Musketeer Madness

Cintas 12 noon, Saturday 11/16

TV: FS1 with Chris Vosters and Nick Bahe
Xavier Radio: 700 WLW broadcast is also available on the Varsity Network and on Sirius XM

I like starts like this. Keep it up, guys. Swain needs to protect the rock

Good first half by the Muskies. Nice to see Hunter and Foster make some shots. Holding our own on the boards so far. Wish Maddox would get more time. Holding Wake to 24 first half points is outstanding. Need the same defensive effort in the second half.

More Maddox .McKnight is coming on. Need to keep the ball moving quicker.

Freemantle acting like a guard for two

Need to make some stops.

Defense was great today. Held Wake under their 75 points per game average to 60

Good hard earned win. Conwell and McKnight made the clutch plays. The team played hard. Hunter and Maddox were great off the bench. Freemantle battled hard and stayed out of foul trouble and made a great pass to Swain to seal the win. Go X

This team makes their free throws, plays active defense that leads to many turnovers, and is lethal in transition. That's all on top of having 5-6 guys who can knock it down from 3.

A lot to like here. Just need the bigs to stay healthy.

It was nice to get a win with a subpar offensive performance. Good rebounding and defense, including forcing T.O.s and converting, and great FT shooting were the reasons why. I was pleasantly surprised with Zach's D. Efton is a capable offensive player and had 3 inches and about 30 lbs on Free, but he ended up with only 9 points and 4 boards. Hugley also played solid D against him on the block.

I really like Hunter's versatility on defense, and he sets great screens, but I think his two threes are fool's gold, kind of like Swain's early threes last year.I also will not be disappointed if Hugley decides threes aren't a good idea for him as well. There's a reason why he has had two wide open treys this year.

Swain is the best defensive player on the team, but he is so limited offensively. He seemingly can only hit short jumpers off the glass, and that's where he should limit his shooting. He also has been too turnover-prone. He has a good handle in the open court, but not in tight spaces. He had 3 or 4 T.O.s today, and I believe leads the team in that category.

Nice to have 9 guys who can contribute, especially in light of how shallow their bench has been the last two years. Solid win. Wake is no juggernaut but had the talent to be a high-seed, Tourney team. X should be in the Top 25 this coming week.