Game Thread: Xavier v Gonzaga (11/27/2022)

[OTRMUSKIE]

Whoever is saying same ole crap or Xavier just doesn’t have it anymore can please STFU! We just lost by 4 points to the #6 team 7 to # 8 and 2 to #12. This is the same team basically as last year. All X needed to do this year was dance and it looks like Tbey will. This team is very good, very good! UNC just lost twice to worse teams than us. I guess it’s the same crap at UNC too? X has 3 moral victories and yes Tbey count this year early in the season. Great game so glad to have Xavier basketball back to where it should be.

[Caveat]

Whoever is saying same ole crap or Xavier just doesn’t have it anymore can please STFU! We just lost by 4 points to the #6 team 7 to # 8 and 2 to #12. This is the same team basically as last year. All X needed to do this year was dance and it looks like Tbey will. This team is very good, very good! UNC just lost twice to worse teams than us. I guess it’s the same crap at UNC too? X has 3 moral victories and yes Tbey count this year early in the season. Great game so glad to have Xavier basketball back to where it should be.

Losses are losses. “Very good” teams aren’t flirting with .500 going into December.

This team needs to start winning games.

[bjf123]

Losses are losses. “Very good” teams aren’t flirting with .500 going into December.

This team needs to start winning games.

And most “very good” teams probably haven’t played 3 top 15 teams in November. We’ll be fine.


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[boozehound]

Whoever is saying same ole crap or Xavier just doesn’t have it anymore can please STFU! We just lost by 4 points to the #6 team 7 to # 8 and 2 to #12. This is the same team basically as last year. All X needed to do this year was dance and it looks like Tbey will. This team is very good, very good! UNC just lost twice to worse teams than us. I guess it’s the same crap at UNC too? X has 3 moral victories and yes Tbey count this year early in the season. Great game so glad to have Xavier basketball back to where it should be.

This is my line of thinking. I'm not sure I can recall the last time Xavier played 2 top 10 teams early in the season. Throw in #12 IU and you have a tough start to the season. We competed very well in all 3 games, obviously it sucks that we didn't at least pull out one of them but this was a team that didn't make the dance last year, lost Scruggs, and only added a transfer and a couple of Freshman.

Also - for the most part the problem with Steele's teams wasn't early season play, it was the late season collapse. I'm pretty confident we won't have that with Miller at the helm. To be bent out of shape this early in the season just seems ridiculous given how bad the past few years have been.

I will say - our front court definitely struggled with the size and athleticism from both Duke and Gonzaga. They handled Gonzaga much better than Duke, but our bigs looked undersized in the post in both contests. This needs to be a priority area going forward from a recruiting perspective, and we will definitely need at least 1 transfer next year.

[bleedXblue]

Big East will be a battle as it normally is.

I'm concerned about 2 things:

1. We're getting beat on the boards by teams that are quicker and more athletic. Fundamentals by a couple of our big guys continue to not be good.

2. Defense in general, but a couple of key areas. Defending the perimeter. We give up a lot of wide open shots. KyKy continually gets picked and goes under ball screens. Very frustrating.

[Masterofreality]

Whoever is saying same ole crap or Xavier just doesn’t have it anymore can please STFU! We just lost by 4 points to the #6 team 7 to # 8 and 2 to #12. This is the same team basically as last year. All X needed to do this year was dance and it looks like Tbey will. This team is very good, very good! UNC just lost twice to worse teams than us. I guess it’s the same crap at UNC too? X has 3 moral victories and yes Tbey count this year early in the season. Great game so glad to have Xavier basketball back to where it should be.

We REALLY missed Adam Kunkel last night. Just didn’t have that extra punch. The only thing that bothered me was that X was zero on the 50/50 balls and got outworked for them all night long. That being said, without a random 3 by a seldom used Zags player who shoots 20% from 3 at the end of the half and a blown wide open layup by KyKy we win that game.
West Virginia is huge. Last chance to get a really good Out of Conference win.

[xavierj]

Big East will be a battle as it normally is.

I'm concerned about 2 things:

1. We're getting beat on the boards by teams that are quicker and more athletic. Fundamentals by a couple of our big guys continue to not be good.

2. Defense in general, but a couple of key areas. Defending the perimeter. We give up a lot of wide open shots. KyKy continually gets picked and goes under ball screens. Very frustrating.

Last night Colby went under the ball screen twice late in game and Gonzaga buried two threes. But both times Gonzaga should have been called for illegal screens and the refs just let it go. They were blatant illegal screens and can’t believe the refs looking right at it just let it go.

[Masterofreality]

In this day of transfers eligible immediately and with Miller now as Coach (his recruiting roots deeper and further than Steele's) any guessing of what next years team will or wont be is foolish.

Methinks we’ll have an International player or two.
Steele’s recruiting was OK but limited

[drudy23]

Good news - playing and losing to those teams don't kill your metrics.

Bad news - winning one or more of them sends your metrics into the stratosphere. Opportunity squandered but not a death sentence.

Danger - gives you less breathing room for bad losses - cannot start to pile up a few losses against team we should beat (e.g. UC).

We have plenty of opportunity for more good wins, but it would have been nice to get at least one of those games against IU, Duke, and Gonzaga.

[Xville]

This is my line of thinking. I'm not sure I can recall the last time Xavier played 2 top 10 teams early in the season. Throw in #12 IU and you have a tough start to the season. We competed very well in all 3 games, obviously it sucks that we didn't at least pull out one of them but this was a team that didn't make the dance last year, lost Scruggs, and only added a transfer and a couple of Freshman.

Also - for the most part the problem with Steele's teams wasn't early season play, it was the late season collapse. I'm pretty confident we won't have that with Miller at the helm. To be bent out of shape this early in the season just seems ridiculous given how bad the past few years have been.

I will say - our front court definitely struggled with the size and athleticism from both Duke and Gonzaga. They handled Gonzaga much better than Duke, but our bigs looked undersized in the post in both contests. This needs to be a priority area going forward from a recruiting perspective, and we will definitely need at least 1 transfer next year.

The problem I see in these losses is that X has left itself no breathing room in out of conference. At least if they had won one of the three, X could absorb a loss in the next round of games.

In other words, its no big deal to lose to any of these three teams, until it is.