Today- July 7, 2014 A new era begins

[Masterofreality]

@tasteele: We had our 1st official team meeting this morning. Excited to get this process started! Win everyday is the motto!

Yep. The era of the "Spectacular Six" begins today. Messers Bluiett, London, Sumner, Austin, Macura and O'Mara welcome to the Rich history, tradition, brotherhood and spirit of the Xavier Basketball Program. You can write an entirely new and greater chapter than ever before...and I cannot wait to see you do it!

MAGIS!

[xu82]

It's very easy to be excited. I suspect the the hardest part may be keeping expectations in check early on. We have a lot of new guys. We have a lot of young guys. But we also have a lot of great players on a very promising looking team. We should have more scoring options, too. (The second hardest part will be deciding where to put all the banners they win.)

[XU-PA]

Part of the challenge for Coach and his staff will be to keep them all satisfied. 6 rookies coming in with tons of accolades, and some pretty decent veterans standing in the way.
I have great expectations, even for this year.

[xu82]

I haven't heard anything about Remy. Hope he's 100%!!! We could field a pretty good group of seven who've never played a minute for us. That's about as deep as some teams go!

[bobbiemcgee]

6 rookies coming in with tons of accolades, and some pretty decent veterans standing in the way.
I have great expectations, even for this year.

Me too. I'm not worried about keeping anybody satisfied tho with over 600 transfers this year. The Landscape has changed. Play up to what Coach Mack wants and expects or give a chance to the next guy. Practices should be brutal. I expect a couple of the newbies to break thru. We need shooters/scorers. Let's see what's ya got, Muskies.

[Masterofreality]

@tasteele: Guard workout went great this afternoon! Focused on our footwork on the catch and then playing off penetration. Finished up with some 2 on 2

[DC Muskie]

College basketball is filled with young guys. Granted I never expect much from freshmen, but we are always young. The "young" guys are going to have to step up.

[XfansinKy]

@tasteele: We had our 1st official team meeting this morning. Excited to get this process started! Win everyday is the motto!

Yep. The era of the "Spectacular Six" begins today. Messers Bluiett, London, Sumner, Austin, Macura and O'Mara welcome to the Rich history, tradition, brotherhood and spirit of the Xavier Basketball Program. You can write an entirely new and greater chapter than ever before...and I cannot wait to see you do it!

MAGIS!
You, my friend, said it perfectly. I've never heard "Spectacular Six" but I like it.

[paulxu]

From a link off the BE board:

https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/esma/2014/07/15/2014-college-basketball-fan-equity-rankings/

I guess we fans are doing our part for the new era.

[xudash]

From a link off the BE board:

https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/esma/2014/07/15/2014-college-basketball-fan-equity-rankings/

I guess we fans are doing our part for the new era.

Reasonably good company there...

[XU-PA]

From a link off the BE board:

https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/esma/2014/07/15/2014-college-basketball-fan-equity-rankings/

I guess we fans are doing our part for the new era.

"And finally, at the bottom of the AAC we have the Cincinnati Bearcats."
TeeHeeHeeHeeHee

[bleedXblue]

My thoughts on the new guys are first, total excitement. But with that they are frosh and we all know frosh are wild cards. I don't care how good they are. I can only think of 4-5 players over the last 25 years that were really ready to play (and contribute at a high level) right away.

In no particular order:

Sato, Larkin, West, Doellman

Who am I missing?

[mistabeecee41]

My thoughts on the new guys are first, total excitement. But with that they are frosh and we all know frosh are wild cards. I don't care how good they are. I can only think of 4-5 players over the last 25 years that were really ready to play (and contribute at a high level) right away.

In no particular order:

Sato, Larkin, West, Doellman

Who am I missing?

Valid point, but you also have to think about the fact that times are changing. We're bringing in players we could have never gotten 20 years ago. Kentucky made a championship game run with a team full of freshmen. It took a while for them to gel, but it happened.

Justin Cage also started as a frosh w/ Doellman.
Stan (although on a bad team)
Dez Wells
Semaj
Derrick Brown (redshirted, though).

[GoMuskies]

Lenny Brown, Gary Lumpkin and Darnell Williams were all ready to go as freshmen. Posey would have been, too, if not for the academics.

Lloyd Price was pretty good as a freshman, too, though still not quite up to the hype.

[kyxu]

My thoughts on the new guys are first, total excitement. But with that they are frosh and we all know frosh are wild cards. I don't care how good they are. I can only think of 4-5 players over the last 25 years that were really ready to play (and contribute at a high level) right away.

In no particular order:

Sato, Larkin, West, Doellman

Who am I missing?

Cage, Burrell, Holloway, Wells, Christon

I agree it's foolhardy to depend too much on freshmen, but having a few guys contribute significantly out of the gate is not outside the realm, nor has it been that uncommon for Xavier.

[Olsingledigit]

Jamie Gladden. Maybe the best of them alas a freshman.

[JTG]

Reasonably good company there...

I am surprised this isn't getting more run on this board. I never thought of our fanbase as being in the same stratosphere with some of the teams in this group, and definitely not Top Five. But I'll take it. Always love good pub.

[Milhouse]

Gotta imagine Blueitt will start at the 3. Mack's 3rd starting freshman. If he's anywhere in the realm of a contributor of Dez/Maj in his freshman year we're in good hands.

[Kahns Krazy]

Lenny Brown, Gary Lumpkin and Darnell Williams were all ready to go as freshmen. Posey would have been, too, if not for the academics.

Lloyd Price was pretty good as a freshman, too, though still not quite up to the hype.

I always thought it was the introduction of Nate Turner in '96 that really made Brown, Lumpkin and Williams. They were good, but when they saw Nate's knee-high socks, they transformed, nay - sublimed, into greatness.

Posey was a manimal.

Also, if motto is "win every day", we are going to need to schedule a bunch more games. It would be sweet to go into the Big East tournament with like 80 wins under our belt.

[paulxu]

Watching Dayton screw around trying to come up with a new logo (the apparent one shown on their board uses a D that seems to come out of the 19th century square face type look) got me to thinking that we have a very powerful brand in just the letter "X".

No mistaking it for anyone else.

[SM#24]

Agree with all the above; add Brian Grant

[PMI]

Watching Dayton screw around trying to come up with a new logo (the apparent one shown on their board uses a D that seems to come out of the 19th century square face type look) got me to thinking that we have a very powerful brand in the just the letter "X".

No mistaking it for anyone else.

I've been thinking this forever as well. The X is unique and something I could see being very trendy, and I'm surprised it hasn't been to a large extent already. It could also mean different things to different people so it could really take off for something that has nothing to do with Xavier basketball or the school. I've always found it interesting.

As for the freshmen, this is the class that is going to be special. I've got no doubt. I'm not saying there won't be growing pains, but I think this class will prove to have some special players who are ready to immediately contribute. Specifically, I expect Blueitt to start and be one of our go to scorers, I expect Sumner to be difficult to keep off the floor (with the one caveat that his lack of weight could hurt at first) and I expect JP Macura to provide a lot of help as well. I think O'Mara might get some limited minutes but will mostly be learning this year. London might redshirt, but is an extremely intriguing long term project. Austin I will wait and see on, but we've got more guys in this class than we have spots on the floor for anyway.

Adding these guys to what I think will be the best front court in the league in Stainbrook and Reynolds, as well as Abell, Dee, Myles, Randolph, etc. is going to make for a very talented roster. With what I think will be a pretty favorable schedule both in conference and out, I could see these guys really building something this year. I have no problem with setting my expectations on the higher side compared to what I would normally feel with a bunch of new faces.

[BMoreX]

The X is definitely an iconic logo that I don't ever really see the need in changing.

Has the same type of feel to it as Georgetown's, Villanova's, UNC's, Michigan's, etc.

[LA Muskie]

I am surprised this isn't getting more run on this board. I never thought of our fanbase as being in the same stratosphere with some of the teams in this group, and definitely not Top Five. But I'll take it. Always love good pub.

I think that's because the "study" appears to be meaningless drivel. But I do like the company...

[XfansinKy]

I've been thinking this forever as well. The X is unique and something I could see being very trendy, and I'm surprised it hasn't been to a large extent already. It could also mean different things to different people so it could really take off for something that has nothing to do with Xavier basketball or the school. I've always found it interesting.

As for the freshmen, this is the class that is going to be special. I've got no doubt. I'm not saying there won't be growing pains, but I think this class will prove to have some special players who are ready to immediately contribute. Specifically, I expect Blueitt to start and be one of our go to scorers, I expect Sumner to be difficult to keep off the floor (with the one caveat that his lack of weight could hurt at first) and I expect JP Macura to provide a lot of help as well. I think O'Mara might get some limited minutes but will mostly be learning this year. London might redshirt, but is an extremely intriguing long term project. Austin I will wait and see on, but we've got more guys in this class than we have spots on the floor for anyway.

Adding these guys to what I think will be the best front court in the league in Stainbrook and Reynolds, as well as Abell, Dee, Myles, Randolph, etc. is going to make for a very talented roster. With what I think will be a pretty favorable schedule both in conference and out, I could see these guys really building something this year. I have no problem with setting my expectations on the higher side compared to what I would normally feel with a bunch of new faces.
I agree. I'm hoping Sumner is a sleeper and winds up being the best guard on this team. Hoping he puts an end to our point guard problems since Tu left. Maybe at point guard, his weight or lack of isn't that big of a problem.