Xavier-Stanford

[XU-PA]

Ohio State is poised for a huge drop in the rankings.
8-1 through the middle of december, only loss to Syracuse. Thye looked pretty strong.
Now 2 weeks later they stand 8-4, having lost 4 of their last 5 games. The 3 losses in a row to UConn, then the Dookies, and then finally Michigan (8-5) leaves them looking up at the rest of the big ten, and I think should put them on the cusp of being out of the rankings.
Not sure the same logic applies to X though.
Our losses are only 2, to Duke and Stanford. Those 2 teams, I think, could be 1-2 when next weeks rankings come out, as long as each win their next game. Of course Baylor is deserving too but their schedule strength is not as high as the rest of the top 5. And then of course there's that Tennessee team.
That SOS is where our Musketeers suffer. As much as Coach has beefed the non-conf to boost it, now he falls to the horrors of the A-10 where X and Duquesne are the only teams in the top 20 rpi. Year after year it's the thing that hurts the most.
X will need to sweep the conf reg season and A-10 tourney to hope for a 1 or 2 in the NCAA.
With that said, I like our chances. Nice to see that Duke and Stanford have hit a stride but playing at the top of your game on January 1 is like peeing your pants in a dark suit. you know nice warm feeling but no one will notice. They've now seen how strong they are, and they've seen how strong the rest of the world is. I count on the crime dog and our team staying healthy and hitting that stride in March when it counts.

[cinskyline]

Ohio State is poised for a huge drop in the rankings.
8-1 through the middle of december, only loss to Syracuse. Thye looked pretty strong.
Now 2 weeks later they stand 8-4, having lost 4 of their last 5 games. The 3 losses in a row to UConn, then the Dookies, and then finally Michigan (8-5) leaves them looking up at the rest of the big ten, and I think should put them on the cusp of being out of the rankings.
Not sure the same logic applies to X though.
Our losses are only 2, to Duke and Stanford. Those 2 teams, I think, could be 1-2 when next weeks rankings come out, as long as each win their next game. Of course Baylor is deserving too but their schedule strength is not as high as the rest of the top 5. And then of course there's that Tennessee team.
That SOS is where our Musketeers suffer. As much as Coach has beefed the non-conf to boost it, now he falls to the horrors of the A-10 where X and Duquesne are the only teams in the top 20 rpi. Year after year it's the thing that hurts the most.
X will need to sweep the conf reg season and A-10 tourney to hope for a 1 or 2 in the NCAA.
With that said, I like our chances. Nice to see that Duke and Stanford have hit a stride but playing at the top of your game on January 1 is like peeing your pants in a dark suit. you know nice warm feeling but no one will notice. They've now seen how strong they are, and they've seen how strong the rest of the world is. I count on the crime dog and our team staying healthy and hitting that stride in March when it counts.

Ohio State is a mess, no doubt. When you have players like Lavender and Prahalis, you really have to wonder what is going on up in Columbus. It doesn't help that tOSU and Jim Foster also have underachiever reputations because of early NCAA Tournament exits. Puzzling.

I really don't think the A-10 is going to hurt us as much as you think. The league is 7th in the RPI, which I'm thrilled with. The league as a whole has done well, and that's with Dayton and Temple having mediocre years, and GW totally fallen off the cliff. After the Stanford disaster, it will be hard to convince anyone that we deserve a #1 seed. I'm praying for a 2, but we will likely get a 3 when all is said and done. I have season tickets and just really haven't been thrilled with our play as a whole so far this year. Like you, I am hoping that this team will have hit it's stride by March, but there are some glaring weaknesses on this team.

If I were the coach, I would seriously consider some lineup changes. Missed shots are one thing. Missed shots with no energy or effort are quite another.

[X-band '01]

GW ceased being relevant the minute Joe McKeown took the Northwestern job. I wouldn't call Temple and UD mediocre just yet - at least not when Xavier has to play them. They'll give the best effort of their respective seasons against X this year.

And how about Michigan suddenly looking like a quality win? They have 3 wins in a row now against Top 25 teams - Boston College, Ohio State and now Iowa on the road. It looks like Michigan has finally learned a thing or two since this famous post-game presser a couple of years ago:

"That's How I Feel!" (0:13)

Missouri (Xavier's final OOC opponent) is getting waxed right now by Florida State at home. I'm sure Xavier will right the ship against Mizzou and get some much-needed momentum going into their A-10 home opener against Dayton.