The hardest guy to replace

[muskieman]

I think Souley. Yeah, he had some bad games, and his D was suspect at times(although not as bad as some think). Kerr Kriisa is not a replacement. Trey Green maybe, but he will be a freshman. I don't know if there is a Souley replacement out there or one that is close.

Adam leadership, passing, and oh those threes.

Nunge might be back, but if not, I think there are guys out there that may be comparable.

Freemantle again some here think his D is so bad that his O stats are deceiving

Colby, I just hope he stays because I am selfish

So let's here it from you guys?

[Kevin Reilly]

Colby Jones is by far the the hardest guy to replace and it's not even close. I think he is Xavier's best player in the last 10 years. I would take Jones over any two of the guys leaving. I would rank them Jones #1, Freemantle #2, Nunge #3, Kunkel #4 and Boum #5. Boum was money on late foul shots but his defense was horrible. He caused all kinds of problems with his matador defense. Getting the bigs in foul trouble. Jones had a all round team game. Defense, rebounding, passing and scoring. When we got into the later part of the season and tournament Boum was really bad. He had a lot of invisible first half's. He was over matched badly . Other teams went right at him regularly. It was obvious. Kind of shocked you didn't think his defense wasn't that bad.

[Kevin Reilly]

Back to Boum his FG % was 8th on the team. Kind of shocking. Very good foul shooter and 40% on 3 pointers was outstanding .Only Tandy and Freemantle last year were worse on defense .If we had any depth at all he should have been on the bench in a lot of games.

[muskieman]

Colby Jones is by far the the hardest guy to replace and it's not even close. I think he is Xavier's best player in the last 10 years. I would take Jones over any two of the guys leaving. I would rank them Jones #1, Freemantle #2, Nunge #3, Kunkel #4 and Boum #5. Boum was money on late foul shots but his defense was horrible. He caused all kinds of problems with his matador defense. Getting the bigs in foul trouble. Jones had a all round team game. Defense, rebounding, passing and scoring. When we got into the later part of the season and tournament Boum was really bad. He had a lot of invisible first half's. He was over matched badly . Other teams went right at him regularly. It was obvious. Kind of shocked you didn't think his defense wasn't that bad.

I listen to Sean, who is not afraid to say someone needs to work on D, but he has a number of times said Soley didn't play that bad of defense. Remember, Souley was screened multiple times, and no one stepped into the space to slow the driver down. Was Souley weaker on D than Paul Scrugg, yes, but how many times have we read that Kunkle didn't deserve to be on the floor because he was beaten by the guy driving the ball?

Colby is a good to great defender, but against Texas, he was beaten a lot of times on drives, and you know that he disappears in some very important games, unlike the NIT. That fact he didn't put his stamp on the Texas game until it was decided just shows you how Souley and Colby are the engines that runs the Xavier

AS Souley and Colby go, so goes Xavier's success. As for Colby, I hope he stays, as I said, but if he goes, my replacement is Dailyn Swain unless he outgrows his position. 6'8" and handles the ball like a smaller player, and plays very good defense. As I said, an athletic defender who is long and agile, also can handle the ball and slash to the basket. Described as elusive and has quickness with good length and hops.

I think Souley because he filled up the basket most of the season, something a good defender in Scruggs didn't do, and Kriisa, who skyhops says will be at X, and I will not deny the talk, is not reported to be a good defender and only likes to shoot threes when he is challenged in games. He is 7-8 points on average less than Souley. Just go to the Zona boards and look back over the year and see how the fans talk about his lack of D and jis proclivity to settle for threes(turn back the clock to last year's team).

[connecticut72]

Ditto on K. Reilly's comments re. Souley and Jones. Souley was so instrumental in X winning those close games & I love him for that but not a true point and his D was pathetic particularly in the NCAA's.. I want a hard nosed true point who can really get after the opponents point guard for 40 minutes. If Jones leaves he will be real hard to replace he did it all and for the most part he was consistent.

[muskieman]

Colby didn't help himself with the game he had on the national stage Last four games: Marquette 7 points, Kenn St 12, Pitt 10, and Texas 15 the only game he hit his average but 9 of those points came within the last minute and forty-eight seconds of the game. Let me add a few more stats in the Villanova loss Colby scored 4 points, in the DePaul loss 8 points, in the Creighton loss 13 points, and in the Duke loss 10 points. Note when he scores at or above his average X is successful about 90+%. no doubt Colby would be missed despite his disappearing act that we have seen the last couple of years in games. Maybe we could say that about Souley, but I think his bad shooting games stemmed from overwork and his lack of body build which was my fear when he first signed, go back and read my concerns about Souley.

Don't get me wrong, I love Colby to stay but tell me how well he did overall in the big games when X needed him to take over the game.

[kyzrex]

Back to Boum his FG % was 8th on the team. Kind of shocking. Very good foul shooter and 40% on 3 pointers was outstanding .Only Tandy and Freemantle last year were worse on defense .If we had any depth at all he should have been on the bench in a lot of games.

A player that was 1st team all conference and honorable mention all-American should have been on the bench?

[Kevin Reilly]

Muskieman you make some solid points about Jones the last couple of games and his foul shooting was poor at the end of games. I think the same thing you said about Boum applies to Jones. He was worn down at the end of the season. Heck they all were tired. As far as Kriisa I think he is a step down from Kunkel. He shot 227 threes. Field goal % was .37%. My daughter went to Arizona and lives in Tuscon. The Arizona people think he is average at best. Not much of a defender or rebounder .I think Miller was being diplomatic when talking about Boum's defense. We all no he was terrible on defense. He was our best scorer but he gave up a lot on defense. I think Boum is very replaceable. Hard to go far with that kind of defense in a guard driven college game.

[Kevin Reilly]

Kyzrex Another good point. What I should have stated is If Boum was playing on another good team ( say top 35 ) he would have been benched for playing that kind of defense. However Xavier did not have the depth to do that. On Duke, Carolina, Texas, Houston, Alabama , and any other good program he would have benched for that kind of defense in two possessions. Yes he could score and closed a lot of games but that kind of defense would find him on the bench on all good teams.

[X-lucidity]

This thread had skidded of the rails