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We're trying something new this year. We're actually trying lots of new things, but we're only focusing on the one of them here. We spend a lot of time before each game talking about the opponent and frankly very little time talking about Xavier. I would imagine that is fairly frustrating if you're a fan of Northern Arizona or whoever and you're looking for the best Xavier coverage available that doesn't make you go track down a credit card. It would be nice for those folks to have some information at their fingertips rather than having to sift through the whole site. Now they will.
Xavier's personnel
| No. | Name | Yr. | Pos. | Ht. | Wt. | PPG | RPG | APG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STARTERS | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Edmond Sumner | Fr. | G | 6-6 | 183 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | Tough to stay in front of, high ceiling |
| 10 | Remy Abell | Sr. | G | 6-4 | 197 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | Best defender |
| 15 | Myles Davis | Jr. | G | 6-2 | 188 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | Best shooter |
| 5 | Trevon Bluiett | So. | G/F | 6-6 | 208 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | Best perimeter scorer |
| 1 | Jalen Reynolds | Jr. | F | 6-10 | 238 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | Dominant rebounder, post scorer |
| RESERVES | ||||||||||||
| 0 | Larry Austin Jr. | So. | G | 6-2 | 179 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | Good defender, good in transition |
| 2 | James Farr | Sr. | F/C | 6-10 | 244 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | Dominant rebounder, likes to shoot jumpers |
| 13 | Makindé London | Fr. | F | 6-10 | 220 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | |
| 21 | Tim Stainbrook | Jr. | F | 6-6 | 200 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | |
| 22 | Kaiser Gates | Fr. | F | 6-8 | 217 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | Very good shooter |
| 54 | Sean O'Mara | So. | F/C | 6-10 | 247 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | Strong, real estate rebounder |
| 55 | J.P. Macura | So. | G | 6-5 | 203 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | Dunk contest winner, exciting on offense |
Xavier's strategy
The offense is kind of a question mark right now, more so in terms of who will produce than if anyone will. Jalen Reynolds is an athletic beast inside who has worked to refine his game; he's the presumptive option 1a. He's surrounded by shooters in Myles Davis, Remy Abell, Trevon Bluiett, and bench live wire JP Macura. Either Larry Austin or Edmond Sumner will be on the ball. They're both athletic and good in transition, but Austin is more of a facilitator where Sumner can go get his own shot.
Defensively, Xavier works mostly from a man, but last year Coach Mack added a 1-3-1 in the half court that did some damage. Xavier has a lot of length in that zone, which makes it tough to break down. Remy Abell can really guard on the perimeter, but other than that Xavier is prone to defensive lapses in man-to-man. With the shorter shot clock, don't be surprised to see some token full court pressure.
This is the first game of the year, so take all of that with a grain of salt.
Other things to consider
- Recently graduated senior Dee Davis ran about 90% of the meaningful minutes at the point last year; this year sophomore Larry Austin and redshirt freshman Edmond Sumner are fighting for primacy at the position.
- Xavier's starting lineup is basically four guards around Jalen Reynolds; this is a team that can really space the floor and score from all five positions.
- Larry Austin, Jr. and James Farr are both tough, blue-collar players off the bench, and JP Macura has a tendency for making things (both good and bad) happen. Xavier's second unit can play a completely different game than the first.
- Myles Davis is the emotional leader of the team. If this game starts to go sideways, he's the guy who will circle the wagons.