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Why can't Daniel stay on the court ?? 22.6 minutes per game

I just don't understand..2 straight years of off season navy seals conditioning programs ?? Yet Kris Jenkins goes from 300 pounds to 240 pounds...Kris is averaging 27.7 minutes per game,,Yet Daniel has only played 2 games all year over 30 minutes...Daniels minutes are actually down from last year when he averaged 24 minutes per game...This just makes no sense,,Their don't seem to be a ounce of fat on Daniel,,and Jeff Pierce our head athletic trainer is one of the best...Our next game at Marquette they play their 2 bigs a lot...Henry Ellenson plays 33.5 minutes per game and Luke Fischer plays 29.3 minutes per game...Both are listed almost exactly the same size and weight as Daniel...Yes Daniel can be foul prone but their has be some other reason then fouls ?? in my opinion ??
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Can the other team get credit?

Or is it just our lack of hustle, energy, stupidity, poor shots, missing bunnies etc why we lose? Right after we crushed them on NYE I said we would probably lose on the return trip to Cincy. This Xavier team is very similar to our own beloved Cats. Since entering the BE they were 0-6 against us and were embarrassed on NYE. We were the #1 team in the country entering into Cintas and that team and fanbase were waiting for us. You tip your cap and move on.

Flopping Rule

I just verified what I thought I remembered. There was a new rule implemented this year that penalizes the team when there is a flop and also permits the use of replay to determine if a flop occurred. The refs either do not know the new rule or decided not to enforce it. They missed on two counts, the Ochefu foul should have been taken away and instead a foul should have been given to Davis. It wasn't a close call when looking at the replay. Wondering (but will never know) why it wan't called correctly. The announcers also did not seem to know about the flopping rule because they did not mention the foul should have gone to Davis.

Causes for Concern

Losing on the road at a team as good as Xavier isn't a terrible result. This was the toughest game on our schedule thus far. However, here are some issues tonight that bothered me...

1. Dribble penetration - Defense
We got murdered on dribble penetration all day. That set up so many of their baskets. We couldn't stop Sumner from penetrating into the lane. I was worried about that before the game, but it was way worse than I thought it would have been. That helped set up a ton of easy baskets.

2. Dribble penetration - Offense
We had a tough time getting into the lane ourselves. We did good work posting up to get interior touches in lieu of driving, but it's still frustrating that we couldn't get as many drives and kicks as normal.

3. Bad habits offensively
We haven't trailed much the last 2 seasons. But when we have fallen behind in games, we settle for the 3 so much more and don't run our offense. We get careless with the ball and our shot selection when we fall behind. That happened against Oklahoma, and in most of our losses last year. We're going to have to come from behind in the NCAA Tournament, and I'm a little concerned at how we react to falling behind.

4. Rotating to guard under the basket.
We've done a great job defending the 2 all year, but tonight, we allowed way too many passes to open men under the basket. Xavier ran some great offenses, but we blew too many defensive assignments to allow easy dunks and layups.

5. Missing the easy ones
We missed a ton of layups, a dunk, dropped several rebounds, and had all sorts of unforced errors. I'm not super concerned about this as I think this could have just been a one-time thing, but it seemed to get in our heads early.

6. Our worst defensive games have come in the biggest games
Our 3 worst defensive games this year - Oklahoma, at Virginia, at Xavier. The 3 biggest games of the year, we got torched defensively in all 3. Does our defense hold up against the elite teams?

Other thoughts....
As for the biggest positive....Kris Jenkins plays his best in big games. Against Virginia, he had 23 points and kept us in the game. Today, he kept us in the game until the refs took him out of the game. He was fantastic.

And we're still one of the best teams in the nation. We could lose in the Round of 32. We could win it all. None of that changed tonight.

Xavier Thoughts

1. Kris Jenkins is so important to this team, not just because he can score in multiple ways but his ability to make decisions with the ball leads to alot of wide open shots and lay ups. When Kris Jenkins got foul number four it was good night.

2. Myles Davis flop, got away with one, should have been a T on him especially since the refs reviewed.

3. Cant foul guys when they are going up for dunks or layups, Ochefu and Jenkins each had 2 of those fouls, give them the shot, tip your hat get back on O, those fouls killed us.

4. At about the 8/9 minute mark we were down by 9 to the number 5 team in the country on their home court without Starting Center and Power Forward out for the past 10 minutes, our D looking awful, and we missed count them 7 WIDE OPEN lay ups. I still couldnt believe we were only down by 9 we really fought and scrapped to be there.

5. If I see Brunson shrug off a KNOWN three pointer shooter one more time I may punch a hole in the wall.

6. Phil Booth when he doesnt lean was 2-2 for tonight.

7. I love Arc, tonight may have been the worst game of his senior year he had 7 assists and 8 rebounds but I thought he had some really bad turnovers and man was his jumper off the mark.

8. I dont get why people are throwing Ochefu under the bus, there was at least 4 times where he had sealed off his man and would have scored and we did not throw it down to him, it was just very very odd to me as its a play we typically make.

9. JP Macura and Reynolds are my least two favorite players that Nova has every played against. Reynolds looks like he is half functioning humanbeing, JP Macura is the kind of kid who started a fight and then went to the back of the group.

10. We beat them in NYC by 10, all is right with the world.

11. I am not a fashion expert, but Jay had the ugliest tie I have ever seen today, end of story, game was over before it began.

12. We had two bad inbounds play, that is not why we lost.

Feeling good about this team today!

While I always want us to win, losing a game like that is far from the worse thing in the world. In fact, I think it may be the best thing for us. I don't always buy the "we need to lose so we can win again" thinking but I do believe it is applicable for this year's team. This team is under so much pressure to get past the first weekend of the NCAAs, the last thing they need is to have the pressure of being the #1 overall team & seed entering the tournament (& that still might happen!). This team has now been reminded yet again the bitter taste of defeat and with three regular season games left, I think that taste will be bad enough that it will last them a long, long time - hopefully until the beginning of April.

Going into this year I thought we would have more losses then last year but that we would be the better team by the end of the year. Right now we officially have more losses than last year. I also felt that we had a couple of opponents who really owed us as well have escaped with narrow victories over the past few years, namely Providence & Xavier. Well, that also has proven true. Finally, I also believe that we are much better positioned for a deep run in March & I believe that will be proven true as well.

Credit to Xavier & their fans-that atmosphere was electric. It was also an atmosphere that we would never see even in the NCAA championship game. The guys played good-a few dumb fouls changed the whole game-The BS flop that took Ochefu out & the bad foul by Jenkins-If they stay in the entire game is different. The lesson for them is that they have to be better focused. This team always seems to respond. Now is the time.

I want to see us bounce back and smack WOJO's boys around.

Then we will once again remind DePaul why they are the catfish of the Big East conference.

Then we will once again show Georgetown how far we have risen and how far they have fallen.

Then it's MSG time-I actually hope we see Xavier again on Saturday night-would make for a great game, further strengthen a budding rivalry with Xavier, and I also think we beat them the third time.

Then it's full steam ahead into the NCAAs.

So let the Doug Gottlieb's of the world talk smack. Let Dana continue to write more of her bland "They haven't gotten it done in March" articles. Let people say our team sucks, that we don't have any NBA players, that we rely on the three too much, that we don't have enough of a frontcourt, that we weren't really #1. Let them bash the Big East. Let them say Jay wears cheap suits. I want this team to have a major chip on their shoulder. I want this team pissed off.

It's time to sit back, soak up all the hate, turn around and shove it up everyone's ass starting with Marquette on Saturday afternoon!

Let's Go Cats!!!

The sky is not falling

We are a very good team! We lost to a very good team in a tough environment . I think if we play X 10 times in a nuetral court,we go 5 and 5. They are 1/2 seed good as are we. They have some better athletes and may be deeper but we are tougher, generally play better defense and are more versatile.

I said this yesterday. Games like last night are great for college hoops and enjoying the ride. #1 has been fun. But for us, it all comes down to March. !!!! That is it. We all know this and I am actually dreading the stress we are going to feel the day of that 2nd round game but we have to deal.

So with regards to March.... Do we truly have a strong chance to get out of round 2? Yes. Against a round 2 caliber team, we will win 7 out of 10. Biggest issue i see is if we get down and Ochefu is ineffective or in foul trouble, we start hoisting 3s. We really have to try to stay disciplined in our offensive game plan and defend. But if we play like we normally do and keep our poise, 2nd round really should not be an issue from a basketball standpoint.

To be honest, sweet 16 and beyond ie presumably the top 16 teams in the country, I think it's a coin flip on any matchup. Ultimately it will come down to specific matchups. Athletic guards and formidable front courts are going to Present challenges But still with any team in a nuetral court, I think we have the ability to win. We got our bunnies last night, and is tied through most of the game versus a 10 pt lead. We got caught in the moment a bit, made mistakes as we did versus Nc state and the key ultimately will be to minimize those. We certainly can do that!

Anyway enjoy the next 2 weeks of pre stress. It's all going to change come selection Sunday.

girl behind the announcers

With all the doom and gloom (and I am in the dumps about that loss too) , did anyone see the girl right behind the announcers? Wow. I didn't hear a word the announcers said. lol. All the older guys around her were pointing to her to tell her she was on TV. was weird. Just needed some comic relief after reading all the posts about the loss
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