Has anyone checked out these Xavier fans?

[BoyHowdy]

http://musketeermadness.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1698

Talk about your delusions of the grandeur.

BoyHowdy!

[Tampa Warrior]

http://musketeermadness.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1698

Talk about your delusions of the grandeur.

BoyHowdy!

Seems pretty similar to reading our boards regarding Crean to IU when they hired Sampson. 

[Marquette_g]

I don't know that they are that out of whack.  I think MU might be a better job, but I'm hugely biased, just as they are biased towards Xavier.  Fact is they have made deeper runs and have consistently been winners.  I don't think there is any doubt the Big East is a superior conference, but that doesn't make Xavier a bad job (far from it). 

With all that being said, we should certainly make a run at Sean Miller.  We have no clue how he mentally ranks the two jobs and what would be a step up or a lateral move. However, I don't think it is fair to say MU is so dramatically better than Xavier. 

Note [I have no affiliation with Xavier, Cincy, the state of Ohio whatsoever]

[TallTitan34]

I think Xavier is a very good program, however, I do think Marquette is a better program. 

Granted I too have a bias.

[BoyHowdy]

The people on there were nuts about their perception of the Big East to the A 10.

I found some of this a bit offensive as well.

"**I just talked with Bobinski about all this Marquette/Indiana/Cal stuff. He said he and Miller were in Bobinski's office last night around 6:45 when a reporter from Milwaukee called. The reporter told Bobinski that word was that Miller was going to be in town (Milwaukee) that night and meeting with Marquette that night or Thursday morning. Bobinski and Miller, sitting three feet from each other on XU's campus, got a good laugh out of that. Miller doesn't appear to be going anywhere, and Bobinski said with "no disrespect to Marquette" but as far as Miller's concerned, the Marquette job isn't on par with the Xavier one. As I said in the comments of this post, he believes that big things can be achieved at Xavier and is committed to that goal. Xavier is probably in a more secure position now than it was five years ago in committing itself to making XU a destination type job for someone like Miller.

BoyHowdy!

[Tampa Warrior]

I think Xavier is a very good program, however, I do think Marquette is a better program. 

Granted I too have a bias.

As do most all of us here.

I do think that objectively we are a better program -- most especially because we're in a better league. But Xavier has a solid (though relatively recent) tradition and feel no need to diss them or their fan base.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

I think both schools are very close in almost every way.

I'm not sure the MU job is compelling enough to make Miller leave a place where he is already a hero.

Honestly, I know everybody is hating him him now... but I really think Crean would have stayed for a while if it wasn't IU, UK, UCLA, Duke, or one of the really big time programs calling.

Reason being, he was already a hero here... so it would take a very compelling situation for him to leave.

I have a feeling Miller is in the same situation.

[79Warrior]

I think Xavier is a very good program, however, I do think Marquette is a better program. 

Granted I too have a bias.

I think MU and X are very similiar. I believe Miller will get a bump at X and stay.

[bilsu]

We had a hard time beating Xavier in the great Midwest conference. in fact i am not sure we beat them at all. In the last 10 years I am sure they have been to more NCAA tournaments and have more NCAA wins.

[jdmxu2000]

The people on there were nuts about their perception of the Big East to the A 10.

I found some of this a bit offensive as well.

"**I just talked with Bobinski about all this Marquette/Indiana/Cal stuff. He said he and Miller were in Bobinski's office last night around 6:45 when a reporter from Milwaukee called. The reporter told Bobinski that word was that Miller was going to be in town (Milwaukee) that night and meeting with Marquette that night or Thursday morning. Bobinski and Miller, sitting three feet from each other on XU's campus, got a good laugh out of that. Miller doesn't appear to be going anywhere, and Bobinski said with "no disrespect to Marquette" but as far as Miller's concerned, the Marquette job isn't on par with the Xavier one. As I said in the comments of this post, he believes that big things can be achieved at Xavier and is committed to that goal. Xavier is probably in a more secure position now than it was five years ago in committing itself to making XU a destination type job for someone like Miller.

BoyHowdy!

Xavier fan here, not looking to flame or troll.  Just wanted to point out that is actually a quote from the Xavier beat writer for the Cincinnati Enquirer, not a fan.  Also, if interested you might check out www.xavierhoops.com, another independent XU message board--I prefer it to MusketeerMadness.   

I think the Marquette program is a great one and has a lot going for it--history, facilities, $$$, and plenty more.  I think the conference affiliation is generally a good thing, but the Big East is a bruising place with a lot of big boys to fight off every year (L'Ville, G'Town, Syracuse, UConn....man, that's a long list of powers).  I hope you guys land a great coach, and I think you will.  But I don't think it's going to be Miller. 

[mwbauer7]

Honestly, a lateral move from Xavier? The Xavier that is in the A-10? Who plays in the "Cintas Center" that seats 10,000? The Xavier with 0 National Championships and 0 Final Fours?

To quote Chris Berman, "I'm sorry to go off like this, I really am" But reading some of the homers over at Muskateer Madness are really funny.

It's okay to have faith in your coach not leaving you for another school. It's okay to believe he won't (let me give you fair warning for when he does leave, however). He probably won't come to MU, but to say that a move from XU to MU is lateral is absurd....

[CTWarrior]

Man, some on this board really have their blue and gold glasses on.  I am an MU graduate, and I love MU.  But MU, right now, is, at best on a par with Xavier and likely on a lower plane.  The fact that they keep changing coaches and continue right on rolling is all you need to know. 

You have to look at Marquette like an outsider does. 

We've had 2 seasons in the last 31 where we've won as many as two games in the NCAA tournament.  Just 2!  I may be off a little here, but I think we've won a grand total of 9 NCAA tournament games in those 31 seasons since Al McGuire retired.  We've won exactly 2 conference regular season titles (one of which was the 7 team Gread Midwest) in our history.  I think we've only won one conference tournament in all that time.  Even our 2003 Final Four appearance is viewed as a fluke as we rode the back of one of the best players in the world that we were lucky to get because nobody realized how good he was coming out of high school.

I don't know exactly what our record against Xavier is since Al retired but I'm sure Xavier has the edge, and probably significantly. 

The one successful hire we've had before Crean (O'Neill) left as soon as he could and MU began a slow, steady descent into mediocrity after that happened.

The rest of the world looks at us as a school that fell from the upper echelon when Al retired and as a team that is just good from time to time.  And the evidence backs them up.

All the things that make us a good program (facilities, money, average attendance, conference) are nice, but don't impress if there aren't the wins to back it up.

[Litehouse]

Marquette is the better program, but I don't think it's that much better for Miller to jump ship.  If both the Marquette and Xavier jobs were open and they were both competing for the same coach, Marquette wins every time.  However, that's not the case here, Miller is already set up at XU.  If XU is able to come close to whatever salary MU is offering, I don't think he's interested.

[mwbauer7]

Marquette is the better program, but I don't think it's that much better for Miller to jump ship.  If both the Marquette and Xavier jobs were open and they were both competing for the same coach, Marquette wins every time.  However, that's not the case here, Miller is already set up at XU.  If XU is able to come close to whatever salary MU is offering, I don't think he's interested.

Thats what I'm trying to say.

According to the wiki we are 44-15 against Xavier all time.... 

[CTWarrior]

According to the wiki we are 44-15 against Xavier all time.... 

That number surprised me, so I looked it up and it turns out we are 12-9 against them since Al retired.  I can be forgiven for getting it wrong in my original post though, since we are 5-9 against them since Al's last recruit (Robert Byrd) graduated and we are 3-9 against them since I graduated in 1983.  Just seemed to me that they always beat us.  We don't play them anymore, which is a shame, regardless of how this coaching search ends.

[jaybilaswho?]

Maybe it is the bias but I dont really know why one would think that sitting atop the A-10 for the 10 years to come, like Memphis sits on C-USA, is a more desireable situation to be in then playing in a "meat grinder" conference such as the Big East. Yeah, your gonna lose more games in the Big East than you will in the A-10, but wouldnt you like the fame and the glamour to be more validated through playing bigger, stronger, harder programs such as g-town, 'cuse, conn, louiseville than playing temple, umass, charlotte, richmond (these are the 4 of the top 5 teams in the conference behind X). I would rather prove myself year after year than just put on cruise control and sit back.

[mwbauer7]

According to the wiki we are 44-15 against Xavier all time.... 

That number surprised me, so I looked it up and it turns out we are 12-9 against them since Al retired.  I can be forgiven for getting it wrong in my original post though, since we are 5-9 against them since Al's last recruit (Robert Byrd) graduated and we are 3-9 against them since I graduated in 1983.  Just seemed to me that they always beat us.  We don't play them anymore, which is a shame, regardless of how this coaching search ends.

Hopefully you understand my post wasn't a dig at you. I was curious as to our record as well.

Maybe it is the bias but I dont really know why one would think that sitting atop the A-10 for the 10 years to come, like Memphis sits on C-USA, is a more desireable situation to be in then playing in a "meat grinder" conference such as the Big East. Yeah, your gonna lose more games in the Big East than you will in the A-10, but wouldnt you like the fame and the glamour to be more validated through playing bigger, stronger, harder programs such as g-town, 'cuse, conn, louiseville than playing temple, umass, charlotte, richmond (these are the 4 of the top 5 teams in the conference behind X). I would rather prove myself year after year than just put on cruise control and sit back.

Thats what I'm saying here.

[CTWarrior]

[Hopefully you understand my post wasn't a dig at you. I was curious as to our record as well.

I didn't take it that way at all.  I was surprised to see that number.  I think clearly Xavier's been the superior program over the last 20 years.

But, to me, the truest definition of the strength of a program is the quality of student athlete you can get to come to your school.  So, with all the television exposure we get as part of the Big East, I think we probably are in a position where we could become the better program over the next 10 years.  The next coach has a lot to say about that.

Finally, I do think our paths will cross with Xavier again someday.  I think the Big East is too unwieldy in it current format, and a basketball conference with Marquette, DePaul, Georgetown, Villanova, Seton Hall, Saint Johns, Providence, Xavier and a couple other schools (maybe Temple or Saint Joe's, Creighton, Saint Louis or the like) will someday come to fruitiion.  It would be a nice conference, but certainly not the current Big East.