Huge loss for Xavier

[thetorch]

Xavier was going to be middle of the pack with or without Wells. While he was their best returning player he had never carried a team before and no one will know now if he could have been a difference maker.

While his loss doesn't make the conference stronger, we also lose a team that wasn't going to make the NCAAs but could still wreak havoc in league. Better opportunity for the cream to rise to the top. Lets face it 8-8 A10 teams aren't making the tourney no matter how good our league is.

[slu72]

No one likes these situations, but they happen as we well know. As for X being a weaker team, great. We want the easiest road we can take to the dance. Hopefully, this removes another speed bump.

[Taj79]

Count me in the group with kshoe that always wants a strong A10. If we are doing what we should be doing and doing it the right way, our wins will take care of themselves. Wells wasn't going to carry thi steam to some unforeseen heights. He did present huge match-up problems for whomever might have drawn the assignment not only from the Billiken bench but all around the league. He was a deserved all A10 rookie selection last year.

While I suspect I'd be on the down arrow side of Mack right now, this whole sitautiuon wil certainly define him. He inherited players from Miller and won. Lots of guys can do that. Let's see what he does now because this is all on him now. His recruits. His program. I don' know where his contract stands but he shoudl get a pass for the next 1.5 to 2 years. Let see progress in his rebuild. If after two years there is no discernable progress, he'll be gone.

As someone pointed out, this is the plight of a mid-major. Like when we got Hughes. The big boys don't have to recover, they just reload. It is not so simple in the next echelon down. Gonzaga has lost a lot of luster since the Morrison era. Butler is searching for a rebirth with their downer after two Final games in two years. VCU is still hot. Mason has been inconsequential since their Final Four run. Now X is on the edge of the cliff. We shall see.

[slu72]

As for all you folks showing all this compassion and love for X, keep in mind they had the brawl and went into a downward spiral but it wasn't deadly. They ended up making the sweet 16 for cripes sake. Now that's a cliff I'd like to visit. This is a bump in the road for them not a program destroyer. Look, wins in the A10 are gonna be hard to come by this year w/ St. Joes, UMass, and LaSalle all being much improved. Then you got Temple, Butler, Dayton, and VCU to contend with as well. So X bites the dust this year. What's gonna get us dancing is W's. That's why I wasn't too upset about the Stanford game. Playing UW in their backyard and escaping with a W is gonna be hard enough. Tx AM is no patsy this year either, and if we get by them we're facing the 800 lb Jayhawk. That would be a huge W as it's one that will be remembered come Selection Sunday. But back to X, they don't have to be strong this year for the conference's over all rep. There's a bunch of other good teams to pick up their slack.

[kshoe]

Anybody else remember how last year near the end of the regular season we were all hoping that Xavier would win a few games so that they could stay in the top 50 RPI and we would therefore have 2 more top 50 wins and a more guaranteed spot in the NCAA tourney, better seed, etc.

While Xavier likely isn't a top 50 team this year and this is just one player, the example above shows why we should always want our A-10 opponents to be as strong as possible. I fail to see how the weaking of our schedule is a good thing.

[cheeseman]

I agree that we want a strong conference and that means any and all teams have to be as good as they can be. However, there is something to be said for a team on top to have a bad year or two as long as they regain their high level of play - why? it opens up the opportunity for another team to get recognized that might have been relegated to the CBI or NIT. Also, in X's case, we play them twice and now we also have Butler twice - there is something to be said about a schedule being too hard for your own good. Also, if your in conf games are all tough then it lends itself to the idea of having a weaker non-conf schedule thinking.

From what I have read in the post - links included - this does not seem the same as WR and KM situation. If there was sexual assault as some infer here then that is the big difference - WR/KM did not assault the girl or else they would have been charged by the police. What actually happened is something most of us will never know but the DA concluded that there was no case for this charge. Why did we kick them out of school - simply because there was premarital sex that took place and that is against the school's code of conduct. So don't be so quick to lump our situation into the same pot as X.

[JMM28]

This could be addition by subtraction for Xavier. Lets not cry for them. Their roster is littered with 4 and 3 star recruits. They will be fine.

[2010andBeyond]

Count me in the group with kshoe that always wants a strong A10. If we are doing what we should be doing and doing it the right way, our wins will take care of themselves. Wells wasn't going to carry thi steam to some unforeseen heights. He did present huge match-up problems for whomever might have drawn the assignment not only from the Billiken bench but all around the league. He was a deserved all A10 rookie selection last year.

While I suspect I'd be on the down arrow side of Mack right now, this whole sitautiuon wil certainly define him. He inherited players from Miller and won. Lots of guys can do that. Let's see what he does now because this is all on him now. His recruits. His program. I don' know where his contract stands but he shoudl get a pass for the next 1.5 to 2 years. Let see progress in his rebuild. If after two years there is no discernable progress, he'll be gone.

As someone pointed out, this is the plight of a mid-major. Like when we got Hughes. The big boys don't have to recover, they just reload. It is not so simple in the next echelon down. Gonzaga has lost a lot of luster since the Morrison era. Butler is searching for a rebirth with their downer after two Final games in two years. VCU is still hot. Mason has been inconsequential since their Final Four run. Now X is on the edge of the cliff. We shall see.

This is laughable. I don't think anyone doesnt want a strong conference. The a10 will be fine without thug wells and x this year. For the first time in a long time, x probably wasn't going to be one of our marquee games. Fuok em

[kshoe]

I agree that we want a strong conference and that means any and all teams have to be as good as they can be. However, there is something to be said for a team on top to have a bad year or two as long as they regain their high level of play - why? it opens up the opportunity for another team to get recognized that might have been relegated to the CBI or NIT. Also, in X's case, we play them twice and now we also have Butler twice - there is something to be said about a schedule being too hard for your own good. Also, if your in conf games are all tough then it lends itself to the idea of having a weaker non-conf schedule thinking.

From what I have read in the post - links included - this does not seem the same as WR and KM situation. If there was sexual assault as some infer here then that is the big difference - WR/KM did not assault the girl or else they would have been charged by the police. What actually happened is something most of us will never know but the DA concluded that there was no case for this charge. Why did we kick them out of school - simply because there was premarital sex that took place and that is against the school's code of conduct. So don't be so quick to lump our situation into the same pot as X.

We only play Xavier once this year. Our SOS was ~90 last year and will probably be in that ballpark again this year. Not exactly "too tough" for a team with top 25 aspirations.

Wells has not been charged by police either. There was some sort of indecent sexual activity which may not be prosecutable by the law but can be deemed against the student conduct code. Seems very similar to what happened to WR/KM. Things don't have to be exactly the same to be similar.

[Box and Won]

Seems very similar to what happened to WR/KM.

Wait a minute...Jon Smif is in Ohio now...has anyone seen Justin Jordan???

[HusakAttack]

Xavier might have been the biggest thug team in the nation last year...

[Bobby Metzinger]

Xavier might have been the biggest thug team in the nation last year...

Good to see Dez zipped up and shipped out. Go Bills.

[NashvilleBilliken]

How does X losing a player turn into a debate about who wants the conference to be strong? I'll save you some time....there is not a single Billiken fan that wants the A-10 to suck. Anybody who spends as much time on this board as we do, knows full well how the system works and that we are constantly fighting for prestige.

That should have nothing to do with making comments about a kid getting kicked out of school for probably doing something illegal. Maybe you guys had a bad day yesterday and needed to vent, but give me a break. We don't have a rival. X is the closest thing we have to a rival. Taking just a hint of joy when your rival loses a top player is pretty normal. Are the people at UD joining hands and praying for mr. Wells future?? Does Missouri sing kumbaya when somebody at Kansas has a problem? I'm sure all the Blue Devils are lining up to give condolenses for UNC's issues with the NCAA lately. Give me a break here, fellas. Let's try to at least support our own fans/teams before defending a thug from our "rival".

[NextYearBill]

+10,600

[SShoe]

Let's try to at least support our own fans/teams before defending a thug from our "rival".

Where in this thread did anybody defend Wells?

[NextYearBill]

So what exactly is "nice" about the best player on the conference's best team year in and year out, getting expelled from school?

Not to mention the human element of another promising player potentially throwing his future away.

Where in this thread did anybody defend Wells?

[Bobby Metzinger]

We have a lot of X sympathizers here. Snuff 'em out, NextYearBill.

[NashvilleBilliken]

Where in this thread did anybody defend Wells?

NYB illustrates one of the posts I was referring to. Perhaps I used the wrong word there in defend. But, I think you know what I meant and the point still stands. I don't think anybody should have to defend themselves for making a comment like the one NYB made on OUR message board. This is a sports board...all comments are assumed to be in the context of sport. Some posts insinuate that people think NYB is hoping this kid fails in life and all things in his future. It's a bit ridiculous.

[cheeseman]

We only play Xavier once this year. Our SOS was ~90 last year and will probably be in that ballpark again this year. Not exactly "too tough" for a team with top 25 aspirations.

Wells has not been charged by police either. There was some sort of indecent sexual activity which may not be prosecutable by the law but can be deemed against the student conduct code. Seems very similar to what happened to WR/KM. Things don't have to be exactly the same to be similar.

I was pointing to the inferences by others who seemed to be more knowledgeable about this matter when I said possible sexual assault - Do you or anybody know if the Cincy police and DA are done with this case? - if so then OK but if not then the other shoe can still drop. While I agree that things do not have to be the same to be similar - they must however not have glaring big differences. Right now all we know is some girl (s) got a ride on a night train in both cases but we do know that in ours nothing else happened according to the DA - lets wait and see on the X thing.

[MB73]

Who sympathizes for Xavier losing one player?

We know the low lifes that were on the team last year are mostly departed. Good. They got some good recruits and are rebuilding, so lets beat them badly, blowout games, stick it to them. My heart pumps p*ss for them.

[NashvilleBilliken]

NYB illustrates one of the posts I was referring to. Perhaps I used the wrong word there in defend. But, I think you know what I meant and the point still stands. I don't think anybody should have to defend themselves for making a comment like the one NYB made on OUR message board. This is a sports board...all comments are assumed to be in the context of sport. Some posts insinuate that people think NYB is hoping this kid fails in life and all things in his future. It's a bit ridiculous.

With that being said, I also realize this is our culture now. People are no longer using context, but focusing on induvidual words and blasting people for them. Perhaps my frustration with that has flowed over to this message board. Even SShoe's post focuses on a word I used, when the context of the overall post is quite obvious.

[SShoe]

I'm not sure how that's "defending" him, but read it how you want.

Face it, we're not Mizzou-KU, UNC-Duke, or even Dayton-XU. And how successful our conference rivals are impacts us far more than BCS schools because come March (and every March that follows), when we're 25-5 with an RPI of 30, the same detractors are going to ask, "who did we beat this year that is any good and/or how many top 50 wins did we have." And if X sucks, that's one less top-50 win we'll have.

[NextYearBill]

I'm not sure how that's "defending" him, but read it how you want.

Face it, we're not Mizzou-KU, UNC-Duke, or even Dayton-XU. And how successful our conference rivals are impacts us far more than BCS schools because come March (and every March that follows), when we're 25-5 with an RPI of 30, the same detractors are going to ask, "who did we beat this year that is any good and/or how many top 50 wins did we have." And if X sucks, that's one less top-50 win we'll have.

I really hope SLU is not at the point this year where we need X to be a top 50 team for us to get in the tournament. VCU, Butler, UMass, St. Joes, Dayton, Temple, New Mexico, Washington, Kansas.... we have our chances

[RiseAndGrind]

When SLU goes on an epic St. Joe's style run to become #1 in the country it's not going to matter who was kicked off Xavier.

Fear the 'Fetz

[SShoe]

I really hope SLU is not at the point this year where we need X to be a top 50 team for us to get in the tournament. VCU, Butler, UMass, St. Joes, Dayton, Temple, New Mexico, Washington, Kansas.... we have our chances

We'll probably have our chances this year, but historically, we've needed every big game we could get. Do we dance last year without beating a top-50 X team twice during conference? Maybe not, because our biggest concern was that we did not have enough marquee wins.