EKU vs X game thread

[bluegrass]

The reality is this is very similar to last year. X beat a horrible Miss and Missouri St in a nail biter and people said at least they are undefeated, Missouri St are going to beat a lot of teams this year, Missouri is in the SEC, and wait till Kyky is healthy. Hearing the same things about Bradley, Toledo, and EKU and the return of our unproven, untested, freshmen. These are the same three teams we as a fanbase ridiculed Steele for scheduling such a bad non conference schedule-Thank God. Unfortunately X appear to be what they are. An average outside shooting team who can't handle the ball under pressure. Perhaps the last three games are more like X than the first one vs Oakland. I like Scruggs a lot but he fouling out was the best thing that happened to X because they pressured the ball and he and Tandy struggle. Odom's Turnovers were bad decisions while Scruggs and Tandy invite the traps and lack ball handling skills You would think Scruggs would have gotten better with dribbling by his senior year. X will have games like Oakland this year because they have definitely improved their shooting. But games where 3s aren't falling and X will struggle. Ironic, last two years, teams sat in the paint daring X to shoot or wait for Naji to drive into them. This year, teams are challenging the outside shot and guarding X bigs with one player. Fremantle has been very good but not really a banger in the paint -at least thus far. Hope they improve or at least we find out that EKU, Bradley, and Toledo are world beaters.

Last years team had much higher expectations.There a lot of unknowns going into this year.I'll take a sloppy 4-0.BTW did you see Michigan went to OT to beat Oakland ?

[Anti-Homer]

Shew!

I had a horrible dream last night. I dreamt that we were still in the lowly mid-major league of the MCC, as opposed to being in one of the top three majors in the past seven years.

I dreamt that X’s aspirations were making the NCAA tourney as a 14 seed 3-4 out of 10 years, as opposed to annually playing win for high seeds.

I dreamt that X hasn’t won 3 elite 8s in the last two decades, scores of SW 16s, and haven’t occupied a slot in the Top 25 more times than not from 07-17.

I dreamt that X wasn’t annually rated one of Forbes top 20 bball programs.

I dreamt that took greyhound buses as opposed to flying private planes to games and recruiting visits.

I dreamt we had a fan base that didn’t embrace progress and didn’t show disdain for mediocrity despite have top 25 recruiting classes 8 out of 10 years.

Now that I’ve awoken, I pity the team coming to the defensive juggernaut which awaits them at Cintas. Who is the unfortunate team? Tennessee? Texas Tech? Iowa? I don’t care who it is. Just glad I awoke from my nightmare.

[longliveskip]

Shew!

I had a horrible dream last night. I dreamt that we were still in the lowly mid-major league of the MCC, as opposed to being in one of the top three majors in the past seven years.

I dreamt that X’s aspirations were making the NCAA tourney as a 14 seed 3-4 out of 10 years, as opposed to annually playing win for high seeds.

I dreamt that X hasn’t won 3 elite 8s in the last two decades, scores of SW 16s, and haven’t occupied a slot in the Top 25 more times than not from 07-17.

I dreamt that X wasn’t annually rated one of Forbes top 20 bball programs.

I dreamt that took greyhound buses as opposed to flying private planes to games and recruiting visits.

I dreamt we had a fan base that didn’t embrace progress and didn’t show disdain for mediocrity despite have top 25 recruiting classes 8 out of 10 years.

Now that I’ve awoken, I pity the team coming to the defensive juggernaut which awaits them at Cintas. Who is the unfortunate team? Tennessee? Texas Tech? Iowa? I don’t care who it is. Just glad I awoke from my nightmare.

can't imagine what those UK boards were like after getting dominated by Richmond.

it's not enough to just WIN, now. if we don't beat any non-power conf team by 30 well then, this team must be a "nightmare"

4 games in 6 days playing basically 7 guys. win all 4 but since we didn't do it in "top 3 majors/playing for high seeds/top 25/top Forbes program/private planes/top 25 recruiting class/etc" style, then we are just a terrible team.

maybe go back to sleep for awhile. when you wake up, we will still be 4-0.

[X-lucidity]

'Skip, I see that a few of your buttons have been pushed. Your points are valid, and I think all of us, (as I believe Anti's dream post was attempting to point out), are thrilled with the evolution of this program. Maybe we do take it for granted at times but that is human nature. Hell, I attended class at X back when we were psyched to land Dexter Skywalker Bailey, who was a fun player to watch. So I am all too well aware of from whence we came. That said, this is a B-ball fan board. I enjoy and respect the basketball acumen of my fellow posters here. I, as I am sure others, mean no disrespect to our coaches, and especially our players, who have chosen to join our Xavier Nation Family. What I enjoy doing on this board is analyzing play, progress, recruiting and strategies and then discussing. I was amazed at the lovefest after our smashing of Oakland. If you recall, I posted an entry stating positives and questions derived from that game. I took some flak there. But my 3 big questions from the Oakland gm were:
- too reliant on 3 pt attempts
- D. Miles looked promising but did not seem strong or physical enough to help much yet this year vs quality competition, thus little post depth
- I was very concerned about our defensive rebounding.
* Now we add in a propensity to be prone to ball pressure and turnovers......
So far, these are playing out. Now, are we allowed as fans to comment on such topics without upsetting the B-Ball Gods or ruining karma? I would hope so. I am a huge fan and root for all our players. But again, loving this sport as I do, and being a frustrated youth coach that enjoys a little arm-chair quarterbacking, this Muskie Madness forum provides us all with that opportunity to debate these topics with like-minded fans. So I will not apologize for posting my respectful critiques. Just know that tonight, I will be glued to the TV, rooting hard for our guys and enjoying the fact that we are no longer a Mid-Major and subject to lofty expectations.

[madness31]

This may be a first for me but I generally agree with Muskieman on this game.

That was 1 of the worst games Scruggs has played. If he plays average, it is a very easy win. His head was never in the game. I don't think it has anything to do with inability to handle the ball though I agree he has issues with that periodically. To me, his issues are more mental than physical - just gets careless/overconfident at times.

As previously mentioned, Tandy taking the ball to the rim is huge. He needs to be more than just a shooter and he showed that he can be.

Odom, despite some turnovers in this game is playing remarkably well as a Freshman. His stat line is very good other than the TOs.

Johnson & Griffin are great additions.

Carter and Freemantle came up big.

It is early in the year. Practice time has been limited due to covid. Some players are out. The margin of victory is concerning but given those factors on a team that has limited time together and it is not the disaster some believe. Plenty of room for growth but this team seems capable and interested in being better.

[muskieman]

This may be a first for me but I generally agree with Muskieman on this game.

That was 1 of the worst games Scruggs has played. If he plays average, it is a very easy win. His head was never in the game. I don't think it has anything to do with inability to handle the ball though I agree he has issues with that periodically. To me, his issues are more mental than physical - just gets careless/overconfident at times.

As previously mentioned, Tandy taking the ball to the rim is huge. He needs to be more than just a shooter and he showed that he can be.

Odom, despite some turnovers in this game is playing remarkably well as a Freshman. His stat line is very good other than the TOs.

Johnson & Griffin are great additions.

Carter and Freemantle came up big.

It is early in the year. Practice time has been limited due to covid. Some players are out. The margin of victory is concerning but given those factors on a team that has limited time together and it is not the disaster some believe. Plenty of room for growth but this team seems capable and interested in being better.

I knew you would come around someday.

[longliveskip]

'Skip, I see that a few of your buttons have been pushed. Your points are valid, and I think all of us, (as I believe Anti's dream post was attempting to point out), are thrilled with the evolution of this program. Maybe we do take it for granted at times but that is human nature. Hell, I attended class at X back when we were psyched to land Dexter Skywalker Bailey, who was a fun player to watch. So I am all too well aware of from whence we came. That said, this is a B-ball fan board. I enjoy and respect the basketball acumen of my fellow posters here. I, as I am sure others, mean no disrespect to our coaches, and especially our players, who have chosen to join our Xavier Nation Family. What I enjoy doing on this board is analyzing play, progress, recruiting and strategies and then discussing. I was amazed at the lovefest after our smashing of Oakland. If you recall, I posted an entry stating positives and questions derived from that game. I took some flak there. But my 3 big questions from the Oakland gm were:
- too reliant on 3 pt attempts
- D. Miles looked promising but did not seem strong or physical enough to help much yet this year vs quality competition, thus little post depth
- I was very concerned about our defensive rebounding.
* Now we add in a propensity to be prone to ball pressure and turnovers......
So far, these are playing out. Now, are we allowed as fans to comment on such topics without upsetting the B-Ball Gods or ruining karma? I would hope so. I am a huge fan and root for all our players. But again, loving this sport as I do, and being a frustrated youth coach that enjoys a little arm-chair quarterbacking, this Muskie Madness forum provides us all with that opportunity to debate these topics with like-minded fans. So I will not apologize for posting my respectful critiques. Just know that tonight, I will be glued to the TV, rooting hard for our guys and enjoying the fact that we are no longer a Mid-Major and subject to lofty expectations.

no real "buttons pushed" but i think sometimes it just seems like some people on this board "expect" perfection and the only thing they like to post are the team's flaws or player's mistakes. it gets tiring. i think we all need to remember that these are 18-21 year old BOYS. Travis is in his what, 3rd year? he's still learning and getting better each season. we also are missing 2-3 key pieces to this team and may actually get FOUR of them back if the NCAA rules everyone gets their waiver this year. if that happens, WATCH OUT. that being said, that means every OTHER team also gets their players eligible so it seems like it will not just make X better, but everyone else we play as well. so, get ready for some WARS. should be fun if that happens and if we can keep everyone healthy and off the "covid" list.

every team has flaws, especially in December. that's what some of these non-conference games are for - to figure out what your team can/can't do and find that identity, especially when your pre-season was basically nothing - no scrimmages, no exhibition games, no summer trip, etc.

you can be happy with 5-0 and still think we can improve, but to simply constantly pick out mistakes just seems to me to be one of those things where i ask "do you even enjoy watching the Muskies or are you just constantly looking for things to complain about?"