Xavier - Creighton on Saturday

[Bill Marsh]

I was so impressed with Xavier today. Make no mistake about it. What those Xavier kids did this afternoon was all about character. With their entire season on the line, they stepped up big time. This is not the most talented team in the league, but they showed that they deserve out respect.

Creighton is a great, great team. One of the best in the country. A proven winner. When they closed it to 3 points late in the game, Xavier could have folded. But they didn't. From the opening tip, they stepped up big time. But despite the big lead most of the game, they weren't able to coast to a victory. In the end, they were tested by a formidable opponent and they met that test fully.

Congratulations, Xavier fans.you should be very proud of your team. Fine bunch of young men.

[cr8onbb]

Nice win, X. You beat us at our own game. Way to shoot the rock.

On a side note, I am so devastated by Zierdan's injury. Right before the injury I was talking to my brother about how far he has come and how much he will mean to our team next year. Just hope it wasn't as bad as it looked.

[billybluejay]

Tell me McDermott doesn't get star treatment. He just fell down of his own momentum and X got called for a foul. Sheesh!

First of all congrats to Xavier for the win. Well deserved, great defensive pressure, and great shooting. You forced a lot of passing turnovers that we usually don't commit. Marsh, you are a little arrogant in all the comments I read on this board. Unless you are a college coach, easy with your all your declarations. McD gets blocked a lot going through the lane , since he is a top player. To assume he is just falling down does nothing to add to your credibility. As one of the coaches told us, think about how mentally and physically tough this kid is when he is the KEY defensive stop for EVERY team they play. If you saw every game where the little things he takes to get him off his step, maybe you wouldn't be so sure of your analysis, But you, as me, have never been in that position. Just appreciate what the kid is and does.

You misunderstood my comment. I didn't accuse Doug of flopping. You can look at the time I posted to identify the play I was talking about. Doug was driving down the lane, cutting on an arc from the right side of the foul line to make his move to the left side of the basket, dribbling with his left hand. The defender was backing off. Given that he was leaning and cutting Ina little bit of a circle route, his momentum arrived him in such a way that he simply lost his footing dell as he was driving.he may have been anticipating contact from the defender which never came.there was no foul.It was a turnover, plain and simple.

I was not criticizing Doug in the slightest. If he gets calls, that's to his credit. I think the world of him as a player. How can any fan of college hoops not love his game? He's so fundamentally sound and Does it all. He's the closest thing I've seen to Larry Bird since Bird retired. My criticism is entirely of the refs.

To be fair to Bill, I know which call he was referring to and I thought it looked a little odd myself. Dougie drove to the basket and suddenly he is without the ball and on the floor.

I thought the officiating was fine, aside from a sudden barrage of chippy fouls on Wragge. Creighton had a ridiculous amount of stupid turnovers I have not seen them make in the years this group has been together. Very frustrating, but nevertheless, excited for Xavier.

[Bill Marsh]

First of all congrats to Xavier for the win. Well deserved, great defensive pressure, and great shooting. You forced a lot of passing turnovers that we usually don't commit. Marsh, you are a little arrogant in all the comments I read on this board. Unless you are a college coach, easy with your all your declarations. McD gets blocked a lot going through the lane , since he is a top player. To assume he is just falling down does nothing to add to your credibility. As one of the coaches told us, think about how mentally and physically tough this kid is when he is the KEY defensive stop for EVERY team they play. If you saw every game where the little things he takes to get him off his step, maybe you wouldn't be so sure of your analysis, But you, as me, have never been in that position. Just appreciate what the kid is and does.

You misunderstood my comment. I didn't accuse Doug of flopping. You can look at the time I posted to identify the play I was talking about. Doug was driving down the lane, cutting on an arc from the right side of the foul line to make his move to the left side of the basket, dribbling with his left hand. The defender was backing off. Given that he was leaning and cutting Ina little bit of a circle route, his momentum arrived him in such a way that he simply lost his footing dell as he was driving.he may have been anticipating contact from the defender which never came.there was no foul.It was a turnover, plain and simple.

I was not criticizing Doug in the slightest. If he gets calls, that's to his credit. I think the world of him as a player. How can any fan of college hoops not love his game? He's so fundamentally sound and Does it all. He's the closest thing I've seen to Larry Bird since Bird retired. My criticism is entirely of the refs.

To be fair to Bill, I know which call he was referring to and I thought it looked a little odd myself. Dougie drove to the basket and suddenly he is without the ball and on the floor.

I thought the officiating was fine, aside from a sudden barrage of chippy fouls on Wragge. Creighton had a ridiculous amount of stupid turnovers I have not seen them make in the years this group has been together. Very frustrating, but nevertheless, excited for Xavier.

Okay.

[Xudash]

I was so impressed with Xavier today. Make no mistake about it. What those Xavier kids did this afternoon was all about character. With their entire season on the line, they stepped up big time. This is not the most talented team in the league, but they showed that they deserve out respect.

Creighton is a great, great team. One of the best in the country. A proven winner. When they closed it to 3 points late in the game, Xavier could have folded. But they didn't. From the opening tip, they stepped up big time. But despite the big lead most of the game, they weren't able to coast to a victory. In the end, they were tested by a formidable opponent and they met that test fully.

Congratulations, Xavier fans.you should be very proud of your team. Fine bunch of young men.

Well done. Xavier aside, it's nice when fans of other teams in this conference give reps to other teams.

[Jet915]

Just got back home from the game, X made their 3's and we bricked ours, surprised we got it to 3 late in the game. Nice game X, please do it again against Villanova please

[mel ott]

Tell me McDermott doesn't get star treatment. He just fell down of his own momentum and X got called for a foul. Sheesh!

First of all congrats to Xavier for the win. Well deserved, great defensive pressure, and great shooting. You forced a lot of passing turnovers that we usually don't commit. Marsh, you are a little arrogant in all the comments I read on this board. Unless you are a college coach, easy with your all your declarations. McD gets blocked a lot going through the lane , since he is a top player. To assume he is just falling down does nothing to add to your credibility. As one of the coaches told us, think about how mentally and physically tough this kid is when he is the KEY defensive stop for EVERY team they play. If you saw every game where the little things he takes to get him off his step, maybe you wouldn't be so sure of your analysis, But you, as me, have never been in that position. Just appreciate what the kid is and does.

You misunderstood my comment. I didn't accuse Doug of flopping. You can look at the time I posted to identify the play I was talking about. Doug was driving down the lane, cutting on an arc from the right side of the foul line to make his move to the left side of the basket, dribbling with his left hand. The defender was backing off. Given that he was leaning and cutting Ina little bit of a circle route, his momentum arrived him in such a way that he simply lost his footing dell as he was driving.he may have been anticipating contact from the defender which never came.there was no foul.It was a turnover, plain and simple.

I was not criticizing Doug in the slightest. If he gets calls, that's to his credit. I think the world of him as a player. How can any fan of college hoops not love his game? He's so fundamentally sound and Does it all. He's the closest thing I've seen to Larry Bird since Bird retired. My criticism is entirely of the refs.

My initial comments were made to compliment the Xavier team - a well deserved win. However, your response about a singular play was not in your comment. You specifically said, "]

Tell me McDermott doesn't get star treatment. He just fell down of his own momentum and X got called for a foul. Sheesh!

that does not indicate a singular play. Who makes that statement on a "singular play"? Obviously you believe Doug gets star treatment or why the comment? The physical pounding this kid takes every game to take him out of his game is unbelievable. Stop with the backhanded compliments when you think he gets star treatment ( especially now that we know you meant only one play during the game). Just stand up for what you said, one play or more likely " just star treatment" through the season. Congrats to Xavier on a great win.

[BEX]

... surprised we got it to 3 late in the game.

Dee Davis' hang time on that 3 to go up 6 seemed like 10 minutes.

[pki1998]

Well, it was the ides of March:

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ ... d1258f.jpg

Wrong! It was March 1st. The Ides of March is March 15.

[kyxu]

Hopefully, Creighton won't be crucified in the rankings because they lost to an "unranked" Xavier team. In my mind, Creighton is still a legit FInal Four team and one of the best teams in the country (same goes for Nova). Creigton's performance today did nothing to diminish them, in my eyes. Yet Kansas loses to a suspect Oklahoma State and maybe they'll drop a spot or two.

Pumped about this win for this Xavier team. We just saved our season.