Maryland

[PaulHickey]

Time to get to it. How does our team match up against Maryland? At one point in the season, MU was 20-2. Expectations have been high for this club since the arrival of Melo Trimble. That said, I like our chances in this game. Just about everything Maryland does revolves around Trimble. If Xavier can keep him in check, rebound efficiently, and limit turnovers; I think we walk away winners. However, Maryland is a no rollover, this is a vengeance game for 03.

The real question is: which Xavier team are we going to see on Thursday evening? Our play in the BE tournament was something I've been waiting for all year. Xavier played with a sense of urgency, and showed tremendous poise down the stretch. It was great seeing Q drive aggressively to the bucket, use his body to initiate contact, and make a controlled effort to finish the play. Additionally, Sean O'mara finally tapped his tremendous potential to stay patient, use some fakes and go strong to the hole. Everyone else had productive moments - JP what more can I say? Such a relief to see this team change from the norm of jacking ill-advised threes all night long and dribble the ball out of bounds.

10 days ago X was on the outside looking in. Call me spoiled, but I expect Xavier to make the tournament every year and win at least one game. What a season this has been, let's keep it going. The future is bright!

Let's go X!

[skyking]

I agree. X is playing it's best ball of the season.....when it counts.

[X-Expert]

would love to see a win here but hard to say X playing best all season. They played one good half vs DePaul; pretty good against Butler, and a great first half vs Creighton. X's D is awful. Bluitt and Macura hit some big shots but when a team shoots 7-9 from 3 in a half and only misses seven shots for the entire half extremely poor D. Offense was better but need to play a complete game for two halves. Hope they pull together because X has the talent to beat Maryland

[thecoach]

They clearly have depth, some speed and a good coach. We'll see. I can't take a lot from beating Depaul twice and Butler given their big east tourney record. Outside of Nova, and they have a very tough bracket, the Big East teams could easily go out early. I'm not sold on what i've seen this year.

[Theology73]

CBS Sports writer Matt Norlander picks X to beat Maryland and says we have the best chance of sub-5 seeds to reach the sweet 16 in the West Bracket.

[Go Go Golston]

CBS Sports writer Matt Norlander picks X to beat Maryland and says we have the best chance of sub-5 seeds to reach the sweet 16 in the West Bracket.

That and a dollar will get you a cup of coffee. Meaningless. What is his basis? The way we played against Marquette? Villanova? Butler at home? Baylor? Lehigh? Make no mistake, Xavier will need to play its best game of the year to win. Turnovers need to be in single digits. Wins against Butler and DePaul didn't suddenly make us a great team. I'm sure the coach would agree. That all being said, I like the 11 seed and said so three weeks ago. I like Xavier's chances better when they fly under the radar.

[skyhops]

Should be a good matchup especially if we get decent games from Jones, Omara, and Gates since they are not great inside. Sean Omara's "tremendous potential" might be the funniest comment ever. We have to contain their guards or we are in trouble and that includes playind D without fouling.

[lionelchalmers0]

My keys to the game:

1. Melo Trimble needs to be guarded by Malcom or JP, NOT Q. It hasn't really happened yet, but Q can never get in to early foul trouble for us or the game is over. Say what you will about him but he's our only true ball handler at this point. Malcom and JP need to bother the hell out of melo and force Maryland to let anyone but him beat us. Don't switch on him. Bring help on him every time he goes to the basket.

2. Rebounding- Xavier is 20th in the nation on rebounding differential and Maryland is 167th. This is something we should beat them in and if we work hard on it could really swing the game. With the way our offense can stagnate for periods of time some second chance points would go a long way in getting the w.

3. Intensity/aggression- it's march madness so it doesn't really have to be said. But the main difference in the 6 game losing streak team and the team that beat butler and almost creighton was their aggression and how fired up they were. Malcom, tre, and JP all stepped up hugely in the big east tourney with their aggression finishing at the basket and overall intensity and passion and it was really fun and exciting. They do this Thursday and our offense will keep rolling and we will win.

[finalfourorbust]

My keys to the game:

1. Melo Trimble needs to be guarded by Malcom or JP, NOT Q. It hasn't really happened yet, but Q can never get in to early foul trouble for us or the game is over. Say what you will about him but he's our only true ball handler at this point. Malcom and JP need to bother the hell out of melo and force Maryland to let anyone but him beat us. Don't switch on him. Bring help on him every time he goes to the basket.

2. Rebounding- Xavier is 20th in the nation on rebounding differential and Maryland is 167th. This is something we should beat them in and if we work hard on it could really swing the game. With the way our offense can stagnate for periods of time some second chance points would go a long way in getting the w.

3. Intensity/aggression- it's march madness so it doesn't really have to be said. But the main difference in the 6 game losing streak team and the team that beat butler and almost creighton was their aggression and how fired up they were. Malcom, tre, and JP all stepped up hugely in the big east tourney with their aggression finishing at the basket and overall intensity and passion and it was really fun and exciting. They do this Thursday and our offense will keep rolling and we will win.

I think you let Q's foul situation determine how much he guards Melo. If he picks up one or two early fouls you switch him. If not, keep him there.

[PaulHickey]

That's a good point about foul trouble and Q. Things get dicey when he's out and other guys are needed to bring the ball up the floor. Another poster indicated that Trimble enters this game with a shooting slump. Anyone else have info on this? I don't think Xavier will have to play a perfect game, but they'll need to show the fire exhibited in the BE tourney. Rebounding and Turnovers will tell the tale.

Go Xavier!