Tournament are...well...about exactly the same as I thought they were on this date the last time we made the Elite Eight!! So....there's that!

[JTG]

Right now, I think Xavier's chances of making the NCAA Tournament are...well...about exactly the same as I thought they were on this date the last time we made the Elite Eight!! So....there's that!

Just heard Joey Brackets on the radio saying IU, Seton Hall, and X are all in the same group. That being the last 4 seeded. And they didn't move any last night, because they all 3 lost.

[IM4X]

He's a serviceable role player - no legit reason he should be playing as much as he does.

One has to believe that simply adjusting the amount of playing time of Carter and Tandy could make a significant difference for both of them and the team.

Tandy seems to gain confidence and plays better the more court time he gets. He needs to be given at least 20 minutes in a game to prove himself.

Conversely, Carter seems to lose confidence the longer he stays on the floor. Lately he has been playing 30+ minutes and his scoring and rebounding have taken a nosedive. He has a 40% FG percentage, shooting only 55% from the line and makes under 16% from three. He seems to be able to play with greater confidence in short spurts... but leave him in too long and he starts loosing confidence on the offensive end and gets abused in the paint on defense. Steele should be rotating him in for 4/5 minutes and out for the next 4/5 minutes with Griffin or Ramsey coming in for him (or even go with a smaller line up). It will help both Carter and the team.

[paulxu]

Steele should be rotating him in for 4/5 minutes and out for the next 4/5 minutes with Griffin or Ramsey coming in for him (or even go with a smaller line up). It will help both Carter and the team.

I support this idea. At this point, what do we have to lose? Give it a try.

[XfansinKy]

Right. Which is why next year will pretty much tell us all we need to know with Travis. I thought year one showed some promise, last year didn’t end well and this year with everything considered has been a shit show. Have not had the entire team all year and lots of shutdowns. Obviously Travis has not navigated well, but I can see it being difficult on the coaches and the players. All I can say is he better not do the same shit and have the same mediocre results next year. Definitely have some younger talent that I am excited about but the team needs to play smarter and harder. Need to also get tougher. Travis better have a plan for solid player development in the off season because he has to to get Ramsey and Miles ready to contribute. Xavier needs to be able to be strong down low on offense and defense to be good.

This is the best analysis of the coaching situation that I can think of. I'm not ready to give up on him until our recruiting starts taking a downward trend. Having really good players is what separates the good coaches from the rest. Even without a sure NBA future draft pick, I like the talent on this team though...

[UCGRAD4X]

This is the best analysis of the coaching situation that I can think of. I'm not ready to give up on him until our recruiting starts taking a downward trend. Having really good players is what separates the good coaches from the rest. Even without a sure NBA future draft pick, I like the talent on this team though...

This makes sense, and I agree with it in theory....however...

How do we know when his "recruiting starts making a downward trend"?

How do we measure recruiting so far as a baseline that leads to a trend?

How do you determine if the recruiting is good, but the development and/or utilization is not? That seems to be an major issue to date.

Finally - how long will this take?

[Xuperman]

The biggest problem IMO is that today's game is quickly trending toward little to no traditional player development, for freshman, at this level....especially with the "no sit" transfer rule. Now granted, players like Miles and Ramsey, who weren't highly recruited, are exceptions but does anyone think that Tandy or say CJ will be willing to spend 2/3 years developing into starters minutes? I'm not sure that today's 4 Star guys would even embrace a 6th man role for an entire career.

It looks like what used to be players dedicated to the development process ala BJ Raymond, will be replaced with the transfer system.

[sgarcia]

Why did we miss so much more time than other teams though? Do other programs get credit for keeping things locked down better? I'm not sure I get what challenges are unique to Xavier when it comes to COVID.

I actually think Xavier did a pretty good job of keeping things locked down. Maybe too good of a job. It seemed like each time there was a tier 1 positive test it was only 1 person. I don't know if any of the times were close contact issues or if someone in tier 1 always had a positive test. This may sound bad but a bigger outbreak at once within the team probably would've resulted in more games played by the end of the season. I also think the BE should've had less restrictions so we (and a few other BE teams) could've played some more games. If 1 person/coach had Covid then they can go into quarantine and the team should continue to play as long as everyone else continued to test negative. Depaul also canceled a game when we were ready to play them because of Illinois restrictions. It just seems like we had some bad luck at inopportune times.

[xavierj]

The biggest problem IMO is that today's game is quickly trending toward little to no traditional player development, for freshman, at this level....especially with the "no sit" transfer rule. Now granted, players like Miles and Ramsey, who weren't highly recruited, are exceptions but does anyone think that Tandy or say CJ will be willing to spend 2/3 years developing into starters minutes? I'm not sure that today's 4 Star guys would even embrace a 6th man role for an entire career.

It looks like what used to be players dedicated to the development process ala BJ Raymond, will be replaced with the transfer system.

I think player development is players playing. You get better by playing in games. I know UC plays in a crap conference but their young guys are playing a lot. Yesterday Mason Madsen played more than Keith Williams and UC won by 20. Their freshman and sophomore class scored 81 of the 91 points. That’s how you develop players.

[Xuperman]

I think player development is players playing. You get better by playing in games. I know UC plays in a crap conference but their young guys are playing a lot. Yesterday Mason Madsen played more than Keith Williams and UC won by 20. Their freshman and sophomore class scored 81 of the 91 points. That’s how you develop players.

Yeah, that's one way to develop young talent.....and it vastly reduces a possible transfer. UC realizes that there on a road to no where, so they have much more flexibility.

[xavierj]

Yeah, that's one way to develop young talent.....and it vastly reduces a possible transfer. UC realizes that there on a road to no where, so they have much more flexibility.

I think Travis is too loyal a guy to some of his players. It’s admirable but can also be detrimental. We have seen it every year to where it comes to late when he finally makes a change away from the guys he wants to see snap out of it that just never do. Play a guy like Wilcher 25 minutes today and see what happens. If they lose at least they tried something different and maybe Wilcher gets in a groove and is able to stay with some of the shooters on defense. Worth a shot and could pay huge dividends now and in the future. Too be honest I see no way Xavier wins today with the same lineup, same minutes and same rotations we have seen all year.

[Xville]

Absolutely zero chance they win today with the same lineup mgmt. if carter is starting, go ahead and just assume a loss.

[markchal]

Absolutely zero chance they win today with the same lineup mgmt. if carter is starting, go ahead and just assume a loss.

right, right, but play Tandy 30 minutes a game and suddenly we're a tourney lock

[Masterofreality]

Absolutely zero chance they win today with the same lineup mgmt. if carter is starting, go ahead and just assume a loss.

Wait....Wait! Are we saying that we could use a player at that position that is shooting 37% from 3 range and averaging 17.5 ppg other than Carter?
Welp. We had a guy like that who is averaging those numbers this year, and did play (or not play after the St.John’s game) last year. Kinda like, oh, I guess Daniel Ramsey this year?
I’ll let you guess who that player who was here last year is.
And before you say “different level of basketball”. Hmmmm. Seems like Nate Johnson and Brian Griffin came from a “different level of basketball.”
Maybe it’s just simply a coach not being hardheaded stubborn and a player working to improve his craft and maturity. Let us hope those players don’t continually get blown out of the program.

[xavierj]

Wait....Wait! Are we saying that we could use a player at that position that is shooting 37% from 3 range and averaging 17.5 ppg other than Carter?
Welp. We had a guy like that who is averaging those numbers this year, and did play (or not play after the St.John’s game) last year. Kinda like, oh, I guess Daniel Ramsey this year?
I’ll let you guess who that player who was here last year is.
And before you say “different level of basketball”. Hmmmm. Seems like Nate Johnson and Brian Griffin came from a “different level of basketball.”
Maybe it’s just simply a coach not being hardheaded stubborn and a player working to improve his craft and maturity. Let us hope those players don’t continually get blown out of the program.

I think you are talking about Dontarius. Yeah he wouldn’t be doing that against good competition. Plus his team is awful, lost 9 of 11 and he has been up and down after a hot start. Scored 2 one game then 32, 26, 9 and 11. In addition he doesn’t rebound the ball well, doesn’t play much defense and turns it over 3 times a game and only gets 1 assist. He is at the right level for him.

[XfansinKy]

This makes sense, and I agree with it in theory....however...

How do we know when his "recruiting starts making a downward trend"?

How do we measure recruiting so far as a baseline that leads to a trend?

How do you determine if the recruiting is good, but the development and/or utilization is not? That seems to be an major issue to date.

Finally - how long will this take?

I really don't know the answer because if being loyal enough to wait until the recruiting is negatively affected means possibley waiting too long imo. When we see a recruiting class coming in that doesn't elicit excitement, we will know. Right now, we got kids like CJ, Colby, and Dieonte, to look forward to improving. If we keep getting guys that good I don't see us continuing to miss tournaments.

[X Factor]

I think you are talking about Dontarius. Yeah he wouldn’t be doing that against good competition. Plus his team is awful, lost 9 of 11 and he has been up and down after a hot start. Scored 2 one game then 32, 26, 9 and 11. In addition he doesn’t rebound the ball well, doesn’t play much defense and turns it over 3 times a game and only gets 1 assist. He is at the right level for him.

What's the right level for Carter? Shooting 40% from the field, 16% from 3, 55% from the FT line.

[xavierj]

What's the right level for Carter? Shooting 40% from the field, 16% from 3, 55% from the FT line.

MAC or lower. He did well in the MAC.

[Masterofreality]

I think you are talking about Dontarius. Yeah he wouldn’t be doing that against good competition. Plus his team is awful, lost 9 of 11 and he has been up and down after a hot start. Scored 2 one game then 32, 26, 9 and 11. In addition he doesn’t rebound the ball well, doesn’t play much defense and turns it over 3 times a game and only gets 1 assist. He is at the right level for him.

Hmmmm. And we’ll never really know if this is true will we since he barely saw the court. Want? He didn’t pass your eye test in the massive 4 minutes he got to play? Don’t think kids work and get better?
You know who doesn’t pass my eye test? A guy who is shooting 17% from 3, had a fat 5 points and 6 rebounds in the three games vs UConn, St. John’s & Providence in 84 total minutes.

[xavierj]

Hmmmm. And we’ll never really know if this is true will we since he barely saw the court. Want? He didn’t pass your eye test in the massive 4 minutes he got to play? Don’t think kids work and get better?
You know who doesn’t pass my eye test? A guy who is shooting 17% from 3, had a fat 5 points and 4 rebounds in the last two games combined in another 60 total minutes.

Agree 100% on that last one. Travis is a head scratcher with who he plays and how he plays. Not excited about it and he almost seems stubborn to change because he would have to admit he is wrong. But Dontarius James wasn’t going to help this team much in my opinion. Maybe he would have done better than Carter but who knows. What’s weird is Travis either has bad luck or causes somehow to make good shooters bad. Xavier almost seems cursed on shooting the ball sometimes.

[Masterofreality]

What’s weird is Travis either has bad luck or causes somehow to make good shooters bad. Xavier almost seems cursed on shooting the ball sometimes.
Orrrrr, he has a simplistic offensive system that is easily defensed after teams have Scouting tape and those shooters aren’t as open and non pressured as they should be.
But I’ve seemed to be shouted down on that point too. Sooooo enjoy the game!!!