I'd absolutely love to see Pete Gillen come back as an assistant, but I know that would never happen.
Nonetheless, Steele needs somebody on that staff who knows how to coach, like what Howard is doing at Michigan with Martelli.
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Well Kyky and Zach made first team all freshman. Hats off to the two for working so hard and getting the job done! Also, guess this tells us Steele can recruit and develop a little.
Remember a poster saying it was great to get the two, but what about the other 3. Let’s just say we should be happy because this is the first time X has had two named to the first team since we joined the BE (I think). Well done all around and future should be bright.
The NCAA has been blessed with great coaches over its long history: Wooden, Rupp, Krzyzewski, Smith, Knight…. Oh yea, and don’t forget Coach MOaR – he’s won so many games in the league that they can’t keep track of them anymore.
For some reason Coach MOaR has a real hard-on for Steele. Just curious, did Travis refuse to sign an autograph for you at some point? You’ve made some really stupid comments over the years, but the crap you’ve been saying over the last 24 hours takes the cake. At least twice now MOaR has called Steele a liar. Here’s the most recent:
But wait, here’s the actual play from last night: https://twitter.com/marchmadness/sta...02083337158656
Seems Travis was a little closer to the truth than MOaR.
“Why was Baldwin allowed to saunter up the court for 68 feet unguarded in 5 seconds? Forget the screen. Why wasn’t Naji in the damn backcourt or at midcourt?” umm, maybe because he would’ve blown by him….
Finally, your whining about X not practicing this or that is just plain silly.
For MOaR, and the rest of you guys whining about how there has been no improvement with this team under Steele, I have to ask, who in the hell have you been watching? Do you realize we played the 5th toughest schedule in the country this year?! Here are a few stats from Warren Nolan comparing this year to last year:
NET ranking: 43 / 67
RPI: 40 / 74
SOS: 5 / 47
NET Quad 2 thru 4 record: 16–1 / 15-6
On Kenpom, our adjusted efficiency margin (offense minus defense) improved to 14.41, up from 10.6 LY.
I also wanted to point out another stat from: https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/xavier/ Take a look at the SRS (Simple Rating System), which takes into account point differential and SOS (the higher the better):
• Note that LY’s team recorded a 9.61. That number improved to 12.91 TY.
• Sean Miller’s numbers during his first 2 years: 6.96 and 10.11.
• Mack did better his first 2 years, but fell to 9.59 and 7.7 in years 3 and 4.
Here are a few other things to chew on:
• Naji Marshall is a finalist for the Julius Erving Award. He was just named BE 1st team.
• Ty was BE 2nd team
• Zach and KyKy made the all BE frosh team.
• Carter has made obvious improvements in his overall game throughout the season. He will be an important component to this team next year.
• I know a lot of people have criticized Q over the last two years. Yes, he did regress, I’ll admit that. However, I didn’t realize until last night that he has a baby girl. Perhaps this explains things?? Perhaps he’s adjusted his priorities?? I don’t know, but worth pointing out…
Overall, it seems pretty clear that Steele knew he had a team the lacked offensive power, or even that they are prone to poor decision making. Therefore, he made the decision to emphasize team defense, at the cost, obviously, of sacrificing individual offensive stats. I believe he saw this as a way to get the most out of this team. I believe he made the right decision, as the stats have proved him right for the most part. According to the latest Kenpom stats, our adjusted defensive efficiency rating is 91.9, which ranks 17th in the nation right now. LY, we ended up with a rating of 100.5, which ranked 102.
I’ve been following X since 1986 – trust me, everything’s going to be fine! The future is very bright! We got recruits coming in next year that have won, or are competing for their state championships. Between the three of them they will bring much needed leadership and offensive power. Some of you need to come down off the freaking ledge and have some perspective of everything that has transpired over the last 3 years.
I agree with some of those points- the schedule (and Big East) is definitely more difficult this season. Coach did improve this defense like crazy this year- it is statistically one of the best defensive teams X has ever had. Impressive and should be noted.
The offense just isn't there. And you make the point "One First team all BE, one second team all BE and two all big east freshman" and Carter has shown what he is capable of the past couple games....so the talent is there for the offense to be better.
Ultimately, I think coach stresses D (which we are very good at) mainly because the offensive talent isn't there. With these guys its the only way we can win games- strong D/rebounding. If these guys could make FT's at a decent clip they'd have a couple more wins.
The offense and whatever Steele and his coaching staff are running is not anywhere remotely close to where it needs to be. He needs help and I would be very, very surprised if Christopher doesn't strongly encourage Steele to address this in the off season. The close games we've won and lost this year have been brutal. The details and doing to the little things are so important. How we let Baldwin stroll up the court is mind blowing. No ball pressure? Seriously? Steele had 30-60 seconds to get his team ready while Naji was shooting his FT. He did not get it done. That's on him.
They practiced that exact scenario on Friday. The players didn't do what they were supposed to do. Naji was supposed to go over the top and Tyrique was supposed to hedge creating a trap on Baldwin. Naji went under and Tyrique retreated.
I think applying full court pressure would have been risky for two reasons, a blow by from Baldwin or a foul. I personally think playing straight up half court defense to force a tough shot was the way to go. Baldwin crossed half court with 4.5 seconds left; that's not a lot time.