The more things have changed, the more they’ve stayed the same.
There are many takes flying around on where Xavier’s season stands right now. The team was on the cusp of wins at TCU, at UC, at UConn, home against Marquette, and, most recently, at Georgetown. That leaves the team at 0-6 in Q1 and only 5 more opportunities in that quad. Regardless of what you think of the quadrant system, it does play a big role in getting selected by the tournament committee. With a chance to snatch one of those resume-boosting, committee-pleasing wins, Xavier melted again.
If you watched the game, I’m sorry. X started off slowly, fought back into it, and then couldn’t get over the hump. Yeah, that sounds familiar. Yeah, it sucked. It seems like no matter what happens, X cannot close a win. Despite Dailyn Swain briefly catching fire, despite Zach Freemantle returning and dropping 16 points, despite not committing a stupid amount of turnovers, Xavier still couldn’t get the win.
If you want a statistical breakdown, here it is. Xavier only assisted 8 of their 20 made shots. They shot 39.5% from inside the arc and 26.3% from beyond it. The Hoyas were also able to pull in 11 offensive rebounds and ride Malik Mack to the win. It wasn’t like G’Town lit it up either; they scored less than one point per possession and shot 4-18 from three, but that was enough.
I don’t even know what to make of this team at this point. I try to be an optimist, unlike some other writers on this blog. In my lifetime, several Xavier teams have looked dead and buried before going on magical runs that we all remember. Those teams played below their potential before finally putting the pieces together and going on their respective runs. Does this team have that in them? Are they a good team that is not playing to their potential, or are they not very good? Regardless, they need to get on a run soon. At this point, a tournament berth is not impossible, but basically all of the work to get one is yet to be done.