X4 - Championship Week

Right out of the gate I need to give a huge shout out to UVA Baseball and LaCrosse. Both teams are ranked #1 in their respective sports. That's what I'm talking about. That's how you come strong for the Director's Cup, especially with the top dog revenue sports (football and basketball) not performing. Baseball remained at #1 even though they dropped a game to Wright State on Friday. The LAXers were #2 and had a tilt against #1 'Cuse this past weekend. The Cavaliers jumped out early and held on for a 11-10 win to shot them up to the top spot. Let me tell you something, everyone needs to try and get in the mix for a UVA LAX game. These deals are on point. Especially when the weather is crispy and the fellas are dominating. So chalk that up as something that needs to be done. Plus you're killing two birds with one stone: A. You're visiting me in Charlottesville and B. Getting down with the fastest sport on the grass. Ya dig?

Now, to my main men holding it down at Cintas Center, 3800 Victory Parkway to be exact. By victory I mean hanging banners and straight slinging bling. Yup, that's right. Chalk it up for a fourth A-10 Title in a row. How's that sound? Pretty good if I may say so myself. Xavier got busy on Fordham last Wednesday and then dropped the hammer on St. Bonaventure this past Saturday. Saturday was Senior Day, so the lone senior, Jason Love went out the way he should a winner and a champion. He is currently the top dog when it comes to all time wins at Xavier and that number continues to rise. You can't say enough about this guy's career. The numbers don't lie, improvement every year. Arguably the hardest worker in all of college basketball if I have a say in things. Jason Love fits the mold of a Xavier basketball player. If you have to ask what that is, just go look at his stats, ask about his work ethic, look at the dramatic improvement over the four years, and look at the banners that hang above the court at Cintas Center. Enough said. Like I said, Xavier wrapped up the A-10 title and will have the #2 seed in the A-10 Tourney. They will face the winner of Dayton and GW on Friday at 6:30. So in honor of GW going to Dayton check this classic out, get some Karl Hobbs.



That's how you go into that dump of an arena and win. Speaking of winning, St. Louis crushed the dreams of all of Dayton's seniors by stomping them on senior day. Their fans cried as the Bilikens went into that dump and got the job done on Saturday. I digress, the regular season awards and teams were dished out yesterday. Jordan Crawford got first team and Jason Love got third team. Immeditately you should see some serious issues with that past sentence. Jordan not being player of the year and Love being on third team. First of all, how do you not give the best player on the best team the POY?! I mean seriously. Crawford dominated the A-10 the entire year. No one had an answer for him. Not to mention he means more to his team than Kevin Anderson does for Richmond. You have got to be kidding me. Love, on third team?! This may be the biggest joke I've ever seen in my life. The A-10 coaches mean to tell me that there are two more centers better than Love in the league? You must be crazy. How many times are these coaches going to get it wrong before they get it right? This goes all the way back to 2008 when Stan, Drew, and Josh got absolutely robbed of what they deserved. I personally think that the coaches in the league have a serious beef with Xavier. Look, if you have a problem with us dominating, get over it. Face the facts, the tradition of excellence runs right through Xavier. I think the banners, the Elite 8's, the NCAA tournament appearances, and NBA jerseys speak for themselves. Clearly Xavier is the cream of the crop not only in the conference but in the country. As one of my friends put it, is it even good to have Bobby Lutz, Brian Gregory, and Jim Barron vote as their teams choke?! Seriously, facts don't lie. Love and Crawford got robbed and the fact that Terrell Holloway didn't get any love is bogus too. The last thing you coaches needed to do was to give those guys any extra added incentive as this conference tournament approaches. I hope you're well prepared to feel the wrath because the hammer is about to be dropped. Looking to the NCAA tournament, I have to think if Xavier can finally win the A-10 Tournament they are looking at a 3 or 4 seed. If not I would say anywhere between a 5 and 7 is possible for the fellas. I would like to say they will go no worse than a 5 but you never know when that committee sits down what goes through their heads. Again, as I look at their resume, there is not a SINGLE bad loss. So that has to play in their favor among other things i.e. RPI and strength of schedule.

Unfortunately, Gordon College fell in the first round of the NCAA D3 tournament at Middlebury. It just wasn't their night. That's about all that can be said. Just one of those deals where the better team won. I got to hand it to the five seniors. They came into Gordon on the heels of a D3 tournament appearance. They worked their butts off to get back there and they did. They left a legacy and are walking out slinging bling and hanging a banner. Boom.

The Buckeyes wrapped up the Big 10 regular season title. Evan Turner is still my vote for national player of the year, as long as A-10 coaches aren't voting he should get it. If they win the Big 10 tournament I have to think they have a good shot at a #1 seed. But again, you never know what's going down behind those closed doors of the selection committee.

Smokin' Trees & Strokin' Threes fell in the intramural tournament. But not without controversy. We were down 10 in the second half, came back and even took the lead by 3 with about 7 minutes to go. We ended up losing by 6. But let me tell you something. I want everyone to take a good hard guess at what the foul differential was? For those of you unable to make a guess, it was 25-7 in favor of the other team. You have to be kidding me. 25 to freaking 7?! How the hell is that possible? Especially when we were attacking the basketball all night? I'll tell you how it's possible, out of shape and clueless refs afraid to make a call. Wait, they weren't afraid to blow the whistle, just in favor of the dumb mormons we were playing. Absolutely pathetic.

The Browns signed Joshua Cribbs. Thank God because if they didn't do this move I would be furious and drop all allegiances to that franchise. The Browns are also in the market for a QB. Rumor has it both Anderson and Quinn could be out the door as The Walrus claims that neither are capable of leading the Browns to the promised land aka the Playoffs. Who knows who they are going to get as the Eagles claim to not be dealing Kolb and likely will try to keep McStabb. David Carr signed with the 49ers. Seneca Wallace is bad. I mean do they go after Jason Campbell? Who knows. Just please don't trade draft picks. That's the future there and I prefer that you don't tamper with that.

Be on the lookout for a big time post next Sunday night or Monday. I've got a NCAA Tournament Special in the works. I would also like to take the time now to promote my man BernBomb as he and his brother have started a blog of their own. Consider us partner's in crime when it comes to Xavier hoops coverage and all things sports. Check it out...

http://mackisberning.blogspot.com/

-'Killa