Xavier v Dayton, Sunday

[muskieman]

Sean has said Hugley has lost 50 lbs, but it will take some time for him to be settled. He got in foul trouble, but some say some were suspect. Maybe Skyhop can give us his opinion on the foul problems because we need him for minutes early so Zach and Rome are not worn out later.

[longliveskip]

Sean has said Hugley has lost 50 lbs, but it will take some time for him to be settled. He got in foul trouble, but some say some were suspect. Maybe Skyhop can give us his opinion on the foul problems because we need him for minutes early so Zach and Rome are not worn out later.

what you're probably going to see in games, especially early in the season, are some kind of combos like this:

4/5 - Rome, Free, Hughley, Swain
1/2/3 - McKnight, Conwell, Foster, Green, Maddox

am i missing anyone who's going to get some significant minutes?

[skyhops]

I hear Hugley played better in the closed scrimmage vs Notre Dame, but I'm not expecting a lot until he gets into the flow. He seemed slow and out of shape to me, but I'll give him benefit of doubt. Expect Hunter to play a lot of five this year along with Swain at 4 and Foster at 3. Is the kid from Florida going to play much? Have not hear much. Foster and Swain will start at the 3 and 4.

[longliveskip]

still deciding on whether to redshirt Cam Fletcher or not. was most likely going to at first but Traore's injury basically brought this decision up so they're still debating on it. i'm guessing since they're trying to decide that would mean that Fletcher could at least help with minutes.

[skyhops]

Thats what I heard as well. With the history of both Free and Hunter I would think it would be a good idea to keep Fletcher available.

[Anti-Homer]

X lost one of the three most important players on the team, along with McKnight and Freemantle. I think Conwell is the best player, but they're loaded at the shooting guard position. X will just have to rebound by committee and run every chance they get, something they would have done even with Traore. Hughley becomes even more important now, and fortunately, Hunter plays very solid D as an undersized center.

With a 9-man rotation, I hope presses a lot more, even if it is token pressure, to shave 8-10 seconds off the shot clock, and reduce the amount of time for teams to run their half-court sets. Even with Traore, their D would have been a little suspect with Freemantle and Green. I haven't seen enough of Maddox or Foster to know how well they guard. Conwell seems solid.

On a different note, one guy who apparently is much better than I thought, and as his numbers would indicate, is Roddie Anderson, PG transfer from Boise St, who is redshirting. His numbers last year were 7ppg, 36%-FG/55%-FT/27%-3 pt. Not exactly awe-inspiring. However, I listened to the Broering Fritschner podcast, and both are very high on him. They both went so far as to say that if something happened to McKnight, they could slot Anderson right in w/o missing a beat. That makes me feel a lot better about the PG position next year.

This is the most talented, offensive team X has ever had. Even without Traore, they have a shot to contend for the title in the Conference of Champions.

[Jesseandrippers]

“This is the most talented, offensive team X has ever had.“

That is a mighty bold statement before the first tipoff of the season.

[X-lucidity]

I would agree with the stmt that this is best offensive X team ever. ( caveat- everyone from here on stays healthy. Knock wood). However, what I mean by that is if the game was played 9 on 9. We have incredible scoring power in waves. Can bring multiple players of the bench who can also score the ball well. The game as we all know is 5 on 5. So while the potential is there, the jury is out for another month or so. But damn, this unit is going to scare opposing coaches when trying to conjure up a defensive game plan.

[pdxmuskie]

Best offensive team ever seems a bit optimistic at this point. Offense was ugly in the first half in game 1. Everything was from the perimeter but that changed in the 2nd half and things got dramatically better. Depth doesn't seem to be as strong as advertised but it is obviously early. Hopefully we have 9 dependable guys contributing in various ways.

[muskieman]

Best offensive team ever seems a bit optimistic at this point. Offense was ugly in the first half in game 1. Everything was from the perimeter but that changed in the 2nd half and things got dramatically better. Depth doesn't seem to be as strong as advertised but it is obviously early. Hopefully we have 9 dependable guys contributing in various ways.

I'd give it a few games. I saw the Dayton game, and this team does have offense. What is nice is that if we only have a couple of hot guys and others contributing when needed, we can draw fouls and score, and then we will be fine. McKnight was the glue against TS and, when in there, scored and distributed the ball without TOs. Now I know no TOs will not be every game, but then the bench scoring will not be as bad as the TS game.

I like the level of talent. Now, the goal is to stay healthy.