Maybe, just maybe, there's hope?

[SC in DC]

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sport ... 43793.html

[muskieman]

Nope, now need a miracle, and X has been short on those this year. Shooting as poorly in the biggest game of the year shows how tight these guys were in this game.

[skyhops]

They were tight against St. Johns, DePaul, SH, etc., enough excuses. There are no miracles in basketball this team has taking the persona of its coach and we are now officially a mediocre program. Not one player besides Nunge has improved and the blind loyalty this season for Scruggs and Free has also been our demise. I hate to say I was right but Steele needs to go. I'm sure that Steele will talk about Scruggs being a warrior and our leader, blah blah blah.

[pdxmuskie]

MM, can you think of a valid reason why a team might shoot so poorly for so many games?

Is it possible that X is truly a terrible shooting team? Or is it more likely they have bad shot selection and have the wrong players shooting too frequently?

Look at tonight: Johnson (a very good shooter) takes a contested deep shot early in the shot clock. Kunkle takes another shot way behind the 3 point line again early in the shot clock. Even when the right shooters take shots, they frequently choose low probablility opportunities to take those shots. All good if the shot clock was running down but it wasn't. Add in the rushed shots by questionable shooters and suddenly you consistently have a terrible shooting percentage.

Travis is a very good volunteer coach. I will support him being the Xavier coach if he works for no salary. I will support him receiving a bonus based on making the tournament and advancing in the tournament. He can also get a bonus for winning the BE and winning the BE tournament. Those are terms I can support. Maybe he will grow into the job or hire assistant coaches capable of doing the job for him.

[gundun]

Sean, please come back. I doubt if any other good-to-great coach would want our mess.

[bluegrass]

Please no more of the Coach K comparisons.

[longliveskip]

Xavier can still get in, but the only way for that to happen is the majority of the favorites in conf. tourneys have to WIN. the more bubble teams that WIN even a game or two, the more their resumes are boosted and overtake Xavier. the more favorites that win and knock those teams further off the bubble than X is, then maybe X sneaks in.

that's it. that's the only way.

the committee may still think that Xavier in the play-in game in Dayton would make a great atmosphere, etc. that could be a factor.

[skyhops]

We are not getting in.

[gym from delhi]

Does anyone really think this team with that coach belongs in the tourney?

[JPLMusketeer]

Does anyone really think this team with that coach belongs in the tourney?

Do I think they belong in? No. Do I hope that they somehow make it in despite not belonging? Yes.

I hope for the players' sake that this team makes it in. Regardless of how they've performed individually, I think they deserve at least a taste of March Madness. If you ask me, for the last three years we've had a tournament caliber team that has been severely mismanaged down the stretch.

If some of these terrible losses happen earlier in the season, I think Steele might've actually made some adjustments that could have this team easily in the field of 64, much like the adjustments he made to close out the season in his first year.

Unfortunately, for the last three years, every bad loss comes just late enough in the season that he seems to view it in a vacuum and continues to double down on what's just barely working. By the time he actually starts changing it up, e.g. giving guys like Edwards more minutes, it's too late in the season to even determine if his changes made a difference or not.