game thread for X vs ud

[xuhuh!]

How do you win a game with 6 assists, 20 tos and 20% from 3 point range? Hard to put into words, but, like they say this time of year, survive and advance!

I'm guessing most of what would have turned into assists turned into 2-shot fouls instead.

If UD played every opponent with the physicality and bloodlust with which they defend against XU, they'd be a lot better team.

They have played that style but the result has been the same.

[muskieman]

Hey, it's 8:15 CST, and I'm still at the office, preparing for a jury trial starting this Monday.

The LAST thing I needed was X gagging tonight, which was pretty much the case for 30 minutes. Fortunately, they somehow found their way and move on.

your honor it is like this....I lost a grand but the guy forgave me the debt.

in addition your honor my voice is gone because I was screaming at DJ but he had 6 rebounds 2 steals and 1 blk scoring 5 pts OH and shut out the player he was guarding, that right zero points for Chris Johnson who averaged 11.8 points per game and scored 18 points the last X game but I was casting ill feeling toward him all game.

yes your honor the X fans hold me in contempt.

[finalfourorbust]

It's always fun to go back and read the running game commentary from Neutral and the rest of our loyal Xavier fans. If I was that miserable during a game I wouldn't watch them. Thank God we don't have a losing program there would be mass suicides.

[thewoodslives]

It's always fun to go back and read the running game commentary from Neutral and the rest of our loyal Xavier fans. If I was that miserable during a game I wouldn't watch them. Thank God we don't have a losing program there would be mass suicides.

Gladly been drinking the Kool Aid since 1977...

[bluegrass]

We move on, but, holy moly, why did we look so bad for 3/4 of the game????

You could give Dayton some credit for that.That was the UD team picked to win the A10.Fortunately they disappeared in the last 10 minutes again.I have some sympathy for Flyer fans.That team can look really good at times and then totally go into the can.That's why I wasn't too worried when we trailed by 15.I've seen enough of Dayton to know we could get back into it.

[smileyy]

Seriously, I don't know how they can look that good against XU and cough it up against so many other teams. For 30 minutes, they were dribble penetrating, hitting open shots, forcing balls to come lose, blocking shots, playing with length, contesting every shot, getting a hand in for every rebound. That's a scary team. They just couldn't finish it.

[Mr. Neutral]

Actually, finalfour, having a losing team is easier in some ways. There's less disappointment (less satisfaction, too, of course), but for those of us who lived through lousy X basketball, we just wanted a close game, we knew we weren't going to the NCAA, we just hoped for a 17-win NIT season.

Now that the bar has been set so much, much higher, the pain of failure is that much worse.

And certain things just gall me more than others. Why do we struggle so much against Temple? Why do we usually lose early in the A10? When our teams are so good, year in and year out, and yet there's some humps we just can't get over. I find it aggravating. Maybe this year.....

[muskieman]

Actually, finalfour, having a losing team is easier in some ways. There's less disappointment (less satisfaction, too, of course), but for those of us who lived through lousy X basketball, we just wanted a close game, we knew we weren't going to the NCAA, we just hoped for a 17-win NIT season.

Now that the bar has been set so much, much higher, the pain of failure is that much worse.

And certain things just gall me more than others. Why do we struggle so much against Temple? Why do we usually lose early in the A10? When our teams are so good, year in and year out, and yet there's some humps we just can't get over. I find it aggravating. Maybe this year.....

every team has a team that they just can't seem to beat consistently....take for instance ud and uc lack of succes against X in the last 20 years.

[finalfourorbust]

Actually, finalfour, having a losing team is easier in some ways. There's less disappointment (less satisfaction, too, of course), but for those of us who lived through lousy X basketball, we just wanted a close game, we knew we weren't going to the NCAA, we just hoped for a 17-win NIT season.

Now that the bar has been set so much, much higher, the pain of failure is that much worse.

And certain things just gall me more than others. Why do we struggle so much against Temple? Why do we usually lose early in the A10? When our teams are so good, year in and year out, and yet there's some humps we just can't get over. I find it aggravating. Maybe this year.....

Your problem is that you can't accept the fact that the other teams have talent too. Xavier played a totally veteran team that was favored to win the league this year with a freshman and two sophomore guards and they leading returning scorer was 7 points a game. Don't even try to tell me that you thought this team would be 24-7 at this point. Your expectations are unreasonable.

[Mr. Neutral]

[quote]Xavier played a totally veteran team that was favored to win the league this year with a freshman and two sophomore guards and they leading returning scorer was 7 points a game. /quote]

Yes, but UD went 8-8 and we went 14-2, so we should play like a 14-2 team and not like an 8-8 team.

Of course UD's guys are giving it their best shot, and I don't expect us to hit every shot, get every rebound, or not make turnovers. What I do expect is for a 23-7 team to play hard, smart basketball, which we did not do for the first 30 minutes. We made mistake after mistake after mistake, and played with no confidence (see BL's in-game comments re this).

If we play a tough, smart game and lose, so be it. If we play stupid, error-filled ball, I'm not crazy about it.