It will also be hard to judge if Xavier has “less” patience here. Xavier hasn’t really been in a situation where they’ve had to show patience in 35 years. Miller might have tested them without the four in four days in his second year. But otherwise, none of our coaches have had significant struggles.
Results 11 to 20 of 30
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02-03-2019, 08:52 PM #11
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02-03-2019, 09:17 PM #12
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02-04-2019, 12:23 PM #13
People also forget that Sean Miller dismissed Dedrick Finn from the team just prior to the end of the season. I'm not saying that something similar will happen this year, but that did provide an outlet for the team to close ranks just prior to the A-10 Tournament that season.
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02-04-2019, 12:34 PM #14
Unless the season ticket base starts to erode, and the suite money dries up, there will be absolutely no reason for anyone in the administration to start losing patience. 1 or even 2 bad years is not likely to cause either of those things to happen, especially when there is a top 20 recruiting class coming in and the coach is only into his first year of a 5 year contract.
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02-04-2019, 02:38 PM #15
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02-04-2019, 03:15 PM #16
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I was wondering about that. Typically if the head coach of your only major program gets fired the A.D. isn't far behind. (No evidence to support this claim- could be way off). But Greg got a bigger role within the University while remaining the A.D....really makes things more interesting in that regard.
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02-04-2019, 03:25 PM #17"I Got CHAMPIONS in that Lockerroom!" -Stanley Burrell
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02-04-2019, 03:37 PM #18
On March 9, Yours Truly, the Hanging Judge from Indiana & the Canton Barrister along with our better halves are invited and going to a pre-game reception before the St. Johns game- to strongly pitch us for more for the "Together for Others" campaign. It's gonna be interesting how the attitude will be in that room if this current downward spiral continues and we're approaching an 18-20 loss season. I suspect most will preach patience for this year, but if there is little development next year, the same fat cats that were called upon for the "Save Mack" salary drive, may be soon called upon to fund a buyout. Basketball has been this school's drivetrain for 30 years, and a 5 year drought can kill the Golden Goose. I can't see the school putting up with lousy basketball for more than 3 years.
"I Got CHAMPIONS in that Lockerroom!" -Stanley Burrell
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02-04-2019, 06:20 PM #19
I've stayed away from posting for a little while, as I can't come to any conclusion on Steele's potential moving forward. A lot of great points and insights have been made in this thread and others - the grading thread, in particular - about this team's real or perceived talent level, Steele's ability or lack thereof to make good in-game decisions and adjustments, etc. We all read about his passion for basketball at an early age, his darling ascent in the ranks, about the plan for the Final 2%, about his ability to shore up the roster with Hankins, Welage and Castlin, and now we see where we stand now and wonder.
As for the "what's at stake" part of it, most of you have hit that spot on. Xavier's plan is to grow AND continue to become more prestigious. All this in the face of a demographic reality that will send smaller, less well endowed schools to their graves, a phenomenon that has already been under way for a while.
The University's "front door" must remain polished: we still need a strong assist from basketball to continue what has been a truly transformational experience for our Jesuit school over the last almost 40 years now.
The existing capital campaign is well on its way to a successful conclusion. The application taking apparatus continues to expand towards a more national reach. The HUB continues to go up and we'll probably learn of some new interesting announcements that will follow that endeavor in the not too distant future.
Frankly, I'm not too worried about any of this at this point, and that includes not worrying about Steele and believing that Travis is still the guy. Gallows humor would have me post that Fired Up Karen was hired by Butler under a long-term Chinesesque strategy to manage Travis in order to navigate his ascension to the HC at Xavier in order to derail Xavier's progress. Then again, FUK has demonstrated that he is too stupid to pull that off, and it wouldn't be the Butler Way to pursue such an endeavor (sarcasm font is active).
In addition to some of the things Paul pointed about about Coach K and Duke, etc., also keep in mind that Villanova once had a guy named Steve Lappas at the helm. If there is a point there, it is that Xavier's program is way too well established and valuable to suffer true long-term damage. There are no guaranties, but the probability of such a thing happening is remote.
A character building year for us all this year, perhaps.Last edited by xudash; 02-04-2019 at 06:23 PM.
X A V I E R
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02-04-2019, 07:05 PM #20
Hopefully, the program will properly frame expectations next year. That's been my biggest gripe. You don't lose the second all-time leading scorer in school history and not take a step back. At this point, I just want to see progress. I for one am seeing progress, but my expectations were very low, to begin with.
"He's a little bit ball-dominant, he needs to have the ball in his hands, and he's not a good shooter." Ball-dominant … isn't that a nice way of calling someone a ball hog? Where is my Jay Bilas Thesaurus?
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