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  1. #201
    Supporting Member AviatorX's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by xavierj View Post
    Most college coaches would tell you different. Xavier is not Kentucky and this isn’t the NBA. The guys in college with good practice habits typically excel and a college coach can’t let guys just show up and play or else no one will practice with focus. You want to talk about culture in warmups and then say it’s not important to practice hard. I mean come. So Villanova players only focus in warmups but jack around in go through the motions in practice? Is it more important to have a good warmup routine than a good practice routine?
    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.
    Last edited by AviatorX; 02-22-2020 at 10:08 PM.

  2. #202
    Senior xavierj's Avatar
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    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.
    I agree. Coaches play the best players that they think can help them win. If they had other options, I am sure they would play them. Fans always want the guys who are on the bench.

  3. #203
    Supporting Member GoMuskies's Avatar
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    I was driving when the game was going on, so I missed this thread, but what an absolute shit effort this was. This team just kinda sucks. Looking forward to the next era of Xavier basketball.

  4. #204
    Senior X Factor's Avatar
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    If this team is good enough to beat Seton Hall on the road, they're good enough to beat Villanova at home.

    You guys are talking like this Nova team is one of the greatest teams ever in college basketball.

    X was only a 1 point dog today and they played like absolute dog crap on offense. They literally came out with zero energy.

  5. #205
    Supporting Member AviatorX's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by X Factor View Post
    If this team is good enough to beat Seton Hall on the road, they're good enough to beat Villanova at home.

    You guys are talking like this Nova team is one of the greatest teams ever in college basketball.

    X was only a 1 point dog today and they played like absolute dog crap on offense. They literally came out with zero energy.
    Yeah, I don't think anyone disagrees with this. The discussion around roster flaws, etc. is really just fleshing out why this team's margin for error is about as thin as possible.

  6. #206
    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.
    This is wrong cause we don't have Hankins. If we have Hankins this team already has 20 wins. Hankins is a much better option than Jason freaking Carter

  7. #207
    Quote Originally Posted by paulxu View Post
    I wonder how Vegas had us as a 1 pt favorite.
    I bet the under very large. I love free money

  8. #208
    Supporting Member AviatorX's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by stammina0721 View Post
    This is wrong cause we don't have Hankins. If we have Hankins this team already has 20 wins. Hankins is a much better option than Jason freaking Carter
    Ok, we also have a significantly significantly better defense (realistically, should add a few more significantly's), are playing in a much better Big East (with a better overall record to show for it) and have a much better chance of making the tournament. Any of that matter?

  9. #209
    Quote Originally Posted by xavierj View Post
    This is true. Nova has a couple NBA guys, Xavier doesn’t.
    Well we should get another shitty year if Naji and his high dribble and non free throw making self and Scruggs. Not gonna hate on Scruggs as much cause Goodin being his selfish self is forcing Scruggs to play against his strength. But both will be back next year cause neither are NBA talents. I think Naji dribbling looks like a 5th grader

  10. #210
    Quote Originally Posted by AviatorX View Post
    Ok, we also have a significantly significantly better defense (realistically, should add a few more significantly's), are playing in a much better Big East (with a better overall record to show for it) and have a much better chance of making the tournament. Any of that matter?
    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?

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