2008 Pre-season rank?

[muskiehawk06]

It seems no matter how well xavier finishes up the previous year ESPN and the AP polls seem to forget about them in the 7 months off. I'm not sure if there is too much focus on losing the Doellmans, Cages and seniors that put in so much work. But what are the odds of a top 25 rank come October?

My guess - NR
My belief - 20, or so

[muskieman]

It is so easy for writers to be lazy in pre-season. They will assume X will be rebuilding just like last year. For those that like the sneak-up-on-them scenario they will be happy. X has a tough ooc and may struggle but come conference I think they will be fine or better than fine and by the beginning of the 3rd and 4th part of the season X will be there.

[wkrq59]

I'm more interested in seeing how this team is rated when the tournament ends. I believe AP picked its final poll, but what about the coaches? No matter what, Xavier should finish the season rated no worse than 8th.

[MillerTime]

Uh...I'm a big X fan, but I'd be shocked with a preseason rank next year.

We lose our best offensive player during the second half of the season (JD).
We lose our only real point guard and replace him with a freshman at the point (Jackson will not start at point).
We lose our best defensive player (though he was pretty much a liability on offense).

We don't lose the 3 most talented players in X's history, but we lose 3 huge hearts that refused to lose, something that isn't replaceable.

The key is the point guard position. If Lyons exceeds expectations, we could be a really good team next year. Running the show isn't easy as a frosh.

[Mr. Neutral]

I have to agree with MillerTime on this. While it's easy in hindsight to say that preseason prognosticators should have known we'd be an Elite Eight team, it was impossible to judge what the loss of Doellman, Cage and Cole would mean to this team, or how other players would step up.

Now, everyone has to guess how we'll cope with the loss on Duncan, Burrell and Lavender, and deal with a new PG (whomever it is), a new SG, and a new starting center.

I think we'll be very talented top to bottom, but guessing where that puts us in preseason poll is just guesswork.

[D West]

I don't think the loss of this year's senior class is larger than Justin, Justin and King Cole graduating last year. It's a comparable loss.

The key is that next years freshman class is much better than this year's class and it will be interesting to see them grow up during the season. The key is we again have a group of seniors to lead as well as D. Brown to solidify the starting 5.

I expect a 20-25 pre-season ranking but more concerned where we are at year end. We shall see........

[Il Saggio]

Wasn't Miller quoted yesterday, after the game, that Xavier will probably be ranked at the start of next year?

[Frank D.]

DWest -

I highly disagree that Duncan, Lavender, and Stan are comparable losses to Cage, Doellman, and Cole. This is no knock on the latter, but I really think that the loss of the three seniors this year is going to be much more difficult than the loss of the Justins.

We had three guys who were able to create their own shot this year and provide open looks for others due to penetration, playmaking abilities and double teams . . . Josh, Stan and Drew. That's it, that's the list. Do we have some talented guys coming back? Of course, but I think we are going to struggle for a while next year while guys who have been used to being role-players try to become go-to guys.

[Frank D.]

Okay, I'm going to correct myself, as CJ can create his own shot (but only inside the paint). But I stand by everything else.

[D West]

Frank,

Everyone has an opinion and you may be right. It took Josh Duncan half the year to become the leader that he became this year which forced Miller's hand to finally start him in the tournament run. I expect there will be others stepping up this year just like Josh did.

One is going to have to be BJ. CJ should be very difficult to stop as he was becoming use to enjoying double/doubles down the stretch. D Brown should be stronger than this year and that frankly..(no pun intended)....is a little scary. He has huge upside. Dante has proven that he will be in the mix.

McLean should earn time based on his size and performance at Tulsa. Freezer will play and certainly make us stronger inside. Cheeks running the point is the question. Graves, Redford and the rest will need to step up.

Drew will be the most difficult piece to replace especially when we are counting on a freshman to pick it up. However, Drew spent the last 6 weeks or so not being the Drew that we knew in December.

There's enough talent on this team that I'll bet someone fills the vacuum of graduation just like they did this year. With Sean Miller leading this group, I'm confident that they will be NCAA bound come March.