Game Thread: Xavier v Oakland (11/27/2023)

[X-band '01]

Oakland played very well. Smart .

They abused Lazar multiple times because he can't guard a cold.
Not shocked but disappointed .

Green, Ciani, Lazar, and Swain all need about 10-20 pounds of more muscle.
Forget about Houston, BE frontlines will be licking their chops when they see "Frosh of the week" Lazar getting the ball in the paint.

X will have some good wins, some crummy losses .

Tonight was a poor loss.

Definitely not a shining moment for either Ciani or Djokovic tonight. Ousmane was halfway decent. When he was on the floor that is - he only played about 16 minutes and Miller was saying postgame that they really needed him for about 25 minutes.

Overall, Xavier shot decent from the foul line but missed at the worst possible times. 2 1-and-1s were missed along with a free throw in the closing seconds. Oakland deserved to win, but Xavier has a long way to go defensively. A loooooooooong way.

[IM4X]

Agree that it’s a bad loss from an overall program perspective. Sean will also use it as a good teaching opportunity.

In the post game interview on the radio, he said Des has lost confidence in his shot and they’ll need to work on that.

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I get that this is a new group of guys Sean is coaching, but an X team should never lose to Oakland at Cintas (even if that Oakland team is better than expected). While X had some good moments in the game, they still were too clumsy and too soft. Sean knows it. He’ll no doubt get this team playing harder and smarter, but I am still not convinced there is enough high level talent on this team or enough players willing to leave it all out on the court to win more BE games than they lose.

Where is that X player who refuses to let X lose. Last year, five or more guys on the team were capable of being that guy. Sean had talked about needing McNight or Claude to step up and be that guy. Neither is consistently stepping up enough. The defensive rebounding continues to be a glaring weak spot. It’s not been good all year. Players are either out of position or they’re being our hustled doe rebounds. Claude’s man blew right past him to get an offensive rebound and in the process was fouled. That shit should never happen.

With so many new players on the team, I get that there will be a number of teachable moments. What I don’t get is seeing the ball get stolen or even go out of bounds because one of our players decided to throw a lazy pass. What I also don’t get is seeing X players allow so many second shots because they simply refuse to block out. Those things are inexcusable.

These guys are still FAR from playing well together. They’re moving the ball around okay, but they don’t look comfortable doing it.

[XUBison]

…Lazar was just too weak and had no confidence in any defense or offense…

Byron was not impressed with Lazar tonight. Seemed downright annoyed.

[xukeith]

Byron was not impressed with Lazar tonight. Seemed downright annoyed.

I guess Lazar is still figuring it out.

"it" might be successfully boxing out, standing strong defensively . He has a great upside but that comes with learning, building muscle, and losses .

[xukeith]

Maybe former assistant coach Ben Johnson weighed Colby Jones vs Trey Townsend in his deep south recruting 4-5 years ago.

[XUGRAD80]

It does seem that the foreign players are struggling with the physical nature of the college game. As it seems that the frontline is almost all foreign players, Xavier as a team is struggling with that too. Part of the learning curve. But I also wonder if any of them had ever seen the inside of a weight room before getting to X?

Personally, I’m not going to worry about wins and loses and just concentrate on seeing if the team improves week to week. As long as they continue to improve I’ll be OK. I expect them to improve as the year moves along and be a very good team the 2nd half of the year. It’s still only NOVEMBER! I’m not treating this as a normal year and am more looking at what they can become next year and the years after that. Still a super young (as far as college experience in the US and experience playing together) team that will grow together as time goes on. If others want to live and die on each game, more power to them them.

[murray87]

Stat sheet said we only committed 10 turnovers but it felt like 30. Several mind-numbingly dumb passes that led directly to Oakland buckets.

Ciani is a big load for a freshman so hoping he gains the confidence to get his rear end into the paint and demand the ball for a quick turn around.

[bleedXblue]

1. Lazar has not impressed me whatsoever. He almost looks disinterested. He has a very long way to go in order to be a guy who we can count on for consistent production. Maybe he lost and thinking too much......dont know.
2. Post play is becoming a glaring weakness. We don't have a physicality needed to guard and bang and the only guy that looks somewhat ready cant stay on the floor. Just wait until we play guys like Nova and Providence. Geesh.
3. Sean might have coached one of his worst games last night. The fact we didnt at least attempt zone for a few possessions was an absolute head scratcher. What about double teaming Thompson in the post? I saw Green do it one time. That was it.

Friday could be very, very ugly.

[D-West & PO-Z]

All I have to say is:

Not great, Bob!

[Xville]

I don’t want to bag on the guy much but where did it come from that lazar was the second best player in practice? From what I have seen so far, he really shouldn’t even be seeing the floor. Maybe it’s because practices haven’t been all that physical and so he looks a lot better there.