Battle For Ohio

X....A....V....IER!

Welcome back Xavier fans.  The season started last night in the form of an exhibition game against Rollins.  I was in attendance thanks to Ali Margello.  But before I get to the thrashing that Xavier put to Rollins last night I want to go on record and say that I have been vindicated.  If you follow college basketball then you saw #25 Syracuse get knocked off by Division II Le Moyne. I believe that I said that Xavier deserved to be in the top 25 ahead of several of the bottom feeders like Syracuse.  Vindication. Now on to the game last night.

Starters:

• Terrell Holloway (Guard)

• Jordan Crawford (Guard)

• Dante Jackson (Guard)

• Jamel McClean (Forward)

• Jason Love (Center)

So, it looks like Xavier is going to start “small” this year.  I kind of figured that they would use this line up to start.  Bringing Frease and Redford off the bench first.  The only other lineup I would think about using is starting Crawford and Jackson at guards and throwing Frease in there instead of Holloway just to have the size. But it is tough to take away the guy that handled the point almost all of last year.

Xavier started off the game really trying to focus on getting the ball inside to Love.  I thought it was weird because they started with the smaller, quicker lineup.  But later I noticed that they were just setting up the inside to get the outside shots.  My fear is that since they have so many guards rotating in and out that this is going to be a 3 point shooting team, and that will drive me crazy all year.  Jason is a senior, feed him the ball.  He is a good enough passing big man that he can kick it back out if he needs to.  I don’t think he is that guy that will try to score no matter what.

Speaking of “that” guy.  Jordan Crawford appears to be that guy.  Every time he had the ball he was looking to score.  It is OK to have that mentality, but sometimes you have to play smart and make better decisions than he was making last night.  He looked better in the second half when Xavier started to pull away, but he really needs to look to pass every once in a while.

Now, imagine that look standing straight up. Hence, "deer in headlights."

Frease has lost some of that “deer in headlights” look that he had last year.  Last year every time the ball touched his hands it was like time froze for Kenny.  There were still a couple times were Lyons or Holloway or Jackson would fire him a pass and he wasn’t ready or expecting it, but if he was ready he would actually catch it and do something with it quicker.  Maybe he is playing while high?  That would explain why he looks like he is moving in slow motion and has attention span issues.

Dante Jackson is the leader of this team period.  I am positive that is why he is starting, that and his defense has looked tremendous.  He really wants to be that guy.  The James Posey, Stanley Burrell guy, the shut down guy.  But it is clear that he wants to be the heart of this team like Raymond was last year.  Even when he was resting on the bench he was always up screaming at the guys, getting excited about big plays, and it was like watching another coach.  I was really impressed with Dante and his apparent emergence as a leader.  He learned from some of the best that is for sure.

I really like watching Mark Lyons, he reminded me of Maurice McAfee.  He is fast, a little reckless, will drive to the basket, but will kick out if he needs to.  Unlike Crawford, he knows when to pass.  The problem is that he has watched too much Sports Center and he is trying to be too creative with his passes, especially to Kenny Frease!  Don’t get too cute with Kenny or the ball will simply bounce off his face.  He might be too fast for his own good but as long as they limit his minutes and monitor his turnovers (because I have a feeling he will have a lot) they should be fine.  But for every turn over he will make some spectacular pass, so as long as you are OK with some give and take You will love to watch Lyons play.

Notice he is well behind the NBA three line there. That is a chip shot for him.

Just because Brad Redford can shoot doesn’t mean that he should every time down the court.  I think someones head is a little swollen after being named the second best shooter in NCAA basketball.  I know the kid can shoot.  I have seen it, all of us saw it last year, but I am not sure you give a sophomore a green light to launch it from literally anywhere and at any time.  I think Brad will be an important piece in this team and I think he will be great coming off the bench and launching daggers in the hearts of Xavier foes, but he needs to settle down and not always look to shoot, at least not until he shakes off some more rust.

The defense looked slow.  Especially in the high energy of when Jackson wasn’t out there.  They were a little slow coming off screens and blocks and it was leaving guys wide open for jumpers and three’s.  Xavier has to lock that up if they want to be successful, good teams aren’t going to miss those wide open shots.  The good news is there were a lot of blocked shots.  McClean, Love, Frease and Crawford were all in on the act.  Timing jumps just right, or just towering over them from behind like Frease!  Of course the defense could have been playing to their opponent, especially since this is the first exhibition game, but I hope to see it improve.

It looks like Xavier is going to want Holloway to be more of a floor general this year instead of scorer.  Looks like they will leave the scoring to Crawford, Love and McClean at least as far as the starters go.  Holloway didn’t drive as much as he did last year, but did a lot of passing and even his defense has improved.

The cheerleaders were in tee shirts.  Lame.  Xavier has always gone with a more conservative dress for their cheerleaders and when I went to school there it was OK, because there wasn’t much to look at.  But come on Xavier, if you are going to have cheerleaders, make it so that they are at least worth watching.  Seriously, everyone ignores them especially if they are in tee shirts.  Give the people something to actually watch in time outs and at halftime.  Show a little skin.  I am not asking for them to go out there in body paint or anything, that is why I have the internet, but something other than tee shirts that were two sizes to big please.

I mentioned this is a tweet during the game last night, but apparently Xavier’s dance team is nationally ranked.  This came as a shock to me, since again when I was in school the dance team looked more like the flag corps from high school.  Even Ali’s dad, who we were sitting next to, made the comment, that there were no “hefty” girls on the team.  I watched their performance, and while as a group they do look better, their dance was not all that impressive.  Perhaps that is why they failed to mention WHERE they were ranked.  Could have been 150 for all anyone knows.

WTH are you? Where did you come from? Meh, who cares, just do some somersaults!

I think I have asked this before, but why does Xavier have two mascots?  And why is one of them a giant Blue Blob?  I went to school there, I even knew someone who wore the Blob suit, but for the life of me I have no idea why he is present at all.  He has nothing to do with the Musketeers, which is our actual mascot.  So what is the deal?  Don’t get me wrong, I love him and get very excited to see him do somersaults, but how did he come into existence?

In any case it was a great game and Xavier rolled over Rollins winning by 39.  If X had brought their A game it could have been by 60.  But I guess everyone was right, Xavier doesn’t belong in the top 25.  Yeah right.  And it looks like the Chris Mack regieme is off to a good start!