Coaching News

"Eliminate Thornton: check."

A couple of quick notes have come out in regards to Xavier's coaching staff. The first of these is that Brian Thornton, who has been Director of Men's Basketball Operations for the past two years at Xavier, has departed to accept an assistant coaching position at Furman. Thornton first joined X as a transfer center from Vanderbilt, and he had an extremely promising senior season cut off by an injury. Thornton was noted for being a great student as well as a great player, and his contribution to the staff will doubtless be missed. He is following the same career path as Coach Mack did, moving from Director of Men's Basketball Operations to an assistant job elsewhere. Who knows if time will bring Brian back to the Xavier fold, but we certainly wish him all the best.

Xavier adds Vandy

Some very nice art from the XU Atheltics Dept

Xavier's already daunting non-conference schedule ticked up yet again today as the Musketeers added the Vanderbilt Commodores to the slate. Non-conference games now include Memphis, Georgia, Gonzaga, Purdue, Butler, Miami (Oh), and UC, as well as the usual smattering of tune-ups after Hawaii. 

Vanderbilt was a #5 seed in this year's tournament and was knocked out by the A10's own Richmond Spiders. Despite that blip, Fran Frischilla of ESPN considers Vanderbilt a top 10 team for next year. Prior to the tournament, the Commodores were 21st in the nation and had played a very solid 9-7 in the SEC. Andy Katz has Vandy #7 in his newly updated pre-season top 25. The addition of a Vanderbilt caliber team to the schedule further cements Xavier's status among the new elite in college basketball.

He's Back!

How many A10 titles?

When Jordan Crawford left for the NBA last year there was no chance at the last-minute pardon, no hope that he would change his mind, it was clear he was gone. Over the last three weeks, Xavier fans have experienced something else entirely. With Tu Holloway, the decision was not so obviously cut and dried. Opinion and guesswork drifted around the internet until, around 9pm tonight, Coach Mack tweeted that Tu would be making his announcement at midnight via his Twitter account. Then, at 12:01 ET, came this "@CoachChrisMack it must feel good to have 3 A10 titles and 2 1st round picks in your 1st 3 years.."

For what that meant, read on.

Ocho de Mayo

Not the face of an extrovert

While not as famous as its reveling, partying, devil may care older brother, it's the eighth of May that Xavier fans are far more concerned about this year. You see, this year it's May 8th that marks the final day for underclassmen to drop out of the NBA draft. While Xavier has lost players early before (Jordan Crawford and Derrick Brown) the prospect never seems any less daunting. Tu Holloway's exploits this year are well chronicled, as it what he needs to improve for next year. What is less clear is exactly what the reclusive guard is thinking.

Around the A-10

Not much for Aaric to smile about this year.

LaSalle lost 6'10" C Aaric Murray to the transfer list this spring. Murray was reportedly on his way to join Bob Huggins in West Virginia, but more recent reports reveal that he is still making up his mind between WVU and Oklahoma State. Murray was a big with good range (51-143 from behind the arc at LaSalle), but he was also an effective rebounder and shot blocker. Murray grabbed boards on 19% of opponents' misses and 11% of his teammates' misses while he was on the court, planting him solidly between Big Kenny and Jamel McLean in those categories. He also swatted 7.6% of opponents' two-point shots when he was on the floor, which put him in the top 100 in the nation in that category.

Murray was a big part of LaSalle's team going forward, and losing him and seniors Jerrell Williams and Ruben Guillandeaux will significantly weaken a LaSalle squad that wasn't that strong last season. Both of LaSalle's incoming bigs for the 2011 season are in need of some serious offensive polish before they are in position to contribute on that end of the floor. Rising sophomore PG Tyreek Durden looked good as a freshman, but he's going to have his work cut out for him this coming season.

Summer Camp: Tu Holloway

Just have to grit your teeth and gut through the summer.

I'm not sure how many of you have noticed this, but Xavier hasn't played any basketball recently. That doesn't mean our boys aren't working on their games though. Tu and Big Kenny have proved that a summer of hard work can really pay dividends over the winter. This season, Xavier essentially brings back four players from last year's team. Here at the Examiner we'd like to humbly submit our suggestions for how the returning Musketeers can make the most of their summer vacations.

Tu Holloway is the banner case for improvement in a guard at X. As a freshman, Tu averaged 5.5-2-2 and posted a poor .350/.327/.782 shooting line. His 1.13 A/TO didn't flatter him, either. Over his three years at Xavier, he has seen improvement in every meaningful statistical category. Last summer, he famously lifted thousands of jumpers in an effort to improve his shooting abilities. Obviously, Xavier - and Holloway - reaped the benefits of Tu's efforts. Now Holloway is facing the final summer of his college career - if he hasn't already - and there are a couple of tweaks we'd like to see him adopt before November.

Why Sim Bhullar is Perfect for X

This has nothing to do with basketball.

Anyone who has either (a) seen the film Miracle, (b) watched any meaningful sporting event brought to you by ABC/ESPN, or (c) watched any Winter Olympics coverage since 1980 while living outside of Russia and the former Soviet republics knows the story of the 1980 US hockey team. The parallels between that team (or at least the Disney-fied version that came out on film) and mid-major basketball schools could be drawn pretty easily; we may even do that here depending on how long/boring the summer turns out to be. My focus right now is a little more narrow.

In the early stages of the movie (again, I was negative five years old in 1980, so my reality is based on grainy footage and a Disney script), Herb Brooks is agonizing over which players are going to be invited to have the opportunity to play for the US team. An assistant - who probably exists only as a plot device - points out to Brooks that he hasn't selected the best American players. Brooks responds, "I'm not looking for the best players; I'm looking for the right ones."