Game Recap: Temple

I respect Temple. They are the only A10 team we have a losing record against (8-10) since joining the conference. The atmosphere was the best I have seen in Cintas Center this year tonight. You could feel the energy. Also Dave Parker aka 'The Cobra' sat right behind me in section 207. I so badly wanted to tell him about the first Reds game I attended circa 1985. He hit a home run two rows behind us in the green seats in the first inning off of Mike Bielicki. One of my personal favorite moments in all the sporting events I have attended. But alas I wanted to leave him and his wife alone. They were there to watch CJ play.

Back to the game: BJ Raymond has scored 20 points + in our last four games. Has there been a better two guard in college basketball recently? He was 5-7 from three point land and scored in a variety of ways. He cashed in on a wonderful opportunity tonight in front of 22+ NBA scouts. He also guarded Dionte Christmas most of the night and we held him down fairly good as he ended up with 12 hard earned points. Brad Redford rediscovered his shooting touch going 4-7 from behind the line. His teammates were looking for him more tonight. Also DBrown had a solid overall game. Thirteen points and 8 boards. 'Big Lovely' was a perfect 6-6 from the field to contribute to a 83-74 victory. Jamel McLean needs mention as he scored five and recorded 6 rebounds in 10 minutes. Four of his six rebounds were of the elbows above the rim variety. X has a real chance to move up further in the rankings considering Wake Forest's recent struggles. However we have work to do in Pittsburgh Saturday night. My boy Dustin Dow stated recently that the Dukes wanted to play this game early in the afternoon. I bet they did. A real challenge as they have one of the most underrated players in all of college basketball in Aaron Jackson aka 'AJAX'.

This X team has reached 20 victories faster than any team in history of Xavier basketball. It is too bad the clowns on local sports talk radio aren't giving it as much play as they should. BUT who really cares. We know where to get our fix for X basketball. And it ain't 1530 homer. Maybe the producers will finally realize we want to talk sports and not worry about how we feel about television shows, just a thought.

Fran Dunphy (Temple head coach) mentioned earlier this week that Xavier is 'a team on a mission' and I am starting to feel the same way. The goal is a national championship my friends. How about those Muskies!