Jan. 2, 2019 (3) Big East Games

[Xudash]

Congrats to the Pirates. I think we should have had that game after the nice second half lead.
But we are so sloppy and out of control sometimes (most of the time?) that we just can't sustain.
Wish I could blame the refs or something...but we just got out played in the last 5 minutes.

Yes. Congrats Hall.

X playing better overall, but prone to serious lapses. Lost a 10 point lead in bad fashion.

[Hall2012]

Congrats to the Pirates. I think we should have had that game after the nice second half lead.
But we are so sloppy and out of control sometimes (most of the time?) that we just can't sustain.
Wish I could blame the refs or something...but we just got out played in the last 5 minutes.

Yeah I thought we were in trouble when you guys hit those back to back threes to go up 10. Unfortunately for X, they seemed to lose their way pretty much right after. They played well most of the night and put themselves in a position to win, but couldn't close it out. X is only going to get better and they'll be a tough out all year.

[MullinMayhem]

Not trying to pile on, but Xavier literally turned the ball over what seemed like every possession at times and at best every other possession when I was watching in the 2nd half. Didn't look like anyone was able to handle the ball and when they tried going to the rim they didn't have any moves. They just went straight up with it and it was blocked many times. Still expect Seton Hall to come back down to earth...they are playing way above their means right now IMO. They get smacked around early but come on late. Going to get burned eventually. I'll give Willard credit for now, but top 3 will end up being Marquette, Nova, and St. John's.

[fellahmuskie]

We still managed to go up 10 midway through the second half and shredded Seton hall's defense for the first 30 minutes.

Xavier fans are hoping the team figures out how to play smart for 40 minutes, because we can still do a lot of damage.

Unfortunately, we haven't shown an ability to do so yet. This team could go 10-8 or 5-13. Hoping for the former.

[Hall2012]

Considering the coaches picked us 8th and the overwhelming majority of this board thought that was too high, I wouldn't be upset at all about finishing 4th. The call doesn't change that SHU and SJU were in an evenly matched, 1 possession game that could have gone either way, so these claims that SJU is far superior simply make you sound ignorant and ridiculous.

[Westbrook#36]

Yeah, I was dead wrong about the Hall this year, had them figured for 8th or so. Wasn't the biggest fan of Kevin Willard before, but he's changing my mind. He's crafted a hard nosed resilient team, everyone knows their role and they play together. At this point I'd be very surprised if they didn't finish top 4 in the BE and make the dance quite easily with a good solid seed.

[adoraz]

I wonder what the Vegas odds were for Hall to make the Tournament after they started 4-3.

Now they are 11-3 with Ws over UK, Maryland, Rutgers, Xavier, and St. John's.

Possibly the best turnaround in the country.

[Hall2012]

If this keeps up he may find himself with some new job offers at the end of the year. Hopefully he repays the loyalty Pat Lyons showed him a few years ago when the team was struggling and fans/media were calling for his head.

[SJUBBALL]

Willard seems to love seton hall, but you never know when $$$ comes calling. But I agree that if they keep this up he could get some serious looks by bigger programs after the season.

[Letsgonova]

This is where the Hall has to step up. We can't be a stepping stone league. I'm not saying they have to pay him like Jay Wright (who's up over $4.5M), but at least like Cooley? He'll get $3M from a SEC program, Hall should be able to get close to that for their flagship sport.