The Rubber is REALLY about to hit the Road

[D-West & PO-Z]

Yep, that’s what I thought. Sure, there are plenty of tough hurdles ahead, but why are we baking in excuses for Sean that we weren’t willing to extend to aluminum? Winning… Isn’t that why we brought back Sean? I’m sure we’ll lose our share down the stretch, but this thread is hilarious.

Big difference between not allowing "excuses" for Steele in year 4 of his tenure vs Miller in year 1. Huge difference.

Miller took like one month to undo all Steele's incompetency.

We have 13 BE games remaining. Going 8-5 would be great imo. We have some tough road games ahead hopefully we can steal a couple.

[OTRMUSKIE]

15-3 7-0 8th in the nation. Our defense is porous but our offense is incredible. I’m not sure if you expected us to destroy the ranked teams at home but last time I checked we still won and we have won every road game. Yes we are def going to lose 4 more games and it’s not because we arnt all that it’s because this is a very good conference. FYI X is all that and I’ll tell you why. We beat a very good Marquette team and our best player played like crap (Boum) That to me tells me this team is definitely very very very very good .

[JTG]

15-3 7-0 8th in the nation. Our defense is porous but our offense is incredible. I’m not sure if you expected us to destroy the ranked teams at home but last time I checked we still won and we have won every road game. Yes we are def going to lose 4 more games and it’s not because we arnt all that it’s because this is a very good conference. FYI X is all that and I’ll tell you why. We beat a very good Marquette team and our best player played like crap (Boum) That to me tells me this team is definitely very very very very good .

Played like crap, Really??? Had the ball in his hands at crunch time and hit 4 FTs in the last minute.

[XU 87]

I certainly wouldn't say Boum "played like crap", or anywhere close to that. But he did have an off night shooting- he was 5-15 from the field and 2-8 from the three. For the first time all year, I thought at time he was forcing things a bit on offense. And then of course he comes back and hits the two to take the lead and goes 4-4 from the line on two one-and-ones.

[WCWIII]

I think along the same lines as MOR, but I think of it that our BE schedule has been near ideal. Early tests in the OOC with beatable teams ... some we won, some we lost but end up with confidence going into conference play with W's over UC and WV. Then we start BE with facing top 5 teams (UConn, Creighton, Marquette) at home and beating bottom 5 teams home or away. What this has done is enabled the team to develop and learn lessons while getting conference W's. Those W's are locked in. If we have really developed and/or continue to develop, then we'll get our share of W's and maybe steal an away W or two from a top 5 team.

[xudash]

Kidding aside, I thought the schedule makers did us a favor by letting us play UConn, Marquette, and Creighton at home so early in the conference part of our season. Holding serve at home is even more critical this year. The rest of the schedule is filled with land mines and the grind of the season will start to show. We have developed our depth and can now feel comfortable playing 8 deep.

The margin is still pretty thin, and we can't afford to lose any of our starters due to injury. But Miller has done a hell of a job getting us to point, and I am actually looking forward to see how he navigates the rest of the season.

That.

And this: If anyone knows anything about Sean Miller coached teams is that they get better as the year goes on. Every game I feel good in conference because the best coach between the two teams is always sitting on Xavier’s bench.

Summation: we did lose some OOC games that perhaps we could have won, but "OOC" means early in the season, which obviously translates to Sean not having had the time yet to work his magic with this group.

I absolutely agree with the comment about getting the top teams at home early. Beating them has produced wonderful results for the team and program. Being back in the Top 10 is beyond nice.

The rest of the schedule is filled with landmines. Perhaps we'll steal another one from one of the top teams, perhaps not. Continuing to hold serve at home and beating the weaker teams on the road is key.

Absent injuries, and with Sean Miller at the helm, imagine where we might be in March and April, given where we've come from since the beginning of the season till now.

[X-band '01]

That.

And this: If anyone knows anything about Sean Miller coached teams is that they get better as the year goes on. Every game I feel good in conference because the best coach between the two teams is always sitting on Xavier’s bench.

Summation: we did lose some OOC games that perhaps we could have won, but "OOC" means early in the season, which obviously translates to Sean not having had the time yet to work his magic with this group.

I absolutely agree with the comment about getting the top teams at home early. Beating them has produced wonderful results for the team and program. Being back in the Top 10 is beyond nice.

The rest of the schedule is filled with landmines. Perhaps we'll steal another one from one of the top teams, perhaps not. Continuing to hold serve at home and beating the weaker teams on the road is key.

Absent injuries, and with Sean Miller at the helm, imagine where we might be in March and April, given where we've come from since the beginning of the season till now.

Not having Nate Johnson healthy for critical stretches last season was a killer.

[A Fan]

Ha!
Look. I’m hopeful! The defense in the 2nd half yesterday is what I hope has developed now and will be there going forward.
I’m sure that Sean is taking NOTHING for granted. I mean 11 ranked teams lost over the weekend so there are pitfalls lurking.
I just don’t wanna hear this board melt down when an inevitable occurrence happens.
I’m back in the building next Saturday.
GO X!!

I can’t imagine that Sean Miller is saying anything to the team other than what MOR has posited. You can see from our wins that the home court is a 4 to 6 point advantage.

[xukeith]

I think along the same lines as MOR, but I think of it that our BE schedule has been near ideal. Early tests in the OOC with beatable teams ... some we won, some we lost but end up with confidence going into conference play with W's over UC and WV. Then we start BE with facing top 5 teams (UConn, Creighton, Marquette) at home and beating bottom 5 teams home or away. What this has done is enabled the team to develop and learn lessons while getting conference W's. Those W's are locked in. If we have really developed and/or continue to develop, then we'll get our share of W's and maybe steal an away W or two from a top 5 team.

Definitely true. The BE schedule has been dreamy this year. Padded with home games vs top BE teams to inflate our record to 7-0. It will be a lot more difficult but the press coverage and being a media cool team is nice. Call those 4/5 stars recruits Adam, Dante, and David!

[XUGRAD80]

One of the keys to this seasons success has been the ability of the team to not look beyond the next game. I’m going to take that approach too. I don’t disagree with anything that OP says, but I’m not going to worry about anyone but DePaul until after Wednesday.