Xavier Post Game Thread

[JonnyRI]

I love this team. Just about every player on it. I really do.

But right now we suck. All across the board.

We only get output from our best player (yes Hawk, I did vote for you) half of every game. Is this on Danny or Hawk. I don’t know, but my gut says 50/50. Hawk has all the tools to be the best player and leading scorer in the BE.

3/4 of our transfers are net negatives every game.

Ajax is a year away. He could be a NBA if he just did this next year. Running out of next years. I almost turned off the TV when I saw him take our first two shots from 3 to start the game. I don’t know how but Dan Hurley has to figure out how to get the best out of his limitations and strengths. Hasn’t done that yet.

I love this team, and legit think we have the players and coach to make it to the FF. Maybe a good time to see where the odds are. Think the same time in 2011. Or 2014. But right now we are mediocre at best.

 

[housekeys]

As a big time critic of the officiating, they really helped us out tonight. So my criticism was warranted.

Having said that, making the FT's would have helped. Xavier is a very good team playing well. We are a very good team playing poorly.

 

[August_West]

Yeah. Miller was a great coach at Arizona. Tons of talent and he went nowhere with it.

Lol. We’d beg for Arizona under miller success

 

[Jaydumo20]

Why does there always have to be a Seth Greenberg, technical, coachspeak breakdown of why they aren't performing?. Sometimes it's bad shooting. It was pretty much bad shooting that got us in that H1 hole



It's not as complex a game if you can't shoot

 

[August_West]

The game was very much not over. It was a 1 point game with 5 minutes left.

I mean , you are right when you answer that post, but be honest did you ever feel we would win that game? Put the math book down for a second and give me a hoops watcher answer.

 

[amishboy]

Hurley's teams can not close.

Off this game, I’d say they can’t open well either.

 

[Stinger92860]

Jackson and Sanogo need one more year, the both of them. Even Hawkins isn't quite ready yet either.

jackson needs a new shot technique, I’ve been saying this almost 3 years now. why he spends entire summers trying to perfect the push shot is a head scratcher. He is an offensive liability.

 

[JMick]

jackson needs a new shot technique, I’ve been saying this almost 3 years now. why he spends entire summers trying to perfect the push shot is a head scratcher. He is an offensive liability.

they should have broke that down and built it back up as soon as he got onto campus.

 

[auror]

I mean , you are right when you answer that post, but be honest did you ever feel we would win that game? Put the math book down for a second and give me a hoops watcher answer.

Yes. We had the "momentum." We had the energized home crowd. Refs seemed to be okay with us winning. We were making shots and were shooting 2 the rest of the way. Didn't make the plays.

 

[Drfla]

Please show your work that led you to this conclusion.

even if they did shoot it better (think it was about the same) we forced 4 times more turnovers in the 2nd half vs the first making the 2nd half defense much better. Should be pressing more going forward.

 

[JMick]

Yes. We had the "momentum." We had the energized home crowd. Refs seemed to be okay with us winning. We were making shots and were shooting 2 the rest of the way. Didn't make the plays.

we never led at any point in the game.

 

[amishboy]

There’s a crowd here that attributes everything that happens in the game to “coaching”. They aren’t right or wrong I just don’t think others like myself see the game the same way. I’ve come to the conclusion that we’ll never agree. We do this same “coaching” dance after every loss.

Maybe you’re right that we shouldn’t always blame the coaching. But ask yourself this: could you imagine a team coached by Calhoun (with all his faults) coming out this flat, at home, against the team that started this slide?

 

[Drfla]

Okay and how did that go last year? Who is their best player?

Their best player is a transfer portal guard who makes them all better. And the 4 remaining players are more experienced.

 

[zls44]

one year not even one year and Sean Miller already runs this conference, I had them winning big east before season cause I saw it at Arizona. He makes a huge impact, people saying he did nothing at Arizona. 2 elite 8 loses to Wisconsin who beat a 38-1 Kentucky team, idk y people are acting like he lost to a scrub. Yea in 2017 is his only blemish as they lost to a Xavier team, but Chris Mack worked under him and knew his tendencies.

He always underperforms when it matters. Keep watching.

 

[August_West]

Yes. We had the "momentum." We had the energized home crowd. Refs seemed to be okay with us winning. We were making shots and were shooting 2 the rest of the way. Didn't make the plays.

And you believed we would make the plays? After a decent sample size of not this year in any pressure situation?

 

[storrsroars]

we never led at any point in the game.

Neither did Seton Hall until the last minute or so.

If it can happen to us, it can happen for us.

 

[auror]

And you believed we would make the plays? After a decent sample size of not?

I'm a hopeless romantic. A fake by the numbers cynic. In the end, I revert to thinking we'll buck the trend...eventually. Charlie Brown and the football.

Plus it's my birthday. Thought maybe they'd win one for the newly actuarily challenged.

 

[socal613ws]

He always underperforms when it matters. Keep watching.

he underperforms because expectations are through the roof. Ask any arz fan what they were before Sean Miller, Kevin O'neill, enough said. Only time USC in my lifetime won at Arz and we blew them out at Mckale. Tommy Lloyd who is viewed as a top 5 hc now, lost to HOUSTON. An AAC team.

 

[Hunt for 7]

To be honest Jackson should forget about shooting 3's and work on developing a floater or a hook shot. He should be able to get 8 - 10 PPG around the basket on his athletic ability alone.

That is not realistic in season. Whoever coached him when he was in high school did him a disservice. Just let him over athlete the competition. He has trouble using the bb effectively on short shots or put backs. He seems like a great kid but he did not get developed properly when he was younger. He is now a project. If he stays healthy keeps his hops he could be on a nba roster after 2 or 3 years in the g league. He really has no offensive skill sets other than getting his head to the rim and dunking.

 

[gsmooth]

100% disagree. We outplayed them the whole second half other than their 10-0 run after we cut it to 1. We gave away 4 points at the line during that run.

Really gave away 5 points. Karaban missed front end of of 1 on 1

 

[Drfla]

? He said we didn’t beat anyone worth bragging about outside of Nova. That’s objectively wrong lmao

He was talking about last year

 

[zls44]

he underperforms because expectations are through the roof. Ask any arz fan what they were before Sean Miller, Kevin O'neill, enough said. Only time USC in my lifetime won at Arz and we blew them out at Mckale. Tommy Lloyd who is viewed as a top 5 hc now, lost to HOUSTON. An AAC team.

Yeah, I cant imagine why expectations were through the roof, could it be having the Final Four be IN ARIZONA and him having bags of cash thrown at NBA guys to come to the roster who he STILL COULDNT WIN WITH?

 

[storrsroars]

And you believed we would make the plays? After a decent sample size of not this year in any pressure situation?

Maybe one could've predicted the AJ/Sanogo mishap, but doubtful one was thinking a goaltend or a Newton walk right after that. I thought they'd find a way to at least OT.

Then again, my 2023 resolution was to be less a cranky old cynic. I suppose like most resolutions, that will wear off with another game or two like this.

 

[Hunt for 7]

What happened to Joey c’s shot. Wide open three feet set and he did not even hit the rim.

 

[JMick]

If it can happen to us, it can happen for us.

 

[gsmooth]

Clingan got 8 minutes

In general Clingan should get more minutes per game. But in this game he sucked. When Sanogo and Hawkins were subbed out around the 10 minute mark after UConn cut the lead to 1, Xavier went on a 10-0 run with Clingan and the other subs

 

[Drfla]

8 too many he was horrible tonight and he Is one for my favorite players!

I love him too but not sure he deserved more time tonight. It was his worst game of the year

 

[BigFanCT]

Large majority of board starting to finally get on board with something ain’t quite right….and it doesn’t seem to be getting quite right.

Others still insisting that moral victories are best.

 

[Ctedgeman]

A few (some probably obvious) observations:

Jackson killed us in the opening minutes. Should have been yanked after the 2nd three point attempt. Not for a long time, but just a quick "don't do that anymore" for a couple minutes.

Hated the subbing of all 3 of Newton, hawk, and sanogo after they cut it to 1 the first time. Took out the 3 guys who brought you back and were still hot. I understand they need rest, but maybe sub them out gradually over a few minutes to keep some momentum going.

Clingan set up for failure defensively with that weird 2-1-2 zone with him out by himself above the free throw line. He could not protect the rim from that position early enough, led to a late contest and an and1.

That timeout that stopped hawk from cutting it to 1 again with 20 seconds left. Brutal.

 

[UCLJ0211]

Another let down on defense all around.
They did not contest outside shots and Boum was getting wide open looks. Newtown didn’t stay on him a number of times.

What about Southbury or Danbury? How was their defense?