Since they played the Johnnies three games ago?
Xavier (MSG), Wed., Jan. 22 , 7p, FS-1
- Thread starter Knight
- Start date
The most surprising thing to me about this BE season has been Xavier's struggles. They do seem to have gotten it together the last few games and I fully expect that Sean Miller will have a plan to deal with SJU having seen them once and will also have his team in "shot out of a cannon" mode after they got stomped at home. I do not think this will be an easy game at all.
The second-most-surprising thing to me about this BE season has been that Nova does not completely suck. Dixon is basically single-handedly saving Neptune's job which is fine with me. I guess instead of a free-fall to the bottom of the league it will be a more gradual decline before they decide to go in a different direction.
Xavier's Big East schedule is extremely front-loaded.
After this coming Saturday, they'll be done with UCONN, St. John's, and Marquette.
It's the reverse of our schedule. I wouldn't be surprised at all if X goes on their own 7 game winning streak.
we've played X at CA a lot in past years...
Weekday + Cold might keep people away... you guys who went did a great job vs GTown
I'm nervous about this game. Not from the "STJ always lets us down" thing, just from a typical good team let down thing. It's hard for teams to get ranked and stay ranked. Just like our last game, X should be the hungrier team. They've got momentum. Not having Deivon fully healthy hurts.
im nervous every game... lol....
What i do feel with this group- that lacked with others..... is that their "effort" to win and play hard will always be there. Hell- i even saw Kadary hit the floor (again!) vs Hall on Saturday. We have "battled" Every game this year... and it think a majority of us will admit- more times than not in the past 10 years... if our guys went down 10+... we knew it was over...
This group has been down 16/17/ double digit points in multiple games and have come back to win. Guys like Zuby / RJ / Scott / Dev.... you can see it in their actions- they care- the "will" to fight and win is in these guys...
And the team's really confident. They want to win the BE, they want to make a run in March. They aren't happy to just be in this position in January.
X scares me because they're actually a very talented team (just as Marq/UConn/Creighton do). Our talent advantage over the rest of the league is pretty big.
SJU Center Court
Active member
I still prefer having as many games at MSG as possible. If we can fill the lower bowl there will be plenty of energy.
Best choice would have been Saturday at 12:00. Probably would have 12-14K on Saturday afternoon. Knicks play at 7:30.
I fully expect Xavier to come out strong. Human nature after how we handled them at Cintas. Containing Conwell again is a tough ask. This would be a solid win for us.
Nova is Nova under Neptune. Win one lose one since he’s been there. This year good enough to beat UConn, but horrific results like Columbia and Virginia always a possibility. Last night’s collapse against Gtown was another example of a coach not exuding confidence in his players. Poor possessions and execution down the stretch. A lane violation during a Dixon free throw. Defensives assignments missed.
Respectfully, it was kind of a fluke. Kam Jones ,Stevie Mitchell and Chase Ross each had their worst games of the year. Marquette shot 37% from the field and it wasn't due to X's lockdown D by any means, they were missing open shots all game. X only scored 59 points. A road win is a road win, all credit to them. But Marquette lost that game more than X won it.
Gotta take care of business obviously but X doesn't scare me at all. Think we see a repeat of the first game.
Last edited:
“Scare” no, “respect” yes.
Absolutely. Any Sean Miller coached team gets that.
