Winning Ugly

[picknroll]

I was at the game to see how a team that is balanced and refuses to lose can win ugly. If you had told me the following would happen, I would have said they would have lost by 20:

1) only 7 assists;
2) total of 16 turnovers
3) gave up 15 offensive rebounds;
4) were outrebounded by 2;
5) played at UD arena.

A new day has dawned at Xavier. How to win in different ways, and how to win with poise and confidence when sometimes things don't go your way. A true mark of a champion.

[Mr. Neutral]

The '83 White Sox won the AL West by 20 games while adopting the "winning ugly" slogan for the team. (However, the Orioles' pitching staff shut them down in the playoffs, so this story doesn't have a good ending.)

Yes, it is good to see a Xavier team that just guts out wins when things aren't firing on all cylinders, especially on the road.

If there's any one thing I'd like to see X improve on, it's the unforced/sloppy turnovers that seem to have increased recently. We're keeping the opposition in games they should be out of due to our own miscues.

Come tourney time, we're going to want to be playing as error-free ball as possible.

[X-band '01]

The '83 Pale Hose wore some of the ugliest uniforms on record; wouldn't it stand to reason that they won ugly?

[muskieman]

Come tourney time, we're going to want to be playing as error-free ball as possible.

so X still has some time to improve and X is yet to peak in your mind. Peak in March not in Dec, Jan or Feb.

[Mr. Neutral]

<<so X still has some time to improve and X is yet to peak in your mind. Peak in March not in Dec, Jan or Feb.>>

I think you could argue that-so far-X peaked during the 3-game steamroller over Kansas State, Virginia and Auburn, and has been struggling to get back to that level ever since.

Now, you can argue that conference play is always going to be a rough-and-tumble affair that may not always show a team's ultimate capabilities, but more how tough they are, which is a good thing as well.

Plus, at this point of the season, everybody's a little dinged up, and trying to gut things out.

Here's hoping there's more great wins to come.

[finalfourorbust]

The turnover problem will improve as Drew's health improves.

[muskienick]

The important part of "winning ugly" is WINNING. Fortunately, as the season wears on, all teams are dinged up. Many teams have key players out or playing through pain. That's where XU has the edge on many of them. We have a bunch of guys who play good team defense and they seem to like spreading the glory evenly among the team on offense. Nobody has to be the go-to guy day in and day out. But we have 6-7 guys who are capable of stepping up when needed.

[MarionHall4ever]

Right on the money, Nick. Well said.