Best Xavier team ever?

[Sonoma Muskie]

Could this possibly be the best Xavier team ever?

[tonedef1321]

As of right now, maybe. I have never seen a group of seniors play this well so far in a season. Yes Sato, Chalmers, and Myles went to the elite eight, but they did not pull it together till mid-season. If this years team can do that, and I hope that they will, I would consider them the best team ever.

[Frank D.]

I don't think there's any question. This team has beaten more good teams and been ranked higher at this point in the season than any other team. I realize much emphasis is placed on the NCAA Tournament and it's hard to argue against a team that made it to the Elite 8, but overall, this team is better.

[Mr. Neutral]

Last year to this year is an interesting comparison when you go position by position-

Center: Cole/Duncan/Love v. Duncan/Love/Bronson
Advantage: this year

PF: Doellman v. Brown
Advantage: Doellman, by a little, by virtue of scoring and passing

SF: Cage v. Anderson
Advantage: Cage, by a little, by virtue of D and leadership

SG: Burrell v. Burrell
Advantage: Burrell this year

PG: Lavender v. Lavender
Advantage: Lavender this year

Bench:
Advantage: this year

I'm hard-pressed to say that the Sweet 16 team (Hill, Strong, Williams, Walker, et al.) didn't have the most talent.

[XU 87]

I have to agree with Frank. And no Xavier team has ever had a 6 RPI this late in the season.

That being said, this team has some work to do before being declared "the greatest".

[picknroll]

IMHO, this team is the best T-E-A-M ever, and that is in direct proportion to arguably the best
C-O-A-C-H ever at Xavier. By best coach, he has obviously developed a tremendous combination of practice coach, bench coach and recruiter.

PS. In the past 30 years, have been fortunate to work with many people from Western PA, and to a man and woman, they are among the grittiest, hardest working, and take-no-prisoners folks around. Sean Miller is an example of the Western PA work ethic and so is his team.

[stophorseabuse]

I have to argue the best we ever saw was 02-03. They were at least as hot as we are now down the stretch, earned a 3 seed, and had 4 players on the team that would be drafted into the NBA. One of those players was a national player of the year.

The most successful team was obviously the elite 8 run.

This current team prob. has the most impressive body of work to this point.

If we win out, win conference tourney, and make sweet 16 I think this will go down as our best season ever. That would be 34-5 and we are jumping for joy. 36-4, and most of us would have heart attack. I would welcome that heart attack.

[Jumpin Jamal]

I realize much emphasis is placed on the NCAA Tournament and it's hard to argue against a team that made it to the Elite 8, but overall, this team is better.

Top to bottom, this is a very deep team with better all around talent, but ALL the emphasis should be placed on the NCAA tournament. That's when it counts! This has been a very enjoyable regular season but it's all for not if we don't advance deep into the big dance. I'm sure everyone would agree that they'd rather be a 12 seed that Cinderella's their way to the final four than a 2 seed that loses in the second round.

I hope this is the year that we live up to our potential in the post season because I agree that this is the most potential we've ever had.

Go Muskies!

[drudy23]

Are we on the level of Tennessee, UNC, Memphis, or UCLA this year? I, personally, don't think so, but we're very close.

However, there's no doubt that this team CAN make the Final Four...they're good enough. They can beat any team on any night...I 100% believe that.

I think this is the first team we've ever had that has realistic expectations of the Final Four (I know you could argue the 2004 team had realistic expectations because they almost got there, but would you have said that before The Run?).

Anyone can beat anyone on a given day in the tourney, but I believe this is our best team ever. Now, meeting expectations is a different thing, but I feel this is the best put together Xavier team I have ever seen....and if we lost in the 2nd round, I'd still say that.

[stophorseabuse]

Drudy, I believe we had legitimate final 4 hopes in 1997-98, and certainly in 02-03. In 02-03 we were a 3 seed. That is certainly a realistic goal.

In 97-98 when we hit #7 in America we certainly had the talent, but that team never embraced the defensive end, and fizzled like a cheap firework.

03/04 was a freak of nature by getting silly hot to end the year. still our best banner hung though.

This year's team could be a combination of the 02/03 team and the 03/04. We have the talent of West's Sr. year, and are red hot down the stretch like the 03/04 team, with the sr. leadership of that team as well.

I will be dissappointed if we don't make the final 4 this year, but I will be proud of this team regardless. A lot of things can happen to keep you from advancing in the tournament that has little to do with your team's effort or talent.