Brown Talks About Derrick

I'm glad to hear Derrick have a positive outlook on his draft position and his draft destination. He was with family and friends in Dayton when our buddies at WDTN-TV caught up with the man out of Xavier and Chaminade-Julienne High School. A big thanks to Jack Pohl and Neil "Hutch" Konerman.

Fields Dream Is Nightmare For X

Tell me Levance Fields was awake when he hit that big 3 for Pitt. If I'm Pitt coach Jamie Dixon and I see Fields jacking that long 3 with 52 seconds left, I'm throwing up. But Dixon wasn't throwing up, because he had seen it before. His trusty senior point guard once again comes up with an improbable play to steal a win from another stunned opponent. Fields connected to give Pitt the lead, and the Panthers took it to the wire, winning 60-55. Fields was 1-4 from 3-point range before the fateful shot and had struggled with most aspects of his game. But every player was struggling in this one. And Fields has made big plays for Pitt time after time, and this time was in the final minute of a close game against Xavier. He made another big play 20 seconds later with a steal and a layup.

Sean Miller will be lying awake all night after this one. If the Musketeers had not booted several bunnies, they would be heading to the Elite Eight for the second year in a row. Xavier played a terrific first half, but not scoring the first 6-plus minutes of the second half caught up to X. Give Pitt credit. The Panthers smartly got big DeJuan Blair involved in the offensive game plan early in the second half. Blair seemed to spring to life, finishing with 17 rebounds, 8 on the offensive end. But Xavier has to feel like this one got away.


Note to acknowledge the betting public- The line on this game was Pitt-6, or -7. Pitt won by 5. Pitt bettors have to be steamed that Xavier scored one of its buckets after the shot clock expired. Oops.

You should have seen him then.

Xavier players have been reminded plenty of times this week about the collegiate career of their head coach, Sean Miller. Miller has an outstanding career playing for Thursday night's opponent, the Pitt Panthers. He left the school as the Panther's all-time assists leader and scored over 12-hundred points. It's something he doesn't take about a lot with his players, unless he needs to prove a point to the players running the point. C.J. Anderson talked about that earlier in the week.



Here's a link about Sean in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/s_617476.html

Sean Miller (1987-92) 6-1, Guard, Beaver Falls, PA

Named the 1987-88 Big East Freshman of the Year Named Big East Rookie of the Week four times in 1987-88 Ranks tied for 16th on Pitt's all-time career scoring list (1,282 points) Selected to the Big East All-Rookie Team in 1987-88 Ranks 10th all-time among NCAA Division I career free throw percentage leaders (.885) Led the Big East two times in season free throw percentage (1990-91 and 1991-92) Earned a Gold Medal on the United States' 1991 World University Games team in 1991 Currently serves as head basketball coach at Xavier University

Year GP FG FGA Pct FG FGA Pct FT FTA Pct Ast Blk Stl Pts Avg 87-88 31 86 186 .462 58 133 .436 57 67 .851 180 0 31 287 9.3 88-89 30 80 199 .402 56 143 .392 74 81 .914 181 1 27 290 9.7 90-91 33 100 225 .444 68 156 .436 76 84 .905 159 2 17 344 10.4 91-92 34 97 235 .413 57 142 .401 110 126 .873 224 4 27 361 10.6 TOTAL 128 363 845 .430 239 574 .416 317 358 .885 744 7 102 1282 10.0

Courtesy:University of Pittsburgh/PittsburghPanthers.cstv.com

The Old Cliche: Guard Play is Big in March

You know the drill, a lot cliches become cliches because they are true. In the first two games of the tournament Xavier's guards have done a good job running the show from the point. Dante Jackson and Terrell Holloway combined for an assist to turnover ratio of just under 2 to 1,, which is better than their regular season average. Factor in their pressure defense and so far, so good for Dante and Terrell.


Fields has been off the charts for Pitt this season. His assist to turnover ratio is a little under four. Anything above 2 to 1 is considered good, 3 to 1 is superb, so you get the picture as far as Pitt's senior point man is concerned.

Dante says Pitt is tough, but so is X.

You know the story. The Big East has big players, strong players, bruising players, and yes, tough players. After all, it was the Big East that turned basketball into basketbrawl. Muscle became more standard equipment than jump shots. The Georgetown Hoyas with Michael Graham ready to bash his bald head into anything that got in the way of a victory. Jerome Lane ripping rims from backboards. They put the Big in the Big East. Certainly Pitt's DeJuan Blair does that now. But any long time observer (at my age I qualify) has noticed the transformation of the Xavier program. Muscle is in at Xavier these days, just check out B.J. Raymond. He's huge, almost to the point of needing tethered like a balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Jason Love has muscled up in his days at X, and C.J. Anderson is rough and ready near the bucket. Dante Jackson is ready for a war in Boston against Pitt, and I think he's right.

A physical struggle indeed. Look at the match ups in the Sweet 16. There are some good ones. But there is not one match on the board that will involve more ice bags, ace bandages, and perhaps stitches than the Xavier-Pittsburgh match up. Have fun fellas. Glad I'm watching this scrum.

Xavier vs Pitt should be another grinder.

Sean Miller offers further proof that a coach knows his team better than he knows himself. The way Xavier played Wisconsin Sunday is the exact blueprint Miller laid out. It worked darn near to perfection. But what will the blueprint be against Pitt? Like Wisconsin, Pitt loves the grind it out, defensive type of affair. The rub is this: Pitt has an offense, and a very good one, averaging 78 points per game. Does Wisconsin even have an offense? In a word, no. Also, Pitt rebounds the ball on both ends of the floor. The Panthers are just a shade behind Michigan State for tops in rebounding margin. Xavier is right there, ranked 5th heading into the tournament. From a style and statistical standpoint, I see these teams as very similar. Except for DeJuan Blair. The 6'7", 265 lb. Sherman tank had 27 points and 16 rebounds in the win over Oklahoma State Sunday. Heck, he averaged about 16 ppg and 12 rpg during the season. But Pitt has no one behind him if he gets in foul trouble. Xavier has two big men (Love and Frease) to run at Blair. That's 9-10 fouls to get 5 on Blair. I look for Xavier to go at him early and see what happens.

Other notes of interest: Pitt has never made it past the sweet 16 since the field expanded to 64 teams.
The Panthers made it to the Elite Eight in 1974, but the field was 32 teams and it took just 2 wins to make it. Two wins is the best Pitt has ever managed in an NCAA tournament. The Panther did go to the Final Four in 1941, but the NCAA tournament consisted of just 8 teams. Pitt's lone win in that tournament put the Panthers in the Final Four where they lost to eventual 1941 champ Wisconsin, 36-30.
Sean Miller shares the Pitt record for most minutes played in an NCAA tournament game, playing all 45 in an overtime game against Vandy in 1988. Sean is second in career tournament assists, and second on Pitt's all-time assists list. Sean is second only to current Pitt point guard Levance Fields in assists to turnover ratio.
Sean doing his thing at Pitt:

Let The Madness and Juicy Upsets Begin!

Tonight in Dayton is the play-in game between Alabama State and Morehead State. It's good to see Morehead get in the show, since a lot of my buds form Georgetown went to school there. Other alums from Morehead include Phil Simms and Wayne "Box" Miller. The winner of this game earns the right to get bludgeoned by Louisville Friday night. But some of the lesser seeds have a chance to advance. 11th seeded Utah State in the west takes on Marquette. Marquette lost 5 of its last 6 games and is playing without Dominic James. Utah St. won 30 games this season. That game is already on my upset alert. Also on the radar, 12th seeded Western Kentucky over 5th seeded and offensively challenged Illinois. Arizona is a 12 seed and will meet 5th seeded Utah. Arizona(19-13) sneaks into the field with an ugly overall record. The Wildcats lost 5 of their last 6, but 4 of those were on the road. And this team has talent, so watch out. Xavier's B.J. Raymond knows all about the pitfalls and upsets associated with the NCAA.



Xavier has the best seeding in the 4-team pod, but they still get shipped out to Boise instead of a trip up I-75 to U.D. Arena. But like Sean Miller says, the only thing that matters is that they are in.

Here's a link to the USA Today scouting report on Xavier's opponent, Portland State.
http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=app&sParam=33640860.story

Xavier in NCAA Tournament with 4 Seed

Xavier University will meet Portland State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The game will be played on Friday in Boise, Idaho. The game will tip off 7:25 p.m. Eastern, so the Musketeers get a little prime-time love. The fourth seeded Musketeers and thirteenth seeded Portland State are part of the East Region of the brackets.
Xavier (25-7) is making its fourth consecutive NCAA appearance. Last year the Musketeers were one win away from making it to the Final Four. They lost in the Elite Eight to U.C.L.A. This is Xavier's 20th NCAA bid, the 10th time the Musketeers have been included as an at-large bid.
Should Xavier win its' first round game, the Musketeers would play the winner of the Florida State-Wisconsin game.
Louisville claimed the overall number one seed. The Cardinals will play Friday in Dayton against the winner of the play-in game, Morehead State and Alabama State. Ohio State will also play Friday in Dayton. The Buckeyes claimed an 8 seed and will play Sienna. This sets up a potential match up of Louisville and Ohio State in round two.
The University of Dayton made the field as an at-large team. The 11th seeded Flyers will meet the 6th seeded West Virginia Mountaineers Friday in Minneapolis.

Christmas plays Grinch, steals tourney from "X"

Temple's Dionte Christmas made every big shot his team needed down the stretch. The Owls upset top seeded Xavier 55-53 in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament in Atlantic City.
Christmas scored 10 of his game high 20 in the final 6:16 of the game, including two late 3-pointers and a free throw with 7 seconds left to give temple a 4 point lead and put the game out of reach.
Xavier went through a 5 minute stretch late in the game without scoring. Derrick Brown's jumper gave the Musketeers a 3 point lead with 7:24 to play. By the time the Muskies scored again, Temple had built a 4 point lead.
The win keeps Temple perfect against the Musketeers in A-10 tournament play. Temple has won all 5 tournament meetings. Xavier (25-7) will now enter the NCAA tournament with an at-large berth instead of the automatic bid that comes from winning the A-10 tournament. Temple (21-11) moves on to play in tomorrow evening's championship game.

That's the nuts and bolts of Xavier's evening. Now what happens to the Musketeers when it comes to an NCAA seeding? The overall record is impressive, but in the final 10 games of the season "X" finished with a (5-5) record. Will this keep Xavier from grabbing a 4 seed? The difference between a 4 and a 5 is big for the fans because of the location of the pods. With a 4 Xavier would have the best seed in its pod and perhaps a chance to go to Dayton. Before Friday's loss the experts had Xavier with a 4 seed but heading out to Boise. They had top seeds Louisville and Michigan State hogging the comforts of U.D. Arena. With a 5, Xavier is totally at the mercy of the 4th seed in its bracket. That could be anywhere.

Sean Gone Wild!

Okay, he didn't rip his shirt off or whatever else they do in those degrading DVDs I would never watch, but Xavier coach Sean Miller had some biting words for the Atlantic10 schedule gurus. Here's the situation: Xavier played Dayton at home 9 p.m. Thursday night. Then travelled to Richmond Friday for a Saturday evening game. Richmond had a game earlier in the week, at Charlotte on Tuesday. So the Spiders we home lying-in-wait from Wednesday night until game-time Saturday. Sean takes it from there...

I'm sure the Atlantic 10 will say coaches get paid a lot of money, and those Thursday night games generate cash and in turn feeds the giant known as NCAA Division 1 basketball. But it is worth taking a look at ways to avoid the turnarounds.

On a lighter note, B.J. Raymond was named 1st team all-conference. Derick Brown made second team and C.J. Anderson is honorable mention.

Here's a link to the Atlantic 10 all-conference selections: http://atlantic10.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/030909aaa.html

Xavier's first conference tournament game will be Thursday at noon. The Muskies will play the winner of the St. Louis- La Salle game. I'll have more on Xavier's tournament time thoughts coming up in the next couple days.

Off the bench

The play Xavier received off the bench in the 17-point win over Dayton was scary good. 31 of the Musketeers 76 points came from the bench. Yet all of the starters had some special things as well. B.J. Raymond going over the 1,000 point mark and being a part of his 100th career win, a record at X. C.J. Anderson was just 1 of 9 from the field but had 7 rebounds and goes out a winner on senior night. Jason Love had career-high 5 blocks, Dante Jackson a career-high 8 rebounds, and Derrick Brown with a season-high 12 boards. Plus the defense was there, with Dayton shooting just under 36 per cent. Dayton is going to have to figure out another way to beat Xavier in Cincinnati besides throwing on new black uniforms. Maybe like getting a rebound every now and then. Xavier won that battle too, 49 to 35.

Xavier brought out the Three-peat signs to celebrate their clinching of at least a share of a third straight A-10 title. But don't you really want to win the thing outright? Xavier gets that chance Saturday night at Richmond. The Spiders have been using all 8 of their arms and legs to play some serious defense of late. They have won 4 of their last 5. But Xavier does not suffer from arachnophobia. (I do) X has squashed the Spiders the last 6 times they've met. Richmond is coming off a win at Charlotte Tuesday night, so that's not shabby. It was better than "not shabby" for coach Chris Mooney. He received a contract extension on Thursday. Mooney might get his own stimulus package if he beats Xavier, but I look for the Muskies to make it two solid road outings in a row, and a chance to celebrate an outright title.