Mixed bag in exhibition win
John LaFollette
Sports Editor
Frank Victores
Senior point guard Drew Lavender floats through pressure en route to two of his 13 points.
Ahead of the men’s basketball team’s first competition of the season, senior forward Josh Duncan said that he and fellow seniors Stanley Burrell and Drew Lavender were the leaders of the team.
In the Musketeers’ 74-51 win over the Georgetown (Ky.) Tigers last Tuesday night at Cintas Center, Duncan appeared to be right. He led the team with 18 points in just 23 minutes off 5-of-7 shooting from field, exhibiting a style of play that was, at once, an improvement on his performance last season and an indication of better things to come.
“A year ago, it was very unfair to judge him because he was not healthy from start to finish; he missed the first 27 practices of the year,” head coach Sean Miller said.
“He had a bad ankle injury in January, and the combination of both injuries didn’t allow him to have that [breakout] junior year like he would have, but he’s gotten better each year and is a big part of this team,” he said.
Junior forward C.J. Anderson made an impressive debut, grabbing 11 rebounds, including four of the team’s five total offensive rebounds, while scoring just five points. “We have so many different weapons, so to me it’s really not about scoring points, it’s about doing whatever I can do to help the team win.”
Lavender had a comparatively quiet game, scoring 13 points off 4-of-6 shooting. The senior point guard also had four assists and three turnovers in 26 minutes of playing time that had been scaled back because of the Musketeers’ tremendous second half lead.
Miller and Lavender have both said previously that he will typically play between six and 10 minutes more than that per game, probably in the range of 32-36 minutes per game.
In watching from the sidelines for much of the second half, Lavender said he thought the offense ran smoothly enough, but that the play of Burrell and freshman Dante Jackson as back-up point guards left something to be desired.
“Stan and Dante have a little bit more work to do at point guard, but they’re working every day in practice,” Lavender said. “It’s kind of hard for them to learn to two positions, too, but I think they’ll get it,” he said.
Georgetown was led by sophomore guard and former Trinity (Louisville) Shamrock Bret Saxton, who had 14 points. Senior guard Justin Taylor also grabbed six rebounds for the Tigers.
In evaluating Tuesday’s win over Georgetown and Xavier’s play in a secret scrimmage against Akron, Miller said that his squad’s turnover numbers had to come down.
“We’ve turned the ball over way more than I thought [we would],” Miller said. “There are certain things, execution-wise, that really enhance your ability to not turn the ball over.”
“We’ll get better at taking care of the ball, and I know that with the right combinations [of personnell on the court] most of the game will also help,” he said.
Next, the Musketeers take on a SE Missouri State team that is picked to finish third in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Redhawks are led by Brandon Foust, who averaged 12.1 points per game. Gametime is set for 7 p.m. Saturday evening at Cintas Center.
‘Game of the Century’ sets up ‘Game of the Century’
Patriots victorious over rival Colts in thriller, Indy spite grows
Andrew Chestnut
Editorial Columnist
“The Game of the Century,” I somewhat-stupidly endorsed it.
During the week leading up to the Colts-Patriots game, it certainly seemed like it would be. We had the defending champion Indianapolis Colts, halfway through a season with a blank loss column.
And we had the New England Patriots, who have won three Superbowls since Ben Affleck was in a successful film and whose perfect record—somehow—seemed even more perfect and imposing than the Colts’.
This year’s Patriots team is different than in years past.
They have been great since the Belichick-Brady era began, but never have they been… terrifying.
Not only are they especially talented, but they have been associated with cheating, running up the score and a bad-sport coach who inconsistently shakes the other coach’s hand at the end of games.
Plus their star quarterback has an illegitimate child and a constantly-smirking face. Like it or not, they are the antagonists of the NFL.
boston.com
It seems that the only time Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady doesn’t smirk is when he’s pursued by NFL-sized defenders. The rest of his life, though...
And they were pitted against their arch-rivals, the Colts, who are “good” in every way the Pats are “bad.”
We had two great teams—the two best football teams we’ve seen in decades—that hate each other, both undefeated later in the season than any two teams that have ever met.
Maybe calling it “The Game of the Century” wasn’t so ridiculous after all. Game day finally rolled around, and everything started off perfectly, which is something you rarely see against the Patriots.
The Colts received the ball and marched it straight down the field.
They were stopped in field-goal range, where second-year Colt, and all-time New England leading scorer, Adam Vinatieri would attempt a 50-yarder.
In the legend of the Colts-Pats rivalry, Vinatieri is a pivotal character.
Bear with me on this: The idea of Vinatieri is sort of sexy (in a non-sexual way).
He is the “clutchest” kicker in league history.
He has that special, intangible something that seems to spread to his teammates and make them better.
After kicking the winning field goals in three Superbowls for the Pats, he left them and joined their nemesis, helping them defeat his old team and win Superbowl XLI.
If the Colts were the Greeks and the Patriots were the Trojans, Vinatieri would be Helen of Troy.
These are the types of things I think while tuning out “This Is Our Country” during commercial breaks.
But anyway, Vinatieri’s first field goal was barely deflected by a leaping, extremely lucky Richard Seymour, and it missed left.
You learn to expect these things when you are playing New England; they just seem to happen.
So New England’s powerhouse offense took the field and last thing I would ever expect to happen happened: Tom Brady gets sacked for a 10 yard loss, followed by a short run and a check-down pass. Three and out.
After that, Indianapolis rolled for the next three quarters. I felt like I was watching them play a better-than-average team, but certainly not the 2007 Patriots.
Not the same team that beat Washington and their fourth-ranked defense 52-7 last week.
New England committed 11 penalties, Bridget Moynahan’s baby’s-daddy threw two interceptions (bringing his season total to five), and I compared Joseph Addai to Barry Sanders twice, and I wasn’t being sarcastic—all good signs.
And Belichick wasn’t even wearing a cutoff-hoodie… perhaps the Colts had discovered it was the source of his secret powers, and eliminated its danger by turning up the heat in the dome.
Suddenly eight minutes were left in the game and the Colts were up 20-10.
But the Colts were unable to either move the ball or stop the Patriots (which, as John Madden would tell you, is a bad combination).
Brady easily took his team down the field for two more touchdowns.
And the Patriots won, again.
The fact is, the game could have gone either way. The Colts’ Antoine Bethea dropped an interception that would have sealed the deal, plus they were without some guy named Marvin Harrison (I think he’s a wide receiver).
Thus, the Colts are probably a little better than most people thought, and maybe the Pats aren’t necessarily invincible.
Maybe some other teams will feel a little more confident playing them, and maybe they won’t go 19-0 this year.
But none of that is any consolation for the most depressing feeling in sports, and possibly in life, which is to come so close to doing the impossible, then watching it slip away.
As a Colts and Pacers fan who goes to Xavier and watched a certain basketball game last St. Patrick’s Day, you can be sure that I am way-too-acquainted with that feeling.
The Game of the Century?
It sure didn’t seem like it. The whole experience felt so… anticlimactic, though this may be because my team lost.
But more likely it was because it felt unfinished. Still, one thing remains clear:
The Colts and Patriots are the two best teams we’ve seen in a long time, and unless someone who starts at quarterback for either team breaks their leg, they will meet again this January.
Hopefully that will be the real Game of the Century.
Unprecedented glory days in Beantown
Doug Tifft
Associate Sports Editor
Boston sports have had a long and storied history, yet there may never have been a better time to be a sports fan in the Hub than 2007.
For one of the most passionate sports cities in the world, the sports discussion must begin with the “Local 9”, as the Saaauuux are affectionately known in Beantown, at Fenway Park.
The Red Sox are enjoying the most successful period in franchise history, or at least since Babe Ruth was known as George Herman.
They have now won two of the last four World Series and are on the verge of establishing themselves as a legitimate dynasty.
There are no signs of slowing down either, with young stars Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia and Jonathan Papelbon playing key roles in the championship run. With other stars in the minors to back them up, it appears that the Sox are ready to become regulars to ticker-tape parades.
In the immediate future the Red Sox look to be the favorites once more next year as the rival Yankees are riddled by departures, while Boston remains reasonably stable, even with Curt Schilling’s resignation last Tuesday.
Many have compared the budding Red Sox dynasty with the one that resides a short drive south in Foxboro with the New England Patriots.
The Pats appear poised to make a run at an undefeated season after they escaped RCA Dome in Indianapolis on Sunday with a 24-20 win over the Colts.
The win showed how great the Patriots can be as they exploded for 14 points in the final eight minutes of the game.
These Patriots are arguably the best in a growing line of legendary Patriots teams after the turn of the new millennium.
Propelled by superior coaching and decision making in the front office New England has built a reputation for not making the mistakes that the other 31 teams make.
Even in light of the recent “Spy gate” controversy no team in recent memory has looked more dominant through the first half of an NFL season.
New Englanders have become somewhat accustomed to watching elite baseball and football of late.
However the curveball in this year’s equation is that they also have an NBA contender as well.
The Celtics are off to a 2-0 start propelled by offseason moves to acquire perennial All-Stars Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to go with current star Paul Pierce.
The fans are already buzzing over Allen’s game winning 3-pointer in overtime against the Raptors last Sunday.
With the obvious weakness of the Eastern Conference the C’s appear poised to grab control of the East and make a run at hanging up the 17th Championship banner in TD Banknorth Garden.
The Celtics have a strong foundation of young players to complement the “Big 3.”
Youngsters Tony Allen, Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins and Glen “Big Baby” Davis have all shown signs of developing into solid role players.
With those contributors to go with their stars, who are locked up through 2010, something special could be brewing in Beantown.
This type of across-the-board success is rare in sports history.
Ironically a similar situation came about in the mid 80s in Boston with the Celtics of yore cruising to an NBA Championship behind Larry Bird and company, the Patriots losing in the Super Bowl to the Super Bowl Shuffling Bears and their legendary defense and the Red Sox losing in the World Series to the Mets on the infamous Bill Buckner error.
In Boston fans hope that they can top the magic of 1986, and who can blame them?
Doug Tifft
Sports Editor
Men’s soccer earns tie against Dayton
goxavier.com
Junior Adam Sokolowski.
The Xavier Men’s Soccer team came away with a scoreless draw in a match up with rival Dayton on Saturday.
Junior Goalie Adam Sokolowski came up with seven big saves to preserve the tie, including four in the overtime periods.
The shutout was the fourth of the season for Sokolowski.
The tie moves the Xavier Men to 6-10-1 on the year with a 2-4-1 Atlantic 10 record.
Xavier will be back in action at 7 p.m. on Friday when they play host to Duquesne.
Swimmers fall short against SLU
goxavier.com
Junior Matt Marcus.
The Xavier Women’s swim team earned a 147-147 tie with St. Louis on Saturday led by Freshman Keri Peglar who took the 200, 500 and 1,000 meter freestyle events.
Peglar earned her second straight Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week Award for her efforts.
The men’s team came up on the wrong side of a 160.5-130.5 decision against the Bilikins.
Senior Matt Krouse, junior Matt Marcus and the freshman duo of John Roof and John Buckley all turned in strong performances for the men’s side.
Both Xavier teams were penalized 29 points as a result of the Musketeers not completing in the diving events, so the teams were at a disadvantage to begin with.
