Musketeer Madness

Lets go back to, say, November 10, 2007 at about 6:30pm and you are sitting where ever eagerly anticipating the start of another Xavier Musketeer college basketball season. You have your thoughts and somehow the magic genie appears from the depths of your Guinness and tells you, as you gaze into your Irish Ale glass that after the St. Joe game on March 6, 2008:

A). Xavier would have already won the A-10 Conference regular season crown- especially given the murderous league road schedule.
B). Xavier would be ranked #8 in the AP poll.
C). Xavier would have a #10 RPI ranking.
D). Xavier would be in high contention for a 2 or 3 seed in the Dance.
E). Xavier would have already won 25 games.
F). Xavier would be in the serious conversation for a Final 4 berth.

Anyone out there really anticipate that? I think all of us would have quickly told the genie that we'd take it .

This is not to say that anyone is satisfied at this point and that we, Sean or the team don't want the Big Run to come, but I think that I would have been on cloud 9 hearing those accomplishments.

What I do want now, however, is to get this offense clicking on all cylinders again. It seems as if, even though the wins are coming save for Thursday night, the 6 cylinder engine has about 3 valves missing every game. Stan, BJ, Drew, JoDu, CJ, DBrown haven't been totally in synch since, maybe, the UMass game.

Oh, for a run like the team had between 12/28 and 1/12 for the period between March 13 and April 7.
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Xavier- Overnight Sensation 25 Years in the Making.

I thought we would be good but not where we are.

I heard on espn radio yesterday something about a computer model that had 13 variables that the last several NCAA champions shared. Anyway, they indicated that only three teams this year have all thirteen: UCLA, Kansas, and X. Pretty cool.

I watched the recording @ St Joe's again....Drew returning to 100% is one thing, but JOSH DUNCAN needs to RETURN TO FORM!. absolutely faltered vs. the bigs of SJU..

Masterofreality wrote:What I do want now, however, is to get this offense clicking on all cylinders again. It seems as if, even though the wins are coming save for last night, the 6 cylinder engine has about 3 valves missing every game. Stan, BJ, Drew, JoDu, CJ, DBrown haven't been totally in synch since, maybe, the UMass game.

That has been my feeling too. Some of those games with 6 players in double figures earlier in the season were a joy to behold. That team could have beat pretty much anybody I think. Maybe it is more than we have a right to expect. More recently it seems that it is one or two players a game that step up big. And the nice thing is that the other team never quite knows which it will be as so many are capable. I do think that Drew running at 100% had much to do with that earlier balanced play and if he comes back to that he will bring the team with him. Here's hoping!

xuhuh! wrote:I watched the recording @ St Joe's again....Drew returning to 100% is one thing, but JOSH DUNCAN needs to RETURN TO FORM!. absolutely faltered vs. the bigs of SJU..

I had that feeling too when originally watching the game. I was hoping it was just an off-night. I feel he will be back to form ... he is a senior!

I thought we would be 15-25 IF Jason Love could get 6-7 pts 15 plus min and 4-5 rebs.
The rest of the team was known including C.J

Forget about the beginning of the season. After the Temple loss (or maybe it was after the GW win that followed), many of us made predictions about our record for the rest of the season.

Most stated they would be happy (and I am recalling with a not-so-perfect memory) with an 8-4 record - undefeated at home and winning something like 2 of six on the road. We were complaining about UD's easy stretch of conf road games and how hard ours was.

That being said... we ended of losing only one of those six road games.

My point is this: No one (apart from delusional fans) could have predicted the success we have had this season. On top of this, almost no one did predict the success we have had in the last 12 or so games.

What a fantastic season!

MOR et al--AMEN. First let's get Richmond.

Well, on December 16th, the morning after the ASU game, I stated that Xavier would be 24-6 on this date.

That was in a reply to Mr Neutral who stated that we would be a "Bubble" team on Selection Sunday.

He called me a lot of names over the next few months ... but I will have to admit, my prediction was way off.

We are NOT 24-6 .... we are 25-5.

How could I have been sooooo wrong!

Definitely pleased with the team's accomplishments to date. I also agree we have been playing subpar for many games up until the Richmond game. That is hopefully the breakout game we needed. It could indicate the loss was necessary to bring some fire to the team. We didn't play bad against St Joe but we didn't seem to go all out. The Free Throws tell that story.

We don't need anyone to play exceptional to win the championship but we can't have excessive turnovers or a lack of energy. The scoring will take care of itself assuming we play on par with how we shot all year. I'd like to see either Raymond or Duncan hot each game with a few deep balls from the others as the team seems to really roll when this happens.