Georgetown game thread 3/2/2021

[skyhops]

Just heard Steele talk at length about how great Wilcher played against Georgetown and barely said anything about Tandy. What is his beef against Tandy? Also mentioned how great they looked in warmups and basically threw the team under the bus for playing poorly and being immature? His stubbornness is not a good trait and time to look at himself in the mirror for his time coming out soft.

[Anti-Homer]

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!

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 did a hell of a job fooling Steele, who said at the end of the year he is X's best scorer. he also fooled the BE coaches who voted him BE Freshman of the Year. With all due respect, it's hard to trust the guy who plays Carter the minutes he does, while guys like Griffin, Tandy, and Ramsey are glued to the bench. Trend for the program is sinking

[skyhops]

Exactly AH, Tandy was freshman all big east. Kunkel is a good backup, but he is a shooter that is a poor three point shooter. Check out the stats. Can't wait to see Garcia school Carter and John throw around Zach and Steele just look bewildered. Steele did talk about how much not having Nate hurt our chances against GU, but we looked okay against CU.

[muskieman]

Exactly AH, Tandy was freshman all big east. Kunkel is a good backup, but he is a shooter that is a poor three point shooter. Check out the stats. Can't wait to see Garcia school Carter and John throw around Zach and Steele just look bewildered. Steele did talk about how much not having Nate hurt our chances against GU, but we looked okay against CU.

where was Tandy freshman all big east? He was on the all-freshman team but Jeremiah Robinson-Ear was preseason and Freshman of the year. Tandy could have been more and maybe will be in the future but getting recognition one year does not guarantee future success. YOu would think he had the edge coming into the season and yet didn't show much to start the season. His field goal percentage is lower than everyone except Wilcher and yes his percentage from the field is less than even Carter. Face it if Kyky played more he would not take minutes from the guy you seem to hate, Carter but from Scruggs or Nate who are shooting .459 and .429 from the field compared to Tandy's .380. Would you really take out Nate or Scruggs for Kyky? About the only things Kyky has over Nate is blocks, Even if you want him to steal minutes from Odom the comparison is worse for Tandy. Odom has played 100+ more minutes but has only 3 more TOs but 30+ more assists with a .458 vs .380 from the field and about double the average rebounds for Odom.

[skyhops]

I know from sources that Steele has it against Tandy for some reason. Tandy was our leading scorer the first few games and suddenly he is stuck behind Kunkel who wasn’t even an X recruit? Belmont hasn’t missed him. Enough with Carter he hasn’t hit a three in 2021 and overall shooting 15 percent from 3 and 50 percent from Ft, that should account for 10 mins. If you played hoops past 7th grade CYO you would know that Tandy is a big team player and needs minutes. Carter and Kunkel are Horizen league players. How about some time for Steeles players Miles and Ramsey? Oh wait, they are still developing and will need a third year. Why even have them on the roster if they don’t play? Good thing Steeles in laws give lots of cash to X

[skyhops]

MMan, what is Kunkel shooting from 3? Just curious since he was brought in to shoot 3’s?

[Anti-Homer]

Exactly AH, Tandy was freshman all big east. Kunkel is a good backup, but he is a shooter that is a poor three point shooter. Check out the stats. Can't wait to see Garcia school Carter and John throw around Zach and Steele just look bewildered. Steele did talk about how much not having Nate hurt our chances against GU, but we looked okay against CU.

where was Tandy freshman all big east? He was on the all-freshman team but Jeremiah Robinson-Ear was preseason and Freshman of the year. Tandy could have been more and maybe will be in the future but getting recognition one year does not guarantee future success. YOu would think he had the edge coming into the season and yet didn't show much to start the season. His field goal percentage is lower than everyone except Wilcher and yes his percentage from the field is less than even Carter. Face it if Kyky played more he would not take minutes from the guy you seem to hate, Carter but from Scruggs or Nate who are shooting .459 and .429 from the field compared to Tandy's .380. Would you really take out Nate or Scruggs for Kyky? About the only things Kyky has over Nate is blocks, Even if you want him to steal minutes from Odom the comparison is worse for Tandy. Odom has played 100+ more minutes but has only 3 more TOs but 30+ more assists with a .458 vs .380 from the field and about double the average rebounds for Odom.

Mman,

You ignorant slut (sorry, was my favorite line on Saved By The Bell). I agree one year doesn’t guarantee future success. That’s why his man(mis)angement of Carter is so perplexing. Great kid, but he had an unsuccessful first year, so Steele doubles down and treats him like Zion Williamson this one. He does two things above avg (rebounding & Def), and is the best option to guard a mobile big, but even that skillset has slid. X can ill-afford the deficits in his overall game, especially when they have Odom, who I like very much, but makes Goodin look like Steph Curry from 3, on the floor at the same time.

The best teams in the league since the inception, Nova & Creighton, have largely played with an undersized 4 (Jones or Wilcher could play that role). I’d rather have Tandy at the 4 and hope he outscores more than he gives up defensively. That’s the philosophy with Free, who I like very much, but has a hard time guarding a folding chair. As for percentages, what you fail to recognize is that Tandy creates gaps for all the slashers, whereas Carter compresses the floor making X easier to guard, because he hits about 1 out of 7 threes, and hits about 50% of his labs.

That 38% from 3 for Tandy is the more important metric, and 60% of his shots are from three point land. That’s outstanding, and again, makes Odom (and all other players), a horrific 3 point shooter, who takes them at will due to Steele’s AAU, throw it up when you’re open….or not philosophy, much better, as Tandy creates gaps for Odom to utilize his strength: driving to the hole.

I like Kunkel, but he shoots a low percentage on what is supposed to be his specialty: 3 point shooting. His minutes need to be curtailed. I truly believe there is something personal between Steele and Tandy. He may have heard him talk poorly about him (like Marshall publicly did last yr, and Goodin did by exploring a transfer prior to the start of the season), or perhaps his lack of doing the Macarena on the sideline after a made shot by an X player has resulted in one of the best freshmen in the league last year, and offensive players this yr prior to Kunkel becoming eligible, grow mold on the bench. I suspect Wright, McDermott, even Wojo could find some time for him. I bet they’d even run a lot of plays for him.

It's unbelievable that X is having a third straight year where they experienced a meltdown to end the season. This with a very fortuitous schedule as they’ve avoided the two, probable Nova beatdowns this year. All they had to do is beat two sub 500 teams to be in the tourney. They may make it anyway. Let’ hope that talent trumps strategy, or I’ll have to upgrade my Dish package to watch them play in the Not Important Tourney this year.

Apologies to my great grammar teachers at X for the run on sentences. Seacrest Out.

[AirJordan]

AH---for what its worth I think the "ignorant slut" line originated on one of the first couple of seasons of "Saturday Night Live" in a parody (between Dan Akroyd and jane Curtin) of a Sixty Minutes feature called "Point/Counterpoint, itself a discussion between conservative James Kirkpatrick and liberal columnist Shana Alexander. The discussion between Kirkpatrick and Alexander could get a bit testy and Akroyd took it to a higher level by opening his side of the debate with the admonishment "Jane, you ignorant slut". SNL, in those early years, was pretty damn funny. Not so much these days.

Way off topic for sure. But, I'm trying to ensure the forum maintains a high degree of accuracy.

My comment on the Tandy thing is not that others like Kunkel, Nate and Odom don't deserve the minutes. My issue is that we know Tandy can catch fire quickly and there have been multiple occasions this season when we needed instant offense. Why didn't we use Tandy in those situations? Agree his defense isn't great. But, some posters like Longlive Skip and MM keep pointing out that Tandy didn't distinguish himself when he came into games and accordingly did not earn additional playing time. My point, all along, is that Tandy was never given a real opportunity to play. Steele would yank him after a minute or two, usually the first time Tandy made a less than ideal decision, play, whatever. When Tandy finally did see minutes against G.T. and when we needed his scoring, he produced. We have two years invested in Tandy and I would, today, bet dollars to doughnuts that he is gone within a few days of season end. Our investment in him, if that occurs, will be a complete write-off.

One can nit-pick individual coaching decisions all game long. With Coach Steele, what is difficult to understand is his overall body of decisions. Time-outs, player rotations, use of some players (Carter) exclusions of others (Tandy), his statements at pressers, etc. It isn't just one thing. Its a lot of stuff that I can't get my arms around.

[X-lucidity]

Agree AH. I have also pondered running Jones at the “4” the past two weeks. Why not fiddle with that a bit Coach?

[edgecliff hall]

As usual, your comments make much sense to me, Anti. And by the way, in case you did not see my post down below, thanks for your recent good pitches.

All Best, JG