Muskies Midseason Report

17 games in and many more to go, the 2010-11 Xavier Musketeers have shown flashes of just about everything possible through the first 2+ months this season. Coming off a traditionally slow start, which featured 4 double digit losses during a 4-5 stretch, (not to mention some OT thrillers with perennial powers Wofford and IPFW) and of course the end of the nation's 2nd longest active home win streak, Xavier has bounced back in a big way with a very strong start to the A-10 schedule. And THANK GOD for the Atlantic 10. I see no reason to panic at all at this point as this Xavier team is in a great position to run the table in the A-10 for the 5th straight year and get a tourney bid. Last year's team was in the exact 12-5 position before it stumbled at Temple, the Muskies next opponent, and the victory over Dayton at home for the God knows how many times in a row should let Xavier Nation exude a collective sigh of relief. While watching the game with our long lost colleague Kevin Frey Wannabe last night, he commented that Chris Mack run teams are unlike anything Xavier basketball has ever seen. These guys enter attack mode and don't look back, and this is something that certainly bodes well as the remainder of the schedule features teams Xavier should be able to beat. So now, let's take a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly as the 2010-11 Xavier Musketeers season marches on.


The Good
Tu Holloway. Tu Holloway. Tu Holloway. Have I mentioned Tu Holloway? While recording the 1st triple-double in Xavier history since David West himself did so in 2002, Holloway is not messing around this year. Along with Nolan Smith, Tu is the only player in college basketball to average 20 points and 5 assists per game. Simply put, he runs the show. As was evidenced in the Crosstown Shootout, this team goes where Holloway goes. He tends to decide when he wants to score, exhibit A: last night's 22 point 2nd half performance. As Byron Larkin once said, "this young man has a phenomenal pair of onions on him." Although I don't recall Byron tossing out a "no homo" before or after the statement, regardless, Tu is a competitor, and I do not believe he is going to let this team achieve anything less than they're capable of as long as he's running the show. The front-court has also surprisingly been a strong point for the Muskies this year. Jason Love's departure left a major question mark as Kenny Frease would now be the big man on campus, and Jamel McLean's early season facial injury didn't help calm any nerves either. But both of these big fellas have had some big time games while establishing themselves as quite a duo amongst the trees. Bottom line, if this duo stays healthy, Xavier should have no problem dominating the post for the remainder of schedule and in to March.

The Bad
Xavier's bench features a single player, Jeff Robinson, who averages more than 1 point a game. Needless to say, depth is an issue for this squad. With only 8 active scholarship players, (no, Griffin McKenzie does not count) Xavier has to lean on their starters for 30+ minutes a game. Most notably, Holloway has logged an average of 38 minutes a game. It would be optimistic to say this won't catch up to these players sooner or later, but the bottom line is that if this team suffers even a minor injury to another contributing player, there will be some big time issues. Xavier fans can only hope the 6-8 Jordan Latham will not be getting stuffed by the rim come tourney time, and that walk-on Kevin Feeney won't have to match up with Nolan Smith one of these days. Also, there has been a disturbing trend as of late where senior guard and the supposed leader of this team Dante Jackson has neglected to record any statistic for prolonged periods of time. When he's not clanking threes off the SIDE of the backboard, he seems to be hypocritically coaching up his teammates to make plays while he continues mysteriously vanish in various spots on the court. I'm all for Tu dropping 25 a game, but it would be nice if Dante could, you know, actually help his team on occasion.

The Ugly? Mark Lyons jumpshot. Yeah, that's about it...although he continues to defy the laws of physics while shooting a respectable 35% from distance.


Looking Forward
It's the beauty of the Atlantic 10. Every year Xavier labors through a brutal non-conference schedule, only to be greeted by their mid-major friends of the A-10. There is nothing that tells me this team can't win a 5th straight regular season title. Xavier still has their fair share of tests remaining though, most immediately with pre-season favorite Temple. Expect the 'Tas to be rocking on Saturday, as a win over the Owls would indicate Xavier is once again the team to beat atop the Atlantic 10. Road tests against Richmond, Charlotte, Dayton, St. Louis, St. Joe's, and the always pesky Duquesne Dukes remain for the Muskies, not to mention a trip to Athens, GA to face the Georgia Bulldogs who have caught everybody by surprise with their 13-4 start, including a win over Calipari's UK Wildcats. To say the schedule is basic would be a lie, but to say Xavier hasn't run the tables with similar tests year after year would be equally as faulty. Overall, Xavier is already slotted in as a 12-seed in the latest bracketology, so as long as this team stays healthy and Tu Holloway continues to compete every night, expect Greg Gumble to announce the Musketeers from Xavier in the field of 68 (sorry, that sounds weird) on Selection Sunday.