Game Thread: Xavier v Marquette University (2/15/2023)

[Masterofreality]

Only one comment,

Man does that one hurt. Still.

[zippin']

Big oof from the boys last night. That one hurts.

[nickgyp]

Only one comment,

Man does that one hurt. Still.
It does but there are games to be played. I share the disappointment that the Muskies lost a game they could have won under very difficult conditions. It was quite an effort by a severely diminished team in a game where no one realistically expected them to have much of a chance; and that is what hurts.

But even if X had won, the team still has to play the remainder of the schedule with the cards it has been dealt. The Marquette game should give the team confidence as it closes the regular season. Whether that translates to success in the BE tourney and NCAA is anyone’s guess.

[Xavier]

It’s funny how the fanbase can all watch the same game and come away with such different reactions. I’m disappointed in the loss in the way it happened. But if anything it gave me a little more confidence for a run in March. Missing two players from a 7 man rotation, they showed more fight and played as good a defense as they have all year.

[xukeith]

If X can play that well each game they likely will win 4/5 remaining games.

[drudy23]

We all knew this was coming and it would likely lead to some losses.

We're a tournament team. Get the squad to full strength and make a run in March.

Going to have to tread water for the rest of February, but we still should get to 22-23 wins. That's really good still and should get us a top 6 seed. I'll take it.

[Dblue]

I'm disappointed in the loss, but encouraged at the same time. When they said Craft and Claude were out, I expected a 20+ point loss.

To be within a possession of beating Marquette at their place with those two out, Kunkle fouled out for the last 4-5 minutes, and Kyky getting 25 minutes in the game...there is no way I would have thought it remotely possible.

Don't get me wrong, moral victory is useless, and seeing the win slip in the final seconds sucked. I am however seeing the potential of a very dangerous team once at full strength!

[bjf123]

I'm disappointed in the loss, but encouraged at the same time. When they said Craft and Claude were out, I expected a 20+ point loss.

To be within a possession of beating Marquette at their place with those two out, Kunkle fouled out for the last 4-5 minutes, and Kyky getting 25 minutes in the game...there is no way I would have thought it remotely possible.

Don't get me wrong, moral victory is useless, and seeing the win slip in the final seconds sucked. I am however seeing the potential of a very dangerous team once at full strength!

^^^This^^^


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[Masterofreality]

We all knew this was coming and it would likely lead to some losses.

We're a tournament team. Get the squad to full strength and make a run in March.

Going to have to tread water for the rest of February, but we still should get to 22-23 wins. That's really good still and should get us a top 6 seed. I'll take it.

I’d actually be happy to move down to a 6. Get away from the 4 line.
And agree with all of this.

[Masterofreality]

If X can play that well each game they likely will win 4/5 remaining games.

If, but we blew our cushion by playing like zombies at Butler.
Cannot do that again. Take nothing for granted.

[Xavier]

I kinda expect the 4/5 line. If things don’t go right a 6

[Caveat]

It’s funny how the fanbase can all watch the same game and come away with such different reactions. I’m disappointed in the loss in the way it happened. But if anything it gave me a little more confidence for a run in March. Missing two players from a 7 man rotation, they showed more fight and played as good a defense as they have all year.

I ran out of patience with losing years ago.

If this program still has aspirations of eliteness, the standard needs to be winning every single game, regardless of circumstance. There are no acceptable losses.

[XUGRAD80]

I ran out of patience with losing years ago.

If this program still has aspirations of eliteness, the standard needs to be winning every single game, regardless of circumstance. There are no acceptable losses.

It’s been almost 50 years since a team did that. I don’t expect it to ever happen again. Reality bites, right? There might not be any “acceptable loses”, but that ALL teams WILL lose games during every season is still the reality of college bb. Just gotta roll with the punches and come back swinging.

[N67ER]

It’s absolutely no guarantee they win against DePaul playing the way they’re currently playing.

If they play the way they just played against Marquette, they'll win by 10-15 points. They lost be 1 point to a team that is undefeated at home in the Big East. Nothing to be ashamed of there!

[N67ER]

I just watched the last 10 minutes again because I hate my life.

I no longer know what to make of this team. They’re no longer scoring at a high rate — they’ve been held under 70 in 3 of the last 5 — and they’re playing with very little mental focus / toughness. This team has no identity currently, and they’re in danger of dropping to the 5/6 seed in the BE Tournament.

The frustrating thing is that I don’t see how it can be fixed, other than to pray that Free can come back ahead of schedule and the offense can get back in gear.

This is a throughly mediocre basketball team right now.

I think your family should consider putting you on a suicide watch. The "thoroughly mediocre" team you are describing is the 16th ranked team in the country. Get a grip.

[drudy23]

I ran out of patience with losing years ago.

If this program still has aspirations of eliteness, the standard needs to be winning every single game, regardless of circumstance. There are no acceptable losses.

I also expect zero missed shots, no turnovers and winning EVERY jumpball. Cmon man.

[N67ER]

Xavier looks like creighton did earlier in the year without kalkbrenner. . . . The roster is thin and flawed.

Every team in the top 25 is flawed - and most are pretty thin as well! Nearly half the teams in the top 25 have lost a game in the last 10 days.

[Three Point Pete]

I still think Xavier is a solid, not medicore, team and I would not be surprised if they win out. X will pull out a W at the Hall, if Nunge plays tough. Believing in karma, X should prevail at Providence!

It's probable that Marq. will lose one game because Creighton in Omaha is not a gimme.





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[X-band '01]

I'm sure Creighton wins that game in Omaha.

But Xavier's next 5 games, while all winnable, are not gimmes. Sean needs to make that very clear for the DePaul game.

[UCGRAD4X]

I'm sure Creighton wins that game in Omaha.

But Xavier's next 5 games, while all winnable, are not gimmes. Sean needs to make that very clear for the DePaul game.

If they have learned anything - I hope these are three at or near the top:

1. There are NO gimmies in the Big East.

2. They are capable of winning against any of the teams at any location. Even short-handed - considerably.

3. They are capable of losing to any of the teams, especially on the road.

Which all means; Don't give up! Don't EVER give up!

[XU-PA]

A- it was not a crushing loss
B- rankings are goofy
Our NCAA Net ranking didn't change after the loss.

[HenryMuto]

I had a hard time sleeping last night. I was like a zombie at work today all that ran through my mind was how did we lose that game we had that game won. I went through the last 40 seconds in my head at work about 15 times rerunning all those plays in my head asking myself why did Boum get stuck in the corner at halfcourt and why did Boum get caught at the corner at the baseline trap and why didn't we run that play to Nunge when we were up 3 instead of wasting clock then fumbling it away and why couldn't we block out or stop the ball on the final play.

This loss is so disappointing on so many levels and some here have already announced how they fell about what I am about to say.

Losing this game likely cost us any shot to win a Big East title (I know some of you don't care about Big East titles) but as Herm Edwards said "You play to win the game"

They are doing the reveal on Saturday and had we won I think we would been on the 3 line now I think we are on the 4 line. We will find out Saturday at 12:30 PM ET.

It also cost us a massive quad 1 road win against a top 15 NET team those don't grow on trees. You only get so many chances to get a true road win against a great team we got the UCONN one but that is it. We had this one too.

As you all know I am a Kentucky fan too and Kentucky won a must game last night and yet I still feel empty inside. That is how you know how much this loss hurt me.

Losing always feels worst then winning feels good.

[HenryMuto]

A- it was not a crushing loss
B- rankings are goofy
Our NCAA Net ranking didn't change after the loss.

It was a crushing loss to my soul and the chances for X to win the Big East title

While the NET didn't change it would shot up nicely with that kind of road win.

[Caveat]

I think your family should consider putting you on a suicide watch. The "thoroughly mediocre" team you are describing is the 16th ranked team in the country. Get a grip.

Lost 2 in a row, 3 of 5. Mediocrity might be generous in this space currently.

You don't get points for moral victories.

[Xville]

Yikes I love Xavier basketball but a few of you I’d suggest getting a couple other hobbies. Yikes

[xavierj]

Lost 2 in a row, 3 of 5. Mediocrity might be generous in this space currently.

You don't get points for moral victories.

Do you watch college basketball? Winning on the road is hard. Last night Xavier basically had 5 guys available and still should have beat a top 15 team on the road. You may want to step away.

[JTG]

I had a hard time sleeping last night. I was like a zombie at work today all that ran through my mind was how did we lose that game we had that game won. I went through the last 40 seconds in my head at work about 15 times rerunning all those plays in my head asking myself why did Boum get stuck in the corner at halfcourt and why did Boum get caught at the corner at the baseline trap and why didn't we run that play to Nunge when we were up 3 instead of wasting clock then fumbling it away and why couldn't we block out or stop the ball on the final play.

This loss is so disappointing on so many levels and some here have already announced how they fell about what I am about to say.

Losing this game likely cost us any shot to win a Big East title (I know some of you don't care about Big East titles) but as Herm Edwards said "You play to win the game"

They are doing the reveal on Saturday and had we won I think we would been on the 3 line now I think we are on the 4 line. We will find out Saturday at 12:30 PM ET.

It also cost us a massive quad 1 road win against a top 15 NET team those don't grow on trees. You only get so many chances to get a true road win against a great team we got the UCONN one but that is it. We had this one too.

As you all know I am a Kentucky fan too and Kentucky won a must game last night and yet I still feel empty inside. That is how you know how much this loss hurt me.

Losing always feels worst then winning feels good.

I'll go out on a limb and say if Kunkel hadn't fouled out, those 2 Boum turnovers don't happen. At least not both of them because Boum would have had another option besides Jones. And Kunk might have blocked out on that tip in.

[xavierj]

I'll go out on a limb and say if Kunkel hadn't fouled out, those 2 Boum turnovers don't happen. At least not both of them because Boum would have had another option besides Jones. And Kunk might have blocked out on that tip in.

Maybe but Kunkel would have been guarding the ball so maybe he could have stopped him from getting to the rim, who knows. On the other hand maybe Kunkel continues to take bad shots and Xavier doesn’t get some of the shots that Boum was making in his absence. Kunkel needs to be better and stop fouling. He can’t go 3-11 and expect the offense to be as good as it can be. He is 3 for his last 10 from 3 the last two games, both losses. You would think with all of the focus on Boum he would shoot it better, but he isn’t. He also has not been a very good defender all year. For Xavier to be it’s best he needs to be a knock down shooter to take some pressure off Boum, take care of the ball and stop guys from scoring.

[JTG]

Maybe but Kunkel would have been guarding the ball so maybe he could have stopped him from getting to the rim, who knows. On the other hand maybe Kunkel continues to take bad shots and Xavier doesn’t get some of the shots that Boum was making in his absence. Kunkel needs to be better and stop fouling. He can’t go 3-11 and expect the offense to be as good as it can be. He is 3 for his last 10 from 3 the last two games, both losses. You would think with all of the focus on Boum he would shoot it better, but he isn’t. He also has not been a very good defender all year. For Xavier to be it’s best he needs to be a knock down shooter to take some pressure off Boum, take care of the ball and stop guys from scoring.

2 of his fouls were bs. He was standing with his hands straight in the air. Also, next game see how often he gets random rebounds that Nunge and Hunter miss.

[xavierj]

2 of his fouls were bs. He was standing with his hands straight in the air. Also, next game see how often he gets random rebounds that Nunge and Hunter miss.

Last game in the 2nd half he was awful. Look at the running play by play for him. One basket, several missed shots, three turnovers and 4 fouls. He also was backed down several times by Kolek where he made baskets. The way he was playing i can’t see Xavier winning if he didn’t foul out.

[JTG]

Last game in the 2nd half he was awful. Look at the running play by play for him. One basket, several missed shots, three turnovers and 4 fouls. He also was backed down several times by Kolek where he made baskets. The way he was playing i can’t see Xavier winning if he didn’t foul out.

My point was Boum would have had Jones AND Kunkel to pass the ball to , rather than just one option.

[xavierj]

My point was Boum would have had Jones AND Kunkel to pass the ball to , rather than just one option.

Agree with that and that’s where they really missed Des as well.

[UCGRAD4X]

Agree with that and that’s where they really missed Des as well.

And I expect both would have been in at that point.