Musketeer Madness

Xavier has not been in March Madness for several years. They probably will have the same coach next year. Xavier has lost a lot of players due to graduation and the "portal". There is the unknown of any new players coming in. Then there is the left overs that finished 7th in the BE. The X team of 2021-22 has so many unknown factors that there is no way we can figure what Xavier men's basketball might do.

Correction: X has not lost a lot to the portal and graduation, either quantitatively or qualitatively.

The D1 average for transfers is 3.5, with more to come. Xavier has lost 3. Qualitatively, none of the transfers was currently in the top 7 or 8 on the roster.

As to graduates, X lost a player that at least half the board was happy to see go and a big who was hardly central. By contrast X retained its best player (or co-best player) and its best shooter/defender.

All in all, X has come out of this, so far, quite well.

I say "so far" because the teams harder hit will have slots open in the transfer market. Some will kill it, some will suffer relative to who left. If X, in its limited slots for significant playing time, gets a solid big (an efficient 10 points, 7 rebounds, defensive upgrade down low), it will be in the upper percentile of having navigated this unusual year.

The real issue is really player development which has not been good with Steele. Wishing and hoping for a 10 and 7 player from a transfer no way to run a program. Tandy and Wilcher hurt. Steele was really high on Miles yet two years and he can’t get minutes? I respectfully disagree profson

profson wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 05, 2021 5:33 pm

Correction: X has not lost a lot to the portal and graduation, either quantitatively or qualitatively.

The D1 average for transfers is 3.5, with more to come. Xavier has lost 3. Qualitatively, none of the transfers was currently in the top 7 or 8 on the roster.

As to graduates, X lost a player that at least half the board was happy to see go and a big who was hardly central. By contrast X retained its best player (or co-best player) and its best shooter/defender.

All in all, X has come out of this, so far, quite well.

I say "so far" because the teams harder hit will have slots open in the transfer market. Some will kill it, some will suffer relative to who left. If X, in its limited slots for significant playing time, gets a solid big (an efficient 10 points, 7 rebounds, defensive upgrade down low), it will be in the upper percentile of having navigated this unusual year.

Wow,

Covid could use you as a spin doctor. X lost more quantitatively, and QUALITATIVELY. They lost three top 100 players, including the best scorer on the team, and the only true big in Griffin along with Ramsey. They lost lost one of the best shooters in America, b/c Steele thought playing Carter as a stretch 4 was a better decision. I suspect a couple years from now, we'll see how big of a loss they really are. I've also heard Ramsey was healthy this year (he ran like a gazelle down the court during the Butler game), but he expressed displeasure with his lack of PT, and at some point talked about transferring. Again, if he can't warrant more time with Carter getting the minutes he did, and Free struggling mightily against true bigs, I can see why he lost hope.

Anti-Homer wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 05, 2021 8:39 pm

profson wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 05, 2021 5:33 pm

Correction: X has not lost a lot to the portal and graduation, either quantitatively or qualitatively.

The D1 average for transfers is 3.5, with more to come. Xavier has lost 3. Qualitatively, none of the transfers was currently in the top 7 or 8 on the roster.

As to graduates, X lost a player that at least half the board was happy to see go and a big who was hardly central. By contrast X retained its best player (or co-best player) and its best shooter/defender.

All in all, X has come out of this, so far, quite well.

I say "so far" because the teams harder hit will have slots open in the transfer market. Some will kill it, some will suffer relative to who left. If X, in its limited slots for significant playing time, gets a solid big (an efficient 10 points, 7 rebounds, defensive upgrade down low), it will be in the upper percentile of having navigated this unusual year.

Wow,

Covid could use you as a spin doctor. X lost more quantitatively, and QUALITATIVELY. They lost three top 100 players, including the best scorer on the team, and the only true big in Griffin along with Ramsey. They lost lost one of the best shooters in America, b/c Steele thought playing Carter as a stretch 4 was a better decision. I suspect a couple years from now, we'll see how big of a loss they really are. I've also heard Ramsey was healthy this year (he ran like a gazelle down the court during the Butler game), but he expressed displeasure with his lack of PT, and at some point talked about transferring. Again, if he can't warrant more time with Carter getting the minutes he did, and Free struggling mightily against true bigs, I can see why he lost hope.

I'd say that Nate Johnson had it all over Kyky in who was the best shooter in America. Check out Kyky overall FG% which was not bad but not as good as Nate's and as for three-point shooting Nate had it all over Kyky, so wrong about the best shooter in America when you are not the best on your own team. In fact, Paul had better numbers percentage-wise in both FG% and Three-point %. Maybe you are just thinking of comparing him to Carter. Also a fact Kunkell maybe didn't shoot the threes as well as Kyky but overall FG% was better and even though Kyky's FT was 83% Madame beat him there by almost 6%. Were you playing your x-box basketball to get your stats?

skyhops wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 05, 2021 5:51 pm

The real issue is really player development which has not been good with Steele. Wishing and hoping for a 10 and 7 player from a transfer no way to run a program. Tandy and Wilcher hurt. Steele was really high on Miles yet two years and he can’t get minutes? I respectfully disagree profson

not sure where you are seeing players NOT develop? i'm just asking. did Naji not get better and is now an NBA starter for a few games? has Scruggs not improved the last 4 years? did Tyrique NEVER get better? what players are you saying haven't developed? just wondering.

Tandy and Wilcher "hurt" is a little preemptive, isn't it? it's like saying an NFL team's draft was terrible. you won't know whether or not it was for a couple years. let's see how those two pan out wherever they go before we make the distinction that losing them "hurt".

If Miles never comes around then i'll agree on that one but he still has two more years to prove that.

wishing/hoping for a 10/7 big transfer is NO WAY to run a program? who you think we're gonna get, a 20 pt 14 reb transfer big??? c'mon, man. we aren't there yet. i would think you'd be ecstatic to find a 5 like that because that would be more production than Griffin gave us.

either way, just need a few tweaks to the roster unlike some programs who barely have enough left to field a team.

i'd say we are in pretty good shape for next season.

Anti-Homer wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 05, 2021 8:39 pm

profson wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 05, 2021 5:33 pm

Correction: X has not lost a lot to the portal and graduation, either quantitatively or qualitatively.

The D1 average for transfers is 3.5, with more to come. Xavier has lost 3. Qualitatively, none of the transfers was currently in the top 7 or 8 on the roster.

As to graduates, X lost a player that at least half the board was happy to see go and a big who was hardly central. By contrast X retained its best player (or co-best player) and its best shooter/defender.

All in all, X has come out of this, so far, quite well.

I say "so far" because the teams harder hit will have slots open in the transfer market. Some will kill it, some will suffer relative to who left. If X, in its limited slots for significant playing time, gets a solid big (an efficient 10 points, 7 rebounds, defensive upgrade down low), it will be in the upper percentile of having navigated this unusual year.

Wow,

Covid could use you as a spin doctor. X lost more quantitatively, and QUALITATIVELY. They lost three top 100 players, including the best scorer on the team, and the only true big in Griffin along with Ramsey. They lost lost one of the best shooters in America, b/c Steele thought playing Carter as a stretch 4 was a better decision. I suspect a couple years from now, we'll see how big of a loss they really are. I've also heard Ramsey was healthy this year (he ran like a gazelle down the court during the Butler game), but he expressed displeasure with his lack of PT, and at some point talked about transferring. Again, if he can't warrant more time with Carter getting the minutes he did, and Free struggling mightily against true bigs, I can see why he lost hope.

there are so many things to cover in this one i don't know where to start.

first - stop with the "top 100" crap. that s#$% literally doesn't mean s#$%. that's why recruiting rankings are such a pile of s#$%. until a player sets foot on a college basketball floor and actually plays against other college players, those rankings are literally window dressing.

"best shooters in America" - BAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Ramsey, with his knees, may never play significant time ANYWHERE again, and i feel bad for him.

either way, Xavier is looking much better going into next season than most programs.

What transfer is coming in to score 10 and 7? The player development or lack there of is pretty well known among those in the program especially making bigs. I’m not sure how much better Scruggs is especially if you look at his end of the year stats the last few years. They have not been good.

Miles has four years left. Time to grow into his body and truly develop.

Four years?