S Carolina or Xavier

[xu koop scoop]

Putting aside your Xavier feelings, would you rather be a follower/fan of S Carolina who just reached their 1st Final 4 with 4 Total Sweet 16's (None since 1973) 1 Elite 8 (this year) & an overall NCAA record of 8-9.
Or would you rather be a follower/fan of XU with zero Final 4's, 3 Elite 8's, 8 Sweet 16's. Their overall NCAA record is 27-27.

[Shadow]

I'm very content about giving credit where and when it is due.
To the victor...

[teddyfromedgewood]

Good question wow. As much as I want one final four in my lifetime. I think I would take the other.I would go crazy not being relevant for that long.

[Anti-Homer]

Putting aside your Xavier feelings, would you rather be a follower/fan of S Carolina who just reached their 1st Final 4 with 4 Total Sweet 16's (None since 1973) 1 Elite 8 (this year) & an overall NCAA record of 8-9.
Or would you rather be a follower/fan of XU with zero Final 4's, 3 Elite 8's, 8 Sweet 16's. Their overall NCAA record is 27-27.

Not even close. Two teams, GMU & VCU, both have achieved a Final Four in the last decade, but the national regard to their program is nothing like X's. Each of their success is tied to one particular coach (both of whom have gone to different programs), whereas X's reputation is tied to a culture of winning, with several different coaches. Even if SC won the Nat'l Championship, which ain't happening, they'd still have to show some success in the tourney over an extended period of time, lest their success would be written off as being a fluke.

[SuperNova]

this is such an interesting debate and we were having somethig similar on the nova board. How valuable is one extra round? Or two extra rounds? Enough to diminish a whole season or in the X vs SC case, enough to siminish a long time strong program vs a mnediocre one. Brining up GMU and and VCU is a great point. Call me crazy but id take Xavier over SC in a heartbeat.

The last 4 years, yes Id take one NC and 3 2nd round exits versus four final 4 any day I would. I still think we put too much emphasis on a single round further. Interesting question for X fans. If you look at a season in its entirety, would you really take this year versus last where you were a top 7 team? The pain/ecstacy for that period in March is intoxicating for sure but its an interesting debate. Nova was a 12 seed in 08 and made it to sweet 16. I'd take this year's Nova team or 2015s' 10x over, even knowing that 08 team laid the groundwork for our 09 final 4 team.

Anyway I actually came here to say congrats on a great run and representing the Big East very admirably!! really hope TB stays as I see X preseason top 10 with him herde.

[muskieman]

Putting aside your Xavier feelings, would you rather be a follower/fan of S Carolina who just reached their 1st Final 4 with 4 Total Sweet 16's (None since 1973) 1 Elite 8 (this year) & an overall NCAA record of 8-9.
Or would you rather be a follower/fan of XU with zero Final 4's, 3 Elite 8's, 8 Sweet 16's. Their overall NCAA record is 27-27.

Not even close. Two teams, GMU & VCU, both have achieved a Final Four in the last decade, but the national regard to their program is nothing like X's. Each of their success is tied to one particular coach (both of whom have gone to different programs), whereas X's reputation is tied to a culture of winning, with several different coaches. Even if SC won the Nat'l Championship, which ain't happening, they'd still have to show some success in the tourney over an extended period of time, lest their success would be written off as being a fluke.

there you go. Off the meds and making sense now. Long term success is much better than a fluke. Now with stronger recruiting that long term success into the next step which is a final four and a NC banner someday.

[xu koop scoop]

Replying now to my own post, notice S Carolina has 17 NCAA games total, their 18th this Saturday.Xavier has 54 NCAA games played - mostly the past 20 years. S Carolina seldom makes tourney, XU about 90% of the time. XUs 8 Sweet 16s & 3 Elites 8s tops S Carolina's 4 Sweet 16s (only 1 since 1973) & 1 Elite 8. I don't care if S Carolina wins it all this year - I'd still rather be a fan of XU, or Gonzaga who wasn't part of the question. The main reason I will take all those Sweet 16's, Elite 8' s& even Round of 32 is that I simply get to see my team (XU) in 3 times the amount of games that S Carolina does - 54 to 18. One of the biggest angst/pain of watching your team in the Tourney is knowing if they lose you won't get to see them again until the next season. We all want a Final 4 or National Champs, but I will take a Sweet 16 or Elite 8 any year because I get to see my team in 3 or 4 tourney games. CONGRATS TO XU FOR ELITE 8 & CONGRATS TO GONZAGA FOR BEING LIKE US & BREAKING THE BARRIER. Congrats also to S Carolina & Oregon
for seldom seen runs by both those schools. We got 3 Cinderella's & North Carolina vying for the Championship. Rooting for any of the Cinderella's.