The Holy Land of Hoops

Just saw Goodman has a list of the 10 most underrated teams this year...

Xavier is #4.
They lost Semaj Christon, but Chris Mack has far more depth than he’s had since taking over for Sean Miller five years ago. Xavier has a proven big man in Matt Stainbrook, a talented veteran in Jalen Reynolds and also welcomes a talented recruiting class led by Trevon Bluiett. The Musketeers didn’t earn a single vote in the coaches poll.

"They won 20-plus last season, and losing Semaj was addition by subtraction," said one coach. "Stainbrook looks like a different guy than when he arrived, Reynolds will make a jump and I really like the newcomers -- Bluiett in particular."

think it's real interesting the quote about losing Semaj is addition by subtraction.

stever20 wrote:Just saw Goodman has a list of the 10 most underrated teams this year...

Xavier is #4.
They lost Semaj Christon, but Chris Mack has far more depth than he’s had since taking over for Sean Miller five years ago. Xavier has a proven big man in Matt Stainbrook, a talented veteran in Jalen Reynolds and also welcomes a talented recruiting class led by Trevon Bluiett. The Musketeers didn’t earn a single vote in the coaches poll.

"They won 20-plus last season, and losing Semaj was addition by subtraction," said one coach. "Stainbrook looks like a different guy than when he arrived, Reynolds will make a jump and I really like the newcomers -- Bluiett in particular."

think it's real interesting the quote about losing Semaj is addition by subtraction.

Reynolds a veteran? I mean I know he's like 30 years old, but isn't he only a Sophomore (Redshirt, but wasn't he not allowed to practice with the team since he wasn't eligible or did I make that up)

hoyahooligan wrote:

stever20 wrote:Just saw Goodman has a list of the 10 most underrated teams this year...

Xavier is #4.
They lost Semaj Christon, but Chris Mack has far more depth than he’s had since taking over for Sean Miller five years ago. Xavier has a proven big man in Matt Stainbrook, a talented veteran in Jalen Reynolds and also welcomes a talented recruiting class led by Trevon Bluiett. The Musketeers didn’t earn a single vote in the coaches poll.

"They won 20-plus last season, and losing Semaj was addition by subtraction," said one coach. "Stainbrook looks like a different guy than when he arrived, Reynolds will make a jump and I really like the newcomers -- Bluiett in particular."

think it's real interesting the quote about losing Semaj is addition by subtraction.

Reynolds a veteran? I mean I know he's like 30 years old, but isn't he only a Sophomore (Redshirt, but wasn't he not allowed to practice with the team since he wasn't eligible or did I make that up)

Didn't he also go to 3 or 4 different high schools?

Reynolds did a prep year at Brewster and then had to sit out because he didn't qualify. So yes, age-wise he's probably a senior but I wouldn't call him a veteran.

Don't get the Semaj comment at all. I would have loved to have him back this year. Maybe he meant Justin Martin (although I would love him back also)

xavierfano8 wrote:Reynolds did a prep year at Brewster and then had to sit out because he didn't qualify. So yes, age-wise he's probably a senior but I wouldn't call him a veteran.

Don't get the Semaj comment at all. I would have loved to have him back this year. Maybe he meant Justin Martin (although I would love him back also)

maybe because just looking at the ken pom ratings- he was the worst offensive rating player on Xavier last year for regular players. Last 2 months of the year- he had 2 offensive rating games over 105. Butler and Georgetown. In 4 games after the Stainback injury- he had 3 games where his offensive rating was below 95.

I'm not sure if the statistics will back this up, but a lot of time the last 2 years, I felt like the offense would try to flow through Semaj rather than the whole team. Like with Crawford and Holloway before him, it was always "get the ball to Semaj and let him figure it out."

Without him, you can really start to develop plays, and play more team-oriented basketball. I'm not sure if I would call it addition by subtraction, but a case can be made that the offense will have a lot more movement and, in turn, be more successful this season.

We like to "sneak up on people". We have a few veterans and a talented bunch of kids this year. Should be interesting.