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Win over Cajuns - Entertaining!! Adjusting!!
By
Andy Mac Williams,
12/21/2003
Louisiana-LaFayette isn't Duke or Kentucky. Heck, they lost by seven at Dayton, but they're not bad and the way Xavier beat them Saturday afternoon at Cintas was encouraging. XU 2003-2004 is a work in progress, not a write off. There is substantial upside right here-right now so don't start dreaming about next year's blockbuster recruiting class quite yet.
The first half was butt ugly defensively for XU. The Rajun Cajuns shredded the Muskies' man-to-man. They shot 63% and netted a bunch of lay-ups, and veteran guard pressure is supposed to be a Xavier strong point?? What would Jameer Nelson and Delonte West and Ramod Marshall and Chad Moore and Nick Williams do against a porous defense like this?? I was thinking: Why not try a little zone?? Thad Matta stayed true to his base defense, counseled the lads aggressively at the half, and made some nice match-up adjustments. Sato blanketed the Cajuns' point guard. There's a plan worth repeating; If a team can't initiate its offense, the rest of its weapons are devalued. Sato against a smaller ball handler will work if Romain can avoid foul trouble. That may be a problem on the road or against a team with multiple point guard types.
Sato could do his thing because Justin Doellman played excellent man defense on Auburn transfer Dwayne Mitchell. Doellman reminds me so much of Richie Harris (a quiet XU star of the mid 1980's) -- long, athletic, high basketball IQ, potentially great shooter, smart defender, solid rebounder. Justin has a gritty nasty streak which will make him a big game pressure player. He thrived on the extra minutes he earned because of Justin Cage's injury and Will Caudle's ineffectiveness. Cage, if healthy, would have flourised against LaFayette and their athletic all court style.
When Xavier fell 10 back at 49-39 about 2 minutes into the second half, I checked the Cintas numbers. X was 43-3 at home with just one non-conference loss in 3 plus years in the new building (UC two years ago). A loss to LaFayette just could not happen. The offense hadn't been bad against the zone, and X really started to roll against the Cajuns' man defense. It was entertaining. The Muskies attacked the basket, got to the foul line, made their free throws, found Myles inside, made good decisions across the board and wrapped every thing up into a stirring rally. X grew right in front of us over two hours.
A dominating post presence is not going to magically appear before Selection Sunday for the Muskies, but there are other ways to win. Getting to the line and making 70%-plus certainly helps. Hitting open jump shots is a must, but Myles and Cage must see the ball down low. Finn and Chalmers must pick their spots to attack the basket. Matta must find ways to get more minutes for the two Justins. Their future is now, considering the alternatives.
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