Xavier

[mauconnfan]

They play active defense, much more active than Buffalo so whether people like it or not Gilbert will be missed. Brendan Adams was terrific last night but will be completely tested running the point tonight, different world. Gaffney looked a little bit more comfortable last night, had some good minutes we will see again tonight how far he is coming. Bigger longer defenders. As far as the interior I laugh at the 6'9 Jones spec, no shot he's almost the same size as Scruggs actually lucky to be 6'7", very lucky. Nonetheless he defends the crap out of people and plays bigger will be a handful for Carlton to score against.

Offensively agree with their fan above, seen them a couple times yesterday 2nd half best I've seen them shoot it prior to that nothing special except when they go to the hole they're tough. If I'm DH I allow my guys to leave space so as to not allow them to beat us off the dribble. We tend to get up in the face without being able to move quick enough to stop their first step and minus AG who can do that, we will need to more concerned of the dribble drive than the 3. Thats just me. They board too, we will need all hands on deck to rebound the ball.

Interesting match up for this team, despite the horrid start for AG wish he was playing. But kids will grow up no matter how it ends. Should be fun, edge of the seat rock fight!

 

[browndog319]

When I heard Alterique Gilbert was hurt, I went from hopeful to DOOMED.

Because he’s the guy who is our scoring machine? A defensive genius?

 

[Stinger92860]

Watch a bit of the Towson game. I was impressed by their active defense, everyone hustles to get back. I thought their bigs were solid. It will be interesting to see how our guys respond to the pressure D.

 

[huskyblooz]

Best part of beating Buffalo, is that we play Xavier and not Towson. And I believe we’d get the winner/loser of UF/Miami. RPI will be much better come March.

 

[Giddyup5]

This is the type of team where I hope we specifically game plan to get their bigs in foul trouble.

I would love if the message to Vital who is great at getting to the line is to try to get Jones into foul trouble early. Same with Carlton—maybe an extra pump fake or 2 specifically looking to go up into their body.

Since they are not a great outside shooting team, getting their bigs to play tentative with foul trouble will help greatly in the closing minutes.

 

[intlzncster]

They are coming off a 3 point win at home vs Missouri State and an OT win at home vs Mizzou where they needed to rally to force OT.

They are strong defensively and athletic but they don't shoot the ball particularly well from outside. They are kinda similar to Florida.

Except that Florida wasn't that great on D when they played us. And ran some bad offense other than a few guys breaking us down one on one.

This game will tell us something, and we might keep it relatively close, but I see them pulling away at the end for an 8-10pt win.

Would love to be surprised otherwise.

 

[superjohn]

They play active defense, much more active than Buffalo so whether people like it or not Gilbert will be missed. Brendan Adams was terrific last night but will be completely tested running the point tonight, different world. Gaffney looked a little bit more comfortable last night, had some good minutes we will see again tonight how far he is coming. Bigger longer defenders. As far as the interior I laugh at the 6'9 Jones spec, no shot he's almost the same size as Scruggs actually lucky to be 6'7", very lucky. Nonetheless he defends the crap out of people and plays bigger will be a handful for Carlton to score against.

Offensively agree with their fan above, seen them a couple times yesterday 2nd half best I've seen them shoot it prior to that nothing special except when they go to the hole they're tough. If I'm DH I allow my guys to leave space so as to not allow them to beat us off the dribble. We tend to get up in the face without being able to move quick enough to stop their first step and minus AG who can do that, we will need to more concerned of the dribble drive than the 3. Thats just me. They board too, we will need all hands on deck to rebound the ball.

Interesting match up for this team, despite the horrid start for AG wish he was playing. But kids will grow up no matter how it ends. Should be fun, edge of the seat rock fight!

Jones is the same height as Kevin Pangos.

 

[intlzncster]

ehhhh florida nearly lost to towson, who we just beat like a drum. mizzou is a good team with a top ten defense and missouri state should win the valley this year. they nearly beat miami today. we've been underwhelming, but not as much as florida

Besides, the transitive property never holds in basketball anyway.

 

[ctchamps]

They are coming off a 3 point win at home vs Missouri State and an OT win at home vs Mizzou where they needed to rally to force OT.

They are strong defensively and athletic but they don't shoot the ball particularly well from outside. They are kinda similar to Florida.

Missouri State gave Miami a genuine scare. They are a decent team and had a decent fan presence at the game.

That said we match up well with Xavier and hopefully it will be a great game. If it’s close the atmosphere in the arena will be crazy. Wife and I are going to 7:00 game and getting to arena early to insure we get good seats because we expect the Xavier fans will do the same.

 

[RipCity]

Jones isn’t going to kill us with Carlton and Akok down low. We can’t let Moore get hot from 3 or let Marshall dominate us like Cook did for Iowa last year

 

[mauconnfan]

Jones is the same height as Kevin Pangos.

6'1"? LOL

 

[Waquoit]

This is not true. We've been an awful shooting team so far. We were shooting 20% from three coming into today's game.

They're a really, really, really, really bad matchup for us.

I'll take my chances with a poor outside shooting team.

 

[upstater]

Because he’s the guy who is our scoring machine? A defensive genius?

The guy who runs our plays and handles the ball.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I'll take my chances with a poor outside shooting team.

The big question is can UConn shoot well from the outside two nights in a row. Almost 40% from three last night. Another night like that would go a long way toward a dub.

 

[UConnRock]

This is the type of team where I hope we specifically game plan to get their bigs in foul trouble.

I would love if the message to Vital who is great at getting to the line is to try to get Jones into foul trouble early. Same with Carlton—maybe an extra pump fake or 2 specifically looking to go up into their body.

Since they are not a great outside shooting team, getting their bigs to play tentative with foul trouble will help greatly in the closing minutes.
[/QUOTE]

Agreed, Xavier is not a deep team. In their tougher early season games they played 5 guys 30 minutes or more. Only one big came off the bench in the Missouri OT game and that was for just 12 minutes. Only a 25% 3 point shooting team. Which means they will probably hit 50% tonight.

 

[don356]

This is not true. We've been an awful shooting team so far. We were shooting 20% from three coming into today's game.

We have a starting lineup of great athletes that play spectacular defense, but on the flip side, they can't shoot. That's resulted in a lot of rock fights so far this year. We're integrating 7 new guys, 5 freshmen and 2 grad transfers. Our highest ranked freshman is hurt and he's probably our best scorer, which hasn't helped. We've had some problems with decision making and taking care of the ball. I expect this to be a battle. The game against Towson is the best we've played all year.

They're one of the worst 3 pt shooting teams in D1 this year and also last year. They're not particularly big. Key is to challenge them inside and exploit their lack of depth inside. If guys pitch back out, should get a lot of good looks.

 

[Psolo12]

Xavier is a very good team and who knows how the game will go, but I actually feel like we match up pretty well. Getting my hopes up even though I know it may not work out

 

[bendm]

even if we lose, beating Miami in the 3rd place game will make this a successful tourney.

 

[coachn]

B Adams is that big guard we need on D. He gives us so much with his talent and size.

 

[coachn]

even if we lose, beating Miami in the 3rd place game will make this a successful tourney.

Not going to lose.

 

[MattMang23]

Xavier is here IN DROVES! You can’t walk down the street in Charleston and not run into 5-10 of them within the first five minutes.

It’s going to be raucous tonight. There’s a big game feel here.

UConn is well represented but we don’t have the group Xavier has. They and Florida really showed up. We have less but we are loud and rowdy. After us, X and UF I don’t think any other school even knew their team was playing in this tournament. I’ve seen literally one person wearing Miami gear and one person wearing Missouri St. Zero St. Joe’s or Buffalo.

 

[ctchamps]

Xavier is here IN DROVES! You can’t walk down the street in Charleston and not run into 5-10 of them within the first five minutes.

It’s going to be raucous tonight. There’s a big game feel here.

UConn is well represented but we don’t have the group Xavier has. They and Florida really showed up. We have less but we are loud and rowdy. After us, X and UF I don’t think any other school even knew their team was playing in this tournament. I’ve seen literally one person wearing Miami gear and one person wearing Missouri St. Zero St. Joe’s or Buffalo.

We had more fans than UF at yesterday’s games. I don’t know if more came today. We have somewhere between half and 3/4 the number of Xavier as appeared in yesterday’s game. I was actually impressed with our turnout.

UConn fans are at watering holes instead of on the streets.

 

[Waquoit]

UConn fans are at watering holes instead of on the streets.

And they're known for being good tippers. Not like those Cuse pikers.

 

[ctchamps]

And they're know for being good tippers. Not like those Cuse pikers.

I’m doing my part to represent the university well.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Jones is the same height as Kevin Pangos.

Blast from the past. I had forgotten about that.