Don't have time to follow your favorite players and personalities on Twitter? Can't chisel out the time in your day to sift the internet for borderline interesting news? Don't worry, we do! Here's what the Musketeers were up to as the prepared for St. Joseph's. Pre-Game:
Jordan Latham, Jay Canty, Mark Lyons, Tu Holloway, and Jamel McLean all went out for Philly cheese steaks before the game. I've been there, Philly cheese steaks don't taste any better in Philly than they do here. Latham also had a chance to meet with Jason Love before the game.
While his players were out munching, Chris Mack was ruminating on the Lance Armstrong's retirement. Apparently Coach Mack felt that this had happened some time ago. We'll give him a break on not having watched the 2010 Tour de France. Dante Jackson, meanwhile, was exhorting his team to "not get tired of the process," a common theme in his tweets.
The most revealing pre-game tidbit came from Assistant Coach Mario Mercurio, who revealed that in 2005 the XU basketball minds met with Joe Lunardi to develop a scheduling process that would consistently boost their tournament resume. I'd say that's worked, Xavier currently has played the 30th toughest schedule in the nation.
During the game:
With Rick Broering MIA, Shannon Russell took over the tweet scene during the game. Her first observation was much the same as mine "This place is like a high school gym." What Shannon kindly didn't report was that one team was playing about that level of basketball.
Beyond that, it was mostly just updates on the game. Nothing too interesting there.
Post game:
Dante was, as always, the first one back on his phone. "Just got another roadkill," he said, before adding that he was "glad that our team isn't getting tired of the process." Dante really enjoys the process.
Dana O'Neil of ESPN's presence in the gym was noted by Tom Eiser. As per the norm this time of year, Xavier is starting to garner national attention. The biggest post game news was that, according to Coach Mack, "Our bus feels like we are driving in a mobile greenhouse. Now I know how Frosty felt when the door got shut." Travis Steele echoed the sentiment and mentioned that "Chris Mack isn't playing around... at every stop light we are opening the door to get some air in the bus."
- Dana O'Neil penned this article about the Xavier struggles to start the year and the inevitability of the turnaround.
- Shannon Russell talked to Coach Mack about some of the officiating issues. He was considerably more gracious than he could have been, but a 20 point win will do that for you. Russell and Mack also got a bit more in depth about the end of the first half.
- A trip to Philly wouldn't be complete without an interview with Jason Love. The big man is clearly missing basketball and we wish him the best on his recovery.
- According to our sources, Xavier will be a five seed in the media mock bracket that comes out today. That's a nice seeding jump.
No comments:
Post a Comment