Musketeer Madness

Yes, of course X has Jason Love to patrol the middle and Duncan comes off the bench but I think this is the one big area of concern of going deep into the NCAA tournament. When you look at the teams near the top or possible late tournament teams they have depth down low. UNC, Texas, Stanford, Georgetown, Wisconsin, UConn and so on.

I know XU can beat anyone on any given night, but if Love and Duncan get in foul trouble...we have to be concerned about our chances. I hope Xavier dominates down low and we dont have to worry about this come tourney time.

Go Muskies!

Yes, maybe XU won't necessarily have an advantage against some teams in the post, but the advantage at guard will make up for that. Have you seen Stanford's guard play? Weak. I wouldn't get excited about Georgetown's guards either.

You have to consider Brown and Anderson low block players since both are about the leading rebounders on the team and score most of their points in the paint. Half of the top 8 players on Xavier's roster can score and rebound on the block so I think they are fine down low. Xavier is a good rebounding club and they have not been dominated down low all year long. I think sometimes people just assume they are weak down low but that is far from the case.

If our big guys get in foul trouble, we have the Duke game of 2004. That being said, our current coach has a better handle on things, and wouldn't let either of those guys foul out the way Myles did with 12 minutes to go in the game.

Granted, X has two big and wide guys who can play inside- Duncan and Love. But Brown and Anderson can also rebound on both ends. X has a lot of players who can do a lot of different things.

I propose that we stop worrying about what we don't have and be optimistic about what we do have. You can look at every lineup in the country and find a hole or two.

I think it is true that X could have a hard time matching up with teams that have a large post man, but, those big post men will also have a hard time matching up with our post man that is a deadly three point shooter that can take him outside. I thought that Doellman rendered Oden(sp?) pretty much inneffective last year because of his ability to shoot outside. They frustrated him to the point that he committed a flagrant foul. Unfortunately the refs didn't have the ba**'s to call it.

Well, in any given game, you can probably point to strengths and weaknesses you have against a certain team... and after the game you can point to reasons why you won or lost.

For example if a team goes 5-20 from the free throw line and loses by 2 points, well, you'd probably point to their ineptness from the line...

If a team shoots 20-20 from 3 point land (not that any team could do it) and wins by 20, well you'd point to that.

Point is, X has lacked a true center all year, most college teams don't have them. Sure its a weakness, but it can be made up with in other areas....

Jason Love is a true center. He's 6'9", has a wide body, and will mix it up inside.

XU 87 wrote:Granted, X has two big and wide guys who can play inside- Duncan and Love. But Brown and Anderson can also rebound on both ends. X has a lot of players who can do a lot of different things.

I propose that we stop worrying about what we don't have and be optimistic about what we do have. You can look at every lineup in the country and find a hole or two.

For a lawyer you aren't half bad. I do agree that we can beat ourselves about what we lack but show me a team and I will (with a little time) show you a weakness.

XU 87 wrote:Jason Love is a true center. He's 6'9", has a wide body, and will mix it up inside.

And he has the wing span that of a 7'6" player. That's two times I have agreed with you xu 87...we need to stop that.