The season thus far...

[joebba]

SE MISSOURI STATE Win - 90-59 (Who are they?)
Miami (OH) Loss - 59-57
COPPIN ST Win - 98-49 Blow-out – 24 point in 1st 4 minutes of 2nd half
Kent State Win - 78-65 Decent win against a decent team.
Indiana Win - 80-65 Only team to beat them thus far.
OAKLAND Win - 93-68 Blow-out
BELMONT Win - 90-49 Blow-out
CREIGHTON Win - 79-66 Good win against a tough team
CINCINNATI Win - 64-59 A little too close for comfort, but it’s the shootout.
Arizona St. Loss - 77-55 Bad loss against a good team.
TENNESSEE Loss - 82-75 Disappointing we could not finish this game
DELAWARE STATE Win - 65-33 Low score for opponent.
KANSAS STATE Win - 103-77 Total domination.
VIRGINIA Win - 108-70 Total domination.
1/6/2008 Auburn Win - 80-57 Blow-out.
1/9/2008 ST. BONAVENTURE Win - 83-68 Strong win.
1/12/2008 FORDHAM Win - 68-50
1/16/2008 Temple Loss - 78-59 Bad loss.
1/19/2008 George Washington Win - 74-66 Better win than the score might indicate.
1/24/2008 DAYTON Win - 69-43 Good win against an opponent on the downturn.


Just some thoughts about the season thus far:

XU has had a very good season despite our two worst losses against Arizona State and Temple. We seem to have some problem with the road games. It is baffling we can have such bad losses for a team that has had so many dominating wins this season.

Our loss against Miami is turning out to not be a good one but it is a traditional rival. In the end if X can finish the rest of the season through the conference tourney with only a couple more losses we can be in good position for as high as a three seed. The only thing bad that can come out of the Miami loss is where we end up being seeded. The losses against AZ State and Temple could hurt us seeding-wise as well, but if you just look at who we have played and beaten badly and how we nearly beat Tennessee, the selection committee cannot help but recognize how good we are. We certainly can do well on a neutral court this year (Kent St, Indiana, Kansas St.).

Stanley Burrell. What can you say? He is our best defensive player hands down. He is the fire igniter. Next to Lavender he is the most important player on this team. We know who he has shut down this year. Impressive.

Drew Lavender. I think he is our most important player because without his consistent ball handling and ability on D to create steals, XU would struggle with consistency on both sides of the floor. This is not a slight on Stanley. Stan could run the point without Lavender, but his defense would have to suffer if he needed to take that role again.

Duncan. Say what you will, he has improved and Sean making him the six man has turned out to work well for our team. Duncan can now play out side and inside with Love’s emergence. Duncan has been more aggressive on rebounding and on taking it to the hoop. He has had some very good drives to the basket from the outside, being patient and working it in. Better than her ever has been. He has worked on his toughness. Give him his credit.

Love. His emergence on the post has been needed for this team to get better. He has turned out to be a great rebounder on offense. He needs to work on his quickness in the post much like Duncan, but I am proud of his dramatic improvement.

BJ Raymond. Man can he shoot the threes. He also has brought about the tough attitude this team has really adopted.

Dante Jackson. He is really coming along on the relatively limited playing time he has had. This will be key toward the end of the season.

CJ Anderson. He is deceptively smooth on the inside, with a knack at finding the basket.

Brown. He has shown the ability to be a rebounder, a scorer, a dunker, hit three’s. He is having a hard time finding a role we can call his. I think that is just because he has the talent to go any direction with his game.

Consistancy, balanced scoring, unselfish play, depth. We have a nearly complete package this year.

Sean Miller. Say what you want, I think he has done a tremendous job of managing the talent this team has. We have too much talent to stick to just a core line-up. He is getting the future players of the team the opportunity to develop and contribute at the same time. That is hard to do when you have 9 players who could play lots of minutes if we were not so deep. I also like that is seems he has a real fire this year. He is expecting and demanding a lot from the payers and they are expecting it of themselves.

Kudos to the team for a fun season so far. (And how about David Freaking West. His team has the 2nd best record in the NBA this year.)