[Cracked Sidewalks] Xavier Preview

[brewcity77]

Xavier enjoyed a late season surge with Travis Steele and their fans seem convinced they are ready to reestablish themselves among the Big East elite. Here's the Cracked Sidewalks Xavier preview:

http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2019/10/xavier-preview.html?m=1

[Its DJOver]

The middle of the Conference is going to be brutal again this year, but if everyone can get those 6 wins against the three bottom feeders, no reason we can't have 7 teams make the dance.  Now that probably won't happen, but at this point there are 7 tourney hopeful teams.

[Marcus92]

The worst team in the Big East last season, DePaul, managed to win 7 games in conference and finished ranked 118th by KenPom. That's better than 2 teams at the bottom of the ACC (BC and Wake) or SEC (Georgia and Vanderbilt).

This year, DePaul and St. John's are still projected to be Top 150 teams. Not great by any means. But not terrible either -- still stronger than MU non-conference opponents such as Charleston Southern (ranked 160th) in 2018-19. In other words, even a team like the Blue Demons will likely win at least a few games.

[Dawson Rental]

One of those teams lost a lot, but has an infusion of athletic talent to go with an All Big East third teamer (DePaul), another has an All Big East first teamer (Butler), and the last one has two dynamic scorers who are second and third team All Big East respectively. (St John's). It's hard to see any of them as true bottom feeders.

[Its DJOver]

A guess I just don't see it with them.  Baldwin is a high usage low efficiency player that was a good Robin to Kelan Martin's Batman, but hasn't stepped up the way many thought he would.  DePaul has length at the guard and wing positions, but overall have 1 player taller than 6-9 (a three star Freshman who's only listed at 200 lbs).  Sure they could throw Reed or Butz in at the 5, but then their effectiveness will drop.  They'll struggle against anyone with a legitimate big, and StJ lost it's head coach, best offensive player and best defensive player (who was also the best defender in the conference, by a wide margin IMO).  Other than wins against each other I'd be surprised if any of them got more than 2 wins against the rest of the Conference.

[Marcus92]

Since the 2013-14 season, the bottom three teams in the Big East have combined to win an average of 14.3 conference games per year -- with a low of 11 wins in 2015-16, and a high of 21 wins this past season.

Last year, DePaul managed to beat NCAA-bound Seton Hall at home and St. John's (both home and away). Not that the Blue Demons were a particularly good team. But they weren't that bad, either. On any given night, if they're hitting their shots or their opponents are having an off night, DePaul has a chance to win.

If history is any indication, the Blue Demons and other teams at the bottom of the conference standings will knock off at least a couple opponents that they weren't supposed to.

[Nukem2]

Xavier enjoyed a late season surge with Travis Steele and their fans seem convinced they are ready to reestablish themselves among the Big East elite. Here's the Cracked Sidewalks Xavier preview:

http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2019/10/xavier-preview.html?m=1

Blue Ribbon Yearbook has Xavier at 3rd and SHU at 2nd. in the BE.  BRY certainly disagrees with you as they have X at 19th and SHU at 13th nationally.  We shall see.

[Its DJOver]

Since the 2013-14 season, the bottom three teams in the Big East have combined to win an average of 14.3 conference games per year -- with a low of 11 wins in 2015-16, and a high of 21 wins this past season.

Last year, DePaul managed to beat NCAA-bound Seton Hall at home and St. John's (both home and away). Not that the Blue Demons were a particularly good team. But they weren't that bad, either. On any given night, if they're hitting their shots or their opponents are having an off night, DePaul has a chance to win.

If history is any indication, the Blue Demons and other teams at the bottom of the conference standings will knock off at least a couple opponents that they weren't supposed to.

Perhaps I worded my assessment poorly.  I don't believe that DePaul, StJ, or BU will even get an NIT invite, while all other 7 teams could get a NCAA invite.  Now on their day, any of the bottom three could beat any of the other 7.  Last year DePaul had a half time lead in Philly, and only lost by 5, but playing someone close a few times, and even sneaking a win every once and a while does not mean that there isn't a very large gap between the top 7 and bottom 3.

[brewcity77]

Blue Ribbon Yearbook has Xavier at 3rd and SHU at 2nd. in the BE.  BRY certainly disagrees with you as they have X at 19th and SHU at 13th nationally.  We shall see.

Yup. Considering how much weight people are putting on those last 2 weeks of the season, I'm surprised Creighton hasn't received more love. I'm sure it's because Naji Marshall and Myles Powell are easier to sell.

I think Marquette, Villanova, and Providence are the class of the league, with Creighton the most likely of the next three (along with X and SHU) to crash the top of the league.

Teams like Xavier and Seton Hall that don't really have any clear identity or evidence of quality beyond "well they were okay last year and they're older" don't do it for me.

[Marcus92]

In winning 8 out of its last 11 games, Xavier beat exactly one team ranked in the KenPom Top 50: Villanova at home. In fact, that was their only win against a Top 50 team all season.

Two of their other wins during that stretch came against St. John's -- which faded badly down the stretch and lost 6 of its last 8 games (including one against DePaul).

Two more wins were against KenPom #55 Creighton at home (in OT) and on a neutral court in the Big East tournament (by 2 points). That came after losing to the Jays by 22 in Omaha.

Plus road wins against #60 Seton Hall (by 1 point) and #79 Providence, and a home NIT victory over #61 Toledo. Not all that impressive, if you ask me.

Xavier has a lot to prove if they're going to be one of the 3 or 4 best teams in the Big East this season.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

I feel so dirty.  We're visiting the daughter for Xavier Family Weekend and we're at Musketeer Madness to see the kid play in the pep band.

Told the family I'm scouting X.

[Dr. Blackheart]

I feel so dirty.  We're visiting the daughter for Xavier Family Weekend and we're at Musketeer Madness to see the kid play in the pep band.

Told the family I'm scouting X.

Do they have the Mouseketeers performing or Snoop + T-Pain?

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

I was laughing yesterday as my kid channel surfed XM radio, and stopped at Y2K and Flo Rida with T-Pain was playing Low.