https://frontofficesports.com/absolute-bulls-completely-made-up-dont-believe-everything-you-read-about-nil-deals-in-the-transfer-portal/?

“Even our athletes lie about what they make to other athletes on the team”

“In college athletics, the opacity can help and harm all parties. Since collectives themselves don’t know what competitors are truly offering, athletes or agents can leverage completely fabricated offers—or wind up empty-handed if they overestimate their marketplace value.”

Trust in the process.

GO PIRATES!!!

By Zack Cziryak


A second half run propelled Xavier to a 20-point victory over the Seton Hall Pirates Saturday afternoon in Cincinnati.

Quincy Olivari sunk his fifth and final three-point basket to close out the 74-54 win, notching 18 of his 29 points in the second half. Many of those points came in the pivotal 20-4 run from the Musketeers (7-6, 1-1) after the Hall (8-5, 1-1) had cut the lead to one.

Olivari added 7 rebounds while Abou Ousmane notched a double-double with 16 points and 10 boards and Dayvion McKnight chipped in 15 points of his own to go along with 8 assists.

Dre Davis paced the Pirates with 18 points on 8-21 shooting from the floor while Kadary Richmond, coming off his best game of the season in the Hall’s Big East opening victory over #5 UConn on Wednesday, added 13 points, 8 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 assists. No other Pirate recorded more than 6 points.

The Musketeers extended a first half-lead to 32-21 with an 8-0 run with 1:13 remaining before four straight points from Richmond, including a putback off his own missed layup as time ran out, cut it to 32-25.

The Pirates thankfully crashed the boards in the first half to keep it close as 14 offensive caroms led to 11 points, helping to offset a 25% shooting mark on 9-36 from the floor, including 1-7 from beyond the arc.

A 5-0 run to start the second half cut Xavier’s lead to 32-30 before it was halted by an Olivari three and the Musketeers would again extend the lead to seven points at 41-34. A long step back 2-point jumper from Al-Amir Dawes would cut the lead to one point at 43-42, the closest the Pirates would come at roughly the 13-minute mark.

Unfortunately, the Hall could not match Xavier’s shooting a pair of Ousmane baskets, one an alley-oop off a wayward floater, and a parade of three-pointers would carry the Musketeers along the aforementioned 20-4 run that would put the game away.

Xavier assisted on 25 of 31 baskets while shooting 44.3% from the floor, including 10-20 from beyond the arc, compared to Seton Hall’s respective 32.4% and 13.3%, the latter coming on 2-15 shooting. The Pirates assisted only 12 of 22 baskets.

The loss snaps a three-game winning streak for the Pirates, who return home for the holidays before traveling to Providence, R.I. for a road contest against the Friars at the formidable Amica Mutual Pavilion on Jan. 3. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET.

The Hall defeated Providence in a blowout to end the Big East regular season a year ago.

1. Connecticut 11-2
Miss Clingham badly

2. Marquette 10-3
Uneven performances in the conference

3. Villanova 9-4
Rounding into form

4. Providence 11-2
Would have been higher minus yesterday's effort

5. Creighton 9-3
4-3 last 7

6. St. John's 8-4
Best of the rest

7. Butler 10-3
But not by much. Good effort at Providence

8. Xavier 7-6
Thought they were ripe for the picking

9. Seton Hall 8-5
You lost to an average Xavier team by how much

10. Georgetown 7-6
An embarrassment to the league, part 1

11. DePaul 2-9
An embarrassment to the league, part 2

Box



Cincinnati, Ohio - Senior Dre Davis (Indianapolis, Ind.) finished with a team-high 18 points and senior Kadary Richmond (Brooklyn, N.Y.) had 13 points and eight rebounds but the Seton Hall men's basketball team suffered its first BIG EAST defeat of the season as Xavier topped the Pirates, 74-54, on Saturday at Cintas Center.

Despite cutting their deficit to one on two occasions in the second half, the Pirates (8-5, 1-1 BIG EAST) couldn't slow down a hot-shooting Musketeers squad that finished with 10 made three-pointers.

How It Happened

The Hall fell behind 5-0 quickly in the first half before a dunk by Elijah Hutchins-Everett (Orange, N.J.) got the Pirates on the scoreboard. After a stop on the defensive end, Richmond connected on a pull-up jumper and Davis later scored on a fadeaway jumper that gave the Pirates its first lead of the game, 6-5, at the 14:28 mark in the first half.

A Jaden Bediako (Brampton, Ontario) stickback layup with 11:52 to play before halftime gave the Pirates a one-point lead again, 10-9. However, Xavier would use a pair of 8-0 runs to take control and their second 8-0 run gave the Musketeers an 11-point lead, 32-21, with 1:15 to go before halftime. Richmond helped the Pirates dig out of the hole by scoring four straight points that made it a seven-point game, 32-25, at the end of the first 20 minutes.

Davis came out of the locker room hot as he scored the first five points of the second half that helped the Pirates get within two of Xavier, 32-30. Later, with the Pirates down by seven, Davis scored back-to-back buckets and a Bediako layup cut the Seton Hall deficit to one, 41-40, with 13:51 left to play. After a stepback jumper by Al-Amir Dawes (Newark, N.J.) that made it a one-point game again with 13:06 to go, Xavier responded with a 14-0 run that ballooned their lead to 57-42. The closest the Pirates would get after that was 13 as the Musketeers pulled away with a win at home.

Inside The Box Score

• Seton Hall shot just 32 percent from the field and 13 percent from three and allowed Xavier to shoot 44 percent from the floor and 50 percent from deep.
• The Pirates finished even with the Musketeers on the glass, 45-45.
• Seton Hall finished with 21 second-chance points to Xavier's 14.
• Xavier led for 35:53 of game time.

News & Notes

• After winning four straight games against Xavier at Cintas Center from 2019-22, Seton Hall has dropped back-to-back meetings in Cincinnati.
• Richmond is now in sole possession of 19th place on Seton Hall's all-time assists list with 297, moving past Quincy McKnight.
• Of Jaden Bediako's nine rebounds, seven came on the offensive glass.
• Seton Hall fell to 1-5 on the season when trailing at halftime.
• Xavier's 14-0 run was Seton Hall's most points allowed on the season.

Up Next

Seton Hall will have an extended break before returning to action in the New Year at Providence on Jan. 3 at 6:30 p.m. on FS1.

Should be an interesting matchup on the low post as 2 centers battle it out between A Ousmane (North Texas transer) and J Bediako. I lot of folks were upset when we lost out on Ousmane which if I recall Xavier handed over an impressive NIL offer. So far Bediako has deliverd more than I could have ever expected. Lets keep it rolling JB and keep playing with that chip on your shoulder.

Let’s goo!! 2-0!!🏴‍☠️

UCONN had a nice bounce-back win against St. John's last night after trailing at home at halftime. No Clingan, but Samson Johnson filled in admirably leading the team in scoring.

Xavier Musketeers​

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TEAM INFO​

Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde?

Jekyll will beat Xavier. Hyde will not.

This is a tough road game because of the quick turnaround. But I will go with the slight upset with the hope that the lack of preparation doesn't come home to roost.

SHU 70
Xavier 68

Great win. This was awesome to watch our pirates be on the good side of the blowout.

- head scratching point here: why is Hurley having his guys pick us up near mid court? We are one of the worst 3 point shooting teams in the country. We have success vs UConn driving. Why weren’t his defensive sets tailored to letting us win the game from 3 instead of 5 feet from the hoop?

-This UConn team is nowhere near as good as last years team. Spencer is a fraction of what Hawkins was. Ball does not come close to the value on both ends that Andre Jackson provided. And that Sanogo / Clingan Pair was deadly.

- tonight would’ve been different if Clingan didn’t get hurt. UConn got the game within striking distance after back to back buckets by the big man before he went down. Have to imagine we would’ve eventually doubled him giving some better 3 point looks as UConn missed shots tonight that they don’t usually miss.

Top to bottom in the big east this year is going to be a dog fight. Seems like a year where the conference regular season winner may have 5-7 losses

Random thought: Is it just me or is the quality of the broadcast (announcers aside) so much better on CBSSN than Fox now? Seems much sharper. Especially the score bug. 👍

Posting this a bit early because there is a game this Friday night.




Friday, December 22
Georgetown @ #6 Marquette - 8:00 PM - FS1 - Fiserv/Milwaukee

Saturday, December 23
Butler @ Providence - 12:00 PM - FS1 - The AMP/Providence
Seton Hall @ Xavier - 2:00 PM - FS1 - Cintas/Cincinnati
Villanova @ DePaul - 4:00 PM - FS1 - Wintrust/Chicago
St. John's @ #5 Connecticut - 8:00 PM - FOX - XL/Hartford




After this weekend, no games are scheduled until the following Saturday (12/30). There is only one Big East game that day and it will get its own thread as the following set of games isn't until after the New Year's holiday. Good luck and good picking!

I get that Kadary is the engine to our offense but Sha can’t just allow our team to fall apart when he gives his best player a breather. Our second unit, hell even 4 of ours starters minus Kadary need to be able to run a simple offense and get the best possible shot off. This is a very low bball IQ team overall.

Stats for this game are very telling. Look no further than fast break differential, assists, bench points and shooting percentages.

Xavier knew we like to run and had most of their defenders drop back all game instead of crashing the boards on offense. We tied on team rebounds. They neutered one of the most dynamic parts of our offense. Seton Hall scored 2 points on the fast break today.

Xavier team assists - 25
Seton Hall team assists - 12

Time and time again we see low assist numbers coming from our offense. Surprisingly Dawes lead the team with 4, Davis with 3 and Richmond with only 2. Kadary kept driving to the hoop hoping to get fouled (shot 3-4 FT) and did not adjust when he stopped getting calls. Killed our whole offensive flow.

Xavier moved the ball well today but we for some reason still switch way too much and give teams too much space in the corners and around the perimeter in general leading to teams raining threes on us.

Our bench failed us today. Maybe guys played in spurts without extended minutes together but bench guys need to be prepared to come in and get hustle points. The only bench guy I saw trying to score today with EHE (btw he is 12-12 on free throws this season). Let’s get the kid more aggressive trying to score. Coleman only took 3 shots, did not look like himself.

Shooting percentages

Xavier FG% - 44.3%
Xavier 3P% - 50%

Hall FG% - 32.4%
Hall 3P% - 13.3%

We played low IQ basketball today plain and simple. Xavier had a ton of threes fall and maybe got lucky on a few but we shouldn’t even be allowing teams to take twenty long range shots in a game. This goes back to the disparity in assists - more passing and smarter decision making = better offense. But you need smart players to make that happen.

Last point - why is it for the last 10 years or so we cannot scrap together even a decent backup point guard? Legitimately maddening. Would love to hear excuses on this.

Gunna go make some eggnog GO PIRATES. Sha I hope you learn from the tape tonight.

The status of UConn starting center Donovan Clingan remains uncertain ahead of Saturday's game between the fifth-ranked Huskies and St. John's.

UConn coach Danny Hurley said Friday that Clingan did not practice the past two days after leaving Wednesday's 75-60 loss to Seton Hall with a sprained right ankle. Hurley said the team is awaiting MRI results.

"He didn't have a ton of swelling, but he did have some pain," Hurley said. "He obviously wanted to go back in [on Wednesday] and then it tightened up on him. We'll see how he feels in the morning and then get the MRI scans."

The Huskies played the final 16:33 without Clingan, who left after scoring 14 points and grabbing seven rebounds. He went to the locker room and returned to the bench but did not play again.

For the season, Clingan is averaging 13.9 points and 6.3 rebounds.

UConn will be looking to extend its seven-game home winning streak on Saturday, which includes a 6-0 record this season.

To the BEC???

Late & Post game uploads will be unavoidably late today. It happens