Game Thread: Xavier v. Cincinnati (December 7, 2019) Crosstown Shootout

[XUGRAD80]

9 games into the Brannen era, and with a 6-3 record, there are fans on their board that are already speculating that he will be fired within the next year or so. It is hilarious how much angst there is because of losing to X. It seems to be impossible for those people to believe that any UC team should ever lose to a Xavier team. It must be bad coaching. Or that they played at X and the refs caused them to lose. Or that Cumberland is selfish because he played at less than 100%. Others are blaming Cronin for under recruiting and leaving them with no talent. It’s never about Xavier just being better, it’s always about how their coaches, players, administrations, or the refs failed them.

[Juice]

Oh sorry to be a wet blanket but UC’s coach was irresponsible for playing an injured Cumberland. He needs a month of rest to heal up. Yesterday’s game didn’t help his return

I think there’s more to what’s going on than just his injury.

[xukeith]

I saw on Twitter yesterday Colby Jones who signed letter of commitment to attend X next year. Any news on any 2021 recruits at the game? Usually X gets recruits into the game.

As much as I love X, and despise UC, X looked good for perhaps 20 minutes yesterday. The quality of opponents thus far is weak and will not increase significantly until BE conference games.
X on paper if they are NCAA worthy, should win out against Wake F, West Carolina, and at TCU. I think being .500 in conference will be enough to get a NCAA bid. We shall see how elite X gets as Steele says X can be so far better.

[Jumpin_Jamal_Forever]

I saw on Twitter yesterday Colby Jones who signed letter of commitment to attend X next year. Any news on any 2021 recruits at the game? Usually X gets recruits into the game.

As much as I love X, and despise UC, X looked good for perhaps 20 minutes yesterday. The quality of opponents thus far is weak and will not increase significantly until BE conference games.
X on paper if they are NCAA worthy, should win out against Wake F, West Carolina, and at TCU. I think being .500 in conference will be enough to get a NCAA bid. We shall see how elite X gets as Steele says X can be so far better.

I think your assessment accurate. I hope Carter and Scruggs, particularly, get going. X is absolutely going to need them to play better. As far as the Tandy hype goes, it reflects, I think, an on-going dissatisfaction with the P.G. play. But, you're right, he's a freshman and we can, at best, hope he contributes and grows as the season progresses. Skill-wise, he hits his free throws and based on other's observations, he can stick the three---he's definitely going to be a Muskie we all remember. But, where this team really needs a contribution, right now, from the P..G.--leadership + decision making, I don't think he can be the answer. I'm not, at all, negative about this team but I think that will remain a problem area for this team and I don't know what causes it to improve.

[Michigan Muskie]

A little love for resident punching-bag Jason Carter - he led Xavier with +15 during his time on the floor. I thought he defended well (created turnovers) and, as usual, he's platinum from the stripe. At this point, I think his astonishing inability to finish around the rim is between the ears. He needs to see one go down and more will follow. As Viper would advise: Keep sending him up.

[bleedXblue]

I think what gets me excited is KNOWING that guys like Carter, KyKy and maybe to a lesser degree Moore are going to find their place on this team and contribute even more. Offense still has a long way to go, but we have so much potential. Taking care of the ball has been better the last two games. Good D and protecting the ball will put us in a great position to compete for the BE title.

[IM4X]

X looked good for perhaps 20 minutes yesterday. The quality of opponents thus far is weak and will not increase significantly until BE conference games.
X on paper if they are NCAA worthy, should win out against Wake F, West Carolina, and at TCU. I think being .500 in conference will be enough to get a NCAA bid. We shall see how elite X gets as Steele says X can be so far better.

IF you think about it, not one player besides Naji was playing up to their potential. Not to say everyone else played average, but I would describe it more as “moments of specialness” from a number of other players yesterday. Scruggs, Kyky, and Carter have higher ceilings than we witnessed in that game. Q showed ”moments” of better vision and decision making when passing and driving.

Lot’s of good moments for other players mixed with some not so good play, like Q deciding to flex for a few seconds after his dunk which created a 4 on 5 and easy bucket for UC (a poor decision others here have also posted about).

Still, there were more “special moments” than we may have seen in any game so far this year. Like Stella, I’m seeing what Steele does- that the team’s ceiling certainly looks more than a little bit higher. How close they can get to that ceiling is another question.

[XUGRAD80]

Still very early in the season for the most part, and many of the players are still defining their roles and learning what it takes to compete on a high D-1 level. It’s a major step up for many of them and when you consider that KyKy and Ramsey are at least a month behind everyone else it may take even longer than once thought for them to become comfortable. Even players like Moore and Carter are probably going to find BE competition different than what they have experienced in the past. It’s a journey and a marathon. As a great man once said....this isn’t the end, it’s not even the beginning of the end, but it may be the end of the beginning. The next 3 out of 4 games are on the road and none of them will be walkovers. Potential is there...let’s see what happens. But I’m optimistic that they are going to be a hard team to beat.

[Caveat]

The important thing from the non-con schedule has been Naji becoming comfortable with going and doing his Superman thing when he starts feeling it. He’s a matchup nightmare, and the team (and him) should be OK if there are long stretches where he’s The Guy during a game.

[Lamont Sanford]

As much as I enjoyed the W over the Buttcats yesterday, I was surprised to see Steele shrink the bench as much as he did. Where was KyKy and Bishop? Why isn't Freemantle playing more?!? Get Ramsey in there for him to experience the live action firsthand. The young kids need on-court experience...get them in there for a couple minutes. That's my only gripe.