Game Thread: Xavier vs. Villanova (January 18, 2019)

[Xville]

The middle of this league is so meh...third place is certainly attainable. I think I was wrong about Seton Hall and St John's. I very much thought they were good teams.

[GoMuskies]

The middle of this league is so meh...third place is certainly attainable. I think I was wrong about Seton Hall and St John's. I very much thought they were good teams.

Three way tie for third with Butler and...DePaul. Just as expected, right?

[GIMMFD]

The middle of this league is so meh...third place is certainly attainable. I think I was wrong about Seton Hall and St John's. I very much thought they were good teams.

St. John's has the talent, it's just that Mullen as a coach leaves a lot to be desired... Seton Hall I can't really figure out either, good wins over UK, Maryland, and Miami, but losing twice to DePaul? Wtf is going on with DePaul also, the Big East is really strange this year. I even though Creighton would be better after they came through and won the Thanksgiving tournament here in Cayman.

[whopper]

it is all about belief. Depaul played us tough twice last years, as did St Johns. We needed a 4 pt play to beat Georgetown last year. Now you have Tucker on Butler, Femi A on Depaul, Herron on St Johns out of nowhere and there are no easy outs. Creighton will still surprise and I really don't think they have gotten over that Marquette game. We will have our hands full going forward and maybe that is how it should be. I think Villanova (still good but not the same) over the past 3 years skewed everyone's expectations as to how good good really is..I can't think of a team that had essentially 4 first round picks who were skilled, not just some combine/metric outlier. It will be interesting, every game, up to MSG and beyond. You will see good teams out Wednesday and even Thursday at MSG. Hopefully we will benefit

[BandDad]

Villanova is able to get shots for their three point shooters because they have three to four good shooters on the court at all times. XU only has one or two (Welage and Scruggs) so the opponents are able to shade their defense on the perimeter to those two guys. They sag off of the remaining players on the perimeter and try to bait them (Goodin, Marshall) into shooting open three's. They need to develop a couple of more shooters but it doesn't look like Kennedy and Hardin looks completely lost in the last couple of games. His shot has multiple steps to it - kind of like the Jim Furyk of the basketball world.

[xukeith]

Villanova is able to get shots for their three point shooters because they have three to four good shooters on the court at all times. XU only has one or two (Welage and Scruggs) so the opponents are able to shade their defense on the perimeter to those two guys. They sag off of the remaining players on the perimeter and try to bait them (Goodin, Marshall) into shooting open three's. They need to develop a couple of more shooters but it doesn't look like Kennedy and Hardin looks completely lost in the last couple of games. His shot has multiple steps to it - kind of like the Jim Furyk of the basketball world.

When, if ever, will X have good-great shooters every year?

[JTG]

When, if ever, will X have good-great shooters every year?

Probably never. We always seem to go after athletes, not shooters. We also seldom recruit high bball IQ guys. Whereas Nova and Butler have at least 2 and often 3 shooters, and they both usually get high IQ guys. It's the future of the game, and if we don't get with it, we're going to be left behind.

[GoMuskies]

Probably never. We always seem to go after athletes, not shooters. We also seldom recruit high bball IQ guys. Whereas Nova and Butler have at least 2 and often 3 shooters, and they both usually get high IQ guys. It's the future of the game, and if we don't get with it, we're going to be left behind.

Did I dream that we won the Big East and had a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament last year?

[Juice]

Probably never. We always seem to go after athletes, not shooters. We also seldom recruit high bball IQ guys. Whereas Nova and Butler have at least 2 and often 3 shooters, and they both usually get high IQ guys. It's the future of the game, and if we don't get with it, we're going to be left behind.

Blueiett, JP, Gates, Ridder, Harden. Here are five guys X has recruited as shooters that I can think of off the top of my head. Some have obviously been more successful than others but it's incorrect to say that X doesn't recruit shooters.

Add Welage this year. Redford and Myles if you want to take it back further.

On Nova's roster alone X recruited at least three of those guys.

[94GRAD]

Did I dream that we won the Big East and had a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament last year?

Is it a coincidence that you had a dream on MLK Day?