NCAA Tournament S16 Game Thread: Xavier v Texas (3/24/2023)

[A Fan]

I don’t want to make any excuses. We were running into a tough team no matter who we faced in the Sweet Sixteen. We had plenty of good shooters tonight. We have one of the best 3 point shooting teams in the nation- They just all sucked from behind the arc (except Kunkel). We definitely could have used Fremantle, but we had enough shooters and talent to make this a good game.

Our players were not prepared for what this Texas team threw at them and they didn’t play with constant relentlessness like the Texas players did. X players quickly settled for shity. low percentage, finesse shots that they were given, instead of working it inside or moving the ball around quickly until a better option opened up. Colby, Souley and Nunge looked flustered and uncomfortable for much of the game. I don’t know why that was. We’ve seen this team flying around, helping each other out in the BE tournament Creighton game. Often X players were standing around and out of position to grab rebounds or get steals. Texas stretched out defense and picked us apart and we had no answers.

Why did our best players look like they were in a fog for the entire first half and much of the second? Sean has to own some of the lack of readiness of our players. Why did Sean never try to press? Gotta try something different, early enough in the game when things aren’t going right to try to create a spark and momentum shift that could lead to player more confidence and more fight in your guys.

I don’t know if X could have won tonight- Texas played extremely well- but I feel confident that X could have made it a game had all the X players played harder and closer to their potential - like Kunkel did. How is it that Kunkel can get his threes off in the last two games and hit a good percentage of them, but Nunge, Boum and Colby continue to be off for 4 straight games?

Still very happy Sean and X were able to get back to the dance and reach the Sweet Sixteen. Just thought this was not a good way to go out- playing some of your worst ball of the year.

Just an Excellent summation.

[bobbiemcgee]

Creighton will determine if we get 15 or 16 ncaa units today. Either way an enormous haul for BE basketball.

[Masterofreality]

There are no more units paid if you get to the Final game.

“ If a team makes it to the final, they can make as many as five units. According to Sportico, a unit was worth $337,141 in 2021. In 2022, $169.4 million was paid out from the performance fund.”

UConn has earned 5.
Creighton could earn 5
Xavier earned 3
Marquette earned 2
Providence earned 1.
Could have 16.

[paulxu]

I wonder if any of the other conferences with more first round teams, ended up with 16 or more credits.

[xubrew]

There are no more units paid if you get to the Final game.

“ If a team makes it to the final, they can make as many as five units. According to Sportico, a unit was worth $337,141 in 2021. In 2022, $169.4 million was paid out from the performance fund.”

UConn has earned 5.
Creighton could earn 5
Xavier earned 3
Marquette earned 2
Providence earned 1.
Could have 16.

Correct…

[GoMuskies]

OK, it's been a few days now, so the emotions have settled a bit. Can we talk about that zone Xavier played a few times throughout this game? That may have been the worst defense I have ever seen a college basketball team play. I get that things were going poorly, and we're thin, so this was a pretty desperate attempt to do SOMETHING different to hopefully change the flow of the game...but yikes was that bad. Texas mostly threw one pass to get the exact shot they wanted. Unless they decided to really work at it and throw three passes for a dunk.

[Masterofreality]

OK, it's been a few days now, so the emotions have settled a bit. Can we talk about that zone Xavier played a few times throughout this game? That may have been the worst defense I have ever seen a college basketball team play. I get that things were going poorly, and we're thin, so this was a pretty desperate attempt to do SOMETHING different to hopefully change the flow of the game...but yikes was that bad. Texas mostly threw one pass to get the exact shot they wanted. Unless they decided to really work at it and throw three passes for a dunk.

Texas was hitting everything, but yeah. Probably one reason why we didn’t play much zone this year.

[MHettel]

OK, it's been a few days now, so the emotions have settled a bit. Can we talk about that zone Xavier played a few times throughout this game? That may have been the worst defense I have ever seen a college basketball team play. I get that things were going poorly, and we're thin, so this was a pretty desperate attempt to do SOMETHING different to hopefully change the flow of the game...but yikes was that bad. Texas mostly threw one pass to get the exact shot they wanted. Unless they decided to really work at it and throw three passes for a dunk.

We didn’t have the right personnel for zone. Our permitted guys are on the small side and don’t have the needed length to narrow the passing lanes. I think foul avoidance and fatigue were factors to switch it up and at that point you just hope they miss the open 3s that will come.

[D-West & PO-Z]

For the last 5 years, if you set a pick at the top of the key against xavier, chances were better than not you were getting a layup. Either the guard with the ball was getting a layup and our defenders desperately chased them from behind or the rolling big man got a layup off the pass.

I cannot wait for Sean Miller to fix that issue. I don't think he had the personnel to fix it this year but was still surprised it happened so often under his watch.

[Masterofreality]

For the last 5 years, if you set a pick at the top of the key against xavier, chances were better than not you were getting a layup. Either the guard with the ball was getting a layup and our defenders desperately chased them from behind or the rolling big man got a layup off the pass.

I cannot wait for Sean Miller to fix that issue. I don't think he had the personnel to fix it this year but was still surprised it happened so often under his watch.

We can face the fact that Souley and Kunk could not stay in front of the oppo guy. We know how bad Free was on D, shown by comparison with Jerome. And Dez Claude, despite his length, had his issues, especially instinctually.
3 of our 5 starters were mediocre to bad defensively. Thank Gawd we had the Make Shots Offense.