Crosstown Shoutout looks at XU '11 targets

[madness31]

X should have beaten Butler and Baylor/Marquette (can't remember which). Yes they were both good teams and were not bad losses but that doesn't change that X gave the games away. I believe Crawford shot 2 for 20 against Baylor or Marquette and forced half of them. He played selfish that game and the team didn't make Love a priority when he was playing as efficient as possible. The team was not mature at that time and lost because of it. You could blame Mack for not reigning in his star, Crawford for not recognizing his own struggles, or a lack of team leadership by the other players. Regardless it was a game that should have been won if the team was mature and playing smart basketball.

The Butler game had plenty of moments where X made poor decisions on the offensive and defensive ends. Yes good teams do force mistakes but I'm referring to unforced errors. Reaching on defense leading to foul trouble and FT. Unforced turnovers on the offensive end.

Combine those losses with the legit losses and the team was struggling early and taking the profile of the conference down. Luckily much of the A-10 did well in the non conference and the teams X lost to all ended up with a very good profile. It is a personal thing but I hate it when a team loses because of numerous stupid plays. You expect shots will be missed and the other team will make great plays but you don't expect your team to throw up wild shots and not protect the ball on a consistent basis. You don't expect reaching fouls at critical times in the game. Mistakes happen but it is frustrating to watch a team beat themselves. Butler is great at taking advantage of what other teams give them. They play smart and play hard.

[Schtakle]

i agree Lyons improvement in an important part of X's recipe for success this upcoming season but the guy I think has the potential to become a true "X" factor (yes, pun intended) is McClean - he has the ability to shoot a jumper to about 12, can put the ball on the floor and go to the basket and pass as well. Last year he seemed hesitant to make any of those moves but on the occasions he did - showed the ability to do them all. Maybe a small dose of Crawford confidence would be beneficial. But not too much...

[jct1941]

Madness31 - There is a strong possibility that this years team will struggle early on. Crawford (in early games) was a bit selfish but he had sat out a year and was trying to get a handle on how to become a part of the TEAM. Once he figured it out he became the team player we all appreciated. This coming year all the roles will change and the four new players will need to be worked into the system. THERE are going to be some mistakes made so prepare yourself for it. That is what is exciting about college basketball as each year other players have to take charge and help the new players adjust. Even Butler was something like 8 and 5 in the early going and playing in the Horizon league was not as tough as XU playing in the A10. Crawford and Love will be greatly missed but the coaching staff will mold the players into a very good team. Go Xavier!

[RONALD78]

Gee, I thought all teams ,even X, came out playing perfect basketball and needing no adjustments due to perfect coaching. LOL. UK had so many wonderful lottery NBA type players playing together that they failed to make the Final Four or win the national title. Yep...Calpari had so called great NBA type players and they could not go all the way in college. Makes sense, right? All those great UK potential NBA players together could not get it done in college. hmmm How many National titles did the Fab Five win..none!!!!! Quick worrying ..X will be in the Dance. X's odds to win the national title..maybe a half of 1 percent. We did the math here on another post.

[muskieman]

ron didn't you know they must be mid season form at the beginning and then improve to perfection by the second half of the first game. (dripping)

[madness31]

I guess I stated that the team should be at perfect form at the start of the season since that is what several of you read. Of course the team should be expected to make mistakes and improve throughout the year but that doesn't prevent frustration when you are cheering for them to win. It is even worse when you see the mistakes that are costing them the victory. Maybe some of you do not know enough about basketball to tell when a bad decision is made but for those of us that recognize such things, it is frustrating.

It is interesting that I have been mocked for supposedly expecting immediate perfection on this board as well as for identifying positive signs that point to a more successful frease next year. I was also given crap on the other board for stating I hope Mack learned from his first year and is a better coach this coming season. I guess I can't win when I expect/hope for improvement or when people assume I believe improvement never happens.

[jct1941]

Madness31 - I, for one, am not mocking you and never (actually) mock anyone because we are all only expressing our OPINIONS. I am just trying to be realistic. We started out 6 and 4 and those losses were to Marq.,Baylor, K St., and Butler. All of them played in the NCAA's. Those games were at neutral sites or away games. For the rest of the year we only lost FIVE games to Wake (at Wake) in 2 OT's, at Temple (at Temple) by 5 pts, at Dayton by 25 (which was bad) when Love and Frease had 2 fouls two minutes into the game, Richmond in OT when we were up by two with 15 seconds to go and Dante missed the front end of a one and one, and K St. (again) by 5pts in double OT. Lord we finished 26 and 9 and had a final RPI of 19 (which would have been even better if hadn't played Fordham twice) and a final ranking of 16th. I just think you are being somewhat hard on Mack and the players when we had that kind of year. Everyone on this board wants XU to win and it doesn't take a genius to see that they made mistakes along the way but taken as a whole it was a GREAT season IMHO.

[X-man]

Reaching on defense leading to foul trouble and FT.

If you recall, "reaching on defense" (by Butler) at the end of the game did not lead to a foul because the GD ref's decided to give the game to the Bulldogs. Your post is therefore ironic in its "analysis" of what went wrong in the Butler game.

[Mr. Neutral]

But his point is that X had multiple opportunities to win the Butler, WF and Marquette games, and just didn't take advantage of those opportunities.

Now, the team was still developing, and JC was still finding his place in the scheme of things, but the losses were still very, very frustrating at the time.
Less so in retrospect, but they hurt at the time.

[jct1941]

Mr. N - Of course every loss hurts. All of our losses were to teams who made the NCAA's except Dayton and they made and won the NIT. I can not think of a year when XU (or any team for that matter) did not have some unexplainable losses or at least losses that we should have won. This year could be the same kind of start because as always we have to wonder who will STEP UP. Will Frease finally become the player we all hoped he would be. Will Robinson contribute this year? Is Redford's hip going to allow him to be more effective? How long will the new players take to blend in? Every year its a whole new ball game and this year will be no different. Our coaching staff will get the most out of each player and that is all we can hope for. I happen to think that we will be very,very good. Go Xavier!