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Nice matchup in Orlando for the Musketeers.

Thursday 3/16/2017
Xavier vs Maryland, 6:50pm.

Xavier had a nice BET, and they've righted the ship. For Maryland, I don't know much, except they have Trimble, start 3 freshmen, and I think Turgeon is a weak coach and his cheerleading on the sidelines drives me nuts.

I similarly know almost nothing about Maryland other than they have Melo Trimble and beat Georgetown. Supposedly they don't rebound so X should dominate that area of the game. X is pretty unpredictable nowadays, but I think we win this one. We have tasted enough losing in the past month to know how much it sucks. 65-60 X.

Really like Xavier in this one.

I think I saw that X is a 1 pt favorite in this one. Having the 11 seed as the favorite tells you what oddsmakers think of MD. X got about as good a draw as anyone could expect. I like them in this game. Limit Trimble's penetration and get your hands up in shooters and you guys can easily win this one.

I expect to see Bernard on Trimble. Good game for O'Mara, Gaston & Jones to tee off on the Terps if the backcourt can do a better job of feeding the box. I like our chances.
FYI, X plays Thursday at 6:50, not Wednesday.
XU-XHI

I don't say this very often, but rooting for you this game! Good luck.

I think Xavier just pounds them on the boards and kills them in the inside game. I think this is a great matchup for Xavier especially since Maryland took a big loss to injury too in their center position around the same time Sumner went out. Maryland is 124 in offensive rebounding and 292 in defensive rebounding opposed to Xavier being 26 in both. Obviously the major problem is going to be Melo Trimble. I think Xavier can get away with him scoring 20-25 points as long as he doesn't draw a lot of fouls which is what he's good at. The worse thing Xavier can do is let their Freshman shoots in Jackson and Huerter to start making shots early and building confidence or letting Cowan make some plays to free up Trimble. I don't think they have an answer for Trevon or JP. I honestly love this matchup for Xavier but I said that last year about Wisconsin. It is march and anything could happen but I think Xavier is given a great opportunity.

O'mara has been playing really well for you guys. Hope he keeps it up--- takes a lot of pressure off of Bluiett... good luck!

Novachap wrote:O'mara has been playing really well for you guys. Hope he keeps it up--- takes a lot of pressure off of Bluiett... good luck!

This can't be stated enough. His impact in the last 3 games has been huge. Last year he was Xavier's best back to the basket scorer and this year just feel off and was hard to watch. If he can keep it up and give Xavier a consistent inside presence like he has been it is a huge boost to Xavier. Before the BET I said I wouldn't care if he transferred...take it back 100% now. Last two players I said I wouldn't miss if they left was Dee Davis and James Farr before their senior years so I guess I'm a good jinx.

Tough yr. for X with the suspension and injuries but somehow Mack gets us back in the Dance. Took a while for the team to learn to play together again and get healthy but feel we are playing on "house money" and have nothing to lose. Orlando has been good to us the last couple of yrs. GO X!