Twitter Recap: Vandy and beyond

Beyond the usual begging for players to RT "I love u player x ur the best wooo!!!11!!" there was some good stuff this week on the 140 character stream of inanity that is Twitter. For one, The Closer returned and Xavier eased away from Vanderbilt in overtime. That development left the nation media all atwitter (oh yes, I did) over the toughest back court n the nation. Coach Mack offered his usual mix of basketball and traveling tweets and Jordan Crawford spoke mostly in code. So, if you choose not to indulge in Twitter because you actually have things to do with your free time, here is the week that was.

Pregame and the alums were checking in. Derrick Brown informed us he is a member of "#XavierNation," Stanley Burrell chimed in from somewhere across the pond that he was "... Now Watching Xavier Vs. Vandy ... Almost 3am over here in Europe, but I have to show support for my school. #LetsGoX," David West simply tweeted "X." Jordan Crawford was a bit more demonstrative with "Tune in to them KILLAS and I mean KILLAS on espn2! Best BACKCOURT in college Basketball @Mooga_Mark and @ESPNTU 7pm xav vs vandy"

Ballinisahabit (follow him if you don't already) made the prescient observation "Tu Holloway is starting out on Jenkins. He's a terrific defender, but that will take a toll on his legs," BWeixScout, who now covers the A10, opined "We've got arguably the top two outside shooters in the country here tonight with John Jenkins and Brad Redford. #Xavier #Vanderbilt" That little observation would also come in to play later in the night. Kenny Frease' WWF audition also drew attention from BWeix "Wow. Kenny's not messing around. That's flagrant, no question," and Rob Dauster at ballinisahabit "Kenny Frease needs to be smarter than that," Shannon Russell from the Enquirer said "[Kenny] Pulled Henderson to the floor playing catch-up when Henderson got a good look at the basket. He's getting booed like crazy. #xavier." Anyone looking for a reason to dislike Kenny, and there seem to be a lot of you, probably got a good one there. We do applaud his no easy baskets mentality, if not the execution.

Ben Weixlmann also provided this gem, "#Dayton commit RT @J_thomas5 Watching Xavier get there butts kicked:))) hehehheh(evil laugh )." The facts that: a) Xavier came back to win, b) Dayton sucks, and c) that's the wrong form of "their" made this quite amusing to me. While that was happening, Jordan Crawford took another chance to bag on Kenny "Get number 32 out! I'm not gonna spell his name! Trife!"

When Xavier came alive late, so did Twitter. 2012 commit Myles Davis "Lol let's go!!!! Just went on a run." The Real Clint Spaeth "wow what a turn of events. Sudden burst of energy from X and now have a 1 point lead." Rob Dauster "Xavier just went on a 10-0, forcing three straight turnovers. 52-51 X." and Jeff Goodman from CBS "Underrated aspect of Xavier backcourt is the defense that Tu Holloway and Mark Lyons bring to the table." all commented as the Musketeers tore back into the game.

Of course Mark Lyons and Tu Holloway's performances also got their share of notoriety. Gary Parrish from CBS (apparently all of CBS was there) said "Huge drive and layup for Mark Lyons. Big time. Vandy and X now tied with 6.5 left. Vandy has ball. Let's see if JJ can get one off." Stanley pled, after the Lyons take, "Time To Dig-In.... We Need ONE STOP!!!" Local sports guy Mo Egger stated the obvious "Great play by Mark Lyons." and left it at that. There were, seemingly, a million tweets when Tu iced the game, but Lance McAlister said it best "Tu=cold blooded."

Post game the plaudits kept rolling in. Andy Katz said "Tu Holloway can do for Xavier what Jameer Nelson did for St. Joe's. X has a chance to go far in March. Final Four capability." That, of course, ignores the fact that Holloway is surrounded by talent. Steve Struble, the video coordinator at Delaware, got the Mo Rivera bandwagon rolling again "My guy @ESPNTU is college basketballs version of Mariano Rivera. CLOSER!" Mario Mercurio got a nice dig in on the SEC "Is that Nick Saban or @CoachChrisMack? X continues total domination of the SEC," that Joe Lunardi seconded "Always impressed with Xavier's non-conference schedule/performance. Eight wins in last nine games vs. SEC teams? Only Kentucky can do that."

Later that same night, Semaj Christon considered giving up basketball "this the first time ever i just feel like giving up on this hoop sht mann....#stressin" before Mario "@semaj2332 I disagree with that plan Semaj. Keep warring it up!" and fellow 2012 commit James Farr "@JamesFarr30 inbox me yo number" "@semaj2332 check ya inbox" talked him out of it (I hope). Tom Penders shouted out the Xavier backcourt "It takes great guards to win big in college hoops. Xavier has great guards," and Gary Parrish agreed "One of the nation's best backcourts plays in the A-10. Here's my column from Xavier's win at Vandy."

After that it was back to business as usual. Coach Mack was forgetting things "If you see a black belt laying around in the Nashville Sheraton, throw it in a Fed Ex box and send it to X. Uggghhhhh!!!" and being late places "High tailing it to the Norwood YMCA. I'm talking about practice. Practice, not a game...." Business left Cincy "Sources say Ohio offered Chiquita $6-7 million to stay, vs. N.C. $22 million -plus package," and Jim Gaffigan pointed out the obvious "When are they going to air the commercial where the recipient of a car in a giant ribbon says, "A LEXUS! We can’t afford this, you idiot.?"

I'll leave you with three more observations. 1. Dez Wells is in for a rude awakening "Wow!! It's snowing!!!!" Don't worry Dez, it will stop in April. 2. Gary Parrish isn't always right "The Duke-is-always-overrated stuff is silly. 4 titles. 4th winningest program ever. Duke is always great. That's much closer to the truth." No, Gary, they are always overrated. 3. Joe Hughes and the Three Headed Monster are still worth following "Trying to get @J_Mazz14 and Feeney to come play Mario Kart but they are glued to Victoria secret show on tv."