(5) Monday BE Games - MLK Marathon - 01/16/17

[milksteak]

As an aside, SHU is 0-6 vs Butler.

False. 1-6. Butler lost to them in the 2014 Big East Tournament.

[Edrick]

im quite aware of that game in the big east tournament, friend. they are still 0-6, that game happened in a tournament.

guess what? if providence plays xavier in the ncaa tournament, that's not going to count towards their conference record either.

[Hall2012]

im quite aware of that game in the big east tournament, friend. they are still 0-6, that game happened in a tournament.

guess what? if providence plays xavier in the ncaa tournament, that's not going to count towards their conference record either.

But it will still count towards their all time head to head record.

[HoosierPal]

Would anybody be worried about Xavier if they lost all 3 of these games but not back to back to back?

Xavier's problem is lack of quality wins. Top two wins are current bottom feeders in the ACC, Clemson, right now on the right side of the bubble, and Wake Forest, a team likely to not make the NCAA as they are 1-7 against top 100. Georgetown is coming to town, so an easy W is in the offing, although it won't help the resume.

I agree with this. I guess I'm not worried because I was a lot of Xavier teams have no quality wins at this point in the season. I know I said this a few times but this team reminds me of the 2015 team resume wise and to go back in time reminds me of the 2004 team that made the elite 8 because the talent is there but things aren't clicking yet and when they do it will be a tough team to beat.

X has four chances left to get a 'good win', Cincy, Butler, Creighton and Villanova. The two current 'good wins' Wake and Clemson, might not be 'good' at the end of the year. Wake is in a free fall but Clemson has a chance to stay in the running. The ACC is brutal this year.

[sciencejay]

Bill Marsh: I'm interested in what you saw Saturday to say that X outplayed CU, and that the Jays dodged a bullet? I could argue that Mo Watson is the best PG in the BEast (you may argue otherwise), but what isn't arguable is that he's the most indispensable player for the Jays. He averages well over 30 minutes a game and has the ball in his hands for more than 85% (guesstimating) of our possessions. He leads the nation in assists. He played 7 minutes Saturday.

My point is our point guard/team leader played less than 25% of his normal minutes and yet we won on the road against a talented, Top 25 X team that admittedly isn't quite clicking on all cylinders, but your comment acknowledged none of that. Yes, we dodged a bullet, but I think Jays fans are thrilled that we were able to beat such a good opponent on the road without him. You're clearly not impressed with the Jays since before the game you argued that you'd withhold kudos until they beat a good team on the road. CU led for nearly the entire game, and when X took the lead by one with a little over a minute left, the Jays finished the game on a 6-0 run. Yet now they dodged a bullet after getting outplayed.

If I may read into your comments a bit, I sense you think that our success is fragile. I'll agree with you on that. We lost a huge piece of our team when Zack Hanson went down against NC St. What was already a thin front line became desperately thin. That has been an issue in two games: Nova (Patton two dumb fouls in the first 10 minutes of the game) and X (Patton/Hegner both in foul trouble most of the game--neither played near their season average in minutes). We lost one of those games and just about lost the other (if not for X's horrendous FT shooting). And now we are without Watson, which leaves us without a serviceable point guard. To win under those circumstances indicates that the reserves stepped in and battled. For Jays fans, that's worth celebrating.

[Bluejay]

Don't stress him, Science Jay. The next complement that Bill Marsh gives Creighton will be the first.

On top of that, he thinks Spokane, WA is a two hour flight from Omaha. He doesn't even know where Omaha is!

[scoscox]

X has four chances left to get a 'good win', Cincy, Butler, Creighton and Villanova. The two current 'good wins' Wake and Clemson, might not be 'good' at the end of the year. Wake is in a free fall but Clemson has a chance to stay in the running. The ACC is brutal this year.

That's a good amount of chances for extremely good wins. Taking an optimist perspective, were X to go 4-0 in those games and 9-0 against the rest of the league their resume would look pretty close to a 2 seed.

[Bluejay]

Needs to be said...what WILL it take to fire JTIII? A Sandusky type scandal? I mean geez G'Town has played like a mid major the last few yrs. 2007 seems like 50 yrs ago.

Frankly, who gives a crap?! Let Georgetown fans be concerned what happens with JT3. I've never understood other fans being concerned or harping about another team's coach getting fired. Maybe, that's just me.

I both agree with this and disagree with this if that is possible.

If you grew up in the 1980's, seeing Georgetown struggle like this is really sad to see. Because of Georgetown's history, it was the program I most wanted to play when it was confirmed Creighton was joining the BE.

At the same time though, I agree that it is Georgetown's sole decision to determine when a coach should be replaced.

[Red Rooster]

Needs to be said...what WILL it take to fire JTIII? A Sandusky type scandal? I mean geez G'Town has played like a mid major the last few yrs. 2007 seems like 50 yrs ago.

Frankly, who gives a crap?! Let Georgetown fans be concerned what happens with JT3. I've never understood other fans being concerned or harping about another team's coach getting fired. Maybe, that's just me.

I both agree with this and disagree with this if that is possible.

If you grew up in the 1980's, seeing Georgetown struggle like this is really sad to see. Because of Georgetown's history, it was the program I most wanted to play when it was confirmed Creighton was joining the BE.

At the same time though, I agree that it is Georgetown's sole decision to determine when a coach should be replaced.

I'm very, familiar with who and what Georgetown was in the '80's. I started watching college basketball around '79-'80.

[gtmoBlue]

IMO. Xavier has played like crap there last two games. Creighton and Butler should be lucky we missed so many free throws, because if not for those, we win @Butler and today against Creighton. Also, Gaston is horrible offensively. I know he rebounds but damn. I feel like my 12 year old son can catch a basketball better than him. This is the worst collection of bigs I can recall at X. Plenty of time to get it together, but damn, we should only have two losses. Butler,Creighton and Colorado we just gave it away.

I thought that Xavier outplayed Creighton. If they make their FTs, they win the game. Creighton dodged a bullet. Davis showed a lot of energy. The longer he's around, the better that team will get.

Agree X@Heart, Bill, agree 100%. Slow the gamedown, Hit your shots, make your FTs, foul Creighton and force them to win at the line. Said this myself the other day in a thread which asked how to beat the Jays. Of course others have also expressed this as well - no great secret, given Creighton's style of play.

X outplayed the Jays in the 2nd half - between all the foul calls. Had they only hit their FT average they win. If they had made one of those 5 attempts (the under 1 minute scramble) they win. Agree we dodged a bullet, Bill.

Given the number of FT attempts X had - they should have won. Everything pointed towards the Musketeers winning and maintaining their home win streak - Vegas odds, home court, pace of the game, ref's dominating and destroying any semblance of flow, FT disparity, injury to Watson. Everything favored the Muskies. Only thing CU had was that small mid 2nd half run, some poise, and some luck.

Sometimes... it's Better to be lucky than Good! Today was that day for the Jays! I'll take it. A very good W for Creighton yesterday.