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Atlantic City Here WE Come!!
By
Andy Mac Williams,
3/10/2008
Xavier punctuated its best regular season ever (26-5) with a resounding 86-61 pounding of a decent Richmond team on Senior Night at Cintas. The snow emergency didn't prevent too many of the Muskie faithful from plowing their way to Victory Parkway. They were rewarded with XU's return to form. The first 10 minutes were forgettable as X adjusted to UR's funky style and the complete absence of point guard Drew Lavender. Why didn't the diminutive one play? Was it the pesky ankle,the flu or a disciplinary situation? Who knows? But Xavier won comfortably without him.
Stanley Burrell did the bulk of the ballhandling and took Spider star shooting guard Danny Gonzales right out of the game. X pounded the ball inside against the undersized Richmond team outrebounding them, 40-21, forcing them to play clutch and grab.
XU made an astounding 36 of 43 free throws after a couple off games in that department.
BJ Raymond scored a career high 22 points from all angles and distances. Derrick Brown embarked on a dunkfest, and C.J. Anderson found his driving game.
X played lock down defense reducing the Spiders to a flurry of air balls and contested shots. It was a great dress rehersal for the A-10 Tourney which opens Thursday at Noon for the Muskies at Boardwalk Hall against the winner of Wednesday's 8-9 game between Dayton and St Louis.
X moves into March Madness rated 9th in the RPI, 10th in the AP Poll, and 12th in the Coaches' ratings. A "2" seed in the NCAAs might be a stretch for XU even with 3 wins in AC. Without Lavender 3 wins in 3 days will be rough anyway. Expect Lavender to be in the line-up! He's too competitive and proud to go out with a whimper on the bench.
Dayton will be favored Wednesday over SLU. The Flyers finished the regular season with a mini-3 game winning streak (at Fordham, at Saint Bonnies, home to Saint Joe's). UD is 20-9. Wins in AC over SLU and Xavier would put them in NCAA at large contention. Dayton beat SJU 79-67 Saturday at UD Arena using balanced scoring.
Saint Louis is 15-14 overall. Rick Majerus has never coached a team with a .500 or below record. The Billikens can get great guard play from Kevin Lisch and Tommie Liddell.
Xavier thumped Dayton in the Quarterfinals last season and beat the Flyers twice this regular season. X won their lone game against Saint Louis this season on the road with a Derrick Brown tip-in at the buzzer.
The Muskies' side of the bracket looks manageable. Saint Joe's has to play Wednesday against Fordham. The winner advances to play 4-seed Richmond. X would get the winner there if they make Friday night's Semis.
The lower half of the bracket is loaded with hot teams Temple, UMass and very talented Rhode Island. UMass has a decent NCAA at large shot and Temple may also. Expect the A-10 to get 2 NCAA bids (Xavier plus one). If the Muskies lose early, there might be a scenario for 3 NCAA berths, but that's a stretch. It would have to be a Dayton-UMass or Temple Final, I'd guess, with UMass or Temple winning which they would because there is no way on God's green earth that Dayton is going to win 4 games in 4 days.
TV coverage until Saturday's Championship game at 6PM on ESPN will be spotty. CSTV has something going Thursday and Friday and games can be viewed "on-line". Hopefully, the new commissioner will beef up the TV package.
Xavier did well in A-10 Conference Awards. Josh Duncan was picked 6th man of the year. B.J. Raymond would have been 7th man if they had such an honor.
Stanley Burrell got Defensive Player of the Year. Usually they give that to some shot blocker, but the voters paid attention. Burrell's victims list included "name" players like Eric Gordonm, Chris Lofton, Sean Singletary, Brian Roberts, and Jimmy Baron -- a who's who of Division one shooting guards. Justin Cage followed by Stanley Burrell -- It's becoming a great XU tradition!!
Both Burrell and Drew Lavender made Second Team All-Conference and Sean Miller won Coach of the Year. He may win again on the National Level.
I'll be attending the Tournament and will attempt to file a story every day starting Wednesday if I can figure out how to use son Sean's laptop.
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