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Scouting Xavier-Baylor NCAA-Take Two!!
By
Andy Mac Williams,
3/22/2012
My computer skills are somewhat limited so I may have inadvertantly deleted my carefully crafted XU-Baylor Preview. Trust me! It wasn't all that special. So here are some quick takes. Andre Walker did not practice today (Thursday) at the Georgia Dome (headache from the whack he took vs Notre Dame). Just shows how tough he is-returning to the Lehigh game and scoring a critical lay-up and blocking a big shot. Maybe he'll be available tomorrow nite vs Baylor (7;15-CBS)?? Dez Wells put up a few shots and did not go full speed. He retired to the training room for more treatment on his sprained toe. His status for Baylor is up in the air.
Chris Mack may have to replace two starters. Dee Davis opened the second half against Lehigh with Dez down. Jeff Robinson would seem to be the heir apparent if Andre is a scratch.
Playing 3 small against Baylor may not work too well. They are long and lanky but their good bigs are not tremendously bulky. They have to account for Kenny Frease on the low block and Kenny has been making teams pay inside.
Seniors Frease and Tu Holloway are in the zone much as Jordan Crawford and Jason Love were two years ago. Tu is capable of dropping 30 or more VS BU. Frease has to avoid foul trouble and may not be able to eat up 30 plus minutes as he did vs Lehigh but he's making a statement to NBA scouts.
Mark Lyons gets overrevved in these NCAA affairs sometimes (Marquette last season-Lehigh last weekend). X needs him on the floor and productive for 30 minutes. Baylor PG Pierre Jackson is excellent-among the national leaders in assists and steals,but he can't guard both Tu and Cheeks.
3 point sniper Brady Heslip-the Boston College transfer-has to defend somebody and XU has an edge in that match-up. Heslip shoots 46% from three and leads all NCAA players with 14 made threes in two games. His numbers are due to come back to earth. Look at the defensive job Xavier did on Lehigh star CJ McCollum!!
Baylor cruised to two wins last weekend over South Dakota State and Colorado. The Muskies should provide stiffer opposition. BU is favored by every pundit from Dickie"V" to Jay Bilas to the A-10s own Joe Lunardi. Vgas has the Bears a solid 6 point favorite and when they find out about Wells and Walker's iffy status, the line may soar to 10 or more. Who cares??
XU has handled highly rated Big 8-now Big 12 teams before in the NCAAs when it was supposed to be the MEN (Big 12) against the little boys (X-avier as they all called the Muskies). Missouri (rated 11th) went down to X in the Hoosier Dome in 1987. X took out #8 Nebraska and their 7 footer Rich King in 1991.
Higher seeded Texas went down in the Sweet 16 at the Georgia in 2004 before the Muskies lost that tight one to Duke. Why not again?? I like the sound of a Kentucky-Xavier Elite 8 game Sunday.
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