ST JOHNS GAME THREAD

[Lead Guitar]

All teams have defensive lapses—-St.John’s and Georgetown had many. We actually played good defense and rebounded well. (Sure there were a couple of open three’s that went down, but you can’t stop it all, especially in a fast paced game.) If you take away the 5 or 7 turnovers at the top of the key that turned into breakaway baskets, we held them to 65/69 points and it was a 15 point victory. A number of factors/variables go into team defense when looking at a final score. We did most well tonight.

[AirJordan]

The all access broadcast allows fans to see & understand the intense communication coaches have while instructing the players as to their duties & efforts during the intense battle of the game. It is very cerebral with regard to what the players must do to win.
To characterize it as “pornographic” reveals more about the writers mental preoccupation than anything whatsoever than the game of basketball. Counseling may be in order.

You wiffed on the poster's point. 96MuskieNKY was drawing an analogy between the attraction of showing the huddles, the dialogue and interaction among players and coaches real time vs. the attraction of porn. In his analogy, both similarly draw the viewer to completely focus on something from which it is difficult to look away or ignore.

[connecticut72]

I will take any Big East road win. Thankfully, we had a big lead and our man Souley at the end to make free throws. He is the only one I truly trust at the line with the game on the line. Hunter missed two and looked a nervous wreck. Colby missed one and Jack stepped in to erase his second. That is 4 points. Souley did play all 40 minutes but his jumper suffered at the end. I understand Miller believes, (like we all do) that we are a different team when he is not on the floor but I do think he needs a quick blow here and there. I will be rooting hard for the Muskies against UCONN but I don't think we can pull that one off. The Huskies are loaded and very deep. We will see anything is possible. One more thing. We need to be patient with Claude. Miller certainly is and is giving him minutes. He is a better frosh than Scruggs was at the same stage. He has a good BBall IQ. He is trying to fit in right now and is a little tentative offensively. For example, he missed an easy lay and did not go hard to the hoop on more than one occasion, but it will come. He was the starting guard on the best High School team in America last year.

[X-lucidity]

Holy freaking cow….! Where to even start? The poster who compared that to “porn” in a fun way was spot on. I would love to see FS1 do that once every season. For those of us who have coached, (obviously on a MUCH smaller scale than D-1 Big E ball), it was incredible to get that 360-degree perspective from start to finish. I tried telling my wife how fast the game comes at a coach and how your brain can feel almost scrambled in a blender midway through during a tough contest. So as another poster mentioned, to see Coach Miller so focused and composed during each T/O was both impressive and refreshing. His command of the huddle was unquestioned. I liked the way he sought the input from his assistants then addressed the team. Notice how he kept it simple and direct, usually only trying to stress two to three points each break. As opposed to Coach Anderson who at times was a bit abstract and meandering with his T/O instructions. I believe one poster referenced Souley having an off night. I disagree. He was not forcing shots, he made his free throws, and most importantly, he was our primary ball handler versus their trapping pressure bringing the ball up and rarely had a miscue. For a young man who had never been a true PG before, this was impressive. Hey look, AK also had an off night shooting, and yet we went in and beat a team on the road that posed some significant match-up issues.
Needless to say, as was already referenced a time or two: Damn it sure feels fabulous to have a kickass coach steering our ship….

[96Muskie NKY]

AirJordan, thank you for the point of clarification on "basketball porn" vs "pornographic" references. Perhaps I should further clarify future comments. A good road win overall. I thought the All Access showed a stark contrast between coaching styles and staffs and gives me further confidence in Miller to lead this team to the promised land. Boum was gassed at the end, but still played an outstanding game, only 1 turnover playing full 40 min is quite telling and was nails at the line.

[Kevin Reilly]

Miller is a maniac. Damn he puts a lot of effort into coaching. We are lucky to have him. Nice to have a guard that can make pressure foul shots at the end of games .Boum is money. Nunge and Freemantle played well. I think having time off is crucial for Nunge. Hunter is bringing a ton of effort and energy .Claude is coming on too as is Edwards. I think We take down U Conn for Miller's first big upset. We can score with anybody . If we can clean up our turnovers and play better defense this team can make some noise. Our defense is slowly getting better. Go X.

X

[DannyV76]

In talking with friends today and reading the posts here, the All Access is just a grand slam. Now watching that game that way, we get an idea of Sean's in game directions and time out messages.

Fox Sports also had one of these a few years back when X was at Creighton. During a timeout huddle Travis was going over an upcoming paly, stopped in the middle with a " Naji, pay attention" comment. I thought that spoke volumes, especially compared with how McDermott came off from the Creighton bench.
Speaking of Naji, a good friend of mine who is a Huge NBA fan ( i know, go figure!) just told me this week that Naji has carved out a nice role with the Pelicans. As good as Naji was here, you have to wonder what his Muskie career would have been like with a competent coach?

What a lifesaver Boum is! With some 90% FT shooters, they become more like 75% when the game is on the line. Souley likes the ball in his hands come crunch time and so do I. When he was on the line last night late, something was going on between him and the Ref about his jersey not being tucked in. It looked like he was having a good time with it all and was very loose rather than thinking about the game still being up for grabs.
Sign me up!

[norwood44]

Great win. Couple observations. Very little 3 point shots in 2nd half. I remember only Freemantle's. Colby seemed off his game. Don't know if he was guarded closely or was not feeling well.
Those said, it was a great win.

[Sonoma Muskie]

The Muskies’ effort vs. St John’s’was truly heroic. The best we have seen in recent years & that includes some very impressive performances!
The showed great resolve & tenacity against very determined opposition by a very talented St.John’s team.
Jack Nunge had a great game despite the refs allowing St.John’s big men to pound on him with impunity.
He & Kunkle fought off fatigue,me specially in the 2d half as evidenced by free throw attempts being a bit short of the basket not quite getting over the top of the front of the rim. Colby has had better games. Souly Boum came thru with a great performance fighting thru tough defenders who despite their best efforts were unable to contain him. Hunter gave us needed help while showing great effort while securing crucial rebounds in the 2d half.
The all access broad cast showing Miller’s coaching skill in reinforcing his messages to the team to keep them focused on accomplishing the very critical tasks immediately at hand; namely to constantly move the ball forward, always cutting, not slowing down even foe a momentary breather while enduring exhausting fatigue along with the constant harassing efforts by the st.John’s defenders.
Ultimately the Muskies wore them down as revealed by their big men missing critical free throws.

A truly great team effort resulting in a well deserved, hard fought victory.

Barring injury this could be an epic season for Xavier bb.Hold on & enjoy the ride. It is going to be a lot of FUN!!!!

[Sonoma Muskie]

Some people prefer to keep their enjoyment of sports in the form of Xavier athletic teams separate from sexual references.
The purity of amateur athletics is a source of great satisfaction to observe the noble efforts of the contestants.
There is a certain dramatic virtue when athletes use their minds & spirits to the depths of their souls a achieve heights beyond their prior levels.
When an athlete makes the sign of the cross before a free throw it is kind of like imploring the Almighty to help him/her to do their best.
In this day & age it might be viewed a naive, parochial, superstitious & quaint.
But don’t be so jaded as to overlook any help. Bring back the days of wearing the Carmelite scapulars!
How old fashioned to not realize that Golden Blink necklaces have taken on that function. Such is American culture in this age of super affluence & materialism!