Louisville Game Thread

[XU-PA]

Good to see Tom Jackson in the house. Wonder what he was doing in Cincinnati?

He has lived in Cincinnati for a long time. Was wearing UofL red though, He's an alum.

My two cents, or 20 bucks.
This was a hell of a game, X played their absolute best for 38 minutes, then it went all south. As a fan though, wow.
Fans did a great job, we well outnumbered U of L, I'm guessing probably 3-1 blue over red. The place was absolutely rocking! Any real fan of basketball would have loved this game. We were as loud as can be, all game long, only thing that irked me was fans streaming out at the 1 minute mark, but I understand, I just don't like seeing that.
Phillips, as was the case the last 3 or 4 games, had to carry 2 or 3 defensive players on her shoulders throughout the whole game, she got a few calls, but the refs were certainly in the let them play mode. Amber had a hell of a game, had a few errant passes hit their mark it certainly could have been a different result. Mossy was awesome, the last half of the season for her has been incredible, but I could see her wearing down, couple of way off shots in the second half, she had lost her legs. Rutan certainly picked up anything that mossy left by getting back to the 3 point machine that she really is, Once she hits one or two her confidence is back and she can fill it up. I was very impressed with Askew, on defense she was an absolute whirlwind early, unfortunate part is that she has something in her head the last several games, a severe lack of confidence in her shot and it had a horrible effect tonight.
Special, well, was just Special. She really got clocked on that pick. and I think that if you got a close look you'd see a bit of a push from the defender when contact was made, it rarely gets called in college, but I think that was a bit extra curricular. amazed that she came back, she has impressed me all along with her skils, and this year her spirit has been what held this team together,

As far as depth, XU was not any less deep than Uof L was. Outside of the rush of bench players in the last minute, UofL played 7 players to our six, but one of his starters only went 7 minutes, so the depth was pretty even. His group just had a little bit more at the end. This was really a four point game that ended up at ten because of the free throws and last minute desperation misses and turnovers.

My hat is off to this team, to the seniors, and to the coaching staff. I'm sure there will be talk of members of the staff leaving, I think Coach Neighbors would probably be considered for some jobs, certainly someone will be out there trying to lure away Coach McGuff, Coach Morrow certainly has a big future as does Waugh. I'm hoping this group will stay together another year, it will be interesting to see how they re create the group next year without the huge stars.
As many of you know I am a huge McGuff fan. No brainer to me, he's the best this program has ever had, no one else is even close. He's the best recruiter, and has the best record, you can not argue with success the man knows what he's doing.
Back to Maine tomorrow, 6 fresh inches of snow on the ground and more coming thursday and friday.
Thanks to all the fans, the players and coaches who made this another wonderful season, i could only have been happier with a win, but it's been a fantastic ride!

[bjf123]

That was the best Xavier team that will ever set foot on a basketball court. Makes today even sadder knowing they will never most likely be back to this level. Extremely disappointing.

Agreed. I'm not sure we'll ever see another Lady Muskie team where the expectation is legitimately for a Final Four appearance (even though it didn't happen this year). We just made too many poor decisions at the end of the game resulting in too many turnovers which let Louisville back in the game. Have to give credit to the Cards for sticking in there and taking advantage of our miscues.

[xu_fan]

Hard way to end the year. So proud of the seniors..

Coach may not be the best bench coach ever but I wouldn't want anyone else. He has done a ton for this program... Ill sure miss this group...

Excited for how different our team will look next year! I think we will surprise some people..

[xuwin]

That was the best Xavier team that will ever set foot on a basketball court. Makes today even sadder knowing they will never most likely be back to this level. Extremely disappointing.

I think last years team was better because it had April Phillups, more depth and Rutan had a better year.

[XU-PA]

I think last years team was better because it had April Phillups, more depth and Rutan had a better year.

I think you have a point "win"
With both Phillips and Jernigan putting a lot more physicality into the #3 spot there was a missing facet to the team this year. They had the saze to make a drive to the lane a little more frightening for defenses. Won't take anything away from Special, but her size limited her ability to do that. Askew's ability came, especially in the last month, on the defensive side.

Either way, the group last year, this year, will not soon be replicated.

Have been thinking about our lack of depth this year, I think it's obvious that Amber Gray was just not quite ready to throw her body back out there for extended time, and she was probably the most talented of anyone of the group beyond our top 6.
Wondering if the lack of opportunity to start on this team had limited Coach's ability to recruit top players over the past 2 years.
It will certainly be very interesting to watch how the staff rebuilds next year.