The Holy Land of Hoops

We continued our Big East basketball preview this week with Xavier. We were joined by Shannon Russell of the Cincinnati Enquirer. The interview with her starts at around the 12-13 minute mark I think, and our thoughts follow the commercial break. We also had Gary Parish on the show, starting at about the 40-minute mark or so, and he had some thoughts on the Big East.

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Xavier is really deep
PG. Dee Davis / Brandon Randolph/ Larry Austin
SG. Remy Abell / Edmond sumner / Myles davis
SF. Trevon Bluiett / Jp Macura / Makinde London
PF. Jalen Reynolds / James Farr / Makinde london
C. Matt StainBrook / James Farr / Sean o'mara

The key to Xavier's success will be Remy Abell and Jalen Reynolds the ( Man Beast )

We are so young, 10 of 15 roster spots are underclassmen and I think we have 2 seniors. I will be excited to see some good chemistry and hopefully a leader emerge.

Young, yes. However, I think you'll only see three freshman in the rotation (Bluiett, Sumner, and Macura).

Not a lot of confidence in Xavier (who I think will be at least as good as they were last season). Bluiett's going to be a STUD, he may be the most offensively skilled freshman coming into the Big East even though he isn't an elite athlete. If they can get someone at the 2 that can be a play maker and allow Davis to be the steady guy that he is, they can be even better. I think they'll finish right around 4th in the league.

So for Xavier, young, but should be really cool watching their progress this year, and I think they're gonna be great:

outgoing:
Semaj Christon.
Justin Martin.

incoming:
Larry Austin.
Remy Abell.
Edmond Sumner.
Trevon Bluiett.
J.P. Macura.
Makinde London.
Sean O'Mara.
plus a ton more minutes for Jalen Reynolds.

xavier1994 wrote:Young, yes. However, I think you'll only see three freshman in the rotation (Bluiett, Sumner, and Macura).

I think O'Mara will get actually decent run as the 4th big man. Larry Austin is a wildcard to get minutes as well, I think the backup PG minutes behind Dee are up in the air between him and Randolph. Obviously Randolph has the advantage of a year in the system but Austin is more a "true-PG" with a defense first mentality, which may be more of what Mack wants out of the backup.

I'm really excited about this team and have only heard good things about how the freshmen have performed at open gym, practice and summer league. I'm excited to hear about how the Brazil trip in a few weeks goes.

I think it will be trough to keep Sumner and Macura off the court and as the season progresses the rotation will shorten to 8 guys getting the majority of the minutes. This is how I see it:

PG D. Davis/Abell
SG Abell/Sumner
SF Bluiett/Macura
PF Reynolds/Farr
C Stainbrook/Farr

Hopefully, our new SF wont be lost on defense or out of position on offense like JMart was throughout his time at X.

I think a lot of people are really underestimating what Abell will do for this team. He will bring some leadership/experience, toughness and can score the ball. Stain is a proven commodity and will be better this year. Reynolds must play within himself and be more consistent like he was in a hand full of games last yr. Dee isn't flashy, but does what Mack needs. Frosh that play significant minutes will need to consistently score and play Mack's D, or they won't see much of the floor. Blueitt will find ways to score. Some other frosh will have to really play well for us to finish top 3. Can't afford any more Myles Davis' 2 for 22's. That won't happen with this much talent around. Next up, please.

BEX wrote:I think a lot of people are really underestimating what Abell will do for this team. He will bring some leadership/experience, toughness and can score the ball. .

Agreed. Remy has A LOT of Dez Wells in his game from what I've seen (probably a little more skilled even). Very strong and loves to be physical on both ends and attack. Should fit in really well with all the shooters we brought in.