opening night is coming

[muskieman]

Xavier's second Secret Scrimmage this weekend vs Kent State at a neutral site.

XU Opener vs Robert Morris is Monday, Nov. 6th at 8 PM EST at Cintas.

What is your opinion of the upcoming season?


St Johns picked above X because of Slick Rick???

My opinion is Sean will have this team ready for the postseason, and the team will be humming unless there are injuries. The coaches in the BE rival any league in the nation, and this year, the BE will dominate the postseason. The Muskies will show greater depth and firepower, and when subbing the talent level will not go down, so there is more pressure on the opponents. Two freshmen will be impactful for X.

[pdxmuskie]

Since I haven't seen a game yet, I feel I can still make a preseason assessment. Some highlights and box scores have revealed themselves to give me a slight advantage but hopefully that can be forgiven.

The Big East is likely going to be a very difficult conference giving this team a chance to develop late and play their way into the tournament. That may prove to be a problem instead of a gift. X will finish conference play with a winning record but possibly not sufficiently strong enough to offset a slow start.

Going 2 out of 3 in Vegas/Purdue might be enough to ensure the winning conference record is enough to make the tournament. To be safe, X will want to either beat UC or Houston or finish top 4 in conference.

I'm not sure why but I think X gets 2 out of the 3 games in Vegas/Purdue. I have a bad feeling about the UC game, possibly because UC is due or because there is only 1 person in the lineup that understands the intensity of the game. I have no idea if UC has returning talent, any legit recruits, etc., just a bad feeling about the game at this moment. I also don't know how much talent Houston is returning and therefore have no prediction.

I expect a fun year. There will be frustrating moments as well as exciting ones. The team will noticeably improve and will be in great position for next year.

Trey seems very quick in the highlights. If that is accurate and he lets the game come to him, Xavier likely finishes where they need to in the Big East to make the tourney.

I have X on the bubble this year but I wouldn't be shocked if they get a 4 seed. Claude might be ready to be special in all the ways X needs him to be. Veteran transfers and Euro guys will likely keep a smooth flow to the offense. Depth can keep guys fresh and hopefully allow for constant defensive pressure. There are so many open questions but significantly more options to answer those questions than last year.

A strong season will likely resolve recruiting issues for future seasons. Might be too late for next year but recruits should notice a coach that is able to take a single returning player and generate a tourney appearance. Add the great year in his first season back and the program should start to regain its status in college basketball.