Marshmallow Minded Fans

[bourbonman]

I saw this as a tournament game. Big Dance quality opponent with senior leadership. Punch, counter-punch. I was nervous early in the second half, but when they renegaged and the crowd got invovled, I was much more comfortable. Even when they were down late. I loved it.

I believe this game built more character than most of our games this year. In fact the last two including the road win at SLU.

Now let's see what we can do with three of the next four on the road.

[xudash]

"I saw this as a tournament game. Big Dance quality opponent with senior leadership. Punch, counter-punch. I was nervous early in the second half, but when they renegaged and the crowd got invovled, I was much more comfortable. Even when they were down late. I loved it."

I felt the same way.

The players believed in themselves and pulled it out. They are building on a reputation for closing out games, for winning close, heated games; in a way, this team represents the new Xavier. In the past, X would have melt down in most cases with games like this. The fan base needs to catch up in the faith department. It won't always work out, but I feel much better about our end-of-close-game chances than I ever have in the past.

One other thing, St. Joe's came into the game with every intention of throwing the kitchen sink at us. We are a big target. They were already p!ssed about losing their game with Duquesne. They're trying to make it to the post season after starting out so poorly.

So a little context is good. Have some faith that these guys will find a way to pull it out. Also realize that we're taking everyone's best shot from here on in and that St. Joe's, specifically, is a formidable opponent.

[Mr. Neutral]

You guys may be right. It just drives me nuts to watch X go from up 14 to down 7 in a big game that we needed badly. Kudos to the team for pulling it out.

[CarlosTheJackal]

I'm with MOR on this one. Nothing personal, blue, so don't take it that way, but if you are going to post, even in the heat of the moment, you have to live with it.

Frustration is one thing; but quitting on the team in the midst of a bad patch by writing the team and game off is YOU giving up, not the team. If the team thinks like you, they lose the game. Why assume that because we played well, then played poorly, that we can't play well again, regain the lead and win the game?

I've had to extract crow feathers from my mouth on occasion on this board (I know, not enough for some.) Some times you have to give a little mea culpa, publicly, and get on with it.

[SM#24]

You guys may be right. It just drives me nuts to watch X go from up 14 to down 7 in a big game that we needed badly. Kudos to the team for pulling it out.

I will never complain about a -21 point swing when they are preceded by a +14 point swing and followed by an +11 point swing.

[XUOHTX]

If you guys ever read a negative post like "we blew it" from me its because I have a secret strategy that includes me sounding like I gave up and don't care anymore so the Basketball Gods will help X win just to show me that I was wrong to give up. Its complicated....but it works.

[Mr. Neutral]

Uh, me too!

[Mr. Neutral]

<<They are building on a reputation for closing out games, for winning close, heated games;>>

You hope so, but we've given away all or parts of big leads as well.

Against SBU, we had a 23-pt. lead with 5+ to go, and with the starters still in, SBU cut 10 pts. off the lead in 3 minutes.

Against GW, we had an 11-pt. lead w/11 minutes to go, and it was down to 1 w/1:48 left.

Against UMass, we had a 17-pt. lead with 15 minutes to go, and it was down to 5 pts. with 2 minutes left.

Against SLU, we had a 16-pt. lead with under 2 minutes to go in the 1st half, and a 10-pt. lead with 10 minutes to go in the game, before it was tied with 11 seconds to go.

Against SJU, we had a 14-pt. lead w/2+ to go in the first half, and then we were down 7 w/9 minutes to go in the 2nd half.

So, yes, X has won these games, and has played well enough to build up substantial leads, but then we go into a basketball coma and throw the hard-earned lead away.

This living on the edge usually costs you at some point. I'm hoping that's not true with X.

[CarlosTheJackal]

Mr N, the general premise of your analysis of games is that any loss of lead constitutes some conscious choice by the team to take it easy or not make perfect decisions and execute perfectly. It is possible, no probable, that the ebb and flow of the game, the cyclic ability of the body, brain and emotion to respond, the other team's motivation, will result in something that does not result in an ever increasing lead, without unintentional mistakes. This is the nature of the game, of human performance, and the interaction of players, time, matchups, coaching, the crowd.

Being impatient and intolerant of downturns in any micro second, any 4 minute span, a half of basketball or even a game that represents a loss, defies what we know about college basketball after years of databasing.

Surely as you play golf, even at your mature and most successful best, you lose concentration...not deliberately, you just lose it. Or random elements serve to impede your chance for birdie or par. Or you just mishit a ball, misjudge a distance. Do you berate yourself for a blown round on the 4th hole, the 12th hole? Do you give up on the round? I hope not!

[Mr. Neutral]

<<Do you berate yourself for a blown round on the 4th hole, the 12th hole? Do you give up on the round? I hope not!>>

Sadly, more so in the past, I have let my temper get the best of me on the course. A club or two has been known to go farther than my shot, or need to be reshafted after a round. Dealing with repeated failure is not my strong point. I'm fine with a blown shot here or there, or the occasional double bogey. But if I go 7-6-6-7-6, things can start to get ugly. And, yes, I've walked off the course after 9.

As Samuel L. Jackson's character said at the end of "Pulp Fiction", "But I'm trying, Ringo, I'm tryin' really hard."