Georgetown game thread 3/2/2021

[bluegrass]

Bigger teams have given us problems all year.We don't have a true center. Maybe Miles or Ramsey will be that person in coming years.

[muskieman]

Bigger teams have given us problems all year.We don't have a true center. Maybe Miles or Ramsey will be that person in coming years.

Or 6' 10" CESARE EDWARDS with a little weight

[X-lucidity]

Some very good exchanges on this thread on the last page. Of note, Air-J made some very on-point assessments, and I believe fair assessments. We have now seen 3 years of more of the same. Our best team under Steele may well be the 1st when he was coaching the leftovers from good ole V-Ice.
I am really bummed having witnessed last night's 1st half debacle. We all are and it comes across differently as we post. Some are overly pessimistic, others jaded and acerbic, others suffering from the rose-colored-glasses syndrome. But we all can agree this team was not ready to compete the first 20 minutes, dug a hole so deep they had less than a 4% chance of winning, and that is both baffling and inexcusable. Was Creighton merely a case of a blind squirrel eventually finding a nut, or a team we are capable of ascending to? I lean towards the squirrel sadly. As stated, Free is a decent BE "4", we do him an injustice expecting him to hold down the "5". Carter is a BE role player "3" / "4" who should only be coming off the bench to give a starter a blow. Losing Nate hurts, badly. Tandy was hot for a bit and deserves more PT, but let's face it, he is streaky, prone to hunt shots at times and undersized for a BE "2". So yes, I came away from yesterday also questioning my earlier in the season assessment of our overall talent level on a BE standard of comparison. We have now placed ourselves in a situation of having to win at Marquette and then beating a superior U-Conn team on a neutral court to earn a 10 seed. Lose either and we are likely a play-in or bust candidate. As I have stated earlier, (along with a few others), I am actually more concerned with our overall program potential decline in the coming years than I am hoping for some magical elixir to sneak us into this year's dance. (so place me in the jaded/ slightly pessimistic camp boys- and hoping like hell to be proven wrong)

[muskieman]

FAce it with bodies like Waston, Obiagu, and Wahab in the league X will have problems at the five and we are not talking yet about Kalkbrenner, Sanogo, and Garcia who are freshmen.

Ceaser is 6'11" coming in but at 215 he is small by comparison to the guys listed. Where is a transfer like Stainbrook with the girt and bucket to compete

[thecoach]

Agreed with the above but you have to throw Miles and Ramsey out there to rebound and use their fouls same should have been with Scruggs although he got hosed on a few by our fav ref (double T’s are stupid). All our bigs on bench could have done better than Carter. I expect the same against a Garcia and John. We are in trouble

I get that a guy like Miles(or Ramsey) is a drop off maybe and is going to have bad moments when you play him. However, I think you have to give kids minutes in real games particularly after two seasons in order for them to develop. You can't really simulate real game action in practice particularly with the same players day in and day out. If i'm a kid who's a "project" after 2 seasons, i'm transferring down to a lower league/division where I can play now more than ever before. This transfer portal has allowed guys to move if they're ready(and sometimes not). You're going to learn and improve a lot more banging and playing versus sitting and watching at that point. There will always be some examples of those who prospered late sitting, but it's the exception in today's game. Everybody will take a kid now even if he's only eligible to play for a season.

[longliveskip]

let's reflect on this game a little, which was a tale of two halves. well, actually, 2/3 of it was bad. the last 1/3 was good.

1. we don't have a 5. asking Free and Carter to guard legit 5's on teams like Gtown and Prov is a lot to ask. they do the best they can and we doubled the dude from Gtown fairly well and besides one time when Gtown got a wide open 3, i thought we recovered and defended well when they kicked it out of the double team. we just gave up too many off rebounds to the Gtown guy.

2. nice to see Tandy contribute the way he did. should earn him more minutes. means we are gonna play smaller and possibly 4 guards at a time but hey, that's what we are now. our guards just need to rebound better.

3. can't put yourself in that big of a hole at halftime. have to be able to step up and make shots when given the opps. we didn't in the first half, even when we got good looks. Free settled for too many 3's in the first half. He played like a p&^%$ in the first half but turned it around with a great 2nd half. I get his defense is lacking at times but he can score so it offsets. Carter, i thought, defended and rebounded well. he even made a couple offensive rebounds happen late when we needed them by tipping them out. i wish he could just knock down one 3 to start the game. would do so much to boost his confidence.

4. if you're jumping off the bandwagon now like you did after we lost to Prov, that's just fine. most of you gave us no shot against Creighton and look how that turned out. we can beat Marquette. just need to play like it's our senior night, and i believe we can.

5. need Scruggs to be Scruggs for us get to the tourney. hopefully he can be slightly above average. we don't need him to take over. just be good. that's it.

we are with you, boys.


let's do this.

GO X.

[edgecliff hall]

Very nice post, longliveskip. What you're sayin' I think is that our guys need to believe in themselves, and our coaches too.
Are we Xavier or what?

[AirJordan]

let's reflect on this game a little, which was a tale of two halves. well, actually, 2/3 of it was bad. the last 1/3 was good.

1. we don't have a 5. asking Free and Carter to guard legit 5's on teams like Gtown and Prov is a lot to ask. they do the best they can and we doubled the dude from Gtown fairly well and besides one time when Gtown got a wide open 3, i thought we recovered and defended well when they kicked it out of the double team. we just gave up too many off rebounds to the Gtown guy.

2. nice to see Tandy contribute the way he did. should earn him more minutes. means we are gonna play smaller and possibly 4 guards at a time but hey, that's what we are now. our guards just need to rebound better.

3. can't put yourself in that big of a hole at halftime. have to be able to step up and make shots when given the opps. we didn't in the first half, even when we got good looks. Free settled for too many 3's in the first half. He played like a p&^%$ in the first half but turned it around with a great 2nd half. I get his defense is lacking at times but he can score so it offsets. Carter, i thought, defended and rebounded well. he even made a couple offensive rebounds happen late when we needed them by tipping them out. i wish he could just knock down one 3 to start the game. would do so much to boost his confidence.

4. if you're jumping off the bandwagon now like you did after we lost to Prov, that's just fine. most of you gave us no shot against Creighton and look how that turned out. we can beat Marquette. just need to play like it's our senior night, and i believe we can.

5. need Scruggs to be Scruggs for us get to the tourney. hopefully he can be slightly above average. we don't need him to take over. just be good. that's it.

we are with you, boys.


let's do this.

GO X.

I do not disagree with your points but the very same thoughts have been posted many times this season in reviewing previous games. They are not new and really don't advance what we know about this team. I'm not criticizing your post, only pointing out that we have seen all this throughout this season.

Free playing out of position? Uh, yes. Starting slow? Seen it including in important games when we should have expected the team to be pumped. More minutes for Tandy? Discussed it numerous times. Carter having some redeeming value? Of course; just not enough to warrant all the minutes he plays. Need Scruggs to perform for us to win? Why yes, of course.

The fact that this team encounters the same issues over and over should cause even the most loyal Steele supporters to question his performance. How can this team come out flat so many times? This is the freaking Big East, a conference comprised of some of the biggest names in recent college basketball history. We have a must win game against Georgetown and our boys aren't loaded to compete? How the hell does that happen? Ever? With this team it has happened often just this year.

I'm not, by the way, giving the players a pass. If they cannot show up and play hard, they do not deserve to be on scholarship. But, if a coach cannot get his team to respond (and this is the third year in a row that Xavier teams have effectively given Steel the bird), he is not recruiting effectively. I'm locked in for one more year of Coach Steele. I supported his hiring. He has a great resume, He has worked his way up the organization and he is loyal. But, it is time for us to see some consistency and if we continue to play so unpredictably, it is time for a new coach and an overhaul of this program. By the way, changing coaches again will set this program back significantly. But, at some point, we have to bite the bullet. You have to ask yourself, how has Steele demonstrated that he was the right hire?

[skyhops]

Great post Air Jordan, I feel the same. After many successful in program hires it looks like it this one probably isn't going to work out as well. I too agreed with the hire and will give him one ore year, but not being up for big games is now a trend and it didn't happen with previous coaches. I remember when we were Power Forward U, now we are just poor Shooting Guard U.

[longliveskip]

let's reflect on this game a little, which was a tale of two halves. well, actually, 2/3 of it was bad. the last 1/3 was good.

1. we don't have a 5. asking Free and Carter to guard legit 5's on teams like Gtown and Prov is a lot to ask. they do the best they can and we doubled the dude from Gtown fairly well and besides one time when Gtown got a wide open 3, i thought we recovered and defended well when they kicked it out of the double team. we just gave up too many off rebounds to the Gtown guy.

2. nice to see Tandy contribute the way he did. should earn him more minutes. means we are gonna play smaller and possibly 4 guards at a time but hey, that's what we are now. our guards just need to rebound better.

3. can't put yourself in that big of a hole at halftime. have to be able to step up and make shots when given the opps. we didn't in the first half, even when we got good looks. Free settled for too many 3's in the first half. He played like a p&^%$ in the first half but turned it around with a great 2nd half. I get his defense is lacking at times but he can score so it offsets. Carter, i thought, defended and rebounded well. he even made a couple offensive rebounds happen late when we needed them by tipping them out. i wish he could just knock down one 3 to start the game. would do so much to boost his confidence.

4. if you're jumping off the bandwagon now like you did after we lost to Prov, that's just fine. most of you gave us no shot against Creighton and look how that turned out. we can beat Marquette. just need to play like it's our senior night, and i believe we can.

5. need Scruggs to be Scruggs for us get to the tourney. hopefully he can be slightly above average. we don't need him to take over. just be good. that's it.

we are with you, boys.


let's do this.

GO X.

I do not disagree with your points but the very same thoughts have been posted many times this season in reviewing previous games. They are not new and really don't advance what we know about this team. I'm not criticizing your post, only pointing out that we have seen all this throughout this season.

Free playing out of position? Uh, yes. Starting slow? Seen it including in important games when we should have expected the team to be pumped. More minutes for Tandy? Discussed it numerous times. Carter having some redeeming value? Of course; just not enough to warrant all the minutes he plays. Need Scruggs to perform for us to win? Why yes, of course.

The fact that this team encounters the same issues over and over should cause even the most loyal Steele supporters to question his performance. How can this team come out flat so many times? This is the freaking Big East, a conference comprised of some of the biggest names in recent college basketball history. We have a must win game against Georgetown and our boys aren't loaded to compete? How the hell does that happen? Ever? With this team it has happened often just this year.

I'm not, by the way, giving the players a pass. If they cannot show up and play hard, they do not deserve to be on scholarship. But, if a coach cannot get his team to respond (and this is the third year in a row that Xavier teams have effectively given Steel the bird), he is not recruiting effectively. I'm locked in for one more year of Coach Steele. I supported his hiring. He has a great resume, He has worked his way up the organization and he is loyal. But, it is time for us to see some consistency and if we continue to play so unpredictably, it is time for a new coach and an overhaul of this program. By the way, changing coaches again will set this program back significantly. But, at some point, we have to bite the bullet. You have to ask yourself, how has Steele demonstrated that he was the right hire?

let's clarify/discuss a few of these as they are not necessarily the same things throughout all season.

starting slow has NOT been a trend. i'm not sure where you've seen that. i think we've down at halftime maybe twice? otherwise, starting slow, not being pumped up for a big game, or however you want to define when the team doesn't start a game on fire like you'd hope is NOT a trend. it happens. sometimes no matter what a coach does to get his team ready, they come out and "look like they're not ready". these are 18-21 year old KIDS. it happens. and it's not happening at a rate that you'd like to think to call it a "trend". it just hasn't.

the minutes for Tandy hasn't been an "issue". he hadn't actually EARNED them until now, when he finally played well. everyone wanting him to play more has been happening for awhile but it doesn't mean it's an on-going "issue". he FINALLY showed what he could do. he wasn't doing that before, be it in practice or in the limited minutes he was getting.

as i've stated on here, when the boys are pumped, play well, shoot great, etc., it's the "players" that won the game. but, when we don't play well, don't shoot it well, etc., then Steele sucks and we need a new coach.

that's basically what it is on here, almost exclusively.

we are on the verge of making the NCAA tourney and i think most fans on here hope we don't and hope that Steele gets fired, which is just a sad state of fandom to be in.

either way, that's fine if you want to think that way. i'm not here to change your opinion.

i'm behind Steele and the boys.


Let's go X!