X from a 7 seed to maybe the Bubble or out

[Xavier2005]

The loss of the last 2 games moved Xavier's RPI from the 30s to the high 40s. X went from 4th place in the BE to 6th place. NCAA bracket projections have the BE receiving only 4 teams. At the moment 2-17-21 it would appear X is either on the Bubble or out of the NCAA tournament. Obviously, a lot of games yet to be played, but currently going the wrong way.

[X-lucidity]

Yup, a huge hole has now been dug. But many on this board still have those rose colored glasses on. Like Kevin Bacon in Animal House:
(yes, I am dating myself)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDAmPIq29ro

[bluegrass]

Definetly trending down.They have many chances to improve their standing but have not looked good these last 2 games .I'm sure the covid shut down hasn't helped

[xavier71]

No one would deny that Covid has been a nightmare for college basketball, but as to the NCAA tounament it might have helped X more than it hurt. We don't play at Seton Hall, at UConn, or Nova twice, all possible losses. Assuming a loss to Creighton and losing to either Marquette or Providence on the road, we would then have had to win the rest of the games to finish 10 -10 with an overall record of 17-10. Eliminating 4 probable losses is huge.

[thecoach]

No one would deny that Covid has been a nightmare for college basketball, but as to the NCAA tounament it might have helped X more than it hurt. We don't play at Seton Hall, at UConn, or Nova twice, all possible losses. Assuming a loss to Creighton and losing to either Marquette or Providence on the road, we would then have had to win the rest of the games to finish 10 -10 with an overall record of 17-10. Eliminating 4 probable losses is huge.

Yep, that's exactly what we were talking about last night. The other thing is how fortunate were they to have their absolute best shooting night against Oklahoma at this point? At that point most would have chalked it up to being a strong shooting team, but i'm not sure that is the case right now. If you're going to have a good night, best against a ranked team. Maybe very well be the difference in getting to the tourney and not. However, going 1 and 4 or maybe 2 and 3 and losing in the first game of the tourney may be dicey.

[Anti-Homer]

This is still a very good shooting team, when they take good shots in rhythm. Unfortunately, they are a metaphor of Naj, who was a good shooter from three when it was catch and shoot, when he squared up, and took quality shots. Naj took a lot of silly, low percentage treys. Goodin on the other hand wasn't a good shooter under any circumstances, but Steele never reined either in. Just like the previous two years, X takes a lot of shots early in the shot clock, many not in-step, many deeper than they need to be, because this is the style Steele likes. We've witnessed it for three years.

X played one of the worst teams in defending the two point shot in the country, so what did they do? Shoot forty threes. They lack discipline, and if -it was only one or two players, that's one thing, but it permeates virtually throughout the whole team. That's on Steele.

[skyhops]

We have not been a good shooting team in Big East play, so I'm not sure we are such a great shooting team as we saw against St. Johns. I'm not sure what Steele's fasination is with Kunkel and Carter, but they have not shot well or played good defense. I did watch some of the game again and some of those threes were not good shots and watching St Johns continue to dunk against the zone is a head scratcher, but Steele is typically over matched against well coached teams.

[X-lucidity]

'Hops, you mentioned as a tangent our woeful 2/3 zone. Worth a few more thoughts IMHO. Likely heavily influenced by COVID stoppages to be sure, but as a coach, zones can be dangerous if you aren't running them well. (and news flash, we are not). Because then you not only are ineffective at limiting that good first look, but then you also lower your defensive rebounding % due to no real block out assignments. I watched a few possessions vs St. John's in earnest when we were in a zone and our movement was horrific. Seemed many of our players, especially the Frosh and Soph's seemed mechanical in their movements instead of instinctive. It was god-awful. Hoping the staff has had a chance to really identify this aspect and obviously so many others, and address them in succinct yet effective time slots. This season can be salvaged, but I believe we all would agree, Steele and staff have their biggest challenge to date...

[Xavier2005]

update, UPDATE....as of Feb 19th, 2021...ESPN has Xavier a 10 seed and among the last 8 teams in the tournament. With an arrow pointing downward....meaning that is their current direction...!!???!!!

[XU2011]

We have not been a good shooting team in Big East play, so I'm not sure we are such a great shooting team as we saw against St. Johns. I'm not sure what Steele's fasination is with Kunkel and Carter, but they have not shot well or played good defense. I did watch some of the game again and some of those threes were not good shots and watching St Johns continue to dunk against the zone is a head scratcher, but Steele is typically over matched against well coached teams.

I'm not sure what Steele's fasination is with Kunkel and Carter, but they have not shot well or played good defense

Rotate in Tandy and Wilcher more frequently until you find someone knocking down shots with even a little consistency. I don't think it's a huge "drop off" defensively and at this level you cannot have players on the floor on a given night who are zero threat to score the ball. I get the "toughness thing", but teams that have multiple guys in the rotation that are no threat to score will always be "on the bubble" at best; especially in the league Xavier is in. The days where a Xavier team can weather a 5, 7, 10 minute scoring drought and win are gone; too many good players on every roster in our conference.