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Xavier Pre-Game Thread


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Line is currently sitting at -3/-3.5

ESPN gives us a 50.8% chance to win, those are by no means the gospel, especially early in the year, but that can work both ways. ESPN also gave the Raiders an 85% chance to win this past weekend, we saw that was never the case. 

 

Edited by btownqb
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I'm excited for game day! Finally a measuring stick game. 

If we lose, the argument will be is this team overhyped or just an off game against a hot team? 

A narrow victory doesn't move the needle-it is expected. 

I hope we can make a statement. Control the game from start to finish and get a double digit road win. Justify our expectations. 

I'll be looking for a fast start. Starters didn't jump on our early opponents, hope they come ready to play and we don't have to rely on the bench for a spark. 

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33 minutes ago, btownqb said:

Line is currently sitting at -3/-3.5

ESPN gives us a 50.8% chance to win, those are by no means the gospel, especially early in the year, but that can work both ways. ESPN also gave the Raiders an 85% chance to win this past weekend, we saw that was never the case. 

 

Massey gives us a 46% chance of winning.

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On 11/12/2022 at 12:40 PM, Euroclydon said:

First road game in a hostile environment. First dose of not getting calls and dealing with a tough crowd. Will be a good test especially for the freshmen.

Interested to see how the rotation works and whether the bench gets shorter. Also watching to see if IU can set the tempo. Guessing the Muskateers want a slower more deliberate tempo than IU prefers.

I know a loss would lead some to abandon ship early. I'm trying to take a more patient approach to these non conf games. Want to see continual improvement before the conf games start.

This reads like a guy used to losing.

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11 minutes ago, southsidehoosier said:

Didn’t realize how early this game is. 6 pm? I’ll have to stay off the forums and social media until I get the kids to bed.

With Thanksgiving break  starting will students be present tonight?

Idk if the XU students will show out tonight, I assume they will. And yeah, the start time is a little awkward. 

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Xavier is tough with size and experience. Miller is a good coach. It will be a tough game. I would be surprised if it wasn’t a 1-2 possession game in the last 5 mins. Gun to my head I think we win because we have more talent and we’re deeper, but can never negate a home court advantage and a pumped up team. We do the same stuff when better teams come to Bloomington, as someone said earlier. I’m nervous-excited for the game as I think it will be a good test for us.

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I think we have to defend well on the perimeter...They can shoot the 3

And make at least 35% from 3

I think our front court depth will be the big difference...

And this is going to be an initial indication of Coach Woodson and how well he has this particular bunch prepared to play on the road...Last year against Syracuse, we stunk it up early, but were at least able to fight back into it...

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11 minutes ago, IUFLA said:

I think we have to defend well on the perimeter...They can shoot the 3

And make at least 35% from 3

I think our front court depth will be the big difference...

And this is going to be an initial indication of Coach Woodson and how well he has this particular bunch prepared to play on the road...Last year against Syracuse, we stunk it up early, but were at least able to fight back into it...

We'd have won the Syracuse game with anything resembling a fair whistle. 

Obviously hitting a decent clip from three is always nice, I don't think it's a must have to win. Although the matchups down low look good on paper, I'm not sure they can really much up to us athletically and physically down low. If they can't stop us from scoring down low, the three becomes irrelevant right?

On a personal note, I'm having travel delays getting home which means instead of landing in Indy at 6 PM I now have a layover from 5:30 - 8:30 at DCA, so I should at least be able to watch the game instead of missing the first half while I drive home. 

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6 minutes ago, KoB2011 said:

 

We'd have won the Syracuse game with anything resembling a fair whistle. 

Obviously hitting a decent clip from three is always nice, I don't think it's a must have to win. Although the matchups down low look good on paper, I'm not sure they can really much up to us athletically and physically down low. If they can't stop us from scoring down low, the three becomes irrelevant right?

On a personal note, I'm having travel delays getting home which means instead of landing in Indy at 6 PM I now have a layover from 5:30 - 8:30 at DCA, so I should at least be able to watch the game instead of missing the first half while I drive home. 

Try the Bracket Room in Terminal A

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8 minutes ago, Reacher said:

What is your Key to the Game?

I'm going with rebounding. Xavier is 19th in the country. I think we need to control them on the boards and I think the rest will tale care of itself.

What's tough about Xavier is that they have a few different ways they can win. So far they've been a good rebounding team that's lived off getting easy 2s. But they also have a lot of guys that can hit 3s that they can beat you from behind the arc if you're too focused on rebounding/protecting the rim.

I think our biggest advantage is our depth, so I'd say we can exploit that advantage by playing fast and physical, making them work on every possession. Tire out their starters/get them in foul trouble and I think we can pull away late

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