Should Xavier play only one big? Can they win on the road this week?

Brad
Awesome comeback and that second half was great, but can we briefly discuss Aaron Simpson? In 32 years of watching basketball I'm not I've ever seen someone dribble out of a wide, wide open lane to jack a three. A tip of the cap to him for that.

Joel
That wasn't even garden variety poor shot selection, either. That layup would have been entirely uncontested, and he had to turn all the way around and take two dribbles to get to the arc. Since we own, I can be gracious in saying I admire his insanity.

Brad
Also, I asked Simpson what made him take that shot. He simply replied: "belief."

Joel
That took a serious set. If he misses that shot and then the second half plays out exactly how it did in reality, he's the story. What a nutter. Anyway...

The adjustment was to put Bluiett at the four and surround Stainbrook with perimeter guys. That worked like a charm here, but is that a look we can use going forward?

Brad
Can we afford not to? We actually played some defense set like that. That first half was the worst defense I've seen a D1 program play in a long time. At the risk of offending him again, James Farr looked clueless. That picture someone sent us of him just standing under the bucket summed up our first half almost as perfectly as Simpson's awesomely ridiculous three.

@BannersParkway James Farr still hasn't gotten the memo!!! pic.twitter.com/cQrosVlnWH

— Nick Sciria (@Nick_Sciria) January 24, 2015

Bryan
I think we do have the ability to score inside, which is what got us back in to the Providence game, and going small would probably rob us of some of especially Jalen and Stainbrook's developing understanding in the low post. In addition, I think a large part of that look worked so well against Marquette and DePaul was the activity off the ball by the guards, which for whatever reason is absent in road games.

Brad
To be clear, I'm not advocating a constant one over four, but I think we almost need to show it.

Joel
One of my favorite readers played for ten minutes today and had an ORtg of 0 and one board. You gotta play a lot of defense to make that worth it, and I'm not sure he does. I think we're best if we start Jalen and have Plan B entail sliding Bluiett to the four and running three guards. Then go to Plan C only if we're getting killed inside or on the glass.

Brad
At this point he's just not adding anything offensively . As you mentioned, that's one thing if you play a ton of defense, but he doesn't do that either. Brandon Randolph is still alive, which I wasn't sure of until yesterday. We know his offense isn't there, but he wasn't good defensively either. We suddenly don't look as deep as we did.

Joel
That's to be expected when we get deep into the year, right? There are more dudes who are viable against IUPUI than against Georgetown. I still think Randolph has something to offer, but apparently the coaches don't think so. We've got two road games today, someone tell me why we won't lose them both.

Bryan
I see Seton Hall as more winnable actually. I think Copeland gives Georgetown too many outside weapons for us, whereas if Remy can handle Gibbs again, we might be able to sneak by Seton Hall. I am not calling it a lock, but there might at least be reason for hope.

Joel
It's probably worth noting that Farr scored 8 points but didn't grab a single rebound when we played Seton Hall at our place. Meanwhile, Angel Delgado is basically their only inside scoring threat. If Reynolds and Stainbrook can handle him on a rotating basis, another four-in, one-out lineup might put us in a good position there. It's a road game, though, so it's really anyone's guess as to what might happen.