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Muskies Plow into March Madness!!
By
Andy Mac Williams,
3/12/2013
Xavier couldn't quite close the deal in their regular season finale against Butler Saturday nite losing 67-62 at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Can't fault the effort!! The atmosphere was BIG TIME-wild-intense-maybe predictive of what we'll see every game in the new Big East.
The Bulldogs had Senior Night working for them and they rode Rotnei Clarke(21 points) to the wire. Credit the Dawg defense. Kareem Woods with his mega-length helped force Travis Taylor into a subpar shooting game(3-13). Trav got the ball in deep but couldn't finish. Woods scored 15 giving him 32 in his last 2 games. He may be a force in the NCAAs for BU.
 | | Xavier’s pre-game huddle at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse. Hinkle is 85 years old.[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | | Isaiah Philmore hits two of his 16 points.[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | | Travis Taylor swipes the ball from a Butler player as he attempted a shot.[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |  | | Semaj Christon goes over the defense for two of his team leading 20 points.[enlarge] Photo by Bob Stevens |
Moeller High's Alex Barlow handled Brad Redford roughly(no points in 18 minutes). X was outscored 6-4 from 3 point range. There were a bunch of positives for the Muskies. They rallied from 9 down in the second half to take a brief lead. They made FTs(14-16). Isiah Philmore played like a bull moose in a bad mood on the low block(16 points-11 rebounds). Eric Stenger worked his butt off(8 points-2 rebounds-in 8 minutes). Semaj Christon was remarkable(20 points-5 assists-2 rebounds-7-8 FTs).
So the Muskies finish the regular season at 17-13, 9-7 in the A-10. They rate the 7th seed and open Atlantic 10 Tournament play Thursday evening against St. Joe's(17-12,8-8) the 10th seed at the new Barclay's Center in Brooklyn(6:30-NBC Sports Network). XU's NCAA at large chances may be non-existent. If they would win 3 (W's over SJU,VCU and probably Temple), then lose in the A-10 Title game,X would be 20-14 and maybe in the bubble conversation but that's a stretch.
4 wins in 4 days is something Xavier has done before to secure the automatic NCAA berth (2004 at Dayton including an amazing victory over #1 rated St. Joe's and 2006 at USB Arena with a win over SJU in the Championship game).
St Joe's is very talented. Most experts picked them to win the A-10. Their Senior leader Tay Jones started the season suspended-then was benched just before the Xavier game in late January. He averaged 14PPG but struggled with his shooting and defense. He's capable of a huge scoring game though as is his guard running mate Langston Galloway(13PPG) who's deadly from long range. The 3rd guard is Soph Chris Wilson who has more size than Jones and Galloway and functions more as a pure point guard. He'll play some defense also.
Hofstra transfer Halil Kanacevic is a point forward and has given XU fits the last two seasons. He's 6-8 256 and mobile. Halil flicked off the fans late in the Hawks' Big 5 game at Villanova in December. SJU blew a late lead. Kanacevic was teed up and ejected and suspended. Later in the year he left the team to return to Montenegro because of a death in his family. The post guys are all-league calibre and athletic. Ronald Roberts(6-8 220) was the A-10 6th man of the year last season. He's a starter now and thriving(12PPG-9reb-tons of FTs). CJ Aiken(6-9 201) is considered an NBA prospect. He's a great shot blocker(3/game) along with 10PPG and 6REB.
Depth is a problem for SJU. They're 340th(out of 348) in bench minutes. The Hawks were horrible Sat. in a 52-40 loss at Charlotte with no FGs in the final 8 minutes and 2 for 22 3 point shooting. They are 4-5 over their last 9 games with no wins away from Hawk Hill.
SJU beat XU in Philly Jan 26th 59-49. X blew a late lead and failed to score over the final 4 minutes. The Hawks hit 10 3 pointers to the Muskies 1. Brad Redford was slowed by the stomach flu. Justin Martin couldn't contribute in the second half because of back spasms. I like XU's chances against SJU. T
he Muskies have played well lately except for the UMass game. St Joe's is vulnerable defensively if X attacks inside. The wild cards are the Hawks' 3 point shooting which is ultra streaky and Halil Kanacevic who's a tough match-up for Xavier. The computers and Las Vegas favor SJU slightly. I like Xavier to survive and play 2 seed VCU Friday nite at 6:30 in the Quarterfinals.
Congrats to Semaj Christon and Travis Taylor, Semaj was selected A-10 Rookie of the Year and second team ALL A-10, Taylor was picked the league's Most Improved Player and 3rd team all conference.
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