Xavier Basketball Tip Off

Last night Xavier basketball started off its season with an exhibition game against Rollins College, a Division II school from Florida. This wasn't supposed to be a test but a warm up game for an exciting Xavier basketball season. As the Sean Miller era has now ended with a Sweet 16 appearance, Chis Mack takes the team that has lost its top three scorers which included their top rebounder from a year ago. So now a new group of players have to step up big time which include the new transfer star from Indiana, Jordan Crawford (we all know why he is so well known), senior big man Jason Love, and junior guard Dante Jackson. With yesterday night's convincing win over Rollins College, you got to see a glimpse of what is to come this season.

Jordan Crawford had a sloppy first half with a couple forced drives to the hoop that resulted in bad shots but rebounded to have a great second half with a couple pretty bounce passes to Kenny Frease in the paint for dunks and proceeded to score a game high 16 points. Also Dante Jackson had really good game, scoring an effortless 13 points by including 2-3 from beyond the arc. As for our big men, Jason Love and Kenny Friese dominated a small Rollins team inside with a combined 13 rebounds and six blocked shots. Kenny Friese also showed some quickness guarding their center that was more of a three-point shooter and driver. This is also not to mention Jamel McLean who showed a sweet jumper to go along with all the athletic ability he has. My surprise of the game was Mark Lyons, 6'1" freshman point guard from New York, who showed lightning quickness (three steals) and the ability to create off the dribble by either dishing the ball or making a lay up. If Lyons develops any kind of shot, he is going to be a star point guard in the making and starting in no time. Plus, experience will give him more patience at the point guard position. The highlight of the game came from Jeff Robinson, a 6-9 freshman from Indianapolis, who dunked the ball over a Rollins player...

This is just small sample of what it is to come on this unknown season. But things are only looking up for this team. Their next exhibition game will be this Saturday at 7:30 against Northern Kentucky at Cintas Center on the campus of Xavier.