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YTD: 5-6
Seeing that everyone so far is liking the Cougars. Well.....
Xavier -2 v. BYU -- I like Xavier's athletes and their tourney experience tomorrow. Think the game will be really close...but down the stretch, where it matters....X is a solid free throw shooting team, BYU isn't. BYU definitely has the advantage inside...but so did UMass when X played them earlier in the year. Young and the 6'11" guy will get their points...but the big boy shoots horribly from the free throw line. While BYU is dominant inside, they shoot very few free throws. X, on the other hand, shoots a bundle of them. Think X's guards have the advantage here...and overall, X is the athletically superior team. BYU's stud, Young, will get his...but Cage will be all over him. Cage has guarded every X opponent's best player...including Morrison last year...so Young won't intimidate Cage at all. I see X pushing the tempo with Lavender....while BYU is definitely a solid team...they haven't seen a PG like Lavender all year (except maybe Nietzel...but he is a different type of player than Lavender). Thinking that if Lavender pushes the tempo, BYU's big boy will get tired and not be able to keep up. Hopefully this leads to easy buckets for X.
Ultimately, this is, in essence, the same Xavier team that took the Zags to their limit last year in the first round. Add Lavender, Brown, an improved BJ Raymond, a healthy Cole...and I see no reason why X can't pull this one out against a very solid BYU team. X has been getting INCREDIBLY disrespected by ESPN all week. BilASS and Vitale both saying they shouldn't have gotten in the tourney (and they were a 9 seed). Katz saying they are the most overseeded team in the tourney.
The X-men are going to be fired up tomorrow. They have something to prove to the media...and a matchup with former coach Matta waits in the balance. It doesn't hurt that the game is being played 80 miles from Cincinnati. The X contingent should be strong tomorrow.
X by 6.
GL!! :thumbs:
Seeing that everyone so far is liking the Cougars. Well.....
Xavier -2 v. BYU -- I like Xavier's athletes and their tourney experience tomorrow. Think the game will be really close...but down the stretch, where it matters....X is a solid free throw shooting team, BYU isn't. BYU definitely has the advantage inside...but so did UMass when X played them earlier in the year. Young and the 6'11" guy will get their points...but the big boy shoots horribly from the free throw line. While BYU is dominant inside, they shoot very few free throws. X, on the other hand, shoots a bundle of them. Think X's guards have the advantage here...and overall, X is the athletically superior team. BYU's stud, Young, will get his...but Cage will be all over him. Cage has guarded every X opponent's best player...including Morrison last year...so Young won't intimidate Cage at all. I see X pushing the tempo with Lavender....while BYU is definitely a solid team...they haven't seen a PG like Lavender all year (except maybe Nietzel...but he is a different type of player than Lavender). Thinking that if Lavender pushes the tempo, BYU's big boy will get tired and not be able to keep up. Hopefully this leads to easy buckets for X.
Ultimately, this is, in essence, the same Xavier team that took the Zags to their limit last year in the first round. Add Lavender, Brown, an improved BJ Raymond, a healthy Cole...and I see no reason why X can't pull this one out against a very solid BYU team. X has been getting INCREDIBLY disrespected by ESPN all week. BilASS and Vitale both saying they shouldn't have gotten in the tourney (and they were a 9 seed). Katz saying they are the most overseeded team in the tourney.
The X-men are going to be fired up tomorrow. They have something to prove to the media...and a matchup with former coach Matta waits in the balance. It doesn't hurt that the game is being played 80 miles from Cincinnati. The X contingent should be strong tomorrow.
X by 6.
GL!! :thumbs:
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