Page 19 of 23 FirstFirst ... 91718192021 ... LastLast
Results 181 to 190 of 228
  1. #181
    Hall of Famer Masterofreality's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    On America's Great North Coast
    Posts
    22,867
    Xavier lost its 4th home game of the conference schedule today. It is extremely possible that this team will have a losing record in the league in the House you are supposed to protect.
    That is unacceptable. Period.
    The Marquette game that was absolutely blown by a clueless staff looms large.
    "I Got CHAMPIONS in that Lockerroom!" -Stanley Burrell

  2. #182
    Supporting Member xudash's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    FL
    Posts
    9,389
    Quote Originally Posted by Nigel Tufnel View Post
    I got to into the Cintas super early today. 45 mins before game time. I watched Nova warm up and then watched X warm up....I looked at my buddy and told him Nova was gooping to win. They are so focused. They shot 3 pointers around the perimeter on both sides of the basket for 20 mins. X came out and literally F'ed around in their warmup. Double and triple clutching layups, dunking....the contrast was obvious.one team was laser focused and working on what they do. The other team was being silly in warm ups. Difference in culture was shocking.
    I am truly dead serious: you should find a way to convey that to the athletic department.

    It is one of the better insights I’ve ever seen posted on this board and it absolutely speaks to the issue of culture. Whether it would be seen as a criticism or not, it absolutely should be seen as constructive criticism and something that we should pursue at full speed.
    X A V I E R

  3. #183
    Hall of Famer xu82's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    Atlanta
    Posts
    12,211
    Quote Originally Posted by Nigel Tufnel View Post
    I got to into the Cintas super early today. 45 mins before game time. I watched Nova warm up and then watched X warm up....I looked at my buddy and told him Nova was gooping to win. They are so focused. They shot 3 pointers around the perimeter on both sides of the basket for 20 mins. X came out and literally F'ed around in their warmup. Double and triple clutching layups, dunking....the contrast was obvious.one team was laser focused and working on what they do. The other team was being silly in warm ups. Difference in culture was shocking.
    I’m with XUDASH here. It would be great if there was video of both to make it clear.......both to the players and the staff. Know what it takes to be a special program.

  4. #184
    Supporting Member paulxu's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    South Carolina
    Posts
    20,260
    I wonder how Vegas had us as a 1 pt favorite.
    ...he went up late, and I was already up there.

  5. #185
    All-Conference
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    8,446
    Quote Originally Posted by Nigel Tufnel View Post
    I got to into the Cintas super early today. 45 mins before game time. I watched Nova warm up and then watched X warm up....I looked at my buddy and told him Nova was gooping to win. They are so focused. They shot 3 pointers around the perimeter on both sides of the basket for 20 mins. X came out and literally F'ed around in their warmup. Double and triple clutching layups, dunking....the contrast was obvious.one team was laser focused and working on what they do. The other team was being silly in warm ups. Difference in culture was shocking.
    I noticed this in a game earlier in the year that I was at as well. It was almost like the warm up before the warm up. If you've ever been to an NBA game, it's was kind of like how they warm up. Their favorite music playing and players kind of dancing and jumping around. I have mixed emotions as I don't want to sound like the old guy (I'm not that old), but it kind of made me raise my eyebrow. I don't know if they do it to get relaxed and pumped up, and maybe it works. But it just seemed out of place - but maybe that's what all home teams do - I'm sure there's a ton of time before a game that's scripted out. Maybe that's the time to relax a bit. I don't know.

    Lots of dunks, lots of dancing, lots of kind of goofing around, lots of crazy shots.

    I will say, when the "real" warm up started, it wasn't like that. I also doubt they do this on the road as "their" music isn't likely playing either.

    At the end of the day, Villanova is just a better team and a better program. They pretty much own us. We are their Dayton.
    Last edited by drudy23; 02-22-2020 at 08:50 PM.

  6. #186
    Supporting Member AviatorX's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    4,007
    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.

  7. #187
    Sophomore sgarcia's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Lansdale, PA
    Posts
    871
    Quote Originally Posted by paulxu View Post
    I wonder how Vegas had us as a 1 pt favorite.
    Xavier covered 5 in a row before today. That’s how.
    "This [basketball] is the second most exciting indoor sport, and the other one shouldn't have spectators." - Dick Vertleib

  8. #188
    Supporting Member xudash's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    FL
    Posts
    9,389
    Quote Originally Posted by drudy23 View Post
    I noticed this in a game earlier in the year that I was at as well. It was almost like the warm up before the warm up. If you've ever been to an NBA game, it's was kind of like how they warm up. Their favorite music playing and players kind of dancing and jumping around. I have mixed emotions as I don't want to sound like the old guy (I'm not that old), but it kind of made me raise my eyebrow. I don't know if they do it to get relaxed and pumped up, and maybe it works. But it just seemed out of place - but maybe that's what all home teams do - I'm sure there's a ton of time before a game that's scripted out. Maybe that's the time to relax a bit. I don't know.

    Lots of dunks, lots of dancing, lots of kind of goofing around, lots of crazy shots.

    I will say, when the "real" warm up started, it wasn't like that.
    Thanks for sharing that as additional perspective.

    I am not a coach, but my reaction to that: Nova is a cold, efficient, burning machine. No wasted minutes. No allocation of minutes to be loose at one moment and be totally and purely focused the next. They are all one thing. And they appear to love being that way.

    Here is what I noticed, watching the TV just before the game: Nova was huddled up together, close to their bench, and everything that was going on in our arena was blocked out by them.

    Culture, Gents. Culture. It isn’t everything, but it is a big piece of a championship caliber program.
    X A V I E R

  9. #189
    Supporting Member AviatorX's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    4,007
    Quote Originally Posted by xudash View Post
    Thanks for sharing that as additional perspective.

    I am not a coach, but my reaction to that: Nova is a cold, efficient, burning machine. No wasted minutes. No allocation of minutes to be loose at one moment and be totally and purely focused the next. They are all one thing. And they appear to love being that way.

    Here is what I noticed, watching the TV just before the game: Nova was huddled up together, close to their bench, and everything that was going on in our arena was blocked out by them.

    Culture, Gents. Culture. It isn’t everything, but it is a big piece of a championship caliber program.
    I admire Nova's culture as much as anyone, but let's not forget that only a handful of years ago the popular narrative was that Wright couldn't win when it counted, until all of the sudden he did.

    I really don't think Xavier needs to model how they warm up and huddle before games after Nova.

  10. #190
    All-Conference
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    8,446
    Quote Originally Posted by xudash View Post
    Thanks for sharing that as additional perspective.

    I am not a coach, but my reaction to that: Nova is a cold, efficient, burning machine. No wasted minutes. No allocation of minutes to be loose at one moment and be totally and purely focused the next. They are all one thing. And they appear to love being that way.

    Here is what I noticed, watching the TV just before the game: Nova was huddled up together, close to their bench, and everything that was going on in our arena was blocked out by them.

    Culture, Gents. Culture. It isn’t everything, but it is a big piece of a championship caliber program.
    And that's Jay Wright. He's a legit top 5 coach. No doubt.



    They will continue to be Nova with him at the helm.

Posting Permissions

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