X Notes

by Nestor on Mar 28, 2008 4:02 PM PDT in Basketball

Still euphoric over yet another gutty win from our Ben Ball warriors? Well good. But time to get over that euphoria and pivot all of our attention to the Xavier Musketeers.

Heard a lot of chatter late last night on WWL (couldn't fall asleep) and read in various MSM outlets in the early hours this morning about how our Bruins are now "vulnerable" because we almost choked and collapsed against the Hilltoppers after building a huge first half lead. Well I found this narrative kind of amusing because after all our guys are taking on a team - the Xavier Musketeers (a very good team) - which also is coming off a harrowing game. Like UCLA they also built a huge lead in the first half which bubbled up to 18 points with about 9 mins to go and was still about 12 points with less than 3 mins left in the first half. However, unlike the Ben Ball warriors, who despite being plagued by ungodly foul trouble and without its starting pg not only managed to hold on it its lead but closed out a double digit victory, the Musketeers gave up their lead during the second half and then had to mount a desperate rally in over time after getting down by 6 points. Yet if you read the stuff popping up all over the MSM and hear the nattering nabobs on WWL, you'd get the sense it's our guys who are the underdogs heading into tomorrow afternoon's game.

I guess the Bruin hating will never stop. It will always be one thing after another no matter what we do or how we continue to win our games. And once again we will have to dig deep, focus and get ready for another opponent who will be egged on by rest of this country's sports world so they can enjoy themselves another "Princeton 1996" moment.

Well one thing for sure. Our guys will not take tomorrow's opponent lightly. They are a deep and talented team, who have gotten this far with their defense. From the WWL's team capsule on Xavier's road to the Big Dance:

Led by 39-year-old Sean Miller, one of the top young coaches in the country, Xavier wrapped up its third straight 20-win season and made its third consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.

The Musketeers did it with an emphasis on defense, but they also spread the scoring, as five players averaged at least 10 points during the regular season. Xavier was 20-0 during the regular season when at least four players averaged double digits. With senior point guard Drew Lavender healthy (he's been hindered by a sprained left ankle), the offense is in good hands. Senior Josh Duncan has also been invaluable, and despite coming off the bench is the team's leading scorer (11.6 ppg) and arguably its top player, especially during crunch time. Senior Stanley Burrell is one of the top defensive players in the conference, if not the entire country.

It was Josh Duncan who stepped up in a huge way in Musketeer's nail biting win. The senior scored a career high 26 points battling through foul trouble against the West Va defense.

Duncan is a part of a very balanced roster that features 5 guys with scoring averages in double figures. From Spotsline.com:

SCOUTING REPORT
Scoring balance is the name of the game at Xavier as six guys are capable of scoring in double figures on any given night in Josh Duncan (12.1 ppg), Drew Lavender (11 ppg), Derrick Brown (10.9 ppg), C.J. Anderson (10.7 ppg), B.J. Raymond (10.1 ppg) and Stanley Burrell (9.8 ppg).

It's going to be a big challenge for DC to bounce back tomorrow afternoon after last night's game against the Hilltoppers. Miller will most like put Burrell, who is their defensive specialist on DC. Robyn Norwood from the LA Times gives us an early look:

Stanley Burrell is the lockdown defender for Xavier. A 6-foot-3 senior guard, he held Indiana's Eric Gordon to four-for-12 shooting in November, though Gordon got to the line enough to finish with 20 points.

In December, Burrell held Tennessee's Chris Lofton to a mere nine points on three-for-12 shooting.

In the locker room after Xavier's overtime victory over West Virginia on Thursday, Burrell sat watching the TV that showed UCLA playing Western Kentucky and tried to guess his assignment.

"Probably Collison," he said, nodding toward UCLA point guard Darren Collison. "Or Shipp or Westbrook.

"Probably their main threat, the coaches will put me on."

Obviously the conventional wisdom in the MSM is somehow the Hilltoppers displayed the perfect strategy to rattle our offense with an all out full court press. Honestly I am a little unsure whether we are going to see a lot of pressing from the Musketeers. WKY was able to exert a pressing defense because it was the foundation of their defensive strategy. If a team doesn't press very often, it is usually difficult to adopt that strategy over night and implement it in a game at this level. Looking into Pomeroy's scouting report on Xavier it appears according adjusted temp numbers (65.5 poss/40 min) they are not the kind of team that looks force the tempo just like ours (65.7 poss/40 min).

So it remains to be seen how much press we are going to see from Xavier. However, we can bet our guys are going to see a team that will attempt to play a physical brand of defense why attempting to exert severe ball pressure on DC, and throwing a multitude of bigs against Kevin Love down low one of that also happens to be their version of "Love". Steve Greenberg from the Sporting News has this on a potential "key matchup" for tomorrow afternoon:

He is 6-9, strong as an ox and mans the middle for one of the best teams in America. He could be one of the most important players in Saturday's West Region final between top-seeded UCLA and No. 3 Xavier.

His name? Love.

Jason Love.

The Musketeers' backup post man, a 255-pound sophomore, had a career-high 10 rebounds in 21 intense minutes Thursday night against West Virginia. Against the Bruins, Love will be called upon to play crucial minutes guarding UCLA's fabulous freshman, Kevin Love, who just happened to score 29 points and grab 14 rebounds in a Sweet 16 victory over Western Kentucky.

Xavier's starter down low, rugged 6-9 senior Josh Duncan, put a career-high 26 points on West Virginia, mixing three 3-pointers with several brutish post-ups and nine made free throws on 10 attempts.

It has taken Duncan, an All-Atlantic 10 second-teamer, four seasons to become this good -- and he's still not at, or even very near, Kevin Love's level.

Together with Jason Love, though, he has a fighting chance to go toe-to-toe with an All-American and come out on top.

"Yeah, we definitely can be every bit as physical as Kevin Love," says the other Love. "I've watched him play. I can't help but watch him. But we like to bang on this team."

And I am sure KL, JK, LRMAM, LMR and AA2 will relish that challenge. More notes on Xavier from Sportsline.com:

--F Josh Duncan scored a career-high 26 points, including making 9 of 10 shots from the free-throw line, despite picking up his fourth foul with 12 1/2 minutes remaining in regulation. Duncan's previous scoring best included 25-point efforts against Charlotte on Feb. 13, and Detroit in 2006-07.

--F C.J. Anderson had 12 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out in overtime. It was Anderson's third double-double of the season as he had 21 points and 11 rebounds against St. Bonaventure on Jan. 9 and 13 points and 10 rebounds against Duquesne on Feb. 21.

--G B.J. Raymond scored all eight of his points in overtime. He made a layup with 3:17 left to draw Xavier within 71-67 then hit consecutive 3-point field goals with 1:22 and 30 seconds remaining to put the Musketeers ahead for good at 78-74.

--With wins over Georgia and Purdue last week, Xavier established a school record for wins in a season (29). Xavier won No. 30 against West Virginia.

--Xavier's six losses all came against quality competition -- at Miami (Ohio) on Nov. 13, at Arizona State on Dec. 15, vs. Tennessee on Dec. 22, at Temple on Jan. 16, at Saint Joseph's on March 6 and vs. Saint Joseph's in the Atlantic 10 tournament semifinals.

Right now I am hoping and praying last night's second half performance will give us a jolt. I actually agree with some takes I have read about our guys still need to put together that 40 mins of blitz we haven't seen since the Cal game in the Pac-10 tournament. Hopefully we will have that tenacious performance from start to end tomorrow. However, at the same time it is funny to sense the vibe coming from the national and the local scene on how somehow our guys don't belong here.

I will say it again reading all the materials in the MSM early this am and listening to all the pundits on WWL, it almost appears as if our guys should somehow apologize for being in the Elite Eight (despite winning one of the toughest conference in the country by 3 games and then winning the conference tournament without its defensive glue). Watching the "Gameday" crew on WWL it seems like those guys are all giddy in anticipation of a Xavier win tomorrow afternoon so they could somehow feel good about themselves about being proven right re all the BS whining starting with the last week of the regular season.

In many ways it feels like 1995 when we were inundated with the chatter of how Ed, Tyus, Toby and co didn't have much of a chance against Joe Smith's Maryland (well the Terps never even got to Elite Eight). And right before Elite Eight game we had to endure more propaganda from WWL about how Calhoun's Huskies were going to run us out of Oakland. And then Tyus struck that pose and well you know what happened.

I can't wait for the tip off.

GO BRUINS.

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Comments

It'll be tough but....

this is a team we should beat. Don't get me wrong, we're gonna have to come to play and that means all 40 minutes if we expect to walk away with a win and another trip to the final 4.

They lost to an ASU team we beat handily twice. If we are patient and execute and continue playing our patented lock-down D, we should leave the desert with a "W".

This will be an ugly, hard fought defensive oriented game, one we're accustomed to playing and winning.

Buckle your seatbelts BN faithful. This game is going to be a grind.

Go Bruins!!!

by Bald Eagle on Mar 28, 2008 4:47 PM PDT reply actions

Love the threat?

Did Sporting News watch their game against WVU. Sitting in US Airways Arena all the Bruin fans around me were talking about how Xavier had nothing to stop the REAL LOVE. We all watched the Love pretender and talked about how Kevin was going to destroy him.

Xavier may win. But I would be stunned if the false Love is key to the win.

For me the key to the game: can the Bruins get back to playing their game well. The guards look tired. Luc still smarting. If we can play our game we will beat Xavier

Go Team Go!

by bruins grad and dad on Mar 28, 2008 5:09 PM PDT reply actions

This

will definitely be the biggest test of the tourney as of now. I wasn't sure if they were deserving of the three seed at first, but they certainly looked impressive and balanced against a peaking WVU team.

If we can put the efforts of JS, JK, and KL together with a good to even average night from DC...we'll be in great shape though. Gonna be a hell of a test though

O.A.

by Ollie on Mar 28, 2008 5:39 PM PDT reply actions

WKY was a good defensive team

That was a tough press, yet we scored 88 points last night. It just goes to show our team can rise to any occasion and Howland made great adjustments to handle that press. We had 49 rebounds and shot over 50% from the field. Coach will have the team prepared tomorrow and if they stay out of foul trouble and play like they did last night, winning on the glass and minimizing turnovers, we march on to the Final Four. Trust in Howland, Go Bruins!

by bruin95 on Mar 28, 2008 6:15 PM PDT reply actions

I'd say the press

generally sped up the game, while we did score more as a result of running less half court sets and killing clock, we also turned the ball over alot more which was a negative.

The press sped the game up, and unfortunately they were getting the better of us for a stretch. So I expect we;ll be thoroughly prepared for any gimmicky traps or presses thrown at us this time.

O.A.

by Ollie on Mar 28, 2008 6:23 PM PDT up reply actions

UCLA needs to get to a fast start

These slow starts have put UCLA in a bind. They need to execute the offense more efficiently than they have for a few weeks. They need to get the ball into Love and make their open jumpers. Russell has mightily struggled with his shot, but is very active. Shipp has regained his confidence a bit but still had some mental lapses. Luc Richard made too many turnovers and needs to stop doing too much. Collison will bounce back but he needs to get going early and not wait so long until he starts to shoot.

by UCLA4Life on Mar 28, 2008 10:22 PM PDT reply actions

After studying

the records, stats, and personnel of ASU, WVU, WKU, and Xavier, it seems clear that UCLA is superior to any of them. Had they made their free throws in regulation and overtime, West Virginia would be playing the Bruins. This is not to denigrate Xavier, which features good scoring balance and is obviously playing well at this time of the year. But if the Bruins play up to the norm they have established, they will win. We are going to play much tighter defense than West Virginia did, and I see no one on the Xavier squad that we can't handle. Of course, we haven't had many easy games, and I don't mean to suggest that this will be one. But looking at it objectively, I like our chances. Looking at it emotionally, I like our chances. The Bruin wins haven't been flukes, no matter what any so-called expert may say or imply. The Bruins are just really tough, and they can play basketball.

by Oldguy on Mar 28, 2008 10:25 PM PDT reply actions

So what's the book on Xavier?

How good of a shooting team are they really? Are they good enough to last 40 minutes of shooting with a hand in their face every time? Xavier is balanced, but the Bruins are just a tough defensive team. James Keefe as the first bigman off the bench could be vital. Someone to come off the bench and provide a spark is just what UCLA needs, especially if the tourney refs continue to call a lot of ticky-tack fouls on the Bruins.

by UCLA4Life on Mar 28, 2008 10:29 PM PDT reply actions

Easy win

This will actually be our 2nd easiest win of the tourny. Xavier will be what Kansas was last year, and LSU the year before that.

Although, I had them in my bracket reaching the Elite 8 it was only b/c Duke was such a weak #2.

by Heffer on Mar 29, 2008 12:36 AM PDT reply actions

I'm expecting a big game also

Until the 2nd half against WKU, our last game was our "statement game". Amazing what some foul trouble and a hot shooting opponent can do, huh? So I guess this will have to be the game that answers the critics.

And you things on ESPN are bad when Dick Vitale is the only person giving us any credit. I'm starting to enjoy watching Bob Knight fuming that we're still in the tournament though!

by Westwood Wizard on Mar 29, 2008 7:52 AM PDT up reply actions

Just like 1995 again

I couldn't agree with you more about seeming like 1995 again. Everyone seems to be saying how we are now the weakest number 1 team, how we won't make it and how we are over raterd.

Well we know how 1995 ended.

I was in Westwood the night we won and while "Poor Man" from K-ROCK turned the night into something it wasn't, I never had more fun with so many people at one time.

Can't wait for it to happen again. And it WILL!

And this time don't let the "Poor Man" get out of the Van.

by BillM85Legacy on Mar 29, 2008 8:19 AM PDT reply actions