A Review of Xavier

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

Travis Steele – Xavier University . . . Travis Steele – Wikipedia . . . Xavier Musketeers 2018-19 Schedule and Results - ESPN

I’ll give Coach Steele an "A-" for his rookie season as head coach, and it would have been an "A" if he had his players spend more time practicing their free-throw shooting.

Texas 78, Xavier 76, OT – ESPN – NIT Second Round Box Score – March 24, 2019

Xavier Free Throws: 9-21 (42.9%)

2018-19 BIG EAST Men's Basketball Statistics - BIG EAST – Games through March 24, 2019

FREE THROW SHOOTING PERCENTAGE
1. Marquette … .757
2. Butler … .738
3. Georgetown … .737
4. Villanova … .728
5. St. John's … .719
6. DePaul … .717
7. Seton Hall … .706
8. Providence … .691
9. Creighton … .683
10. Xavier … .679

TURNOVER MARGIN
10. Xavier … -2.3

I believe that Xavier had a decent shot at an NCAA Tournament ‘at large’ bid if the Musketeers had finished the regular season with a 10-8 conference record, sole third place in the Big East, and # 3 Seed in the BE Tournament (thereby avoiding Villanova until the Championship game), but key free throws failed to go in this season, and the Musketeers turned the ball over too frequently.

Coach Steele got as much out of his 2018-19 Roster as could reasonably be expected, and perhaps a good bit more. For that, and his excellent recruiting to date, he earned an A-.

Xavier 2018 Basketball Commits – 247 Sports (Chris Mack's last class)

HS Class of 2018 • National Rank # 64 • Big East Rank: #7

Xavier 2019 Basketball Commits – 247 Sports (Travis Steele's first class)

HS Class of 2019 • National Rank # 20 • Big East Rank: #2

Villanova 2019 Basketball Commits – 247 Sports (Jay Wright is well on his way to the Hall of Fame)

HS Class of 2019 • National Rank # 3 • Big East Rank: #1

While the 2019 Player Rankings will still fluctuate for another two months, so far, Coach Steele has out-recruited eight of the Big East head coaches (according to 247 Sports). Xavier's short-term future certainly appears to be in good hands.

[OmahaGuy]

Keonte Kennedy will transfer

[BEXU]

Elias Harden in the Transfer Portal.

[Xudash]

KyKy racks up some more recognition:

https://www.yoursportsedge.com/2019/04/15/tandy-named-class-3a-private-school-national-player-of-the-year/

[BEXU]

Meanwhile, X picks up another Grad transfer:

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports ... 500106002/

[BEXU]

Goodman's best grad transfers:

#13) Jason Carter, 6-8, 230, PF, Ohio
Stats: 16.5 ppg, 6.7 rpg
Scout’s take: “Could be a starter for sure at Xavier and a double-figure scoring guy.”
Schools: COMMITTED TO XAVIER (may have two years of eligibility)

Bryce Moore comes in @ 47.

[BEXU]

@NajMarshall
I have taken my name out of the NBA Draft and will be returning to school for the 2019-2020 school year.

[bmorex]

Per Jon Rothstein, Jones and Scruggs are back.

No word yet on Goodin.

[BEXU]

Would've thought Q would have been first to announce return. Odd.

[scoscox]

Quentin back. Should be very, very solid next year. I think the only question mark is gonna be post depth beyond tyrique. can the freshmen and jason carter fill the hankins void? other than that, we should be really good.

https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status ... 9704987648