DePaul Game thread 03/03/2018

[XavierBob]

Not a pretty win but a win non the less. We all hope that X will play close to perfect every game and it just isn't going to happen. Today was sloppy and hard to watch at times. I know everyone worries about what if this happens in the tournament well none of us can predict the future. Each game is an individual event all the metrics and analysis really doesent matter. It comes down to how two team play on any given day. I like X's chances, the kids are battle tested, well coached and haven't lacked for effort all year. That is about all you can ask. My dad used to say "that don't ask how---the ask how many". I'll take that 27 how many in the right direction.

[bluegrass]

Not a work of art but we won and outright champs. That's all that matters .Was expecting it to be a tough one coming off the emotion of Wednesday. I hope Q doesn't go into a funk on the three ball. He took more than he normally does. I'll be there Thursday at noon. Let's make this the first of many wins this month -at least 7

[Anti-Homer]

Goodin was downright awful, but it happens. He has been stellar all year. As tweeted earlier this week, X is the ONLY team in Cincy to win a major conference title outright. I think UC came as close as 7th once, so congrats to them as well.

[muskieman]

I think the drop off has come with the play of Gates and Jones. Jones had 7 minutes today 1 point from line where he was 1/2, 1 rebound and one foul

Gates 16 minutes ZERO points but only took 1 shot, 4 rebounds, one turn over. He needs more of those desperation plays like he had the last game

We need more from these guys and I hope they are saving it for both tourneys.

What is amazing was Tre's seemly quiet 22 points 4-10 from three but 6 for 16 from field and a perfect 6 from the line.

And I agree with Xavier Bob...it's a W and take that CO off that co champs sign. If you get 1 more point from every team you play over the next month + I will be happy

[bmuskies]

a game like this in the NCAA tournament and they will not go far

Well its not in the NCAA tournament! Just be happy Xavier is Big east outright champs. And come March lets just hope they will be ready! Congrats Xavier on a great regular season 27 wins ain't too shabby!

[muskieman]

a game like this in the NCAA tournament and they will not go far

Well its not in the NCAA tournament! Just be happy Xavier is Big east outright champs. And come March lets just hope they will be ready! Congrats Xavier on a great regular season 27 wins ain't too shabby!

I seem to recall the end of the season last year hearing the same or similar things and while they didn't win the BE tourney they won enough to get into the NCAA tourney where they beat Maryland, Florida State and a small school from the state of Arizona. I trust in Mack, Tre, Sean, KK, Q, Paul, Kaiser, Naji, Jones and JP. They will not be denied.

[Sonoma Muskie]

Muskieman, we all want to see the Muskies win. We all have faith in the team. All we are saying is that to win it all these glaring lapses must be eliminated. We don’t expect or surely not demand that they play perfectly. They just have to overcome some “imperfections!”
Then of course, we’ll want a repeat. After that a 3-peat so that we can talk about the new Dynasty on Victory Parkway!

[kyzrex]

Posts about what they MUST do, about what they HAVE TO do, or about what they CAN’T do, all ring hollow over time. They ring hollow because 1st off, they just keeping winning in spite of NOT doing those things, and 2ndly because even though the poster might think that they KNOW what is needed, NONE of us have ever been in this situation before with a Xavier team. In addition, it seems to me that we are forgetting that EVERY OTHER school’s coaching staff and fan base is saying the SAME things about THEIR team. NO team out there is PERFECT. X does NOT need to be perfect to win it all. They don’t even have to play perfect to win it all. They just have to play better than the other team in every one of the games THEY play. What another team does against another opponent doesn’t matter. All that matters is how well they do against X, and how well X does against them. X doesn’t have to be 20 points better, or 10 points better, or even 5 points better. They have to outsource the opposition by ONE point over a 40 minute game. They have to keep the opposition from scoring more than they do. Not by 20 points, or 10 points, or 5 points, but by ONE point.

I’m watching Villanova beating Gtown by 15 points in the first half. They may win by 30 or they may win by 1, or they might even give up the lead and lose. Any way you slice it though...they will finish 2nd in the league and X will finish FIRST.

Isn’t that what really matters?

[Anti-Homer]

Not a work of art but we won and outright champs. That's all that matters .Was expecting it to be a tough one coming off the emotion of Wednesday. I hope Q doesn't go into a funk on the three ball. He took more than he normally does. I'll be there Thursday at noon. Let's make this the first of many wins this month -at least 7

Agreed on Q. As I said in an earlier post, it was an awful game for him, but overall, he has had an exceptional year as a sophomore point guard for an elite team. I am concerned that he kept chucking up lame duck treys (he missed 6 or 7). I can understand missing 3 in the context of an offensive set, but he took a couple of really bewildering ones. The fact that he took so many questionable ones tells me CM has given him carte blanche. I will be sure to counsel him during our conference call this week.

The two areas they MUST improve upon are their transition defense, which is awful, and shot selection early in the clock. We can squeak by a bottom feeder like Depaul with the shoddy execution in the aforementioned, but not in the Dance.

On a different note, Kansas lost, which hopefully will prevent them from leapfrogging us, keeping X in the Midwest, and shipping them out West, assuming both take care of business in their conference tourneys.

[Anti-Homer]

I think the drop off has come with the play of Gates and Jones. Jones had 7 minutes today 1 point from line where he was 1/2, 1 rebound and one foul

Gates 16 minutes ZERO points but only took 1 shot, 4 rebounds, one turn over. He needs more of those desperation plays like he had the last game

We need more from these guys and I hope they are saving it for both tourneys.

What is amazing was Tre's seemly quiet 22 points 4-10 from three but 6 for 16 from field and a perfect 6 from the line.

And I agree with Xavier Bob...it's a W and take that CO off that co champs sign. If you get 1 more point from every team you play over the next month + I will be happy

I seem to remember people saying the same thing about Gates prior to the tourney last year, yet he had some very key rebounds, treys, and provided solid defensive play last year. Shame on you for not being a Jim Jones Koolaid drinker on everything re: X BBall.