The Big Move

We know this is how you reacted at first, but we're still here

For the last six months you've been able to come here to the Examiner for your daily(ish) Xavier news, presented with a slant we hope you can't find just anywhere in the mainstream. Well, today, that ends. Unlike this March for our Musketeers though, this story has a happy ending. SBNation, the premier name in online sports coverage, has asked us to come on board to cover Xavier for them. We gratefully accepted, and can now be found at Banners on the Parkway. The new platform is excellent for commenting and provides a top of the line experience for all. Please, come join us!

Semaj Christon Commits

Christon will fit right in with Xavier's backcourt

When the first sentence ESPN can come up with on a high school recruit includes the gem "not only a good athlete but is very athletic," you have to wonder if there is anything else worth mentioning. With Semaj Christon, you don't have to wonder long. The 6-2 Winton Woods point committed to Xavier for 2012 late today, and he brings with him something akin to the entire package.

I Love Basketball

Nasty.

On February 19, 2011, this happened. Utah State and St. Mary's were playing a Bracket Buster game on ESPN in the middle of the worst month of the year. It was a relatively ordinary game of basketball, with St. Mary's up at the half before Utah State came back with a 25-7 run to take control of the game. ESPN3.com was gracious enough to carry the game, so I was watching it muted as I got ready to call it a night.

Then St. Mary's started to make it a game. They buried back-to-back threes with 2:45 left to cut the game from twelve to six and get the gym bouncing. With the press on and Utah State threatening to decompensate, Jardine trailed the broken press, caught a pass coming through the middle, and flushed it on St. Mary's entire roster and effectively end the possibility of a come back.

Jalen Reynolds moves back

Reynolds in HS last year

2011 commit Jalen Reynolds has apparently pushed his arrival at Xavier back a year, according to Brian Snow of Scout.com. Reynolds, who had bounced around all through high school, appears intent on attending Brewster Academy this year. The 6-9, 210 pound power forward had figured to battle Travis Taylor and Andre Walker for minutes at the four.

While the move to Brewster will undoubtedly further sharpen Reynolds' already impressive game (he was rated a 91 by ESPN) and allow him to bulk up his lanky frame, it will also re-open his recruitment. According to NCAA rules the letter of intent that Reynolds signed for Xavier became moot when he failed to enroll and receive financial aid this year. Reynolds rather famously promised "I'm going to get Xavier to the Final Four." Whether that is still the plan now remains to be seen.

UPDATE: Reynolds can now be contacted by any competing school. For him to sign with a different school he would take a one year loss of eligibility penalty or have Xavier release from his current letter of intent. If he does choose to go elsewhere and XU does not release him, he won't suit up until 2013.

Tu Holloway in a bubble and other news

This would've killed Tu's street cred

Back in June Tu Holloway was invited to tryout for the USA Men's Junior National Team (or World University Games team, depending on which you prefer). At the time I was of two minds about it: one one side, exposure for Xavier is never a bad thing, on the other, Tu Holloway getting hurt is always a bad thing. While a bubble for him seemed unlikely, risking him in pointless games didn't sit well.

Fear no longer though, because Tu has decided to remain in Cincinnati rather than tryout for the chance to go to China. According to Coach Chris Mack, Tu is focused on spending time with his teammates and finishing summer classes. The fact that Tu has already been away for Deron Williams' camp in Chicago and LeBron James' camp in Akron probably factored into the point guard's decision to spend the next month and a half here at home.

I'm Glad I'm Not Sim Bhullar

I fly coach (when I fly at all), and I sometimes feel cramped at 6'3". Sim Bhullar has more than a foot and at least 100 pounds, on me, so I can't imagine how he must feel getting on a plane. Anthony Bennett, a teammate of Sim's, on CIA Bounce, tweeted this photo of Sim on a plane (I think). I envy the fact that he's going to play for X, that he's going to get to go to college for free because he's a good ballplayer, and that he'll probably get paid to play some day. I don't envy the fact that he's going to have to squeeze into everything made for normal-sized people for the rest of his life. If his tenure at X was going to overlap with Big Kenny's, they may have to charter two planes.

NCAA Adds Charge Circle, Slides Toward Death of Good Basketball

You've probably heard by now if you follow college basketball at all during the summer, but the NCAA has voted to follow the NBA's lead and put the little charge half-circle underneath the basket. Most of us who love the college game have a knee-jerk rejection of anything to make it more like the NBA, but that's not the only reason to take a closer look at this. In fact, the NCAA didn't really cite "becoming more like the NBA" as a motivating factor in this rule change.