Shootaround

The Kenpom.com A-10 Player of the Year

The weather is finally taking a turn for the better and looks to be staying there. The Indians and Reds have combined for 16 wins approximately a month earlier than it usually happens. The next meaningful college basketball game is at least seven months away. These are all excuses you may be using to get off the computer and go outside. Here's a taste of what you might have missed.

The season is well beyond wrapped up at this point, but there are still a few mop-up links popping up around the web. College Hoops Net has a few thoughts on what will come next for the teams of the East Region. They are one of a growing number of media outlets jumping on the Xavier bandwagon early. XU has almost always been in a position of national obscurity to begin the season; it will be interesting to see how the team responds if they're ranked at the start of next year.

The Bleacher Report also sees Xavier's star as on the rise. There is a certain level of unease throughout the fan base about the decommitments of D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera and Michael Chandler and the transfers of Latham and Canty, but consensus opinion among the media (for what that's worth) seems to be that the Xavier program is moving in the correct direction.

Speaking of which, a couple of future Muskies were recently in the news for the right reasons. PF/C Jalen Reynolds was on his area's first team, and PG Darwin Davis was third in Indiana's Mr. Basketball voting. Congratulations to both young men on earning these honors. With those two and Dez Wells set to suit up next year, the future is looking very good indeed for Xavier.

The recent past hasn't been hateful to the Muskies either. PG Tu Holloway (maybe you've heard of him?) added to his list of postseason accolades by winning the less-prestigous than it should be Ken Pom Player of the Year for the A-10. Ken Pomeroy is something of a point man for the objective statiscal analysis movement in college basketball. If you thought you could tell that Tu was the best player in the conference, Ken Pom can prove it with numbers. Go rub that in UD fans' faces before Juwan Staten takes over the A-10. What? Oh. Never mind.

Meanwhile, out in Utah, Jimmer Fredette has become so popular he can't even get to class. We've all heard of college athletes who chose not to go to class or who attended either by proxy or very sporadically, but this is a new one. Apparently Brandon Davies isn't the only BYU student with impulse control problems.