(3) BE Games-Wed- 2/7/18

[cu blujs]

Xavier Nation thanks you, St. John's. The Big East championship just got a lot more interesting and will probably be decided by Nova@X next week.

Yes, this! X needs to focus on Nova. Never mind little ol' Creighton on Saturday. Hell, we almost lost at DePaul. We wont' put up so much as a whimper against mighty X. Work on your Nova game plan this week. After all, that game next week is for the league crown.

[NJRedman]

Imagine if st John's played this inspired every game...

They do, they have just been short handed. No Lovett and a banged up Ponds, now Ponds is healthy again.

[NJRedman]

1. Redman, I'm THRILLED with this win! It's hard to even know how to react as a SJ fan when you aren't used to winning games against top 5 opponents. Like I said, great for recruiting and it gives the fanbase something to chew on in a disappointing year. Thinking logically though with emotions aside, we are 1-11 and had not beaten Nova since 2011. So it could be the law of averages. I hope that's not all it was and Mullin definitely deserves credit for the fighting never say never attitude and effort from the team. That being said, the broader picture is 1-11. We dug ourselves in such a deep hole that even a win like that can be dampened a bit. If we were .500 in conference we'd be in the top 15. If Mullin's as good as you're implying (and believe me I hope he is) then next year we should sleep walk into the tournament and maybe even be ranked. Tons of experience, chemistry already there, and now tons of size and depth to add coming in. Next year will be very telling either way. I still think we need an experienced assistant for next year.

2. X is of course great on its own, but it's weird how much we've helped them out directly recently haha...beating Duke opened up the 1 seed for X and now beating Nova we made it a tighter race in conference for them. I think our top 5 wins are important to show that we aren't just Villanova...we have several teams who can hang with anyone.

This F'in guy. Jesus Christ. The team was without Lovett and a banged up Ponds. Ponds isn't banged up anymore and back to the Ponds we all know and love. Before the season started if someone said we would lose those two no one would predict us to have a much better conference record than we have now. Thats the reality even if you don't want to recognize it.

[American X]

Is this a sign of the End of Days? Congratulations, Redmen.

St. John's is obviously the best team in the country and Xavier beat the best team in the country twice!

[Red Rooster]

1. Redman, I'm THRILLED with this win! It's hard to even know how to react as a SJ fan when you aren't used to winning games against top 5 opponents. Like I said, great for recruiting and it gives the fanbase something to chew on in a disappointing year. Thinking logically though with emotions aside, we are 1-11 and had not beaten Nova since 2011. So it could be the law of averages. I hope that's not all it was and Mullin definitely deserves credit for the fighting never say never attitude and effort from the team. That being said, the broader picture is 1-11. We dug ourselves in such a deep hole that even a win like that can be dampened a bit. If we were .500 in conference we'd be in the top 15. If Mullin's as good as you're implying (and believe me I hope he is) then next year we should sleep walk into the tournament and maybe even be ranked. Tons of experience, chemistry already there, and now tons of size and depth to add coming in. Next year will be very telling either way. I still think we need an experienced assistant for next year.

2. X is of course great on its own, but it's weird how much we've helped them out directly recently haha...beating Duke opened up the 1 seed for X and now beating Nova we made it a tighter race in conference for them. I think our top 5 wins are important to show that we aren't just Villanova...we have several teams who can hang with anyone.

That's NOT the law of averages. It's gambler's fallacy based on the way you're using the meaning of law of averages.

[Wizard of Westroads]

Sweet Jesus, how do you pick the first-team guards on this year's all BE team? Ponds, Brunson, Martin, Foster, Bluiett, Howard. Who gets left out? (Unless the first team is all guards.)

And guys like Rodriguez, Thomas, Cartwright, Macura, Rowsey, Powell don't even get a whiff of the first team. And I'm probably missing 3 or 4 more.

[Novachap]

Congrats St. Johns... well deserved won!

[MullinMayhem]

Redman, it's possible to be absolutely thrilled about the last two wins but also realize that the massive hole we dug ourselves is almost impossible to overcome at this point even with two top 4 wins. I mean that in terms of making the NCAA's. We are 12-13 (1-11) and we have 6 more conference games left in reg. season. If we won all 6 games left and also won another game or 2 in the BET, we would be in consideration for one of the last spots in the tourney...MAYBE. But it's so hard to win that many consecutive games. The more realistic hope at this point is to at least split the rest of the way, go 15-16 (4-14) to possibly make the NIT. With what happened this year i.e. LoVett gone, Ponds injury, Yakwe injury, etc. I'd accept the NIT as respectable at this point. But outside of making perhaps the most miraculous run ever in any conference tourney en route to a BET Championship or winning every game left as well as 1 or 2 in the BET, we are not making the tourney.

Next year is absolutely huge. Mullin has looked both clueless and brilliant at times. Which will it be next year? We know he can motivate the guys...that much is clear. We know he's a fierce competitor. But we still don't really know if he can coach players up and develop them/blend talent. If Mullin is at least an average coach and next year the basketball gods allow us for some good health, we 100% will be in the NCAA tourney at minimum. I think next year will be a better team talent wise than our 2014 team that was in the top 15 early in the season. Maybe the most talented version I've seen as a fan so far. Brooks will give us that big man who can score down low when we aren't making jumpers...we never have that. Next year is year 4 of Mullin with an absolutely loaded roster and a possible NPOY candidate in Ponds. He's Trae Young without the hype of ESPN. Same ballpark. The excuses are gone next year. Do or die.

Fans should be optimistic but cautiously so. We are still 1-11 in conference play and we don't know if these games were aberrations or maybe Mullin and the team finally get it. Next year will tell us. All you can say for sure is that our defense has improved and our effort has improved under him. Effort won't matter next year, wins will.

[ThrowDownDBrown]

Do you expect Ponds to come back next year?

[Red Rooster]

Fans should be optimistic but cautiously so. We are still 1-11 in conference play and we don't know if these games were aberrations or maybe Mullin and the team finally get it. Next year will tell us. All you can say for sure is that our defense has improved and our effort has improved under him. Effort won't matter next year, wins will.

I can actually agree with this above.