Djokovic

[Kevin Reilly]

VCU and DJokovic took down North Carolina in Overtime. Djokovic had 15 points and 5 rebounds. They were down around 16 points.

[Kevin Reilly]

NKY Lewis who was committed to Xavier for months Had 14 points and 7 rebounds.

[skyhops]

I was always a fine of Lazar and Benedict Miller should have never ran him off. Lewis is a BE too. Powell, Gytis, Conwell, Swain, Ducharme, Tre Green, all in dance.

[McX]

And Lassina Traore, though he's on the bench with a knee injury. That counts, right?

[Kevin Reilly]

Yep.

[muskieman]

I was always a fine of Lazar and Benedict Miller should have never ran him off. Lewis is a BE too. Powell, Gytis, Conwell, Swain, Ducharme, Tre Green, all in dance.

And the coach of an 11th seed, whose players are in the top tier in NIL money.

[ChitownSteve]

Muskieman:

As you know I respect what you do for both this Board and Xavier Basketball. More often than not, we see eye to eye on issues.
However, please, enough of the Coach Miller bashing. That only deflects from focusing upon what Xavier should be doing.

Miller coaches in a Conference where his competitors are also in the top tier of NIL. He got the Longhorns into the Tournament and has already won three games this past week.

Our vaunted Coach Richard Pitino has amassed a whopping two NCAA wins in 14 seasons. Note, I am no Coach Miller fan, disappointed like most others. However, seeking to diminish Miller and overlook that Richard Pitino thoroughly insulted Xavier fans on his March 3rd show is puzzling.

Paraphrasing Pitino’s comment, when there were rumors of him heading to Providence, he said “I promise you I will never leave after a 14 or 15 win season because that’s not my intent at all.” The audience applauded …. I was stunned. Have X fans lost sensibility? Of course Pitino would not leave Xavier after a 14 or 15 win season ….who in the world would hire him after such a flop? No big time AD would dare hire him after such a poor season. Plus, he basically confirmed he would leave after a successful season. Precisely why I expressed my objection when Pitino’s hiring appeared imminent.

Xavier tied for last in the Big East this year. Let’s start demanding accountability of all those involved in the Xavier Basketball Program. I’ve lived through the collapse of the DePaul Program, never want that to occur to my favorite team, the Musketeers.

[muskieman]

Chitown, what did I say that was not true? It is a fact that they are an 11th seed, and doing quite well, I may add, but they do have high-priced players. Two raken from Xavier. I root for former Xavier players to do well. I also root for Travis Steele

BTW most Xavier fans predicted a bad season with all the late signings because of the last coach's sudden departure

[ChitownSteve]

MM:

In a few places you have now used the “11th Seed” as a clear pejorative. Context is important to who any Coach competes against, Miller has the same NIL as who Texas routinely faces. Getting into the Dance is the key. Let’s move on from Miller, time to focus on X’s problems.

“Meeting low expectations” should not be acceptable for judging Coach Pitino. Too many, for too long, accepted Coach Steele’s underperformance. Not going to give slack to a Coach, whose transiency is apparent.

Echo’s of Mr. Neutral have been reverbarating through my head in assessing where the program is. The deafening silence about VP-AD Greg Christopher’s performance is something that should be focused upon.

Go Muskie’s,

ChitownSteve

[muskieman]

Sorry you think that an 11th seed is a pejrative when No. 11 seeds have reached the Final Four in NCAA history six times. The teams that have made it include LSU in 1986, George Mason in 2006, VCU in 2011, Loyola-Chicago in 2018, UCLA in 2021, and NC State in 2024. I think there are a alot of fine schools who have been an 11th seed that might think it is not a pejrative.

I mean, look at this school in 2017
2017 – West Region (Seed 11)
Beat Maryland (6)

Beat Florida State (3)

Beat Arizona (2)

Lost to Gonzaga (1) in the Elite Eight