Holloway Update

I just learned that Coach Miller has stated Terrell Holloway will be worked back into practice starting Monday. To me that means he will most likely sit out the Ohio game and get some minutes against the 'Cats on Saturday. As an X fan that can only be taken as good news. Tutu was really coming into his own during the PR tournament and UC will most likely press the hell out of us next Saturday night. Will be a terrific challenge for our young guys to go in an environment like that for the first time. We are getting ready to enter a tough stretch on the non conference schedule: Ohio, at UC, Butler, and then Duke in New Jersey on a 'neutral floor'. I feel like Holloway is talented enough to eventually claim a spot in the starting lineup this year and hold onto it his entire time at Xavier.

Auburn Recap

It is nice being 7-0 and seeing coach Miller pick up his 100th victory but it was easy to tell after the game he wasn't happy with particular guys and their effort on defense. To be up by 22 with close to 12 minutes to go and end up as close as we did indicates we had some 'coasting' going on by certain guys. Big accolades to BJ Raymond who scored a career high 32 and broke out of his shooting slump with a 7-9 effort from three land and 10-13 overall. Obviously he loves playing against the Auburn Tigers as he broke his own record for three's in a game of 6 which he registerd against the orange and blue last season. He is stepping up and being a leader as witnessed by some of his post game comments as well. We still struggle with turnovers and inconsistent free throw shooting which is going to cost us sooner rather than later if it is not fixed. Tutu needs to get healthy and some of that will be alleviated but still I feel we will see full court pressure from the majority of our opponents in some degree. Frease played a strong game overall (it is nice to have a sequoia down on the defensive end), Dante' shot the ball well (at the end of the game he wasn't bringing the ball up the floor 'nuff said), and again it was nice to see coach Miller extend his career record to 100-39.

Also last night the Cintas Center had probably one of the coolest gameday give aways that I have seen since the place opened. They issued a deck of playing cards that featured all of our 1000 point scorers, a few coaches, a few home courts, and a couple of mascots. Pretty sweet actually and my favorite card is the king of spades.

Leaving Las Vegas

Sorry I'm so late on this one folks. Family Stuff to attend to but here we go.

Well, with no TV and no ability to get to a radio I can only go by the numbers and game summaries. 

On Saturday The Cats lost to Florida St. in a low scoring affair that was actually easy to figure out looking only @ the numbers. UC shot horribly for the 1st time this year with only 33.3% from the field and an abysmal 15.8% from beyond the arc. The Bench scoring disappeared and the cats were out rebounded for the 1st time this year. Without seeing the game myself I can t say much else other than I hope this was just a blip on the radar and not something more. 

On Sunday things were back on track as UC beat UNLV to continue dominating the series 5-0. UC once again held their opponent under 40% shooting from the field and got back their own shooting touch making 10 3's in the game. The rebounding advantage belonged to the Cats and contributions  were made up and down the bench. The game was closer than I would like but a win is a win. Almost forgot.Biggie got his first start of the season. If he continues to play well it could be the first of many. 

Official - No Crawford This Season

ESPN is reporting that Jordan Crawford will not be eligible to play this season for X. Can't say that I am surprised but I remain amazed that the NCAA takes this long to make these decisions. Sure the appeal needed to be reviewed but come on. Any way we now know for sure we will have to wait one season to see Jordan and his talents on the floor. Adding him and 'Cheeks' next year after they have had a season to learn the system should just be that much better for X. Of course they will have some game 'rust' but in the end we pick up two great backcourt pieces.
This still sucks for Jordan but in the end it should make him better academically as well as on the floor.

X In 2009 Old Spice Tournament

Gary Parrish reported on his blog on CBS Sportsline that X will be in the Old Spice tourney next year. The other teams included thus far:

Alabama
Baylor
Creighton
Iona
Marquette
Michigan

And there is one opening left with a strong rumor that it will be North Carolina. That would be great to get the Tar Heels on a neutral floor.

Where have you been Dave? I anxiously await your musings on the Las Vegas tournament. I heard UC lost to Florida State and squeaked by 'mid major' UNLV but since it was not televised I obviously didn't get a chance to make my own judgments. ;)