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Omaha1 wrote:Just turned the game on. Looks like a rough one for the Muskies.

they haven't been really right all night. Missed a few bunnies early on and that allowed Texas to get out to a lead. Nunge has had about 3 or 4 point blank misses. Boum largely invisible.

Play to the end... only 13 with 1:10 left. UCLA came back last night same spot.

Great season for XU. Probably overachieved. Miller is going to win a lot of Big East games.

I figured it was toast when their 3 went in to end the half.

Congrats and very well done CU and UCONN for delivering 2 BE teams to the E8.

Congrats on a great season Xavier!!

Great season, X. Congrats on making another S16.

Nice season Muskies. I see many deep tourney runs in Xavier's future under Miller.

All in all a satisfying return to X's history of fielding a solid and unselfish team.

So now Miller turns his attention to figuring things out for next year. At one extreme, only Desmond Claude returns, and even with a good recruiting class, X goes to the back of the pack in the BEAST while reloading. At the other extreme, Claude comes back, Colby Jones decides to return instead of going to the NBA, Fremantle has another year (I think) and recovers from his second major foot surgery and remains healthy and returns, and Nunge returns (yes, believe it or not, he can get a 7th year because of 2 seasons lost to injuries and the fifth season COVID rule, but he will have is MBA in hand this summer and has already signaled that he wants to get on with his life.) Only Boum and Kunkel are done for sure.

So is the X cup nearly empty or full enough to compete? Given Miller's reputation and his preferred style of play, and the team's record of unselfish offense, there will probably be an opportunity to snag a quality transfer or two. Reality will probably fall between the two extremes, and X will be competitive next year, though not as good on paper as this year's team.