EKU vs X game thread

[N67ER]

Steele strikes again!

If not for 4 inches, X would have gone into double O.T. You can't make this stuff up.

The kid banked in a lucky shot, so 4 inches less and it would have clanged off the back of the rim. That’s what makes basketball so interesting to play or watch.

[ChitownSteve]

Often believed Coaches and Teams improperly set up in those end-of-the-game up 3 situations. Three of the defensive players should set up outside the opponent which would force the opposition to decide between a possible two, which still leaves them down 1, with clearly a better defensive position to inhibit the look at the desired three to tie. Take away what the opponents desire and might even confuse the inbounder.

Some downsides to this, which are recognized (e.g. the two inside defenders cannot foul should the opponent be in any position to shoot). Still, a defensive position that could take away a minimum two, if not three, of the opponent’s preferred three point shooter options.

FYI - Told my family, based off the last three games, a 50%-50% chance I survive this Xavier Season. How about anyone else?

[skyhops]

I was hoping for Steele to final realize that we should foul and the end of regulation but he was probably busy watching Scruggs dance during the timeout. Many have talked about Steele getting his own players who are most athletic yet we still can break a press. This is a six win team if we continue this play in the BE. We will have to get more out of Griffin or Miles or we will be in trouble. Carter played well until things get close and he seems to get nervous as did a Scruggs. I guess Steele didn’t watch the OSU v X game either. Thank goodness for Johnson or we lose.

[edgecliff hall]

I once watched Skip Prosser run a full court drill in breaking up a press. He kept yellig "Pass, pass, don't dribble." The drill always ended with an easy basket down court.

[X-Expert]

The reality is this is very similar to last year. X beat a horrible Miss and Missouri St in a nail biter and people said at least they are undefeated, Missouri St are going to beat a lot of teams this year, Missouri is in the SEC, and wait till Kyky is healthy. Hearing the same things about Bradley, Toledo, and EKU and the return of our unproven, untested, freshmen. These are the same three teams we as a fanbase ridiculed Steele for scheduling such a bad non conference schedule-Thank God. Unfortunately X appear to be what they are. An average outside shooting team who can't handle the ball under pressure. Perhaps the last three games are more like X than the first one vs Oakland. I like Scruggs a lot but he fouling out was the best thing that happened to X because they pressured the ball and he and Tandy struggle. Odom's Turnovers were bad decisions while Scruggs and Tandy invite the traps and lack ball handling skills You would think Scruggs would have gotten better with dribbling by his senior year. X will have games like Oakland this year because they have definitely improved their shooting. But games where 3s aren't falling and X will struggle. Ironic, last two years, teams sat in the paint daring X to shoot or wait for Naji to drive into them. This year, teams are challenging the outside shot and guarding X bigs with one player. Fremantle has been very good but not really a banger in the paint -at least thus far. Hope they improve or at least we find out that EKU, Bradley, and Toledo are world beaters.

[skyhops]

Agree 100% X-Expert. Just as alarming as our inability to handle the press was getting outrebounded by EKU on the offensive glass. Either Miles or Griffin will have to play a larger role since Zach is not much of an inside defender or rebounder. Johnson saved us for sure, but Scruggs did have some nice dance moves during the timeout at the end of the game. I think Odom will learn from his turnovers, but Scruggs is another story and Tandy needs to be in for offense so it is what it is.

[longliveskip]

i wanted to come on here to chat about the game but then i realized why i don't come on here very often. man, this board is so depressing. this board should just be called "how many of the faults/things players didn't do well/etc. can we point out in a minute.........GO!" or "how many ways can we coach better than Travis?........ready, GO!"

it's unreal.

i'm not saying that i'm ecstatic about the way we played overall but i'm ecstatic to be 4-0 because of the following:

we have FOUR, count them, FOUR dudes who even played minutes for us last year. (Carter, Scruggs, Freemantle, Tandy)

we have two dudes who we were counting on to provide double digit minutes off the bench who can't even play right now.

we just came off 3 games in 3 days, so playing our 4th game in 6 days against one of the most aggressive pressing teams we will see ALL season, if not the MOST. no other team will press us like these guys did. and also - how do you think our guys practice AGAINST this press in practice? tell me that, how?? you guessed it, they CAN'T. their walkons and other players CAN'T mimic the speed/aggression that EKU plays with. they just CAN'T. so we basically had to adjust on the fly. did our guys handle it well at times? certainly not. did they handle it well at times? yes, they did.

the fact remains, even after 25 turnovers, we STILL found a way to WIN, that's what matters most. get the W. move on and get better.

i'm sure the players are going to LOVE practice today. #not

Steele will fix the issues. it's still only the 4th game of a season we are trying to play in a pandemic.

Let's be thankful for any GAME we get and any W we get.

GO MUSKIES.

[thecoach]

Agree 100% X-Expert. Just as alarming as our inability to handle the press was getting outrebounded by EKU on the offensive glass. Either Miles or Griffin will have to play a larger role since Zach is not much of an inside defender or rebounder. Johnson saved us for sure, but Scruggs did have some nice dance moves during the timeout at the end of the game. I think Odom will learn from his turnovers, but Scruggs is another story and Tandy needs to be in for offense so it is what it is.

I think you're spot on with Scruggs. He's just to far down the road experience wise to change. The one thing with Odom that is a little troubling is his size against smaller quicker guys that can cause you problems. Lot different than high school where you are always the better athlete. He'll have to make adjustments. It also looked like Tandy was limping, but not sure what that was about. Noticed it when he was walking. I figured there would be defensive issues with young and new players, but i didn't expect 25 turnovers on their own floor. I wonder how they will handle the ball away from home. You do not see those kind of numbers in a 40 minute ball game in CYO games. That's not easy to do. It's like an open gym mentality protecting the possession and ball. I was really surprised that the small guard Robb didn't get the ball more in the clutch down the stretch. It seemed the pg for EKU hogged the ball at times which helped. Robb was on.

[finalfourorbust]

Agree 100% X-Expert. Just as alarming as our inability to handle the press was getting outrebounded by EKU on the offensive glass. Either Miles or Griffin will have to play a larger role since Zach is not much of an inside defender or rebounder. Johnson saved us for sure, but Scruggs did have some nice dance moves during the timeout at the end of the game. I think Odom will learn from his turnovers, but Scruggs is another story and Tandy needs to be in for offense so it is what it is.

I agree. Odom and Tandy have point guard skills, Scruggs doesn't. I think the ball handling duties have to be turned over to Odom and Tandy and let them learn from their mistakes. They are both quick enough to beat the presses. Most to Odom's turnovers have been off the passes and not off the dribble. He still has to adapt to the quickness of the defenses to close on the pass recipients. Paul seems to panic and pick up his dribble as soon as he see's the traps coming. Scruggs seems more suitable for a small 3 roll where he can use his strength and skills to post up inside or move outside for the open three.
We definitely have to get more out of Miles and Griffin. Asking Freemantle and Carter to handle 100% of the offensive and defensive big man duties is too much to ask of them. We definitely need someone that can alter shots inside and stop these small guards from getting these easy layups and I thought Miles might be that guy. He has the skill set and has to be more assertive.

[muskieman]

The reality is this is very similar to last year. X beat a horrible Miss and Missouri St in a nail biter and people said at least they are undefeated, Missouri St are going to beat a lot of teams this year, Missouri is in the SEC, and wait till Kyky is healthy. Hearing the same things about Bradley, Toledo, and EKU and the return of our unproven, untested, freshmen. These are the same three teams we as a fanbase ridiculed Steele for scheduling such a bad non conference schedule-Thank God. Unfortunately X appear to be what they are. An average outside shooting team who can't handle the ball under pressure. Perhaps the last three games are more like X than the first one vs Oakland. I like Scruggs a lot but he fouling out was the best thing that happened to X because they pressured the ball and he and Tandy struggle. Odom's Turnovers were bad decisions while Scruggs and Tandy invite the traps and lack ball handling skills You would think Scruggs would have gotten better with dribbling by his senior year. X will have games like Oakland this year because they have definitely improved their shooting. But games where 3s aren't falling and X will struggle. Ironic, last two years, teams sat in the paint daring X to shoot or wait for Naji to drive into them. This year, teams are challenging the outside shot and guarding X bigs with one player. Fremantle has been very good but not really a banger in the paint -at least thus far. Hope they improve or at least we find out that EKU, Bradley, and Toledo are world beaters.

Unlike my friends, the perennial glass is half empty guys, I see last night's game with a lot of hope and highlights. The pros First: I am happy to see Johnson play well last night and take the big shots in the OT. Second: Freemantle shrugged off a poor showing of the last game by getting only 1 foul and scoring a high 24 points and only 3 TOs. Third: Liked seeing Tandy go to the basket instead of settling for the outside shot and was rewarded with more FTs because of that. Fouth: Happy to see no player go 0-10 or 12 from the three-point range. While KyKy was off from the TPL he did no make it really ugly. Glad we didn't have EKU's Green and Robb numbers for any of our players Fifth: 50 points in the paint and 18 more than EKU was nice to see and 23 fast break and 22 Bench points were also good. Sixth: Nice to see blocks and to have your point have 3 and team-high. Seventh: When X handled the full court they scored at a high rate. Eith: Nice to see Odom and the guys move the ball around in the half-court set which shows me they learned from the Toledo game Ninth: I always like to see a game that lets the coaches have something to chew on the players even with a win and you can bet they will be talking about taking care of the rock. Tenth: Like to see the low box work of Freemantle and Scruggs and the rebounding of the big men. The Cons First: Taking care of the ball. I learned never to stop the dribble unless you were going to pass it and never dribble the ball without knowing where you were going and why. Second: Bad passing. When the passing was good they were very very good but when they were bad they were horrid. Third: self-inflicted mistakes Fourth: Learn to come to the ball when your teammate is trapped. LASTLY CAN"T WAIT TO SEE OUR COVET-19 BOYS AND A LITTLE MORE OF GRIFFIN AND MILES.