As sudden as a suspension can feel at times, this one was probably a long time coming. With no word on JP Macura yet, and with all pants remaining in place since the incident, Xavier turned its attention elsewhere. Myles Davis is now suspended indefinitely from all basketball activity, which includes any sort of practice or team training sessions. This impacts Xavier in multiple ways with the season rapidly approaching.

Basketball

This is the most obvious detriment to the program. First, Myles just isn’t getting the practice and work time in right now that he needs. He can still work out on his own, but that’s a lot different than working with a team. It’s especially different than him working out with a team that he is unquestionably one of the leaders of. Whether that particular dynamic changes or not remains to be seen.

This also leaves Xavier with a bare cupboard heading into the hard part of offseason practice and, possibly, games that matter. The Musketeers now have 10 scholarship players, one of whom is a former walk on in Tim Stainbrook. While it’s true that rotations tend to tighten themselves as the season goes on, that’s usually a matter of whittling down from 12 to eight or nine. Starting with what you intend to end with is not a recipe for success.

And it’s not as if Xavier has lost a bench player or someone looking at garbage time rotations. Davis averaged 10.6/3.8/4.1 and shot 38% from behind the arc last season. He’s an integral part of the team going forward if it is to have any serious success. While his suspension does not necessarily mean he will miss games that matter, it does put the team’s development and cohesion behind. And that’s the best case scenario. Worst case leaves Xavier without their arguably most important player for possibly an entire season.

Off the court

Accurate or not, Xavier has always held a position of moral authority in the city. Cast against the Huggins Bearcats, that simply meant not committing multiple felonies. Even the Bearcats of now are led by a simpering whiner whose every ranting fit serves to make his team the more unlikable. Starting with The Brawl, though, Xavier has started to cede some of that ground. There’s no longer a clear line of delineation between who we want to call the “good guys” and the other teams in the area when it is the good guys racking up the arrests and court appearances.

This is also a bad look nationwide. Again, fairly or not, Xavier has a very solid reputation with anyone who has come in contact with them. The quickest way to ruin a reputation in this day and age, though, is to be involved in a domestic violence type incident. While Myles stands accused only of criminal damaging/endangering currently, the intimation of some sort of abuse or contact with a domestic partner hangs heavy in the air. There is no shaking that without some serious walking back of the language that has come out already. Whether it’s just or not, the entire program is now painted with that brush.

And that’s where Xavier basketball stands at the moment. Instead of talking about who was fastest through the mile and when the exhibition season will finally start, we’re scouring court documents and praying Quentin Goodin is ready to go from the very moment he steps on the court. Things are less than ideal