Xavier vs. Tennessee Tech thread

[skyhops]

Gotta rebound better. I’m afraid the new bigs are familiar with hedging and it has caused some cheap fouls. No excuse to get out rebounded by this team

[muskieman]

Happy to see Griffin getting a little more time in the first half. 6 pts 3 rebounds and 1 block

[Anti-Homer]

Hi folks, made an account years ago but never got around to posting. This seems like a fun time to jump in the convo!

At least according to Kenpom, TNT will be one of the weakest teams we play all year, if not the weakest. I hope that coach Steele gives Miles and Griffin some significant playing time tonight because they've shown promise and they will very much be needed when BE play kicks off.

Also, I get the sense that Mr. Scruggs is confused as to what role he has on this team. Is he a little a little surprised that KyKy and Dwon are so good and feels threatened? Just feels like he doesn't mesh with them as well as they mesh with each other. Or is this another example of Travis mismanaging his talent?

Feel free to roast me if these are some bad takes.

Excellent 1st take. I think Scruggs will be fine . He has always been a little out of control, but he has a very good midrange game. Remember my friend LLS’ caution that when you play the murderer’s row X has to date, just escaping with the W is the only goal. Don’t be surprised if a $3.00 Dunkin Donuts gift card appears in your mailbox .

You do know what they call a team that wins every game by one point, right?

You mean wins over the the ones X has played? CBI bubble team.

[Anti-Homer]

Happy to see Griffin getting a little more time in the first half. 6 pts 3 rebounds and 1 block

Griffin is a lot better than I expected. With the right matchups, I’d like to see him get a lot more playing time. Free is the best all around big but his defense is godawful.

Carter’s limited range (tip in) makes CJ Anderson’s look like Steph Curry. With UC’s 7 foot plus big, I think Griffin should play north of 20 minutes.

[muskieman]

Excellent 1st take. I think Scruggs will be fine . He has always been a little out of control, but he has a very good midrange game. Remember my friend LLS’ caution that when you play the murderer’s row X has to date, just escaping with the W is the only goal. Don’t be surprised if a $3.00 Dunkin Donuts gift card appears in your mailbox .

You do know what they call a team that wins every game by one point, right?

You mean wins over the the ones X has played? CBI bubble team.

Didn't think you would know the answer. That is why you were given that rejection letter when you begged to be a moderator

[X-lucidity]

In watching a few other games this week, as I finally had some time, very apparent that a lot of teams which have been fairly well thought of can look sloppy and inconsistent through significant stretches of games. Understandable given a Covid summer rolling into no exhibitions games or controlled intense scrimmages. Really is a crapshoot out there as teams search for their identity, their chemistry, all the while trying to win games and knock the rust off at the same time. In that sense, very glad X made it through this 5 gm in 8 day stint with zero "L"s. We showed some glimpses of improvement tonight, although T-Tech lacked the ability to expose some of our recent glitches. I still wish we were able to limit 2nd shots better. Seemed like the 1st game we really boxed out well, and now that has waned a bit. Could be due to having limited practices with so many games in a row. I know from coaching youth, boxing out is one of the 1st habits to erode if not constantly pounded in daily at practice. So maybe chalk it up to that. I agree with prior posters that Griffin showed a lot tonight. Especially rebounding and on the offensive side. If our coaches can continue to work with him on his hedging help and recovery on D, and just overall familiarity with the pack-line, Bryan could blossom into that dependable 3rd post rotation piece. Another random thought, Tandy is that special talent that can spark us with instant O, but many times you can tell he is about to force a poor shot. Tough to reign in a kid with his flare for getting buckets without jeopardizing the moxy needed to excel - so maybe we take the good with the bad as admittedly, there has been much more to the good side. Once again, Nate is really filling a nice niche on both ends and, along with Free, has been our early season MVP. I counted really only one poor decision forced shot tonight - and honestly, I think he has earned that luxury.
Well, I have rambled on a bit again here. Our young men got the job done this eve. A couple days now to rest, practice, and watch tape. Sunday and the Bearkitties loom just around the corner..... Thank goodness for Muskie basketball to pull us away from the entire bizarre spectrum that is 2020.

[madness31]

Obviously Tenn Tech is not a good team to judge a team by but there have been enough games to date to start forming an opinion.

Odom can ball. He is college ready.

This is the Scruggs we need to see all year. Distributing the ball, limiting 3's to open looks and doing a little bit of everything. Excluding the prior game and a few unnecessary 3's in some other games, he has been playing great basketball thus far.

Carter and Griffin are dominating the glass. Defending well and playing with high effort.

Tandy is improved from freshman year. He is a pure scorer. I loved that he didn't force the action today. Didn't even score until the 2nd half.

Miles has a lot of potential. His offense is smooth but he does not appear to be ready. He isn't yet ready to get after it on the glass. He is a block machine but he needs to fight more when shots are coming off the rim. I expect good things in the years to come, hopefully some great moments this year but most likely he will spend a lot of time on the bench. Carter, Griffin and Free are further along.

Johnson was a great get. His shooting is huge, rebounds well and gets the team extra opportunities.

Freemantle is strong offensively but needs to improve defensively. Decision making is a bit questionable at times but he is definitely an asset.

This is a much better and more fun team to watch than the past couple years. Hard to know how X will do in BE play but there is definitely potential.

[muskieman]

Obviously Tenn Tech is not a good team to judge a team by but there have been enough games to date to start forming an opinion.

Miles has a lot of potential. His offense is smooth but he does not appear to be ready. He isn't yet ready to get after it on the glass. He is a block machine but he needs to fight more when shots are coming off the rim. I expect good things in the years to come, hopefully some great moments this year but most likely he will spend a lot of time on the bench. Carter, Griffin and Free are further along.

I remember one play last night where one of TT's big men took the ball and backed into Miles, who went sprawling to the floor. Not good, but add a few more pounds of muscle and that will not happen. Jennings still has work to do. For the nine playing minutes, Miles contributed some good numbers. 4 points on 2-2 shooting, 1 O rebound, and 2 blocks but his lack of strength also caused him to turn the ball over twice. I still am excited to see him play more.

Besides Nate, I was happy to see Griffin play 24 minutes last night. Travis has done a good job of getting good minutes for Miles and Griffin from game to game.

I see that Travis' dilemma is finding minutes for all ten players but I am sure at least the eight that played last night need to get minutes each game and the two freshmen sitting now, probably need some time.

When you see your bench contribute 20+ points in 4 of your first five games there is great potential for the team

[kyzrex]

Prior to the first game it was rumored that Jones was in the starting lineup. Will be interesting to see if that happens in the future, and whose position he might be taking. Odom? Johnson?

[skyhops]

Defensively, Jones can guard 1-4 which will help quite a bit and can also score. Will be interesting to see if Stanley will be on the court later this month.