Xavier Power Rankings: 1/11

There was only one game last week and it was approximately forever ago. Don't worry though, because long breaks between games and empty weekends are basically a thing of the past until April. It's all basketball all the time from here on out, and I for one couldn't be more pleased. There are literally hundreds of players active pretty much every night; here are the 13 that matter ranked by, you know, how much they matter.

13. Eddie Ekiyor
On his radio show, Coach Mack had nothing but good things to say about Eddie's character and intelligence. The fact that he's pretty good at basketball is probably a more pressing piece of info, but it never hurts to have good guys, right, Bengals fans?

12. RaShid Gaston
Participation in poking fun at Coach Mack after the Bengals melted down on live TV keeps RaShid firmly ahead of Eddie in the redshirt standings. Perhaps Eddie was wondering why the field was so short and goal posts were in the back of the end zone, but more likely he just didn't care and had gotten to bed at a reasonable hour.

11. Makinde London
Still dinged up, still a heck of a pianist.

10. Sean O'Mara
After doing okay for himself against Nova, it appears O'Mara has fallen a bit out of favor over the past couple of games. He is rebounding and defending without fouling, and he's still a deft hand around the rim. The guys he's stuck behind aren't doing him any favors right now, so playing time is sparse for a guy with an at-the-rim skill set.

9. Kaiser Gates
Being a little bit more a versatile forward, Kaiser has been called upon to spackle in the cracks a bit while the roster shuffles in Edmond's absence. He is shooting 2-5/2-5/4-4 with 6 boards in the last two games. He doesn't have any assists and does have 3 TO, but he appears to be in position to get his chances at this point.

8. Larry Austin, Jr.
My faith was shaken after the Nova game, but Larry is back to being a solid reserve point. He gets from arc to arc with the ball as fast as just about anyone not named Ed Sumner, which really helps set up good angles to attack the recovering defense. I still have hope that he can grow into Dee Davis 2.0, but for now he's a very solid roster player who can give you 10 or so really active - if occasionally frustrating - minutes per game.

7. JP Macura
His assist rate and TO rate have both crept out of the 20%/10% range I was hoping he'd end the season in, but JP is still one of the best ball distributing non-points you're likely to see. He's a great shooter at every level except from deep, and he draws a ton of fouls. Something that probably doesn't get quite enough recognition is his work on the offensive glass; not only does he get to the boards a lot, but his persistent crashing opens up opportunities on the glass for the big men as well.

6. Remy Abell
Remy went nuts against Butler. Remy did not get greedy against St. John's. If I dropped 21 on a top ten team, I'd spend the next three games trying to shoot myself in to that form again. Abell just keeps doing his thing and - other than a couple of missed FTs - wasn't the problem last week.

5. Jalen Reynolds
He came on strong against St. John's on the glass in the second half, but Coach Mack was not particularly impressed with his performance on the whole. This is a guy who was preseason all-conference according to just about everyone but is struggling to crack double figures in scoring. Throw in the fact that he's still committing (or at least being called for) 6 fouls every 40 minutes and you've got a guy who isn't playing up to the preseason expectations we all had.

4. James Farr
Big Game James looked a little bit listless on the glass against St. John's, and he never got his offensive rhythm back after starting 4-4 from the floor. He's still ahead of Jalen on the strength of his overall rebounding prowess and the fact that he's a slightly better rim protector who fouls slightly less.

3. Trevon Bluiett
After I got a little bit concerned about Trevon following the St. John's game, I realized that pretty much everything except his long jump shooting is intact. I'd give a kidney to see him go like 7-13 from deep over the next couple of games, but he's still a crafty finisher and a much improved defensive player and rebounder. Despite the shooting slump, he's still the most versatile guy on the roster.

2. Edmond Sumner
The injury exception can only take you so far. The team clearly missed Ed against St. John's when they were unable to convert breaking the press into easy baskets, so this is less about Ed going backward and more about Myles Davis moving up.

1. Myles Davis
Does the team end up in trouble at St. John's with Sumner on the floor? I don't know. Do they get out of that trouble without Myles Davis? I don't think so. All Myles did was control the ball, run the point, drop a bomb from three to put a hitch in the Johnnies' run, hit a floater off of a broken possession, and ice the game from the free throw line. Other than all those things, X probably would have been fine without him. Also, it's possible to miss more free throws in a single trip to the line that Myles has missed all year.