Xavier blasts Dayton by 30
- Thread starter Kurt Warner
- Start date
There was a day off between the final round. So, they should have been rested.... Who knows. Could just be college basketball when two good teams come together and one doesn't show up. Kind of like Iowa vs Marquette. Marquette is a good team. Tons of talent. They haven't lost since, winning against #22 LSU and beating ASU. That's basketball.
This is hard to believe. We've been told that ND and Dayton were great basketball teams. Dayton was a bad matchup for Iowa because they were so much quicker than Iowa. Our guards couldn't contain their guards and they got a lot of easy buckets. Thankfully, Iowa was hitting from the outside or it would have been a Dayton blowout.
I think there is an incredible amount of parity in college basketball, especially in the top 150-200 teams, and this is only more evident early in the season. Lots of teams are losing games you wouldn't expect, or struggling with teams that historically shouldn't be able to play with them.
Xavier is a very good team, clearly the class of a tough tourney field. Dayton is also a good team, but they would have had a much harder time beating Iowa, if Mike had not sat so long.
Xavier is very good. They are a very balanced. They were the only team in this tourny that could say they have a top 25 froncourt and backcourt IMHO.
That said I think Iowa and Notre Dame would have matched up better against Xavier but Xavier would have likely beat both. Xavier got 28 pts and 17 Rebs from their lone PF/C position. that was a clear mismatch.
That said I think Iowa and Notre Dame would have matched up better against Xavier but Xavier would have likely beat both. Xavier got 28 pts and 17 Rebs from their lone PF/C position. that was a clear mismatch.
Last edited:
Great point. If I might add, teams in November aren't the same in March. At least they shouldn't be or they are in trouble. In Iowa's case the good news is we've put stretches of great basketball together on both ends of the court. Now all we need to do is see that it happens all the time. Boy, I'd hate to be any team that comes up against the Hawkeyes that showed up the first half of the Marquette game. And with all the young guys with so much room to improve? Shoot, we could end up even better than that!
Yup this is true. There is a ton of parity in college basketball. I mean look Illinois couldn't beat Chicago St or Lamar yet they hang with ISU?? How is that even possible??
Illinois hung with ISU because they got Nunn back. That would be like us getting Mike G and Clemmons back. Illinois is going to be a different team now. They have three really good players and a couple of guys that are B1G solid. Nunn and Hill are two guys that play solid D and can score 15 plus a game. Thorne is a guy that can avg 10 and 7 in the B1G and Black is a guy that could be a 10 and 6 guy once he is fully healthy. Illinois wont be a top 25 team but they could be a strong bubble team.
While yes I realize Illinois was missing some key players, still those teams should not lose to Lamar & Chicago St. I mean those teams are not worthy of stepping on the same floor as Big 10 teams. I realize games might be close, but they should not lose those games, regardless of who is on the floor.
Illinois will be good this year I think, but I am sure Groce will find a way to screw it up again. That entire athletic department is in shambles right now.
Any coach that stands on the sidelines (and the court) screaming for most of a game is not going to have a lot of success IMO. How can he expect his players to play smart, controlled BB, when he can't seem to control his own behavior? Even Bobby Knight showed control most of the time.
Not terribly surprised. I think if we got DU later in the year, we'd smoke 'em too.
Maybe, but I doubt it. Dayton is a good team and a bad matchup for Iowa. They are very quick, and play in your face defense. Woody looked lost against their smaller, quicker bigs. Iowa is going to struggle against any good team that is really quick and plays pressure defense. The Hawks just don't have many players with good handles.
maybe I'm biased because Xavier manhandled Michigan, but they look like a potential Final Four team to me. They have size, athleticism, they really defend well, and they have multiple guys that can score inside and out. And don't forget they are elite on the glass on both ends of the floor. They will be a very tough out come March and are more than capable of beating anybody.
