Richard Pitino spent the weekend cooking

Xavier finally has enough guys to play a game!

How did you spend your weekend? Sunday was nice, but the days before were cold and, at least here, threatened snow. I learned that a lot of people care about golf, that watching 15 year olds in a penalty shootout can take years off your life, and that Ohio’s baseball teams aren’t very good this year.

Richard Pitino spent the weekend putting some more flourishes on what is beginning to look like a promising roster. Prior to this week there was a feel of adding pieces that would compliment an already established roster, something Xavier didn’t actually have. Now, it’s possible to look at the team and see some high-major talent.

Papa N’Diaye 7-0, 220, Center (2.7/3.7/0.1)

N’Diaye is from the Ivory Coast and calling him a raw talent is probably underselling it a bit. N’Diaye played 13 minutes per game at UNLV last season and showed some flashes of ability. Against Fresno St he went for 11/6/0 in just 20 minutes. He’s a monster on the glass on both ends and sports a shooting percentage that shows he doesn’t take f’d up shots.

Like a lot of slightly unpolished bigs, N’Diaye fouls a lot. Over 40 minutes he would foul out. In a combined 15 minutes against Boise St this season he racked up eight fouls. While that is genuinely impressive on some level, it doesn’t necessarily bode well for Big East play and the stylings of Brian O’Connell.

Gabriel Pozzato 6-7, 200, Forward (14.9/4.4/1.3)

Do you like European guys with a lot of attitude, fashionable hair, and questionable tattoos? Boy, do I have the transfer acquisition. Gabriel Pozzato may look the guy you wish your sister hadn’t met during in her gap year, but he can ball out. Injury caused him to miss multiple games through the middle of the season, but when he played he averaged 35 minutes per game.

Pozzato wasn’t an efficient scorer at all times, his offensive efficiency was 98.8, but he had games where he just torched teams. He got Murray St for 29 on 14 shots, Belmont for 22 on 11 shots, and Radford for 20 on 16 shots. He had a game with nine rebounds and a game with five assists. He’s capable of doing a little bit of everything and scoring from every level. He drew attention from Purdue and other high-majors and has been mentioned as having NBA level talent. This is a big get. Oh, and he’s bouncy.

Tre Carroll 6-7, 233, Forward (12.2/5.2/1.6)

Speaking of big, Tre Carroll is a large man with large hair. Fully healthy for a season for the first time, he averaged 22 minutes per game and was very efficient with a 117.8 offensive rating. For FAU this year he was the KenPom MVP in eight of 33 games. He went for 24/8/1 against Michigan St in what was probably his best game of the year, but he was over 20 on multiple more occasions.

Carroll wasn’t a flat track bully, either. That 24 against MSU was his season high in points. In four games against A tier competition (he’ll play many more than that this year) he shot 58% inside the arc, was 3-7 from deep, and had a 19.4% defensive rebounding rate. He’s a high energy rebounder on both ends who picks his spots from the floor and is a very good free throw shooter for a guy with the ability to play in the paint.

Malik Moore 6-5, 190, Guard (12.6/3.2/2.4)

This guy is just a bucket getter. What he does is score. Moore shot 40.8% behind the arc for Montana last year and increased that to 44.7% in conference play. He’s also at home closer to the rim, where he shot 50.4%, and at the line, where he is a deadeye 81.2% for his career. He is on the floor to score, grab the occasional rebound, then score some more.

As you may have gathered from those shooting numbers, his offensive efficiency was a very good 115.1. Moore doesn’t turn the ball over much and shot well, so he generally got his without being a volume scorer. While he doesn’t score as explosively as Pozzato, he did drop 30 in just 13 shots on St. Thomas. In fact in 29 games this year he had an offensive rating of 130 or higher (10) more times than he had dipped under 100 (9). He’s a steady shooter who doesn’t ever seem to force his way into games.

So that’s how Richard Pitino spent the weekend. While we all watched single guys with sticks hit a ball or teams of guys with sticks (not) hit a ball, Xavier’s new head coach added a mountain of talent. In the span of just a few days, Xavier has a roster.