How good is Xavier?
- Thread starter Robcatt24
- Start date
I've watched a lot of them this year. They left a strong impression on me very early when they went into Ann Arbor and just dismantled Michigan that 2nd half. Very good, and yes, a legitimate FF threat. Arguably the best team I've ever seen them have.
Experienced and deep. Blueitt is their best scorer and can light it up at times, but they don't rely on any one person. They do have multiple guys that can hit the 3. They will vary their pace. They will get out and run, but they will also do the grind it out halfcourt style. They play good man to man, but like at Providence they went zone very effectively.
Their style is hard nosed, physical, blue collar. They rebound as well as any team in the country and are physically and mentally tough. Farr and Reynolds are the type of guys you wouldn't want to run into in a back alley brawl.
Key to them is probably the freshman PG Sumner. Kid has an IMMENSE amount of raw natural talent. He's a special player in the making. If he continues to progress he would make them more dynamic which is something they could use. The one really bad loss they had was at Nova when he got a concussion at the very start, Nova hit everything they threw up, and it snowballed on them.
I actually would probably not want to run into them in the tourney. Simply because their style is to beat you up physically and I don't think they're the best match up for us.
Experienced and deep. Blueitt is their best scorer and can light it up at times, but they don't rely on any one person. They do have multiple guys that can hit the 3. They will vary their pace. They will get out and run, but they will also do the grind it out halfcourt style. They play good man to man, but like at Providence they went zone very effectively.
Their style is hard nosed, physical, blue collar. They rebound as well as any team in the country and are physically and mentally tough. Farr and Reynolds are the type of guys you wouldn't want to run into in a back alley brawl.
Key to them is probably the freshman PG Sumner. Kid has an IMMENSE amount of raw natural talent. He's a special player in the making. If he continues to progress he would make them more dynamic which is something they could use. The one really bad loss they had was at Nova when he got a concussion at the very start, Nova hit everything they threw up, and it snowballed on them.
I actually would probably not want to run into them in the tourney. Simply because their style is to beat you up physically and I don't think they're the best match up for us.
Xavier is good, really good.
Because Xavier has a top-five resume.
The Musketeers are 19-2 with seven top-50 KenPom wins, which means nobody in college basketball has more top-50 KenPom wins than Chris Mack's team. For comparative purposes, know that Oklahoma has six. And that North Carolina has four.
Again, Xavier has seven.
Only Iowa and Virginia have as many.
Meantime, Xavier is 3-1 against the top 25 of the RPI, 5-1 against the top 50. And it's not like Xavier has horrible losses that offset the quality wins, because the Musketeers have only lost twice -- first at Villanova, then to Georgetown -- which means the Musketeers have only a single loss outside of the top 10.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebas...voter-dropped-xavier-for-no-reason-whatsoever
Because Xavier has a top-five resume.
The Musketeers are 19-2 with seven top-50 KenPom wins, which means nobody in college basketball has more top-50 KenPom wins than Chris Mack's team. For comparative purposes, know that Oklahoma has six. And that North Carolina has four.
Again, Xavier has seven.
Only Iowa and Virginia have as many.
Meantime, Xavier is 3-1 against the top 25 of the RPI, 5-1 against the top 50. And it's not like Xavier has horrible losses that offset the quality wins, because the Musketeers have only lost twice -- first at Villanova, then to Georgetown -- which means the Musketeers have only a single loss outside of the top 10.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebas...voter-dropped-xavier-for-no-reason-whatsoever
Xaiver
19th in offensive efficiency. Much of that is from them being very good on the offensive boards and getting to the line. They take an average number of 3s and about average in hitting them. Merely an average team with turnovers and just an "ok" shooting team overall.
21st in defensive efficiency. Don't really do anything great on defense but they are good in every area (fg defense, turnovers, rebounding, and fouling).
Defensively teams take a ton of threes against this team. 40.5%. And it plays right into their hands as opponents only shoot 30.5% on threes this season against them.
As far as them being good. I don't really know. I mean they are just one of those teams with nice wins but really no marquee win.
19th in offensive efficiency. Much of that is from them being very good on the offensive boards and getting to the line. They take an average number of 3s and about average in hitting them. Merely an average team with turnovers and just an "ok" shooting team overall.
21st in defensive efficiency. Don't really do anything great on defense but they are good in every area (fg defense, turnovers, rebounding, and fouling).
Defensively teams take a ton of threes against this team. 40.5%. And it plays right into their hands as opponents only shoot 30.5% on threes this season against them.
As far as them being good. I don't really know. I mean they are just one of those teams with nice wins but really no marquee win.
They have a bunch of nice wins but their highest rated win via Kenpom was USC. They are ranked 30th.
Tho to be fair they only played one team (Villanova) above that so it's not like they had chances.
They did get killed tho in that one game.
Tho to be fair they only played one team (Villanova) above that so it's not like they had chances.
They did get killed tho in that one game.
Nobody will overlook them. The fact they were destroyed at Nova and lost at home to a so-so Georgetown bothers me. They've made the Elite 8 before and can do it again but won't be in the FF in my bracket unless they seem to have a generous path.
Hmm, best X team ever in one of the most watered down years, in years? Maybe ever? Not saying a lot
I know the committee does it like this but I absolutely HATE putting wins and losses into bins, especially when the bins are too large.
Like they look at Top 100 record or top 50. Without context tho, it's awful. Team A is 10-0 vs top 100. Team B is 10-0 vs Top 100. Ok so that tells us they are equal. What if Team A won all of their 10 games against teams ranked 1 through 10 and Team B 91-100? Even looking at Top 25 wins. A win vs the 25th ranked team isn't the same as a win vs the 5th rank team.
Then you have this entire matter of home/away as well. An away win over a team ranked 25th is more impressive than a home win over the 5th ranked team.
What's somewhat impressive is the Michigan win was away and the wins vs Dayton and USC were on Neutral courts. So that is impressive.
Like they look at Top 100 record or top 50. Without context tho, it's awful. Team A is 10-0 vs top 100. Team B is 10-0 vs Top 100. Ok so that tells us they are equal. What if Team A won all of their 10 games against teams ranked 1 through 10 and Team B 91-100? Even looking at Top 25 wins. A win vs the 25th ranked team isn't the same as a win vs the 5th rank team.
Then you have this entire matter of home/away as well. An away win over a team ranked 25th is more impressive than a home win over the 5th ranked team.
What's somewhat impressive is the Michigan win was away and the wins vs Dayton and USC were on Neutral courts. So that is impressive.
Also, I go by eye test mostly. So, the "way" they did it to teams like Michigan and Dayton was impressive. Michigan had Levert at the time (and he had a great game with 29) and they just absolutely punked them on their court. Systematically broke them down and physically abused them. That's when I came to really like Xavier when I watched that game. It was just a very impressive effort.
And Dayton is a damn good team. Y'all saw that run they made last year in the tournament, and this year they are much better (I actually think Dayton will make the S16), and they didn't just beat them they beat the hell out of them. The same Dayton team that beat top 5 Iowa.
Or like the way they utterly controlled the whole game against Cincinnati. On it's face one might think Cincy isn't much, but they've actually lost 4 of their 6 games by 2 pts (to some good teams like Iowa St). Xavier handled them better than some other good teams.
To really appreciate Xavier you have to watch how they've done things imo. The Nova loss is a toss out imo. Sumner got hurt 2 minutes in, Nova was on fire (hit 8 of their first 11 threes), and it snowballed. The Gtown loss they just didn't play well and got beat. Which happens to everyone in the conference grind, they just didn't escape it (like Maryland escaped at home against GTown). Pretty much no other knocks on them. Really them and A&M are two of the most consistent teams in the country, which in this year actually says something.
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