Xavier Post Game Thread

[freshler40]

NO ONE on this team hunts for a shot. 10-12 passes per possession for nothing, just to put up a contested shot with 3 seconds on the shot clock.

I wish Danny would put a max attempt on passes per possession. 5-6 passes and a shot, we throw the ball around and our offense looks crazy. WOW look at all that running and all those screens and all those cuts, just to put up a crappy shot.

So true, unfortunately.

 

[ucp990411]

I thought this was a great game for us. I know people are complaining, but we almost won. Off night from Solo and AK. With Liam we win easily. As usual the refs were against us pretty clearly especially once we got to the second half. A call or two made fairly and we win. I think it was very encouraging to see Aiden emerge. If we can rely on him to play like this the rest of the way, we will be so much more dangerous. Overall a positive outcome in a tough road game with the refs stacked against us per usual. Can’t complain.

Please stop the complaining about the officials. Thought they were pretty good last night. We play defense with our arms and can’t keep stay in front of a light post.

 

[FreeKlaiber]

It was a deep team on paper, hasn’t panned out that way. Reed, Ross, Stewart, Mahaney, even Karaban are all underperforming against expectations. Team is just so inconsistent and they can’t afford guys having an off night during McNeeley’s absence

a not insignificant part of this board had Stew and Ross going pro soon, so there clearly is some talent evaluation issues both here and potentially with the coaching staff with this roster

 

[freshler40]

Yes, double bigs for parts of the game would be better than playing four on five offensively with Ross. It’s too late to hope that our defense gets better without making some changes. Samson is mobile enough to guard 4s and him being available to help rather than being pushed around under the basket is worth a shot.

Perhaps, except for the foul situation that hangs around our neck.

 

[boog204]

I

Nice strawman. I said he’d be a productive player here and I’m not ready to write him off. Not that he’s been amazing this year or that it’s his first poor performance. Go way back and you’ll see I said the same thing about Isaiah Whaley when he was buried on the bench. Time will tell.

There are flashes but man he’s pretty bad just as much as he’s good. I’m not saying it’s time to write him off but for the life of me I do not understand how people are still making new threads about how he’s “figuring it out” and calling him a shooter. The sample size on him is getting bigger and bigger.

And I think we’re finally clearly seeing how much of a liability he is defensively and why DH doesn’t trust him. He’s every bit as bad as Solo but more often than not gives you nothing offensively.

 

[boog204]

Pretty sure I just watched Mahaney create his own shot about 6 or 7 times, leading to all 14 of his points.

That’s fair. He does have that ability when he plays with confidence.

 

[FreeKlaiber]

Please stop wasting my time with these stupid examples. Scott Hazelton was a bad player period. He wasn’t a guy who was on a short leash BECAUSE he was a freshman.

Kemba Walker AVERAGED 25 minutes a game.

If you look at that Rutgers full game I posted Marcus Williams was in the game within the last two minutes ON THE ROAD IN THE BIG EAST.

You are literally making stuff up and it’s stupid.

Wait, you dont think JC had a quick hook with young players?

 

[boog204]

"That last possession was regrettable," Hurley said, "and a failure to execute something."

"We were trying to get the ball to Aidan there," Hurley explained. "When they're switching out, the guy has to screen his own man. We were hoping to get that ball to Samson (to kick it out). Besides Solo, with Alex fouled out, in terms of options, we wanted the ball in Aidan's hand. When you're switching, you've got to screen your own man so that Aidan can then get to the ball and get downhill, where he had success."

Johnson wound up hitting Ross on a throwback.

"If that pass is on target, he has a chance to shoot a 3 to win, and maybe we get out of that with a win," Hurley rued. "Frustrating."

Had a chance, but not a good one based on how Ross has shot this season.

It was actually Diarra who made the pass. Watch it again, he short hopped Ross and the pass was behind him. I don’t think Ross would’ve hit the shot, but he kinda had no choice but to try and make a play. Would’ve been nice if he knew the time situation, though.

Also, could we devise a set where our 5 man doesn’t have the ball with ten seconds left on an island desperately looking for someone to pass to?

 

[djct1999]

Maybe time to let Abraham play.

Why? So he can get three fouls in two minutes. Abraham isn’t playing for a reason. The staff, who sees him regularly in practice while you have seen him play maybe once, believes he can’t contribute yet. We all wanted Nowell. We saw how that played out last night. Abraham and Nowell are development guys.

 

[djct1999]

Alex played an okay game but he was nowhere near an All American level or even what a led dog needs to be.

Alex is trying to be someone he is not. Liam returning helps Alex more than anyone.

 

[Mr. French]

Please stop the complaining about the officials. Thought they were pretty good last night. We play defense with our arms and can’t keep stay in front of a light post.

There’s no honor in claiming the refs were good just for the heck of it. They weren’t good, both ways.

 

[yungdowork]

Jayden Ross competes way too hard for the way that some of you guys are talking about him. He has flaws, especially offensively, but he’s in over his head because the roster needs him to be.

He’s probably our best wing defender, generally attacks the glass pretty hard, had some good contests at the rim as help side defender, and didn’t turn the ball over. Obviously he can’t have 40/22/66 shooting splits forever, but the reason he plays is because we need SOMEBODY who can guard. Swain was making a lot of noise in the first half and Ross is a big reason he didn’t continue to.

 

[Chasm64]

Does anyone here know Karaban barely practiced all week because of the ankle issue? Granted he’s been a little off lately but hard to fault him on this particular game for the effort.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Getting Mahaney playing well reduce Diarra’s minutes, which needs to happen to have everyone be at their peak effectiveness.

Yes, what I saw last night gave me hope that AM may be able to contribute in a meaningful way when we reach the point where a loss would end our season.

I also believe that Reed will need to start contributing something of substance on a very consistent basis for us to have a chance.

Last night should have been a great spot for him as he should have had physical advantages over Fremantle or Hunter yet he disappeared. He has regressed over the past couple of weeks and this is a problem.

 

[controlfade]

a not insignificant part of this board had Stew and Ross going pro soon, so there clearly is some talent evaluation issues both here and potentially with the coaching staff with this roster

I am a huge fan of Stewart and it pains me to say this. Stewart and Ross have had a great opportunity to prove themselves and neither have stepped up. The way they have played, I would not expect to see many minutes from either when Liam returns.
At the beginning of the year the fear was how deep this team was. Once Liam returns HD, Ball, Liam and AK could & should all be playing 30-35 minutes a game. Ross, Stewie and AM will be fighting for 20-30 minutes available per game.

 

[uconngb]

Jayden Ross competes way too hard for the way that some of you guys are talking about him. He has flaws, especially offensively, but he’s in over his head because the roster needs him to be.

He’s probably our best wing defender, generally attacks the glass pretty hard, had some good contests at the rim as help side defender, and didn’t turn the ball over. Obviously he can’t have 40/22/66 shooting splits forever, but the reason he plays is because we need SOMEBODY who can guard. Swain was making a lot of noise in the first half and Ross is a big reason he didn’t continue to.

If in fact he is our best wing defender, which he may or may not be, that says a lot (actually, a little) about our defense. Because I’m pretty sure I could head fake and go by him with ease.

 

[superjohn]

Yes, what I saw last night gave me hope that AM may be able to contribute in a meaningful way when we reach the point where a loss would end our season.

I also believe that Reed will need to start contributing something of substance on a very consistent basis for us to have a chance.

Last night should have been a great spot for him as he should have had physical advantages over Fremantle or Hunter yet he disappeared. He has regressed over the past couple of weeks and this is a problem.

Reed didn't touch the ball, we need to get him the ball for him to be effective. You take out the Butler game and he's averaging a little over 3 field goal attempts over the last 8 games, it's ridiculous.

 

[RuffRuff]

Reed didn't touch the ball, we need to get him the ball for him to be effective. You take out the Butler game and he's averaging a little over 3 field goal attempts over the last 8 games, it's ridiculous.

At this point it generally doesn’t feel part of the game plan. We can recommend it here till we are blue in the face.

I’m starting to realize Hurley is a much better coach when he has 4 NBA players in the starting lineup.

 

[PAHusky]

At this point it generally doesn’t feel part of the game plan. We can recommend it here till we are blue in the face.

I’m starting to realize Hurley is a much better coach when he has 4 NBA players in the starting lineup.

What’s sort of baffling to me is that Reed seems to be a poor man’s Adams and I thought Danny did a great job Adams’s last year of creating an offense where, when they need a bucket, they could get him isolated down low. Seems to be totally missing now. Just endless screens and cuts going nowhere.

Our offense has become so predictable and/or is being so badly run that solo carried last night because karaban’s defender jumped the route.

 

[controlfade]

I’m starting to realize Hurley is a much better coach when he has 4 NBA players in the starting lineup.

any coach would be better when having 4 NBA players in their starting lineup. However,you seem to be forgetting this team has 3 NBA players starting now.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

If in fact he is our best wing defender, which he may or may not be, that says a lot (actually, a little) about our defense. Because I’m pretty sure I could head fake and go by him with ease.

I see we’ve reached the point where middle-aged (or even elderly) discussion board warriors proudly claim they can “school” D-1-level late teen/early 20’s CBB players.

I like to drink my coffee in the morning, not spit it out on my phone…

 

[Huskydog45]

The positive takes from this game

McNeeley out
Karaban is still injured…didn’t practice all week
Samson was a warrior
Breakout game for Mahaney. This is what he can bring to this team…this kid is a player….just needed time
Fought back 3 times from down 10 to down 4 and then taking lead..a sign that they have championship pedigree
They have 5 losses this year by 5 or less and 3 of those are without McNeeley
3-3 without McNeeley with two 2 point losses on road
Raucous environment on the road on a Saturday night to a team with a great coach and that needed that game….
Home game against DePaul Wed and then hopefully McNeeley back for Marquette

 

[mauconnfan]

I

Nice strawman. I said he’d be a productive player here and I’m not ready to write him off. Not that he’s been amazing this year or that it’s his first poor performance. Go way back and you’ll see I said the same thing about Isaiah Whaley when he was buried on the bench. Time will tell.

I agree on Whaley but he showed it when he had a couple minutes. He only ended up playing more for Dan because of injuries and he finally got a chance. But he was long and smart, Ross isn’t the same guy don’t see it. He’s too whacked as well, needs loods to calm down. He has no offense and his defense has been rather unimpressive. Time will tell but not a lot right now.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Reed didn't touch the ball, we need to get him the ball for him to be effective. You take out the Butler game and he's averaging a little over 3 field goal attempts over the last 8 games, it's ridiculous.

We tried last night if you were paying attention. Unfortunately, in one case, he couldn’t seal off Freemantle for an entry pass on the block. Then his lack of defense kept taking him off the court.

I know “we’re not utilizing Tarris” is your thing for the last 6-8 games or so, and I love the kid, but Tarris has played a huge part in this stretch of games of making sure that he’s not being utilized. He needs to figure it out, we desperately need him to.

Same goes for JStew. It’s maddening to see what he can deliver in brief flashes every 2nd or 3rd game.