Xavier v. Toledo (11/27/2020 - XU Invitational)

[XU 87]

Cant keep blaming Mack forever. This is Steele’s third year in charge.

While I agree, there is little dispute that Steele inherited a roster that was a mess. He lost the stop three scorers from the year before, and he had virtually no in-coming recruiting class. It took more than one recruiting class to dig out of that hole.

But I am concerned about the lack of movement on the offense in games 2 and 3.

P.S. I just read in the Enquirer that Steele said that after Freemantle got in foul trouble, they had to scrap the offense and go with a four guard lineup they had never run before.

[UCGRAD4X]

I want to be clear, I have never and am not now saying Travis should be fired. But the arguments I hear for the acceptance of mediocrity and lack of progress is all hope and no change. Mack left the cupboard bare. Players graduate (um, yeah). Whatever happened to "reloading" (I know...Mack's fault - how long are we going to hang our hat on that tired diatribe?)

A lot of, "Do you realize....?" Thanks for the condescending concern for my edumacation. Admittedly, a doctorate from UC is hardly wirth middel sckool learnin'.

All I want to add are two more points:

First - I think it is almost universally accepted here that, despite the glimmers of hope and promise and potential (those words again), not much progress, if any, is evident. Is that too much to ask? After in his third year at the helm we should see more than the same old same old? Is our benchmark the MAC and MVC, who even in the A10, we found inferior and would resent being compared with as a 'mid-major' (that debate and consternation went on for ages). That's all I'm really arguing for; proof not promise.

I don't think we should accept anything less than excellence. How that is measured is up to each individual. Don't hate on me for expecting more and having a different opinion of what that might look like and how long that might take.

Ok, one more, sue me. I know, such and such a coach had difficulty in their first few years (part of my learnin' it would seem4). For every one of those I can probably find ten that started out that way and never got better - or started out better and got worse.

I expect more. Don't you?

[XU 87]

It's simply a fact that Steele inherited a depleted roster with virtually nothing coming in to replace it. Pointing that out is being factual, not condescending. And being factual does not then mean that I am now accepting mediocrity.

[XUGRAD80]

Cant keep blaming Mack forever. This is Steele’s third year in charge. This is his team with his players and it’s time to start seeing a big leap from the below average expectations we have seen the past two years. Most here seem to think Steele is doing an ok job but are tired of seeing Najiball. The last two games have seemed to show that Najiball is still being played which is worrying.

Please describe what you mean by Najiball.

[xuwillie]

Nani ball: Zero ball movement.... 1 on 1 ball. Everyone else just watches the guy with the ball. Very concerning that we are already seeing this style again this year.

[xudash]

I think this year (depending on how many games are played) I'd like to see Steele show some real promise as a head coach. Mainly around a style of play and tactical decision making. I know a lot of the (style of play) is built around how you recruit and the players skill levels. I THINK we are starting to see some of this. Hope it continues to evolve and we see a much better shooting team and much better decision making. I do struggle with his in game decision making and really wonder at times if he can "coach" and "motivate" players. Example is benching KyKy in the 2nd half of the Bradley game for defensive reasons. Ok, I sort of get it, but KyKy's our best pure scorer and shooter. We surely could have used him (situationally) a little more in the 2nd half instead of a straight benching. I don't get the messaging (2nd game into the year) with game that we should not lose (and should have).

He was sending KyKy a message. KyKy got the message: he pumped in 24 against Toledo, becoming the key performance and reason why we won the game.

[xudash]

Cant keep blaming Mack forever. This is Steele’s third year in charge. This is his team with his players and it’s time to start seeing a big leap from the below average expectations we have seen the past two years. Most here seem to think Steele is doing an ok job but are tired of seeing Najiball. The last two games have seemed to show that Najiball is still being played which is worrying.

Technically speaking, it’s his team with his players next season.

But God bless Paul for sticking around.

[xuphan]

Nani ball: Zero ball movement.... 1 on 1 ball. Everyone else just watches the guy with the ball. Very concerning that we are already seeing this style again this year.

Pretty good explanation of Najiball. Mack did leave the roster pretty depleted when he left but that was over 3 years ago now. I was fine giving Steele a pass the first two years for him to get his players. Steele has had the opportunity to bring in his guys whether they be transfers or high school recruits. He has done a pretty good job recruiting high school kids and it has been hit or miss with transfers. My point is that these are his players that he recruited now. After 3 years, we should be seeing improvements and so far it seems to be a lot of the same as it has been the previous years. Najiball, poor 3 point shooting, poor free throws continue to be a staple of this program for some reason. When do we stop blaming Mack and start expecting Steele to live up to the expectations of the program?

[waggy]

What people want, and what people can afford, are usually different things. You want a coach that has it all? ... $5M/year. There is simply nothing out there that is a surefire upgrade in X's price range.

I like the guards we have recruited. Excited to see the new wings, I think they are going to be good as well. As always, great post players are the hardest to get. Big fan of Miles, but he is young. Needs time. This season Jason Carter is MIP.

[xudash]

I want to be clear, I have never and am not now saying Travis should be fired. But the arguments I hear for the acceptance of mediocrity and lack of progress is all hope and no change. Mack left the cupboard bare. Players graduate (um, yeah). Whatever happened to "reloading" (I know...Mack's fault - how long are we going to hang our hat on that tired diatribe?)

A lot of, "Do you realize....?" Thanks for the condescending concern for my edumacation. Admittedly, a doctorate from UC is hardly wirth middel sckool learnin'.

All I want to add are two more points:

First - I think it is almost universally accepted here that, despite the glimmers of hope and promise and potential (those words again), not much progress, if any, is evident. Is that too much to ask? After in his third year at the helm we should see more than the same old same old? Is our benchmark the MAC and MVC, who even in the A10, we found inferior and would resent being compared with as a 'mid-major' (that debate and consternation went on for ages). That's all I'm really arguing for; proof not promise.

I don't think we should accept anything less than excellence. How that is measured is up to each individual. Don't hate on me for expecting more and having a different opinion of what that might look like and how long that might take.

Ok, one more, sue me. I know, such and such a coach had difficulty in their first few years (part of my learnin' it would seem4). For every one of those I can probably find ten that started out that way and never got better - or started out better and got worse.

I expect more. Don't you?

Yes. I believe we all have high expectations. We’re Xavier; we’vE been conditioned to expect success.

I agree with your point about benchmarking/standards - we don’t swim with A10, MVC, MAC, et al schools.

I agree - everyone probably agrees - that we need to see progress overall and intelligent coaching in particular. I’d simply like to suggest we need to be careful about grading the latter. Case in point: the 4-guard lineup in the second half of the Toledo game. Total improvisation. Didn’t practice it. No playbook for it. It enabled X to turn the game around and win.

There is a camp here that bases its thoughts and views through a context that places an emphasis on allowing a new coach time to fully implement his plan, that recognizes that this coach, in particular, has had to fight through a rebuilding process, locker room intrigue last year, and the truly queer impact of COVID.

There otherwise is a camp here who “has seen enough, or it is close to it, believing that Steele isn’t the guy and that he isn’t going to get there.

We’re into it now. We’re still in a transitional period - sorry, but there is no other way to look at it: it is his THIRD year, he’s still rebuilding the roster, and we now get to watch 2020 virusball.

We are all looking for progress. I hope we get Jones, Wilcher and Kunkel back/in soon so that we can really see what we’ve got.

We are 3-0, having had to find a way to pull out 2 close games. Hopefully, we build from here.