Game Thread: Xavier v Marquette University (1/23/2022)

[Xuperman]

One last lineup comment that further lessens confidence:
Nate played 31 minutes and goes 2/11 for 5. Kunk plays 20 and goes 4/9 and 12. Need to cut player’s unproductive minutes.
Why was Nate still in there when Kunk was playing great? How can a Head Coach or an assistant not see that? Same with Free getting used on D. Hunter was actually more valuable yesterday than Free on both ends of the floor.
Stubbornness

No doubt.

AND, what is up with Odom? Guy is 2-9 for 7 pts in the last 5 games. He looks rattled.

[xavierj]

One last lineup comment that further lessens confidence:
Nate played 31 minutes and goes 2/11 for 5. Kunk plays 20 and goes 4/9 and 12. Need to cut player’s unproductive minutes.
Why was Nate still in there when Kunk was playing great? How can a Head Coach or an assistant not see that? Same with Free getting used on D. Hunter was actually more valuable yesterday than Free on both ends of the floor.
Stubbornness

I agree. I don’t know that it’s stubbornness but I think they are just extremely loyal to some of the guys. Paul and Nate came back for year 5 and I guess Travis is going be let it all ride on them playing 30 plus minutes regardless of how they are playing. Probably hoping they snap out of it. I hope they do because if not this season will crash and burn. But right now if you want to win you are starting and playing Kunkel and Nunge a lot. And one other thing. How come Edwards never gets a chance when the other bigs are giving up points left and right and missing layups? Let guys play and develop when other guys are struggling.

[drudy23]

Again, Nate's struggles are a by-product of being an integral part of the opponent's gameplan. He doesn't get the looks Kunkel gets for a reason.

Same with Odom - there is no coach with any degree of competence that's going to let him get into the lane. They make him a perimeter player and he's basically rendered useless out there.

Our one dimensional guys are easy to guard (Nate and Dwon, and frankly, Freemantle right now). Guys that can do multiple things (Scruggs, Nunge, Colby, Kunkel) are simply much harder to gameplan against.

[xuwillie]

Again, Nate's struggles are a by-product of being an integral part of the opponent's gameplan. He doesn't get the looks Kunkel gets for a reason.

Same with Odom - there is no coach with any degree of competence that's going to let him get into the lane. They make him a perimeter player and he's basically rendered useless out there.

Our one dimensional guys are easy to guard (Nate and Dwon, and frankly, Freemantle right now). Guys that can do multiple things (Scruggs, Nunge, Colby, Kunkel) are simply much harder to gameplan against.

Scruggs to me is pretty easy to guard. Just let him try to do too much and he'll eventually take a bad shot or turn the ball over. Not having a true point guard has killed this team the past 3 years and I put that on Steele.

[drudy23]

Scruggs to me is pretty easy to guard. Just let him try to do too much and he'll eventually take a bad shot or turn the ball over. Not having a true point guard has killed this team the past 3 years and I put that on Steele.

I don't disagree.

We've had a stagnant offense, minus a handful of games, during Steele's career.

[XUGRAD80]

I have NOT been, nor am currently, in the school of “it’s not the coaches fault”. Nor am I in the school of it’s ONLY the coaches fault. I do not agree with his substitution patterns at all. I see way to much one on one basketball on offense and the lack of help defense on the other end. I see players taking poor shots and making bad passes. How much of that is coaching? How much of it is poor player development? How much of it is poor player skills? I can’t say, nor can anyone else that isn’t observing the coaches, players, and preparations on a daily basis.

Nor am I totally satisfied with where the team lies right now. But HISTORICALLY it’s right about where it’s been the vast majority of time since it went into the BE. So I’ll stick with my statement that this is what we should expect…..for now. Go back and look at my predictions and statements prior to the season. I said that there were a lot of questions about this team. Some have been answered. Nunge is certainly all that we could have expected and more. Scruggs is overall the back of his bubblegum card. He is what he is. Freemantle was certainly a question mark, and still is. Jones has been consistent. Miles, Odom, Stanley, etc haven’t answered the bell on a consistent basis. Kunkle has been pretty good most of the time. I think he deserves more playing time. I expected this team to win 1/2 their conference games on the road and to win 7-8 out of 10 at home. They are right on schedule to do that. I do think that they CAN play better than they have. But I’m not convinced that this coach is the one that can get them there.

I do think that they are recruiting as good as can possibly be expected currently. However, I would like to see them land some bigs that are not projects and can contribute right away. But I’m realistic enough to understand that is a tall order (no pun intended). I read the recruiting sites and I see the names of the schools that the top 50 players are mentioning that they are considering. It’s the same old, same old….NC, KY, Duke, Kansas, Oklahoma, Gonzaga, Nova, Gtown, UConn, etc. It’s not X consistently. Maybe once in a while, but not very often.

Until X is consistently in on top 50 players, and actually landing a few in the top 25, they are going to remain a mid-pack team in a top 3 conference. They will more often than not (last 3 years excepted) go to the NCAA tourney, they will make it to the 2nd weekend fairly often, and they might catch lighting in a bottle and reach the F4. It’s not a bad place to be. That’s not accepting mediocrity, because being a top 5 program in the BE is not mediocre.

[drudy23]

The problem isn't roster talent, the problem is roster construction and player utilization. The skills have to fit the vision. They don't.

[Masterofreality]

I agree with this. Maybe this is where the analytics come in. Players earn practice points which Travis puts into his computer to determine how many minutes each player gets. So, maybe Hunter and Kunk didn’t earn as many practice points as Free and Nate leading to them getting more minutes in the game. Not that I agree but maybe that is how Steele is justifying this.

Oh Gawd!! Not f-Ing “Practice Points” again. Look where that’s gotten us over the last 3 years.
In my uneducated opinion, Practice Points don’t mean iish when you are playing a GAME in Milwaukee in January. It’s even a DIFFERENT DAY, and I’ve never seen those SOB’s show up on a scoreboard.
Steele and his Xavier Way points. Jeezuz!!!!!

[XUGRAD80]

The problem isn't roster talent, the problem is roster construction and player utilization. The skills have to fit the vision. They don't.

construction.....to many wings

talent.....wings that can't make shots consistently from the outside

player utilization......playing lineups that have serious deficiencies because of who is on the floor at the same time.


I'll never understand why Steele insists on subbing like it's a hockey line change. But I'll also contend that X DOES HAVE a roster talent problem. You've got bigs that aren't big, just tall. You've got a point guard that can't shot and can only drive. You've got wings that can't make 3 pointers consistently, and you've got bigs that can't defend. There are too many holes in the roster, and what is there is too much alike.

[drudy23]

Right - we're running a perimeter oriented motion based offense that relies on ball movement, good shooting and a viable post presence for spacing and keeping an opponent honest.

We aren't patient enough to get good ball movement (shoot a ton of quick shots), we don't have many consistent 3 point shooters, and if Nunge isn't in the game, our post presence isn't a big enough threat to beat good teams. The previous 2 years, the post was even more lacking.

Why would we run this offense with these factors?