The Holy Land of Hoops

3 Big East teams in with Xavier on the outside looking in. Not great, but not bad.

Thought this might give the board something to talk about besides expansion.......


http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab-the ... 44458.html

Xavier on the "others considered" list. That's 40% expected in or close to the top 25 at the start of next year. I suspect we will have some pretty good teams in the 30-45 range as well.

marquette wrote:Xavier on the "others considered" list. That's 40% expected in or close to the top 25 at the start of next year. I suspect we will have some pretty good teams in the 30-45 range as well.

Villanova, Georgetown, Xavier and Butler are legit tourney teams. Marquette and PC are bubble teams and the rest are probably NIT teams. Might not have a one seed next year but the Big East will be deeper IMO.

Jet915 wrote:

marquette wrote:Xavier on the "others considered" list. That's 40% expected in or close to the top 25 at the start of next year. I suspect we will have some pretty good teams in the 30-45 range as well.

Villanova, Georgetown, Xavier and Butler are legit tourney teams. Marquette and PC are bubble teams and the rest are probably NIT teams. Might not have a one seed next year but the Big East will be deeper IMO.

Extremely doubtful that the rest are probably NIT teams. You need to remember how different the NIT has changed. It's no longer if you are 17-16 in a power conference you are automatically in. Really you have to be in the top 65 to get in the NIT now. Seton Hall last year prime example- they might not even have been one of the 1st 4 teams out of the NIT.

Xavier seldom starts the year in the top 20-25. Certainly it is an honor for the media to think that highly of one's program. But, as happened last season and many times before, it's much sweeter to END the year at that level!

Talent-wise, I honestly don't think X has ever been better. We got some length, speed and guys who can jump outta the gym. I'm pretty excited about their chances. Now if Mack can put it together?

stever20 wrote:

Jet915 wrote:

marquette wrote:Xavier on the "others considered" list. That's 40% expected in or close to the top 25 at the start of next year. I suspect we will have some pretty good teams in the 30-45 range as well.

Villanova, Georgetown, Xavier and Butler are legit tourney teams. Marquette and PC are bubble teams and the rest are probably NIT teams. Might not have a one seed next year but the Big East will be deeper IMO.

Extremely doubtful that the rest are probably NIT teams. You need to remember how different the NIT has changed. It's no longer if you are 17-16 in a power conference you are automatically in. Really you have to be in the top 65 to get in the NIT now. Seton Hall last year prime example- they might not even have been one of the 1st 4 teams out of the NIT.

Come on man. You know what he meant. I think people still use the old NIT as a measure of teams. Saying a team is an NIT team means that they're a good solid team that doesn't stink, but is not quite NCAA worthy. It has nothing to do if they'd actually make the NIT tournament.

BEX wrote:Talent-wise, I honestly don't think X has ever been better. We got some length, speed and guys who can jump outta the gym. I'm pretty excited about their chances. Now if Mack can put it together?

BEX, thank you for the insight. I would love to see this from more fans on the board about their teams because I honestly sometimes have a hard time grasping whether or not a team will end up being solid or not.

How is X's recruiting looking?

I think folks actually think that it's still the old NIT and forget how that has changed.

And I don't think St John's or Seton Hall now would even get close to even that measure. Both will be lucky if they are .500 with all the losses they took. Creighton and DePaul- I think both are really X factors next years. DePaul I see as a major sleeper. They to me have a real shot at the NIT, if not the NCAA.

ChestRockwell85 wrote:

BEX wrote:Talent-wise, I honestly don't think X has ever been better. We got some length, speed and guys who can jump outta the gym. I'm pretty excited about their chances. Now if Mack can put it together?

BEX, thank you for the insight. I would love to see this from more fans on the board about their teams because I honestly sometimes have a hard time grasping whether or not a team will end up being solid or not.

How is X's recruiting looking?

They probably won't be picking up any more freshmen for 2015 (transfer market is still TBD). It's a one-man class (3/4 star combo forward Kaiser Gates), plus two redshirt freshmen who were 4 star recruits a year ago, combo guard Edmond Sumner and combo forward Makinde London.

If you're talking about 2016, they're in with a lot of good four-year players, and I'm confident that it will be a good class. Just don't know who will be in it.