Musketeer Madness

Sitting here wondering "Why is Butler .....Butler? They play their asses off and somehow always seem successful. Hell, they changed coaches right before the season a couple of years ago and actually it was an improvement....Is it the system, the attitude, the talent, playing smart etc? It blows my mind that each and every year they are in the hunt.....Look at the victories this year..Zona, IU and Nova not once but twice!!! Help me figure this one out!

I think the answer is they are roster deep and have not had a ton of turnover personnel wise. I don't think they've had many players leave and have some decent balance in their classes. I suspect they have a little gap from the coaching issue of a couple years ago, but it's not a killer. You can plug holes, but eventually it will catch up with you. We're not UK or Lvl, we need the core to be 4 year guys. I've gotten to the point that i almost handicap each year who will leave.

Butler has been good for many years. They struck GOLD with Baldwin (3 star Player who is playing like a five star) and the have two senior transfers in Woodson and Savage who are playing very well. Chrabascz has been their leader and is now a senior. This year even Lewis ( former McD's AA) is playing well. Nova looked almost over matched and blew a 10 point lead in the second half. And then there is Martin who is always a scorer. All in all they have the depth and really play together and very good talent. No super stars but a team who works well together. Go Xavier!

They play team basketball, don't turn the ball over, play good defense, and are well coached. All of this without too recruits. System over players, which is not what we have done this year. At least we are better than we were in the 70's.

Well...X use to recruit keepers for 4 years and players that were hungry to win and make the Dance. Now, X seems to recruit/get players who want to leave asap, are some how trouble and get kicked off the team or suspended from the team, more transfer outs, etc etc....stability of players from year to year is weaker. Recruited players are the responsibility of the coaching staff as a whole. Team chemistry is important and is built over time(3 to 4 years). Too many players coming and going????

They are also great coming back from behind-down 18 to Marquette in 2nd half and won by 9 also were behind in both Nova games. May have a letdown but I doubt it as they are now playing for a high seed. Coaching staff does a great job there in recruiting and game Mgt. We have more than held our own in the BE games with them and could have won the first game with better FT shooting (problem all year)

Xavier2005 wrote:Well...X use to recruit keepers for 4 years and players that were hungry to win and make the Dance. Now, X seems to recruit/get players who want to leave asap, are some how trouble and get kicked off the team or suspended from the team, more transfer outs, etc etc....stability of players from year to year is weaker. Recruited players are the responsibility of the coaching staff as a whole. Team chemistry is important and is built over time(3 to 4 years). Too many players coming and going????

I agree with you. The one-and-done mentality is killing college basketball. Attendance is down all over the country, ratings on TV way down. When players stayed for years fans had a chance to develop a following and look forward to seeing a team form. We gave up our season tickets in 2011 because it was becoming glorified AAU basketball. We still follow Xavier, but it's hard to watch college basketball with the lack of team play. I think Mack does a good job coaching and is good for Xavier.

And they don't seem to have players who get in trouble such as Myles Davis who was supposed to be our savior upon his return.

Even with our so called great recruiting has not resulted in NBA players.

Piss poor free throw shooting and unforced turnovers will bite you in the ass every time. For me these two elements are the most frustrating aspects of this team. The game at SH was just an illustration of this team. From the 8 minute mark we went almost 5 minutes without a basket. Bernard had 2 critical turnovers in that span; it just seems like they don't care and they are just going through the motions. I expected more discipline once our bench was taxed. I really thought we would shorten the game and elongate the ball possession once Tre was sidelined but with JP at the point I couldn't see him slowing the game down. So, it is what it is and "the Butler way" has supplanted "All for One" so far this year.