After an up and down campaign this past year that culminated in a Sweet 16 appearance, the Musketeers will be back for more in a rebuilding season that will see another solid recruiting class.
Leaving:
Tu Holloway (PG), Andre Walker (PF), Kenny Frease (C).
Coming:
Semaj Christon (PG), Myles Davis (SG), Jalen Reynolds (PF), James Farr (PF).
I think Dee Davis and Christon will be sharing PG duties. Walker has a number of candidates to replace him, but I'm guessing Robinson will be the early leader. The big question will be what happens at the 5 spot - are any of the freshman PF good enough to take the spot right away or will it be Travis Taylor?
I count 12 scholarship players, so I assume there aren't any transfers that I wasn't aware of.
Anyone think Redford has a chance at significant minutes his senior year? There was a stretch of 8 games or so where he was a solid contributor, but he's going to have to compete with Lyons, Wells, and Myles Davis for minutes.
I think he'll play 8-12 minutes/game. ACL repairs take quite a while to get back to full strength, so I'm hopefully he'll be a capable specialist next year. I doubt he chooses to change schools since he has his eyes set on becoming an announcer, and I think he would be well-served to stick with one program to make that happen.
I don't think Brad will get a ton of time, maybe a little more time than he did this year.
I think Xavier will be okay. I think Semaj will be an absolute stud. Best recruit X has ever had, and he does look very very good. Him and Lyons could be very dangerous next year, mixed with a sophmore Wells, we will again have a really solid back court.
Yeah, Not sure Brad will have much time next year. If someone leaves (not sure who) I think X goes after a JUCO center that will play a lot. It will be interesting to see if Xavier goes after the UConn center.
Semaj will be a stud at X, may take him some time to adjust but he will be an impact player. If Lyons stays- thats huge for Xavier. Makes Xavier a tournament team, again.
Everyone knew next year will be somewhat of a rebuilding year, it will be interesting for sure. But like I said, if Lyons comes back X will be in the tournament again. Lyons really is the key to Xaviers expectations.
I'm still not sold on Lyons. He is a good shooter, creates with the ball, and occasionally a good defender. On the other hand, he is still playing out of control and only scores as a volume shooter.
Is there a better alternative to Taylor? I just can't get excited about him, and I'm not sure he played more than 20 minutes all season.
Philmore and Reynolds will see time at the 4. I like Lyons, as you said- good shooter, creator and can be a good defender. A few articles said Mark was the vocal leader in the last three-four weeks of the season.
I think he could be a potential AA. I also think he might want to leave with Tu. Hope he comes back though, X would be better off with him IMO
I'm still not sold on Lyons. He is a good shooter, creates with the ball, and occasionally a good defender. On the other hand, he is still playing out of control and only scores as a volume shooter.
Is there a better alternative to Taylor? I just can't get excited about him, and I'm not sure he played more than 20 minutes all season.
I'm not sure how good Philmore is, but can't forget about him. Also, Lyons is an absolute stud, he is a very good defender.
He plays out of control at times, but he was often overlooked for some reason by many Xavier fans this year. He led comebacks vs Vandy and Purdue, without those wins we aren't anywhere close to the tournament.
I'm still not sold on Lyons. He is a good shooter, creates with the ball, and occasionally a good defender. On the other hand, he is still playing out of control and only scores as a volume shooter.
Is there a better alternative to Taylor? I just can't get excited about him, and I'm not sure he played more than 20 minutes all season.
The options will be Philmore, Jalen Reynolds and Robinson. The only known quantity is Robinson. I think Xavier will be severly lacking of muscle inside. I think they will almost have to play small and go up tempo next year.
He also had some big shots in the tournament this year, He made it a 1 pt game against ND with one minute left. That was huge. Obviously, with out him X wouldn't be in the sweet 16 this season.
I'm assuming your expecting a Griffen transfer? Wouldn't be surprised, just wondering if you were anticipating it, or just forgot to put him in the line up.
The options will be Philmore, Jalen Reynolds and Robinson. The only known quantity is Robinson. I think Xavier will be severly lacking of muscle inside. I think they will almost have to play small and go up tempo next year.
I'd love to see Mack play some uptempo ball. Dee Davis, Lyons, Wells, Robinson, and [insert name here] sounds like a fun defense-and-fast-break line up. I think having a traditional lineup is nice, but a little run and gun can be good too.
I'd love to see Mack play some uptempo ball. Dee Davis, Lyons, Wells, Robinson, and [insert name here] sounds like a fun defense-and-fast-break line up. I think having a traditional lineup is nice, but a little run and gun can be good too.
I think he'll be forced to play uptempo with the lack of a true center.
The future is bright with this team and what they have coming in next year. The 2 people I really want to see improve are Taylor and Martin. Taylor just needs to get big and develop a jumpshot. Martin has a ton of talent, but didn't really show it this year. I thought he did play pretty well in terms of rebounding at the end, but defense needs work.
Although it may not be the case with Lyons, you should take comments about returning right after their season ends/during the season with a grain of salt. Many guys say they're coming back when they're in the heat of the moment, but after a couple days or week they have different thoughts. Saying you're going to leave during the press conference or in the locker room isn't a good thing to do.
Lance Stephenson stated about 5 times he was coming back, even after our season ended. I know Lance may be a different case because it was already in his head he was a 1 and done, but it happens all the time (Drummond and MKG this year alone).
Anyways way to finish the year out strong. Pretty impressive how both schools in the city finished the year. I'm sure you all feel the same but I'm ready to watch a UC (XU for you guys) game without having to listen about the brawl and watching replays of it during games.
Xavier has had very impressive tournament performance the past few years, but the tournament is too volatile an experience to count wins without even knowing matchups. Missouri was absolutely better than Xavier this year, and they lost in the first round.
Xavier has had very impressive tournament performance the past few years, but the tournament is too volatile an experience to count wins without even knowing matchups. Missouri was absolutely better than Xavier this year, and they lost in the first round.
Yes, true. The point however, is that Xavier should be good enough every year where they are better than the teams they play in the 1st and 2nd rounds. Hence the Sweet 16 being the standard regardless of matchup.
Now in regards to next years team, I think not having a true center will be a blessing for Xavier. Lyons and especially Wells would excel in an up tempo style of play. I think Wells is an incredibly difficult matchup in the open court. He's too big and fast and can jump out of the gym. He is a freight train in the fast break. I also think you would maximize Robinson's production in an up tempo offense (dunk city). Xavier should have a deeper team to be able to utilize a full court pressure defense. Play a lot of bodies and keep everyone fresh. Dee Davis' on the ball defense would fit in perfectly. I don't know, its what I hope for out of Xavier. Just my opinion.
I don't know, I don't really like the uptempo style. I think if Xavier learned one thing this year its that defense wins games. Whenever they turned the defense up they always played great. Stick to playing really good half court defense, no need to go full court pressure.
Also, Xavier is hardly in a position to believe they should be better than teams they play in the 1st and 2nd round. The standard is making the tournament. Sometimes going into the season it will be higher expectations (like this past season) and sometimes we need to see a few games to see what to expect. (This up coming season)
4 of the last 5 does not mean its the standard. (You don't even know the right numbers) Only three other teams have done that the past 5 seasons. So, yuo think anything less then a sweet 16 is disappointing?
4 of the last 5 does not mean its the standard. (You don't even know the right numbers) Only three other teams have done that the past 5 seasons. So, yuo think anything less then a sweet 16 is disappointing?
That would be why I used a question mark, wasn't sure of the numbers.
and yes anything less than the sweet 16 is a dissapointment. I was dissapointed they didn't win the A10 regular season title as well
Winning the A10 is nowhere near as hard as getting to the Sweet Sixteen.
Like I said, I don't think two tournament wins should be a given unless you have top 5 talent. At the very least you're saying you expect Xavier to be a top 15 kind of team every year.
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