A-10 Haunts Sean Miller

[PMI]

Cough, Cough......ummmm........ ummmmmm......Cough.....Cough.

Who are they, again?

Father Hoff and Mike Bobinski are the greatest things to ever happen to Xavier basketball.

I certainly don't look past the contributions that people like Hoff and Bobinski have made to the program, but I'll definitely stand by what I said. Thad Matta and Sean Miller coming to Xavier changed everything. The style of play, culture of the team, and just the way they did things produced winners. There's no way of knowing where Xavier would be today without them, which is a credit to Bobinski and Fr. Hoff too. I won't rank someone as "more important" to XU basketball than another, but Thad Matta and Sean Miller were two enormous parts of all the winning we've been experiencing. Xavier was winning for many years before them, but it raised to a whole new level under them. I'd also say that the Cintas Center is one of the best things to ever happen to Xavier, which again is a credit to Hoff.

Xavier basketball is probably the greatest thing to have ever happened to both Thad Matta and Sean Miller.

Yes, it's one of the greatest things to have happened to them. Thad had an unbelievable opportunity getting a team with David West and Romain Sato on it. They were two of the best players in college basketball. Chalmers was no hack either as we remember. Thad came to a clearly ascending program and didn't disappoint, then Sean took the driver's seat and the program kept cruising. It works both ways. There are plenty of programs with potential out there that don't pan to be anywhere close to where we are, so I won't take good coaching for granted regardless of how well run the entire operation is.

[Ledgewood]

One more thing about Matta and Miller. How is their success anything but good for Xavier? The last 3 coaches that have left Xavier for power conference schools have been successful. Well, maybe we can't put Miller in that bucket yet, but so far so good.

Perish the thought, but at some point if Coach Mack decides to move on, that success is only going to help us when trying to get a new up-and-coming coach. They look and see that coaches come here and succeed, and should they have the desire to be a coach in a power conference, Xavier will prepare them well for that hop. That makes Xavier a desirable place to be for coaches.

Now, I like everyone else hope that Coach Mack is here for a very long time, but rooting against Matta and Miller does not not benefit Xavier. I don't actively root for Arizona and Ohio State, but certainly do not root against them.

Sorry so late, just got back to reading these. But I am pretty sure that OSU winning a national title does NOTHING whatsoever to benefit XU...
Two big reasons: 1) XU is beyond needing to convince coaches that we are good enough for them, so we don't need to pitch them the whole "Maybe you can coach a bigtime school sometime if you coach us" and 2) Maybe they'll flash our name on a Thad Matta graphic once or twice during the big game, BUT, I think it'd be better for us for these coaches to fail miserably and then XU succeed the way we have and beyond, showing the world that XU is a rock of excellence and that we have the perfect system for coaches to succeed, not these high profile schools. Right?