If the Big East season to date has proven anything, it is that there are no really bad teams and thus no easy games. With three games left in the year we can finish as high as third but can also still wind up in the Wednesday play in game. I expect Xavier game to be a tough one, no matter what any percentages say; think we will win but not expecting it to be easy.
(PRE-GAME) Xavier, Thur. Feb. 28, 6:30pm, FS-1 / 970AM
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yes lets relax with expressing matchup concerns with a team we play this week. In the PRE GAME thread for that very game. Makes sense
[quote="Jack Williams" post=325613]yes lets relax with expressing matchup concerns with a team we play this week. In the PRE GAME thread for that very game. Makes sense[/quote]
Matchup concerns are obviously fine, but talk of sweeps and losing third place to them are over the top. If we can’t can’t hold them off by winning just one game then we’ll have a short postseason.
Matchup concerns are obviously fine, but talk of sweeps and losing third place to them are over the top. If we can’t can’t hold them off by winning just one game then we’ll have a short postseason.
Class of 72
Active member
It's that time of the year when our bench may decide a win or two. Their efficient use in the last game allowed us to press more and then rest the starters.
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[quote="Marillac" post=325615][quote="Jack Williams" post=325613]yes lets relax with expressing matchup concerns with a team we play this week. In the PRE GAME thread for that very game. Makes sense[/quote]
Matchup concerns are obviously fine, but talk of sweeps and losing third place to them are over the top. If we can’t can’t hold them off by winning just one game then we’ll have a short postseason.[/quote]
losing third place to them is not something so insane to think about. We are 8-7, they are 7-8. They are a bad matchup for us, We just have to win one more game to clinch a bid, in my opinion. Getting swept by a hot Xavier team would not bury us, but it would hurt. I still think we win at DePaul. With Shamorie in, and with DePaul cooling off a bit from earlier in the Big East season.
Hoping we can win in CA, just worried their bigs will be too much for us, while their athletic guards will stifle Ponds, Heron just enough to come away with a win. Praying I am wrong
Matchup concerns are obviously fine, but talk of sweeps and losing third place to them are over the top. If we can’t can’t hold them off by winning just one game then we’ll have a short postseason.[/quote]
losing third place to them is not something so insane to think about. We are 8-7, they are 7-8. They are a bad matchup for us, We just have to win one more game to clinch a bid, in my opinion. Getting swept by a hot Xavier team would not bury us, but it would hurt. I still think we win at DePaul. With Shamorie in, and with DePaul cooling off a bit from earlier in the Big East season.
Hoping we can win in CA, just worried their bigs will be too much for us, while their athletic guards will stifle Ponds, Heron just enough to come away with a win. Praying I am wrong
[quote="Jack Williams" post=325619][quote="Marillac" post=325615][quote="Jack Williams" post=325613]yes lets relax with expressing matchup concerns with a team we play this week. In the PRE GAME thread for that very game. Makes sense[/quote]
Matchup concerns are obviously fine, but talk of sweeps and losing third place to them are over the top. If we can’t can’t hold them off by winning just one game then we’ll have a short postseason.[/quote]
losing third place to them is not something so insane to think about. We are 8-7, they are 7-8. They are a bad matchup for us, We just have to win one more game to clinch a bid, in my opinion. Getting swept by a hot Xavier team would not bury us, but it would hurt. I still think we win at DePaul. With Shamorie in, and with DePaul cooling off a bit from earlier in the Big East season.
Hoping we can win in CA, just worried their bigs will be too much for us, while their athletic guards will stifle Ponds, Heron just enough to come away with a win. Praying I am wrong[/quote]
The bottom line for us is the same at it is in every game. If we hit our threes and are able to score transition baskets running up and down , those two things will neutralize their size. Even if Xavier grabs some offensive rebounds and get some putbacks. If we do not hit our threes and are limited to one shot per possession due to their size and our style of play it could be the Providence games all over again. We need the Keita , Williams, Earlington and Roberts that showed up Saturday for sure. But Xavier is more physical than Seton Hall so I don’t know if they can be as effective against them. Maybe they can, it is yet to be seen. Anyway, let’s hope we are shooting well
Matchup concerns are obviously fine, but talk of sweeps and losing third place to them are over the top. If we can’t can’t hold them off by winning just one game then we’ll have a short postseason.[/quote]
losing third place to them is not something so insane to think about. We are 8-7, they are 7-8. They are a bad matchup for us, We just have to win one more game to clinch a bid, in my opinion. Getting swept by a hot Xavier team would not bury us, but it would hurt. I still think we win at DePaul. With Shamorie in, and with DePaul cooling off a bit from earlier in the Big East season.
Hoping we can win in CA, just worried their bigs will be too much for us, while their athletic guards will stifle Ponds, Heron just enough to come away with a win. Praying I am wrong[/quote]
The bottom line for us is the same at it is in every game. If we hit our threes and are able to score transition baskets running up and down , those two things will neutralize their size. Even if Xavier grabs some offensive rebounds and get some putbacks. If we do not hit our threes and are limited to one shot per possession due to their size and our style of play it could be the Providence games all over again. We need the Keita , Williams, Earlington and Roberts that showed up Saturday for sure. But Xavier is more physical than Seton Hall so I don’t know if they can be as effective against them. Maybe they can, it is yet to be seen. Anyway, let’s hope we are shooting well
[quote="Jack Williams" post=325619][quote="Marillac" post=325615][quote="Jack Williams" post=325613]yes lets relax with expressing matchup concerns with a team we play this week. In the PRE GAME thread for that very game. Makes sense[/quote]
Matchup concerns are obviously fine, but talk of sweeps and losing third place to them are over the top. If we can’t can’t hold them off by winning just one game then we’ll have a short postseason.[/quote]
losing third place to them is not something so insane to think about. We are 8-7, they are 7-8. They are a bad matchup for us, We just have to win one more game to clinch a bid, in my opinion. Getting swept by a hot Xavier team would not bury us, but it would hurt. I still think we win at DePaul. With Shamorie in, and with DePaul cooling off a bit from earlier in the Big East season.
Hoping we can win in CA, just worried their bigs will be too much for us, while their athletic guards will stifle Ponds, Heron just enough to come away with a win. Praying I am wrong[/quote]
What makes them a bad matchup? They aren’t deep. They aren’t even that menacing up front. They foul like crazy, turn the ball over, and they don’t have good guard play or a top ten player in the league.
They are a 13-loss team. There is a fine line between respect and fear. We should beat them by double-digits at home. This seems like a tailor-made 30+ point Ponds game.
Matchup concerns are obviously fine, but talk of sweeps and losing third place to them are over the top. If we can’t can’t hold them off by winning just one game then we’ll have a short postseason.[/quote]
losing third place to them is not something so insane to think about. We are 8-7, they are 7-8. They are a bad matchup for us, We just have to win one more game to clinch a bid, in my opinion. Getting swept by a hot Xavier team would not bury us, but it would hurt. I still think we win at DePaul. With Shamorie in, and with DePaul cooling off a bit from earlier in the Big East season.
Hoping we can win in CA, just worried their bigs will be too much for us, while their athletic guards will stifle Ponds, Heron just enough to come away with a win. Praying I am wrong[/quote]
What makes them a bad matchup? They aren’t deep. They aren’t even that menacing up front. They foul like crazy, turn the ball over, and they don’t have good guard play or a top ten player in the league.
They are a 13-loss team. There is a fine line between respect and fear. We should beat them by double-digits at home. This seems like a tailor-made 30+ point Ponds game.
Ray Morgan
Well-known member
[quote="Marillac" post=325630][quote="Jack Williams" post=325619][quote="Marillac" post=325615][quote="Jack Williams" post=325613]yes lets relax with expressing matchup concerns with a team we play this week. In the PRE GAME thread for that very game. Makes sense[/quote]
Matchup concerns are obviously fine, but talk of sweeps and losing third place to them are over the top. If we can’t can’t hold them off by winning just one game then we’ll have a short postseason.[/quote]
losing third place to them is not something so insane to think about. We are 8-7, they are 7-8. They are a bad matchup for us, We just have to win one more game to clinch a bid, in my opinion. Getting swept by a hot Xavier team would not bury us, but it would hurt. I still think we win at DePaul. With Shamorie in, and with DePaul cooling off a bit from earlier in the Big East season.
Hoping we can win in CA, just worried their bigs will be too much for us, while their athletic guards will stifle Ponds, Heron just enough to come away with a win. Praying I am wrong[/quote]
What makes them a bad matchup? They aren’t deep. They aren’t even that menacing up front. They foul like crazy, turn the ball over, and they don’t have good guard play or a top ten player in the league.
They are a 13-loss team. There is a fine line between respect and fear. We should beat them by double-digits at home. This seems like a tailor-made 30+ point Ponds game.[/quote]
They are a very difficult match-uo. We have absolutely no one to match up to Jones and Hankins. We will have to double, and even mediocre 3 point teams shoot well against us because our doubling down low gives up wide open looks from 3. Plus, they are playing as good or better than anyone in the conference, and are right there in the mix for third in the conference, making them very motivated. Giving up offensive rebounds is one of our major weaknesses. X ranks 5th. We are 6 and 2 vs. the teams ranked 6 through 9 (we are last), and 2 and 5 against the teams ranked 1 through 4, including 4 pretty bad beatdowns. If this becomes a half court slugfest, we get outslugged. If we turn them over and run and hit threes, we can win. But a very though match up based on how we fare against big, strong teams.
Matchup concerns are obviously fine, but talk of sweeps and losing third place to them are over the top. If we can’t can’t hold them off by winning just one game then we’ll have a short postseason.[/quote]
losing third place to them is not something so insane to think about. We are 8-7, they are 7-8. They are a bad matchup for us, We just have to win one more game to clinch a bid, in my opinion. Getting swept by a hot Xavier team would not bury us, but it would hurt. I still think we win at DePaul. With Shamorie in, and with DePaul cooling off a bit from earlier in the Big East season.
Hoping we can win in CA, just worried their bigs will be too much for us, while their athletic guards will stifle Ponds, Heron just enough to come away with a win. Praying I am wrong[/quote]
What makes them a bad matchup? They aren’t deep. They aren’t even that menacing up front. They foul like crazy, turn the ball over, and they don’t have good guard play or a top ten player in the league.
They are a 13-loss team. There is a fine line between respect and fear. We should beat them by double-digits at home. This seems like a tailor-made 30+ point Ponds game.[/quote]
They are a very difficult match-uo. We have absolutely no one to match up to Jones and Hankins. We will have to double, and even mediocre 3 point teams shoot well against us because our doubling down low gives up wide open looks from 3. Plus, they are playing as good or better than anyone in the conference, and are right there in the mix for third in the conference, making them very motivated. Giving up offensive rebounds is one of our major weaknesses. X ranks 5th. We are 6 and 2 vs. the teams ranked 6 through 9 (we are last), and 2 and 5 against the teams ranked 1 through 4, including 4 pretty bad beatdowns. If this becomes a half court slugfest, we get outslugged. If we turn them over and run and hit threes, we can win. But a very though match up based on how we fare against big, strong teams.
[quote="Marillac" post=325630][quote="Jack Williams" post=325619][quote="Marillac" post=325615][quote="Jack Williams" post=325613]yes lets relax with expressing matchup concerns with a team we play this week. In the PRE GAME thread for that very game. Makes sense[/quote]
Matchup concerns are obviously fine, but talk of sweeps and losing third place to them are over the top. If we can’t can’t hold them off by winning just one game then we’ll have a short postseason.[/quote]
losing third place to them is not something so insane to think about. We are 8-7, they are 7-8. They are a bad matchup for us, We just have to win one more game to clinch a bid, in my opinion. Getting swept by a hot Xavier team would not bury us, but it would hurt. I still think we win at DePaul. With Shamorie in, and with DePaul cooling off a bit from earlier in the Big East season.
Hoping we can win in CA, just worried their bigs will be too much for us, while their athletic guards will stifle Ponds, Heron just enough to come away with a win. Praying I am wrong[/quote]
What makes them a bad matchup? They aren’t deep. They aren’t even that menacing up front. They foul like crazy, turn the ball over, and they don’t have good guard play or a top ten player in the league.
They are a 13-loss team. There is a fine line between respect and fear. We should beat them by double-digits at home. This seems like a tailor-made 30+ point Ponds game.[/quote]
Where’s Providence’s top 10 player in the league? Diallo? I wouldn’t even give him that.
They beat us handily twice. They also have a good amount of losses.
X handily outrebounded Providence on the road, plus 13. A providence team that dismantled us on the boards twice.
The one part of your post I agree with, is the turnovers. If St. John’s can turn them over a ton they should be able to get easy buckets in transition. We will see.
I just don’t feel confident about these 2 against X at all. But if we take one of them it’ll definitely be the one Thursday
Matchup concerns are obviously fine, but talk of sweeps and losing third place to them are over the top. If we can’t can’t hold them off by winning just one game then we’ll have a short postseason.[/quote]
losing third place to them is not something so insane to think about. We are 8-7, they are 7-8. They are a bad matchup for us, We just have to win one more game to clinch a bid, in my opinion. Getting swept by a hot Xavier team would not bury us, but it would hurt. I still think we win at DePaul. With Shamorie in, and with DePaul cooling off a bit from earlier in the Big East season.
Hoping we can win in CA, just worried their bigs will be too much for us, while their athletic guards will stifle Ponds, Heron just enough to come away with a win. Praying I am wrong[/quote]
What makes them a bad matchup? They aren’t deep. They aren’t even that menacing up front. They foul like crazy, turn the ball over, and they don’t have good guard play or a top ten player in the league.
They are a 13-loss team. There is a fine line between respect and fear. We should beat them by double-digits at home. This seems like a tailor-made 30+ point Ponds game.[/quote]
Where’s Providence’s top 10 player in the league? Diallo? I wouldn’t even give him that.
They beat us handily twice. They also have a good amount of losses.
X handily outrebounded Providence on the road, plus 13. A providence team that dismantled us on the boards twice.
The one part of your post I agree with, is the turnovers. If St. John’s can turn them over a ton they should be able to get easy buckets in transition. We will see.
I just don’t feel confident about these 2 against X at all. But if we take one of them it’ll definitely be the one Thursday
SJU2000alum15
Well-known member
You can’t use the logic that cause they destroyed Providence we are going to lose to them, we never play well against Providence by that logic well Xavier lost to Marquette twice and got smoked in one of them and we beat Marquette twice including smoking them by 20 so Xavier is in trouble. Will this game be easy no but we are going to win on Thursday!
[quote="Jack Williams" post=325632][quote="Marillac" post=325630][quote="Jack Williams" post=325619][quote="Marillac" post=325615][quote="Jack Williams" post=325613]yes lets relax with expressing matchup concerns with a team we play this week. In the PRE GAME thread for that very game. Makes sense[/quote]
Matchup concerns are obviously fine, but talk of sweeps and losing third place to them are over the top. If we can’t can’t hold them off by winning just one game then we’ll have a short postseason.[/quote]
losing third place to them is not something so insane to think about. We are 8-7, they are 7-8. They are a bad matchup for us, We just have to win one more game to clinch a bid, in my opinion. Getting swept by a hot Xavier team would not bury us, but it would hurt. I still think we win at DePaul. With Shamorie in, and with DePaul cooling off a bit from earlier in the Big East season.
Hoping we can win in CA, just worried their bigs will be too much for us, while their athletic guards will stifle Ponds, Heron just enough to come away with a win. Praying I am wrong[/quote]
What makes them a bad matchup? They aren’t deep. They aren’t even that menacing up front. They foul like crazy, turn the ball over, and they don’t have good guard play or a top ten player in the league.
They are a 13-loss team. There is a fine line between respect and fear. We should beat them by double-digits at home. This seems like a tailor-made 30+ point Ponds game.[/quote]
Where’s Providence’s top 10 player in the league? Diallo? I wouldn’t even give him that.
They beat us handily twice. They also have a good amount of losses.
X handily outrebounded Providence on the road, plus 13. A providence team that dismantled us on the boards twice.
The one part of your post I agree with, is the turnovers. If St. John’s can turn them over a ton they should be able to get easy buckets in transition. We will see.
I just don’t feel confident about these 2 against X at all. But if we take one of them it’ll definitely be the one Thursday[/quote]
Diallo is absolutely top ten. They are deeper
and Watson is legit and will be a stud. We still would have beat them at home with Heron.
I don’t mind talk of a loss, but worrying about getting swept by a 13-loss team with three games left in the season is absurd to me. If we are scared of being swept by this crap team what will we feel when we get our seeding and have to played an actual tournament team?
Matchup concerns are obviously fine, but talk of sweeps and losing third place to them are over the top. If we can’t can’t hold them off by winning just one game then we’ll have a short postseason.[/quote]
losing third place to them is not something so insane to think about. We are 8-7, they are 7-8. They are a bad matchup for us, We just have to win one more game to clinch a bid, in my opinion. Getting swept by a hot Xavier team would not bury us, but it would hurt. I still think we win at DePaul. With Shamorie in, and with DePaul cooling off a bit from earlier in the Big East season.
Hoping we can win in CA, just worried their bigs will be too much for us, while their athletic guards will stifle Ponds, Heron just enough to come away with a win. Praying I am wrong[/quote]
What makes them a bad matchup? They aren’t deep. They aren’t even that menacing up front. They foul like crazy, turn the ball over, and they don’t have good guard play or a top ten player in the league.
They are a 13-loss team. There is a fine line between respect and fear. We should beat them by double-digits at home. This seems like a tailor-made 30+ point Ponds game.[/quote]
Where’s Providence’s top 10 player in the league? Diallo? I wouldn’t even give him that.
They beat us handily twice. They also have a good amount of losses.
X handily outrebounded Providence on the road, plus 13. A providence team that dismantled us on the boards twice.
The one part of your post I agree with, is the turnovers. If St. John’s can turn them over a ton they should be able to get easy buckets in transition. We will see.
I just don’t feel confident about these 2 against X at all. But if we take one of them it’ll definitely be the one Thursday[/quote]
Diallo is absolutely top ten. They are deeper
and Watson is legit and will be a stud. We still would have beat them at home with Heron.
I don’t mind talk of a loss, but worrying about getting swept by a 13-loss team with three games left in the season is absurd to me. If we are scared of being swept by this crap team what will we feel when we get our seeding and have to played an actual tournament team?
[quote="SJU2000alum15" post=325650]You can’t use the logic that cause they destroyed Providence we are going to lose to them, we never play well against Providence[/quote] I think we've lost to Xavier the last 6 or 7 times in a row
I think we win but I'm not confident
I think we win but I'm not confident
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[quote="mjmaherjr" post=325652][quote="SJU2000alum15" post=325650]You can’t use the logic that cause they destroyed Providence we are going to lose to them, we never play well against Providence[/quote] I think we've lost to Xavier the last 6 or 7 times in a row
I think we win but I'm not confident[/quote]
We also didn’t beat Nova at home sonce 2002 before this year. This has Ponds for 35 written all over it.
I think we win but I'm not confident[/quote]
We also didn’t beat Nova at home sonce 2002 before this year. This has Ponds for 35 written all over it.
[quote="Marillac" post=325653][quote="mjmaherjr" post=325652][quote="SJU2000alum15" post=325650]You can’t use the logic that cause they destroyed Providence we are going to lose to them, we never play well against Providence[/quote] I think we've lost to Xavier the last 6 or 7 times in a row
I think we win but I'm not confident[/quote]
We also didn’t beat Nova at home sonce 2002 before this year. This has Ponds for 35 written all over it.[/quote] mjmaherjr will settle for 25 from Ponds and 20 from Heron and 18 from Clark
I think we win but I'm not confident[/quote]
We also didn’t beat Nova at home sonce 2002 before this year. This has Ponds for 35 written all over it.[/quote] mjmaherjr will settle for 25 from Ponds and 20 from Heron and 18 from Clark
[quote="mjmaherjr" post=325656][quote="Marillac" post=325653][quote="mjmaherjr" post=325652][quote="SJU2000alum15" post=325650]You can’t use the logic that cause they destroyed Providence we are going to lose to them, we never play well against Providence[/quote] I think we've lost to Xavier the last 6 or 7 times in a row
I think we win but I'm not confident[/quote]
We also didn’t beat Nova at home sonce 2002 before this year. This has Ponds for 35 written all over it.[/quote] mjmaherjr will settle for 25 from Ponds and 20 from Heron and 18 from Clark[/quote]
18 fouls from Clark is a lot to ask. He can definitely do 7.
I think we win but I'm not confident[/quote]
We also didn’t beat Nova at home sonce 2002 before this year. This has Ponds for 35 written all over it.[/quote] mjmaherjr will settle for 25 from Ponds and 20 from Heron and 18 from Clark[/quote]
18 fouls from Clark is a lot to ask. He can definitely do 7.
One thing is clear to me about the Big East this year and that is that nothing is very clear.
The relative strengths of these teams vary night in and night out. On February 9th Xavier was in last place with a 3 and 8 record. Now with four straight wins and a 7 and 8 record they are one of two Big East teams (St. John's being the other) who control their own destiny to finish third.
It seems that we have really struggled to matchup with big physical inside players. Nate Watson (Providence), Femi Olujobi (DePaul) and Jessie Govan (Georgetown) all are big physical players who we did not handle and their teams beat us 4 out of 5 and came within a whisker of beating us in all five. Marquette on the other hand is 0 and 2 against us and 12 and 0 against the rest of the league. So matchups seem to really matter.
The concern here is really whether or not we will matchup with Xavier. One thing is for sure they have size and with players like Tyrique Jones, Naji Marshall, Zach Hankins and Ryan Welage we will be giving something away on the interior and winning the battle on the boards will be tough. If they are able to impose their will on the interior we will likely have problems.
Regardless of what any prognosticators say this season the Big East has been really hard to figure. This will be the third time this Big East season that we have gone into a conference game one game above five hundred. Previously we failed at Villanova and at Providence to move to two games above five hundred. Personally going in I thought we were going to win both of those games, but it did not happen. Hopefully the third time will be the charm and we turn the trick against Xavier. If we do, then I will take a deep breath for the first time since we stomped all over Marquette back on New Year's Day.
The relative strengths of these teams vary night in and night out. On February 9th Xavier was in last place with a 3 and 8 record. Now with four straight wins and a 7 and 8 record they are one of two Big East teams (St. John's being the other) who control their own destiny to finish third.
It seems that we have really struggled to matchup with big physical inside players. Nate Watson (Providence), Femi Olujobi (DePaul) and Jessie Govan (Georgetown) all are big physical players who we did not handle and their teams beat us 4 out of 5 and came within a whisker of beating us in all five. Marquette on the other hand is 0 and 2 against us and 12 and 0 against the rest of the league. So matchups seem to really matter.
The concern here is really whether or not we will matchup with Xavier. One thing is for sure they have size and with players like Tyrique Jones, Naji Marshall, Zach Hankins and Ryan Welage we will be giving something away on the interior and winning the battle on the boards will be tough. If they are able to impose their will on the interior we will likely have problems.
Regardless of what any prognosticators say this season the Big East has been really hard to figure. This will be the third time this Big East season that we have gone into a conference game one game above five hundred. Previously we failed at Villanova and at Providence to move to two games above five hundred. Personally going in I thought we were going to win both of those games, but it did not happen. Hopefully the third time will be the charm and we turn the trick against Xavier. If we do, then I will take a deep breath for the first time since we stomped all over Marquette back on New Year's Day.
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JohnnyFever
Active member
Jeez guys, many of you are acting like we are playing 1 seed Xavier. You do realize they're rebuilding right? Mack is long gone. Of course they deserve respect, but this is not Duke. Don't get me wrong, we can easily lose but if we do it says more about us than it does about them IMO. We play maddeningly inconsistently and have a knack for dogging it after big wins. Matchup, smatchup...we are 78% favorites to win. Ironically it seems like 78% of the people in this thread are already counting this as a likely loss mentally. Wasn't SHU supposed to be much bigger? They owned us rebounding, but we still dominated them for much of the game. If you don't think we have the much more talented and much more experienced team that should be clear favorites in this game, you likely never will. The gap in talent and experience will never be wider than it is this year between us and Xavier. I think they are an okay team but they regress back to earth after a 4 game streak. We can very well lose, but we definitely aren't supposed to on paper.
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