Xavier Basketball: The Time is Now!

After a long, disaster of an off-season for the Xavier Men's Basketball Program, it is finally over. The After a long, disaster of an off-season for the Xavier Men's Basketball Program, it is finally over.  The Musketeers play their first game, albeit an exhibition game, versus Kentucky State on Saturday night.  This is their only exhibition game before opening the regular season a week later versus Fairleigh Dickinson.


The off-season was a tumultuous time for the Musketeers.  Losing all of their top scorers, Tu Holloway to graduation, Kenny Frease to graduation, Mark Lyons transferring to Arizona, and Dez Wells expulsion.  This left a gloom and doom outlook for the 2013 Musketeers basketball team.  Then when you thought it could not get worse, two of the three incoming recruits, Myles Davis and Jalen Reynolds were ruled ineligible by the NCAA.  I don't think anyone thought Xavier would ever hit a rock bottom so low.  In the end it left a small roster that everyone is questioning.


<b>Questions for this year's team:</b>

<b>Who will replace the scoring lost?</b>  Xavier lost around 75% of their scoring from 2011-2012.  They will look to returning players like Justin Martin, Travis Taylor, Jeff Robinson and Dee Davis to fill most of this void left.  Yet even if each of these players have developed into better scores and players, there will still need to be help.  That help comes in the form of Semaj Christon, the five star recruit that Musketeers fans rest their hope on.  He has been described as possibly becoming the best point guard in school history and he will need to develop quickly with the lack of depth at the guard position.  Early signs are good, with word that he was dominant in their scrimmage versus West Virginia last week.  Another new player that could also help make up for lost points is transfer PF, Isaiah Philmore.  If he can be a force inside, the Muskies may be better off than thought.


<b>Travis Taylor, Justin Martin, will they step up?</b> This may be the key to the Musketeers shocking the world and being better than anyone thought.  These two players have shown flashes of brilliance and many other moments of mediocrity.  If this year's Xavier team is going to exceed the expectations that have been put before them, they will need to be scoring threats and dependable leaders on the court.


<b>Will Xavier's short bench cost them? </b>
Depending on how the starting line-up shakes out, the Muskies should be alright inside.  They will have Philmore, Taylor and Robinson playing the bulk of the minutes, with freshman James Far getting minutes here and there when needed.

The depth issue is mostly focused on the guard position, where the Muskies have only one scholarship player off the bench.  Brad Redford will more than likely be coming off the bench to spell Christon and Davis.  Redford will be a huge factor in Xavier's success or failures this season.  Can he get his shot back to what it was two years ago?  Will his defense be good enough to keep him on the court or will it be a liability?


<b>Overall Outlook</b>
Later this week I will give you my prediction for 2012-2013 but after a tough off-season and a lot of questions surrounding this team as they enter the season, there are good things.  If things work out the best they can, this season will not be a lost season at all.  It will be an exciting year of competitive games and entertaining basketball.  The answer to how good Xavier will be lies within the players.  The talent is there for this team to compete night in and out with all the teams on their schedule.  It is a matter of what level of their potential this team realizes and puts forth on the court.

Xavier Basketball Update 10/18

Xavier Recruiting Update There is no good news in this update. First, Xavier's biggest prospect and most highly touted potential recruit, Roddy Peters committed to Maryland last week. While not shocking news on any account, it was a tough blow to Xavier. They recruited this top guard very hard and had a decent chance to land him, especially if the Harrison twins decided on Maryland over Kentucky. Instead the Harrison twins chose Kentucky and Maryland made Peters their top target. That leaves one lone top target at the guard position left at this point. Ron Patterson continues courting new schools but Xavier is in great shape to land this commitment at the moment. He took a visit to Providence after visiting Xavier and just cancelled a visit to SMU. I am hearing that Patterson really likes Xavier but those surrounding him would like him to check out other schools before making his decision. Now that he has looked and talked to other schools, his decision could come shortly. One caveat to his recruitment is that UCONN is not interested and talking with Patterson and Syracuse is also said to be entering his recruitment. This tells me that if Patterson commits in the coming weeks, it will be Xavier, but if he continues it on for a while and new teams begin entering the mix, Xavier will not be such a sure bet. Hopefully he will commit soon to the Muskies. At this point there is not much else known about Xavier's other targets. It seems they are expanding their search and hopefully soon we will get word on some new targets they are pursuing. They are pretty deep in the front-court but definitely need to bring in some gaurds in the 2013 class. Cantino Cleared to Practice Chris Cantino was cleared by the NCAA to practice with Musketeers. They are still awaiting the NCAA to decide his eligibility for games at this point. Isaiah Philmore to Sit out First Three Games PF transfer Isaiah Philmore will sit the first three games for the Musketeers after they found he did not file the proper paperwork before starting his career at Towson. Philmore figures to play a huge role with the Musketeers this season and he will be missed the first three games but luckily this is nothing more than a minor issue that the Musketeers self-reported. Musketeer Madness on Saturday Night Reminder that starting at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Musketeer Madness will kick off at the Cintas Center.

A-10 Media Day Preseason Poll

This morning marks the start of the A-10 Men's Basketball day. The coaches preseason poll was released first thing and they have selected Xavier to finish 9th out of 16 teams. That is just about where I would suspect them to be at this point. Here is the full preseason poll. 1). St. Joseph's 2). Saint Louis 3). VCU 4). Temple 5). UMASS 6). Butler 7). La Salle 8). Dayton 9). Xavier 10). Richmond 11). St. Bonaventure 12). Charlotte 13). George Washington 14). Fordham 15). Rhode Island 16). Duquesne

Former Xavier Players in the NBA

Xavier has had success over the years sending players to the NBA. Currently, there are two players are projected to be on an NBA teams roster this season. Most notably, arguably Xavier’s best player in school history, David West with the Indianapolis Pacers. West will be entering his 10th season in the NBA. David has been a mainstay in the starting lineup for the past 7 seasons. He played his first 8 seasons in the NBA with the New Orleans Hornets before signing with the Indianapolis Hornets before the 2011-2012 season. Last year he averaged 29 minutes and 12.8 points per game. This is a slight drop off from what he averaged in his tenure with the Hornets, but the Pacers were a very young and deep team last year. He was complimented inside with much better talent on the Pacers, in Roy Hibbert and Danny Granger. What is not shown on the stat sheet is the leader that David West is on and off the court. This leadership and experience is a huge factor for the young and upcoming Pacers squad that looks to take the next step and go deep into the playoffs this season. We all know, if they follow David West’s lead, they can take that next step. The other notable Xavier graduate in the NBA, Jordan Crawford. Entering his third season in the NBA, Crawford is looking to have a breakout season. He was a starter for much of last season, playing beside John Wall for the Wizards. This year it looks like he may be coming off the bench, playing behind Bradley Beal. Last season he averaged 27 minutes and nearly 15 points per game. His struggles have come from the three point line where is just shooting 30% and he is a non factor in assists or steals. Crawford will have to start shooting the ball better from outside and become a better passer and defender if he wants to be an everyday starter in the NBA. Another note, Tu Holloway’s dream of playing in the NBA looks like it may fall short this season. Holloway went undrafted in the recent rookie draft and was briefly signed by the Mavericks, until being released today. He will look to catch on with another team this preseason or at the least be signed to the D-League.

Musketeer Madness on October 20th

Xavier announced Musketeer Madness will be held on October 20th, starting at 4 p.m. on the plaza outside the Cintas Center. The events inside will begin at 6 p.m. Both the Men's and Women's Basketball teams will be featured in the free event to kick off the start of the Musketeer's basketball season!

Xavier Announces Full Schedule with Game Times and TV Information

Xavier announced their full schedule, including game times and tv information on Monday.  All games will be televised, except for the exhibition game.

Chris Thomas Decommits from Xavier

Xavier continues to get bad news.  This time it was their prized recruit for the 2013 class, Chris Thomas.  Thomas is a five star guard who is playing this year in Junior College at Chipola JC in Florida.  He was Xavier's only commitment for the class of 2013.  With him as their sole recruit, Xavier was still ranked in the top 25 in Scout.com's last team recruiting rankings for the 2013 class.

Now that he has re-opened his recruitment, it will be highly unlikely that Xavier would re-enter the equation. It seems Xavier may have to widen its net to secure a decent recruiting class this year, as many of their top targets have already turned down Xavier.  A few are still out there, as noted in the recruiting update last week but they will need to land atleast one of those players and then add some quality recruits, maybe not as highly touted.