Xavier vs Nova

[DudeAnon]

I'm not sure what to think about this game. For whatever reason, I would even be concerned about DudeAnon's Dayton Flyers coming to the Cintas Center if they were wearing Nova uniforms.

Oh well, Nova is down a man, I vote for the X-Men!

[gtmoBlue]

Let's see. Vote for X? Nah can't bring myself to do it. Vote for Nova? Hell nah! Definitely can't do that.
Oh the quandary, the anxiety... wait 1!

I choose the lesser of 2 evils in this case.
Going with X...the devil we don't know.

[DeePhence]

I guess letdown isn't the word to use. I think Nova's better than both of those teams and would win most times they play. But they didn't. I think they're better than their remaining 5 opponents, but I think they'll lose one of those and it won't be X. Just an opinion.

[/quote]

Yes, winning most times, as you say, means you’ll lose some times. Providence had home court advantage, which made conditions right for them. St John’s only lost by 7 the first time around and Ponds went off for 43. Clearly they were capable of pulling off an upset, and the Duke win was a sigh that they were now on their game.

What I find interesting is that if these wins are seen more as about what PC and SJU did right than about what Nova did wrong, then it will be fun to see how Jay will make adjustments to what those teams did - especially if Nova should meet up against either of these teams again either in the BE or NCAA tournaments. The first obvious adjustment is to get people healthy. Paschall is back and Booth will apparently be back in another week or two.[/quote]

It seems there are two ways to beat Villanova that we've seen so far this season.

Outscore them. The Butler Way. (ahem). Have one of those games where everything goes right on offense. Every shot is open and goes in. Teams have 8-10-12 minutes stretches like that. Butler had a 40m stretch. It was so much fun to watch. St. John's went up and down on them and Ponds was unreal. Also great fun to watch.

Stop them. That's what PC did. It was probably the best defensive single game defensive performance I have seen a PC team play, or in the top 5 performances, and I can remember PC before there ever was a big east. We were very physical as well, and I don't think Nova took it well.

On offense, you have to be willing to risk turnovers. They over play everything. Which means you can get some good sneaky cuts and make some precise passes, you can get to the goal. Shot FTs well, cause they'll rotate down late and foul you, We're hardly a great FT shooting team, but wednesday, outside of Cartwright at the end who was gassed as hell, we shot like 85%.

The risk with Villanova has always been their depth. Their players are great, and when they're all healthy, I think they're the best team in the country. But they don't have enough to weather an injury like Boothe's

[DanofXav76]

Looks like VegA$ has Nova as a 1 point favorite at the moment. X a home Dog. Woof

[Bill Marsh]

Looks like VegA$ has Nova as a 1 point favorite at the moment. X a home Dog. Woof

Basically a tossup.

[XtoDC]

It is really hard to vote for Xavier. Villanova has owned this series the last 5 years. Xavier has won once against Villanova? If the round robin schedule has shown us anything, it is that Jay Wright knows how to prep for familiar opponents. When they lose it isn't because of the game plan or focus, it is usually because of a phenomenal performance by the opponent. Right now do the injuries lower that standard though?

[Bill Marsh]

It is really hard to vote for Xavier. Villanova has owned this series the last 5 years. Xavier has won once against Villanova? If the round robin schedule has shown us anything, it is that Jay Wright knows how to prep for familiar opponents. When they lose it isn't because of the game plan or focus, it is usually because of a phenomenal performance by the opponent. Right now do the injuries lower that standard though?

X really hasn’t played at this high a level in the past 5 years. I think that post play is one of the keys in this game. I really like what X does down low with its bigs. O’Mara, for example, has really been coming into his own. X rotates about 3different men through this position. If they can get Spellman in foul trouble, Villanova could really have problems unless they shoot lights out like they did in the last game. That kind of shooting is less likely on the road. We’ll see.

[kayako]

X really hasn’t played at this high a level in the past 5 years. I think that post play is one of the keys in this game. I really like what X does down low with its bigs. O’Mara, for example, has really been coming into his own. X rotates about 3different men through this position. If they can get Spellman in foul trouble, Villanova could really have problems unless they shoot lights out like they did in the last game. That kind of shooting is less likely on the road. We’ll see.

You've been pretty down on Nova this season

I agree, though. The past 4 seasons has no bearing on the outcome of this game. This is the best X team ever since joining the BE. Nova's playing for the #1 seed, and of course the BE reg season pride, so no excuses from our end if we lose.

[gtmoBlue]

bluenotes: Big East Showdown...

https://bluenotes2.com/2018/02/17/stacc ... -showdown/


Good luck to the Dude and X fans. Good luck to Gumby, Chesty, Nova, Westy, and company.

I don't have a dog in this fight, so may the best team win.

[kmacker69]

This game is intense! Hope we get to see everyone's best shot. So far not a let down.