Page 22 of 23 FirstFirst ... 1220212223 LastLast
Results 211 to 220 of 228
  1. #211
    Supporting Member AviatorX's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    4,007
    Quote Originally Posted by stammina0721 View Post
    Let me ask you this... Consider February Xavier last year and what you see now. Do you really think this team beats lasts year's team?
    Yes. Last year's team was really bad. Go back and look at the quality of the teams they beat in February. The league was way down.

    It doesn't really matter though, because the most important thing is this team is having a better season than last year's with respect to making the postseason (aka all that matters).
    Last edited by AviatorX; 02-22-2020 at 11:35 PM.

  2. #212
    Hall of Famer xu82's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    Atlanta
    Posts
    12,211
    Quote Originally Posted by stammina0721 View Post
    Let me ask you this... Consider February Xavier last year and what you see now. Do you really think this team beats lasts year's team?
    Are you the guy who didn’t have the stamina to watch through the last WIN because it was too hard on you emotionally? Yes, we would be a better team with Hankins, but we can’t change that. Seasons are up and down, as are eras.

    We are building something back up, and it won’t be as fast as anyone wants....but I believe we will see it happen. I refuse to let it make me miserable if it doesn’t happen as easy or fast as I want it to happen. Hell, I’m a loyal Bills fan!


    .
    Last edited by xu82; 02-22-2020 at 11:47 PM.

  3. #213
    Supporting Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Posts
    14,802
    Quote Originally Posted by AviatorX View Post
    Also...where are people going with this argument? Is the thought that Steele isn't playing the players he thinks give him the best chance to win?

    Unless someone really wants to go to bat for Bryce Moore or Dontarious James (and I'm not sure why one would), every potential contributor plays significant minutes.
    True but I dont agree when people or coaches say it doesnt matter who starts because the minutes breakdown is what matters. Completely disagree with that. Setting the tone for the game is so important. Go with the best five players on the team. Scruggs, tandy, naji, free and jones

  4. #214
    Junior IM4X's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Posts
    3,357
    Quote Originally Posted by xu82 View Post

    1. Yes, we would be a better team with Hankins, but we can’t change that. Seasons are up and down, as are eras.

    2.We are building something back up, and it won’t be as fast as anyone wants....but I believe we will see it happen. I refuse to let it make me miserable if it doesn’t happen as easy or fast as I want it to happen.
    1.This is the issue with Miles sitting out this season. I think we all understand he wasn’t stepping in day one at the level of Hankins this year, but had he been in there getting some playing time this year, he would have helped with rebounding and been disruptive with his blocking and maybe he could be at Hankins level by next year.

    Now he has zero real college game experience and our other returning bigs are not exactly rebounding machines who scare opponents with their defense of jumping/ blocking ability. Unfortunately it looks like we will struggle with our rebounding next year (with Jones graduating, with Ramsey’s knee issues with Miles having no real college game experience and with no bigs in the ‘20 class), which is going to put even more pressure on our outside shooting to be better. Are we really going to be that much better?

    2.No it is not as fast as we want. We had better hope we do not miss on any of the ‘20 recruits and that we can land at least one or two legitimately BE level grad transfer in the off season (preferably a really good rebounder and/or a good shooter).

    Steele put a lot of stalk in this core four being able to take their game to the next level. One of them has answered the call. One has looks like a freshman bust and the other two have talent but have regressed because they are simply mentally lazy players who think they don’t need to be coached or maybe they simply need a coach who is in their face -Bobby Knight style- when they make stupid make takes instead of the Opie Taylor “come on fellas” approach we get from Travis.

    When seniors and Juniors are continually turning the ball over with same stupid, lazy passes and getting for the ball taken away from them like they are freshmen, the coach needs to take some responsibility. I think Steele will keep getting better at coaching different types of players but he is currently too lax for this particular team. He and his staff are Struggling miserably at getting their players to make smarter decisions. On the other hand, this team is clearly not as talented as the one two years again and in some respects not even better than last years team.

  5. #215
    Quote Originally Posted by xu82 View Post
    Are you the guy who didn’t have the stamina to watch through the last WIN because it was too hard on you emotionally? Yes, we would be a better team with Hankins, but we can’t change that. Seasons are up and down, as are eras.

    We are building something back up, and it won’t be as fast as anyone wants....but I believe we will see it happen. I refuse to let it make me miserable if it doesn’t happen as easy or fast as I want it to happen. Hell, I’m a loyal Bills fan!


    .
    Not exactly. I'm the guy who turned it off cause I gave up on the game. Big difference

  6. #216
    And if I don't think X is going to win 10 minutes into the next game I'll turn that one off and give up on it to. Is that an issue for you? If so I really don't care.

  7. #217
    Junior Lloyd Braun's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Cleveland, OH
    Posts
    4,197
    Quote Originally Posted by stammina0721 View Post
    And if I don't think X is going to win 10 minutes into the next game I'll turn that one off and give up on it to. Is that an issue for you? If so I really don't care.
    This is odd. If X is up by 20 in the first half do you turn it off? Or just games they are losing by a lot?

    One thing about this team is that they do fight the whole game, for which I give Steele credit. We really haven’t seen that since Sean’s teams.

  8. #218
    Supporting Member AviatorX's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    4,007
    Quote Originally Posted by Xville View Post
    True but I dont agree when people or coaches say it doesnt matter who starts because the minutes breakdown is what matters. Completely disagree with that. Setting the tone for the game is so important. Go with the best five players on the team. Scruggs, tandy, naji, free and jones
    What would your minutes breakdown look like? I mean I guess KyKy could play a few more yesterday (although he wasn’t exactly forcing the issue) but my point is it’s kinda like rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic as far as this team’s issues are concerned. It would be different if Q was still playing 30 a game.

  9. #219
    Quote Originally Posted by AviatorX View Post
    Steele banned headbands after last season, so there's hope he'll really focus on what's important here and clean up pre-game warmups. I understand losing is frustrating. I really do. But let's not lose our heads and make sweeping indictments on program culture based on layup lines. No one sitting in the main bowl at Cintas 45 minutes pre-game is in a position to make that judgment, especially without the first clue about what goes into the rest of game prep.

    I guess people want to make this more complicated than it is, but here's the simple (and unfortunate) reality: because of personnel issues, Xavier is basically trying to play 1980's Detroit Pistons bully bull in an era where that style doesn't work, and they're doing it without a single reliable post-scorer on the roster. It's not a knock on Tyrique to say trying to play through him in the post as the first option is not a good plan. It's just not, even though he's a very good player. If you think this is how Steele wants to play offense, then you must think he is an absolute moron and forgot everything he knew (and the offense he designed) a whole two years ago.

    To get it out of the way:

    1) But Steele is the head coach, and he was Mack's lead recruiter, so he's responsible for this roster.

    Sure, you can feel this way, I won't tell you otherwise, but in my opinion, it's a pretty unfair angle to Steele. The 2018 class was an absolute wash in the coaching change and Kaiser Gates (a great shooter) was another unexpected loss. Steele inherited a completely flawed roster. Full stop. He cobbled together two recruits X would never take in normal circumstances and three grad transfers (one of whom was probably the best shooter on the market) to mixed results. Of course, if Steele continues to sign national top 150 guys who end up like Ridder, Harden and Bishop (three guys who at one point were expected to provide some floor spacing for this team) in the next handful of classes, he will end up getting fired and the program will be in real trouble. Bottom line - it takes time to turn over a roster, which was clearly a requirement coming into last season.

    2) But this team returned almost everyone and didn't get any better.

    First of all, I think this team is absolutely better than last season. This should be obvious based on this team's path to the tournament at this point. I'd also note that this team lost to a below average Wake Forest team on the road and a Florida team that has disappointed but was preseason #6, but otherwise all of its losses are to surefire single digit seeds (Nova, Creighton and Seton Hall are all but assured to be protected seeds; Butler and Marquette have slipped a little bit, but will still be wearing home jerseys in the first round).

    Second, returning a flawed core doesn't change those flaws (which lie mostly in team composition and chemistry, not lack of skill improvement), it just makes you an older, more experienced flawed team. This next point may be shocking to some: the rest of the Big East also got older and better. The teams that were better than Xavier are still better than them this year.
    While I was frustrated by the loss, I certainly am not losing my head. I was simply making an observation. Maybe using the word "culture" was a mistake. I played a lot of basketball growing up, I feel like I know a little about the game. The difference in the pre-warmups was very noticeable. I am definitely on the Steele bandwagon and I haven't posted one comment on this site disparaging him. It was not my intent to judge him or the program with my initial post. If you read my second post, I admitted I was an old fart and probably knew nothing. It was just an observation that stuck out to me before the game today. Maybe I'll just say I was very impressed with Nova's pre-game business like approach and leave it at that.

  10. #220
    Supporting Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Springboro OH
    Posts
    1,582
    Quote Originally Posted by X Factor View Post
    Glad we have a couple of recruits on official visits for this shit show.
    They saw there is ample opportunity for playing time!

    What recruits were there?
    "...treat 'em with respect, or get out of the Gym!"

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •