Niagara Game

[longliveskip]

i'm not sure how a close win at home to start the season means that the season is over, but apparently, on here, we just shouldn't play any more games because it won't matter. i don't even know why the guys will even go to practice or the coaches even try to work on anything else to try to win more games because we aren't winning another game this year. 1-29 is most likely the record at the end of the season. there's just no hope.

i'll come back to this board in March when we finish last in the Big East and are looking for a new coach.

Godspeed to everyone on this board who has to read the absolute trash/negativity/bashing that gets posted on here.

I hope you were being sarcastic because we could use some more sanity on the board. I agree some here think what they see as negative to also be unchangeable.
Granted X shot the ball too much from the three but at the beginning of the game, they succeeded in getting the game to be played at their speed and not Niagara's speed unfortunately after X led by 13 they let Niagara change the game speed. and taking shots, not within their game plan We have seen this before in other games where a team slows the game down and we know, or some of us do, that it is easier to slow a game down than speed it up. I think if Miles had played more in the first half the way he played in the second half X may not have come away with so many empty possessions.

agree on most of this. less than half of our shots were 3's and i can remember when it was closer to 60% of our shots in some games. i don't remember, of our 27 3's taken, any that were "bad". all looked "open" to me. in remembering the flow of the game, seemed like over 90% of our 3's taken were off a pass and not off a dribble. we just missed some REALLY GOOD looks by some of our better shooters. yes, we need to get the ball into the post earlier and more often. some of that is Miles/Nunge fault and some of it was just bad passes by our guards when trying to enter it in.

a couple other things - they BANKED in 2 3's, one from behind half court to end the game. couple that with if we shoot like 70% for the game from the FT line and all of the sudden it's a double digit win.

in the end, i really don't care how much we win by. just WIN and move forward trying to improve on the things that were lacking or weren't up to par yet.

i chalk some of this up to - 2 new starters, one who is in first year at X along with no Freemantle or KyKy. those things all factor in.

no idea on Stanley not getting in - health? just wondering.

[muskieman]

LongLiveSkip I agree to the just win and forget the spread. A team in a decent conference that wins every game they play by 1 point goes undefeated and will be the National Champ which would be okay in my book. Style points only seem to work, at times, in College football.

Hunter was perfect from the line while other good foul shooters were not and I don't expect those other players to be that bad in other games. As for the threes I also agree not seeing bad threes taken but I do believe they settled at times for the three. Sure they missed inside shots too because while they were hot shooting the threes at the beginning their overall % from the field was less than desirable because their inside and short-range shots were not falling. It must be frustrating to miss bunnies so when you are hot from the threes it seems reasonable by a team to keep shooting the threes.

[skyhops]

Teams are dating to Odom to shoot from outside, which is not a good sign. I guess the used car salesman really wanted us to believe that Odom’s shot has greatly improved this summer.

[WestCoastMuskie]

There was almost nothing that gave me any hope that this team will be better. Poor shooting has plagued the Steele years, and the overall lack of ball movement means no easy shots. When a team struggles to score (only 60 against bad competition), the defensive focus will ALWAYS suffer.

[XavierBob]

We can debate the merits of last night’s game forever and ever. I don’t think people here are really anti -Steele. But realistically we are seeing the same things over and over, I get it’s early, but we have past years to make us worry. Bottom line I’m going to support this group and our coach. Doesn’t mean criticism isn’t warranted. I’m going to let the season play out and hope that come March we all be reasonably satisfied with the results. If not, I’m not in any position to make any decisions anyway. Go X and Go Travis!

[WestCoastMuskie]

Thanks XavierBob, I do appreciate optimism.

I am, however, anti-Steele. HIs obsession on defense obscures the fact that we have no offense. And it's not like we are good on defense either. To come out flat in from of a big crowd for the first time in two years begs the questions of what is going on in practice. Maybe the "Xavier Way" needs to be junked. I don't know.

I did think he needed one more year, but after last night's game, I regret that thinking. The Big East schedule will destroy us without a major turnaround, one I have zero confidence in Steele managing.

[XavierBob]

West Coast,
Not super optimistic but I decided that if I wasn’t careful this team might drive me nuts. I’m at the age where I can’t let it get too serious like I used to. As I’ve said many times on the board and to friends what bothers me the most is things seem to stay the same. I agree we missed a lot of good looks last night, but, it’s been that way for a while. Maybe our good shooters really aren’t that good and we need to attack defenses differently. I’m going to try to enjoy the season. Hope for improvement and getting back to the NCAA tournament.

[WestCoastMuskie]

XavierBob - excellent advice!

My handle suggests my address, and no surprise, but I have become a huge GSWarriors fan. The difference night to night is jarring. I know the NBA is better; I know my teams employs the best outside shooter in the history of the game and has transformed basketball offense. But the beauty in ball movement and cuts is a sight to behold. Curry never stops moving. The read and react offense, modeled off of the Chicago Bulls triangle would probably not work for college, but many of the ball movement principles could.

Xavier's offense is so stagnant. Watching Scruggs dribble with seemingly no plan and then a 3 jacked up at the end of the clock is maddening.

Mack had better offense players, sure, but there also was a plan. We had plays. And the defense was so much better, too. We had a terrific 1-3-1 that could kill a run.

My roots with this team go back to late 80s. I fear for the future for the first time. Any coaching transition, when combined with instant transfers, leaves a team very vulnerable when it makes a bad coaching decision. We have avoided bad decisions until now, which is a tribute to the athletic administration.

[skyhops]

WestCoast, great points. What is very concerning is the lack of ball movement, which Steele continued to tell us they were going to pass more and get good shots. None of these has happened in the last few year and couple that with no real bigs (besides Freemantle), we are will be under .500 again in the BE. We have the athletes to run, so we might as well.

[muskieman]

You can pass the ball till the sun goes down in practice but in a game, the players decide when they will shoot and no coach can yell out "stop I want two more passe before we shoot". I bet you can poll most coaches and they will say they want more ball movement. Now a coach can pull players but then fans start screaming why did you pull Kyky or why doesn't he get to play. Are you going to sit a Nate Johnson(1-4), a Jones (2-7), a Kunkel (0-3)? SO we do replace them with a Tucker in for Nate or Jones? We could have replaced Hunter with Ceasar but which one has more experience? Some of those things might happen this year but after one game? Thank GOD that none of us are D-1 coaches because there is no telling who might screw it up.