I know this has probably been beat to death, but I think 3 critical plays last night that showed where our guys heads were:

1. The missed free throw by Xavier when we were down by 10 with about 10 minutes to play. I think it was CC & Shaq going after the rebound together & they both bounced it right out of bounds. Turnover - Xavier gets the ball & hits a shot.

2. Geron Johnson missing the slam dunk & then having the ball slip out of his hands after he rebounded a missed free throw. That just never happens with him. It shows that even Geron was not mentally in that game.

3. DJ Stephens rebounding the missed free throw & bouncing it off CC's knee. That was a HUGE play at a crucial point in the game. It basically gave the game to Xavier - assuming they hit their free throws.



Bottom line is - the Tigers were not mentally in that game last night. I think, as Geron pointed out, Memphis thought Xavier would just roll over & die and they did not. Mental issues can be fixed. I think the biggest long term issue exposed last night was that our bigs got absolutely destroyed & pushed around.

How many mental lessons does one team have to learn in 3 years??? You say they can be fixed, when? We never seem to rise to the occasion, it is time for this team to quit patting itself on the back for beating crappy conference teams and go out with their hair on fire and beat someone. And Xavier is not very good but at least it is a program that has respect for their accomplishments the last several years.

(02-27-2013 08:25 AM)mitjones Wrote:  I know this has probably been beat to death, but I think 3 critical plays last night that showed where our guys heads were:

1. The missed free throw by Xavier when we were down by 10 with about 10 minutes to play. I think it was CC & Shaq going after the rebound together & they both bounced it right out of bounds. Turnover - Xavier gets the ball & hits a shot.

2. Geron Johnson missing the slam dunk & then having the ball slip out of his hands after he rebounded a missed free throw. That just never happens with him. It shows that even Geron was not mentally in that game.

3. DJ Stephens rebounding the missed free throw & bouncing it off CC's knee. That was a HUGE play at a crucial point in the game. It basically gave the game to Xavier - assuming they hit their free throws.



Bottom line is - the Tigers were not mentally in that game last night. I think, as Geron pointed out, Memphis thought Xavier would just roll over & die and they did not. Mental issues can be fixed. I think the biggest long term issue exposed last night was that our bigs got absolutely destroyed & pushed around.

I wonder why?

(02-27-2013 08:30 AM)ZachMan Wrote:  How many mental lessons does one team have to learn in 3 years??? You say they can be fixed, when? We never seem to rise to the occasion, it is time for this team to quit patting itself on the back for beating crappy conference teams and go out with their hair on fire and beat someone. And Xavier is not very good but at least it is a program that has respect for their accomplishments the last several years.

Unfortunately, I agree. This team continually underperforms when they're on a semi-big stage. I'm ready for next season, just so that we can have multiple opportunities to win a big game.

(02-27-2013 08:30 AM)ZachMan Wrote:  How many mental lessons does one team have to learn in 3 years??? You say they can be fixed, when? We never seem to rise to the occasion, it is time for this team to quit patting itself on the back for beating crappy conference teams and go out with their hair on fire and beat someone. And Xavier is not very good but at least it is a program that has respect for their accomplishments the last several years.

They have lost 1 game due to lack of focus of this year... Our first two losses came when we were just not very good. L'Ville is as talented as we are and got a good bit of help. Did we not "rise to the occasion" twice against USM? Did we not have an 18 game win streak with an average margin of victory of around 15? It is one game!

Losing a single game during the regular season is no big deal compared to the damage that the university does to itself by wearing tacky, Calipari blue uniforms trimmed in white and/or black. Xavier's gray home uniforms with dark blue trim were sharp. Why does Nike make gray uniforms for so many other schools but not Memphis?