Game Thread: Xavier vs. Butler (2/21/2021)

[xukeith]

I hope Odom can develop a pull up jumper. He drives in transition extremely well. he can penetrate the zone or coverage easily and just pull up for a high percentage shot. X looks good over next 3 years with the frosh and Sophomores.

[xukeith]

Nate is our best shooter when X passes well around with defensive breakdowns.

[xu82]

I hope Odom can develop a pull up jumper. He drives in transition extremely well. he can penetrate the zone or coverage easily and just pull up for a high percentage shot. X looks good over next 3 years with the frosh and Sophomores.

Isn’t that what it’s all about? I totally get the frustration with some decisions, but I’m a patient guy. The players and the staff (HC included) need to grow into this.

[Xville]

I hope Odom can develop a pull up jumper. He drives in transition extremely well. he can penetrate the zone or coverage easily and just pull up for a high percentage shot. X looks good over next 3 years with the frosh and Sophomores.

It might be too late at this point and may completely screw him up, I dunno...but I wonder if the staff would look to change his shooting motion at all after the season. It is just so herky jerky. If not, hope he can make it work because man he does have oodles of athleticism.

[xu82]

It might be too late at this point and may completely screw him up, I dunno...but I wonder if the staff would look to change his shooting motion at all after the season. It is just so herky jerky. If not, hope he can make it work because man he does have oodles of athleticism.

I think the great one’s find a way to shore up their weaknesses in all sports. I’ll keep the faith and hope they all keep improving. That’s what makes teams (and players) great. I’m a glass half full guy. I love our upside.

[OTRMUSKIE]

Whatever happened to ball movement? At the beginning of the season this team passed the ball to each other looking for an open shot. I don’t see any of that anymore. It’s just Jack a three or watch Fremantle in the paint do a baby hook

[XUGRAD80]

[QUOTE=OTRMUSKIE;694599 It’s just Jack a three or watch Fremantle in the paint do a baby hook[/QUOTE]

Oh jeeez, not this again. Seriously?

They took 55 total shots in the game, 19 of which where 3 pointers. That means that 36 were not...almost 2:1 ratio.

Fremantle took 9 shots, 3 of which where 3 pointers. He missed all three. But on his other shots he was 5-6, and I truthfully think that at least 3 of those were layups and know that one of them was a dunk. That baby hook is one of his most effective shots and he shoots them at a pretty high %. Unfortunately he is still not strong enough to just force his shot through people, but I like the fact that he does have a fairly decent midrange game and doesn’t have to rely on dunks in order to score. The recent Xavier bigs didn’t have this as part of their game and had to rely on power. Free is more of a finesse player for sure. (Xavier NEEDS some power players to complement him)

I think what happens here is that people remember what they want to remember, and it seems that many are just remembering the BAD things. The 3 point shooting from yesterday’s game comes down to Johnson and Carter missing so much. As far as I’m concerned Carter has no business taking a 3 pointer, but it also seems that every time he drives to the basket he commits an offensive foul. To late now, but it would have been good for him to have developed a pull up 10-15 foot shot. Johnson was taking step back 3 pointers. Watch him, when he is missing it’s because he is not stepping INTO the shot. That’s a bad habit he is getting into.

The shot selection by some of the X players leaves much to be desired at times. Just because you’re open from beyond the arc doesn’t mean you always need to take that shot. One of the things I think is worth watching is the rebounding position of players when someone is taking an outside shot. I was taught to not take that shot unless you had teammates in a rebounding position. I know the game is much more open than how it used to be played, but I still thank that’s pretty good advice. I see the opposite happening pretty often, not just with X, but with most every other team.

Overall, I thought the ball movement was mostly pretty good. When they stopped moving the ball in the 1st half was when they went into a scoring drought and Butler climbed back into the game. That is a reoccurring theme in many X games, it seems to me. They have lulls where it is shoot a 3 quickly or Fremantle one on one, but I don’t see that as something they are doing ALL the time. It’s about 25% of the time (which is still way to often) and it’s during those periods that they either let the other team back into the game, or fall hopelessly behind. How much of of that is just youthful inexperience and how much of it is coaching is certainly up for debate and I feel I can guess who is going to go which way on that. From what I see it most often happens after the first wave of subs, about mid-way into the 1st half, on a regular basis. I’m sure that at least some of that is lack of PRACTICE time too.

[bleedXblue]

Positives:
1. We won
2. Colby Jones
3. Daniel Ramsey
4. Created some steals on the defensive end
5. I though Odom played well and should get some more minutes.
6. That was Xavier youth leading the way last night. Colby and Free.......

Negatives:
1. Whats going on with Scruggs?
2. Free- shut the mouth. Damn just play
3. Carter and quick 3's. Why? That's on Steele at this point
4. Still way to many defensive lapses and guys wide open on the perimeter.
5. Rebounding and basic blocking techniques aren't happening
6. Where was Ramsey and KyKy in second half? They EARNED a few minutes at the very least.
7. Kunkel and Johnson. Geesh. Kunkel can sit the pine right now. He's been ice cold for multiple games in a row. Insert KyKy and give the kid a chance to get some real miniutes.

Other than the win, not much here to expect much different to happen on Weds. I do like the young Butler guards.

[boozehound]

I thought that the energy from the team was great yesterday, but the play obviously was not. It's hard to believe that a team with this many shooters can go this cold for multiple games. When nobody can hit an outside shot the offense falls apart. Offensive rebounding wasn't very good either.

Here's my opinion on some of the individual performances:

Scruggs - Didn't play horribly, but didn't play well. Kept up the intensity and effort and made good decisions with the ball, but kind of faded into the background on offense. When Paul is cold he kind of takes himself out of the game on offense. This was one of those games.
Freemantle - Had some defensive lapses, but played well overall
Carter - 2 quick 3's. I agree that those are on Steele at this point. Another poster also mentioned Carter's penchant for offensive fouls. I think it's because he almost never establishes post position and received the ball near the basket in a position to score. He commits fouls on offense because he is trying to drive to the basket from WAY too far away, and lacks the athleticism to alter his direction.
Kunkel - Ice cold, and really doesn't seem to give us much if he isn't shooting well. Plays with energy and intensity though.
Johnson - Gives us more than Kunkel, but is still pretty limited offensively when his shot isn't falling
Tandy - Should have played more. He did take one 3 that I thought was questionable early in the clock right after his first made 3 (KyKy loves the heat check), but he was shooting fairly well and we could have used the offense. He seems to be in the dog house, but I'm not sure why at this point relative to some of the other guys.
Odom - Played fairly well I thought. He is quick and has a nice handle on the ball. I continue to think he could be a very good PG for us.
Jones - I thought that Colby really played well, and might have been our best player last night. He rebounded and scored, but didn't force shots. Had some key defensive plays, too.

I didn't think the coaching was great. At this point I wonder if we aren't playing too many people and it's hurting our ability to develop communication and a rhythm out there. It kind of feels like Steele isn't sure what the problem is, so he's just going to keep trying different lineups to see if one works. I realize that they missed a lot of time, but it's pretty late in the season for that. I also don't think we have anyone who is 'the guy'. Scruggs is the closest, and I love Paul, but he will just kind of shut down offensively after missing a few shots. Who do we go to when we need a bucket? A couple of times down the stretch it was Carter (or Freemantle) from 3. That just shouldn't happen.

[xuwillie]

Whatever happened to ball movement? At the beginning of the season this team passed the ball to each other looking for an open shot. I don’t see any of that anymore. It’s just Jack a three or watch Fremantle in the paint do a baby hook

Odom was playing more. Not sure if it’s covid related but he needs to be the starting pg for this team.