📅 Published on: 2024-12-16 21:31:04
⏱ Duration: 00:17:24 (1044 seconds)
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The Sean Miller Podcast’s Adam Baum is back on the pod to help us preview Wednesday’s game against Xavier. We talk the big news around the injury to Xavier’s Zach Freemantle, discuss how they’ll adjust to his absence, last year’s 40-point drubbing at the XL Center, and more.
🎙 Channel: Connecticut Scoreboard Podcast
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🕵️♂️ Transcript:
next up for Yukon is the start of Big East play and this year opening things up at home at the XL Center against Xavier on Wednesday night so joining me today he’s been on for the past few years I’m sure you’re familiar with him it’s Adam BAL of the uh Shawn Miller podcast So Adam thanks so much for coming on Jared thanks for having me back man I appreciate it yeah I can’t believe it’s already conference play it feels like I feel like we still should be having another two or three weeks non conference play but here it is I know it got here in a hurry I’m excited for it I love Big East play I I know um this non-conference schedule for for Xavier has certainly featured its sets of ups and downs and we can get into injury talk and stuff like that later but outside of the the injury updates we’ve got how would you say this nine conference schedule has uh has faired for Xavier as as we look to head towards Biggie’s play it certainly didn’t go the way they wanted it to go um I I think coming into the season like watching them prepare in the summer the fall watching their Exhibition at Dayton I think all signs were pointing towards a team that had a bunch of experience that had depth that that looked ready for the start of the season and then the games came and they were real and it was like okay we they struggled to get by Texas Southern they struggled with IU Indie they really struggled with South Carolina state all those are buy games at home so th those weren’t good things and then the golden opportunities that they had um Michigan on a neutral floor at TCU at Cincinnati those are the games that got away from him right so we’re sitting here and Xavier is eight and three they don’t have a bad loss but they haven’t necessarily racked up the impressive non-conference resumee that you would have hoped and now they find themselves you know with injury trouble and they’re going into Big East play and they got a lot of work to do if they want to make the NCAA tournament I I know there were really high expectations for this Xavier team coming into this season you know expecting them to to compete towards the the top of the Big East what do you think’s you know kind of been an issue or two for them as they’ve gone through this non-conference slate that’s maybe hampered and kind of had to maybe re-evaluate those expectations a little bit yeah I would say the biggest thing for me has been like they thought they were going to have a bunch of depth like really quality depth you know nine deep and you know not much of a drop off when you go to your bench and that depth hasn’t really materialized um part of it is injury related part of it is just like guys that they were depending on to be more productive to be more consistent they haven’t really found that that footing yet so I think that’s kind of been a difficult thing for this team right now to navigate is when you come into a season you think man we got nine guys that we can play pretty consistently that are interchangeable and then ltina Tori tears his ACL and he’s done for the year and he was going to be their starting fivan and you know some other guys that they were looking at and relying on you know Trey Green has taken an in indefinite leave of absence and today the Zack Freeman on news is just another brutal blow um they’re going to be without him for an indefinite period of time so it’s like all of that to say that this team does not have that much depth and now they’re essentially down two starters going into Big East play I if you want to not be all doom and gloom here and look at some of the the bright side from the the non-conference play what what is this Xavier team done well that they can look to build on heading into Big E play well I think you know like the Wake Forest game was a great example of what it looks like when Xavier plays the way they want to play up to their expectations at both ends of the floor right same with that South excuse me same with the South Carolina game where those two games in particular they won those games with their defense and this was the team coming into the season where I would have said man they they should be well suited to outscore a bunch of teams um so I I think that they they have been pretty good defensively and been able to win some games against High major opponents with that end of the floor um and then you know I think offensively they’re still a work in progress um you know they’ve got a lot of different guys who can put the ball in the hoop it it’s kind of been finding that Rhythm and that flow with all these new guys together that I think has been a little bit of a challenge but as the season goes on that would be one thing that I would think you know the more games that get the more you know now we’re into Big East play and it’s like every night’s going to be a war and a battle and it’s like at some point I think that offense has to start clicking the way the way that we anticipated it would you know I think if you had to take a look in the prep that that Dan and his staff are doing heading into this Xavier game I I’m guessing Zack freem mantle was the guy that had Circle on The Scouting Report as they were prepping for Wednesday with him not in there who who are who’s you know the guy or the couple guys that the coaching staff you know should be redirecting their their efforts towards as they look at the Xavier team yeah I think it’s probably got to be Ryan Conwell um he’s their best shooter he’s a guy that you know if you if you give him a bunch of open looks he’s probably going to make him hurt um that would be one but then the reality is like Davon mcnight has kind of been hit or Miss but he’s another guy that on a given night he can go for 20 points uh Marcus Foster the transfer from Ferman like he’s been a really consistent player but offensively he has a tendency to sometimes disappear in games so I think if I was Yukon and I Was preparing for Xavier on Wednesday night without Zack Freeman I would say I’m gonna make everyone else on the team beat me with the exception of Ryan Conwell yeah W with the loss of freem manle how do how do you see this team adjusting what do they do differently now without having a guy like that out on the court yeah well I mean that that’s why you know this news that they got today is never good yeah think at the point in the schedule when they’re getting it it makes it even worse right you just lost the cross town shootout yeah quick turnaround before you got to go to to Yukon back-to-back defending national champions um I I think that for them it’s like you know a guy like John hugle is going to have to step up he’s probably going to be their starting fiveman now he’s really been like a rotational guy who’s played you know 10 minutes a game you’re gonna need a lot more out of him then Jerome Hunter yeah who’s you know been coming off the bench he he might still come off the bench I don’t know um but they’re going to need him to play experience play with experience play impactful minutes um going forward and I think the reality of Xavier’s situation right now you lose luina trayor you lose Zack Freeman they really only have one traditional big left on their roster and that’s John hugley so I think this is a team that’s going to have to rely on small ball for the foreseeable future looking to add some local flavor to your lineup Martin Rosel is the MVP of your game day spread in a slam dunk for any occasion proudly made in hard hit New Britain their famous kilbas and hot dogs have been a fan favorite for over 96 years you can find their products in grocery store stes across the state or have them delivered directly to your home court Coast to Coast via Martin ral.com take your taste buds to the championship and go support a Yukon fan-owned business definitely going to be interesting to see how they adjust I mean you lose a guy like this he you hope you have a couple buy games or wor to try to work things out but you go Yukon and Marquette now back to back that’s that’s tough it’s like when Yukon lost Donovan Klan last year heading into the start of Big East play there and trying to adjust on the Fly there is is never easy um I know you you know you you know Shawn Miller well you you work with him a lot I it seems like just from the comments he said last year that loss they took at the XL Center where they just got drubbed um really stuck with him in in that team you know throughout the season you think that motivates them a bit heading into this game on Wednesday night knowing hey we’re going back to the same building you know we got we got run off the court let’s see if we could do something different this year I think there’s a lot of motivating factors I think that’s part of it I think the fact that you just lost your most important player you’re arguably your best player um then the other part of it is like no one’s going to be giving you a chance now yeah right oh you’re going to Ukon without Zach Freeman you guys are going to L like all of those things I think have to play into to what’s going on in in in between this team’s years right now is that you know there’s their back is kind of against the wall right now you look at their metrics where they’re at in the net yeah they are eight and three but this is very much a team that has to find a way to win some big games and their first opportunity is on Wednesday night in Hartford yeah how tough of a stretch is this for them I mean obviously you’ve got the big rivalry game that they had on Saturday and then Yukon and then Marquette I mean it just even if they were completely healthy right now that see still seems like a stretch that would be really tough for any team yeah actually my my co-host on the podcast Paul fritzner he threw a stat at me today I think it was in terms of overall Ken pom rating that this stretch at UC at Yukon Marquette is the toughest three- game stretch that Xavier has had in like 15 years just based off kenpom rankings so this is like a very important impactful point in the season it’s before Chris the Christmas break and you just lost your leading scorer your leading rebounder to a lower body injury so it’s like it things are not looking you know the way they want them to look right now but you know if there’s anything I know about Shawn Miller and and about his staff and the guys on this team is that they’re going to keep battling right like they they had a down last year and they fought to the very end they they took that you know 40 Point whatever loss to Yukon in this same building last year and still found a way to win some games after that so that I’m looking I’m looking on Wednesday night to see how eager they are to kind of get back on track and maybe silence some doubt yeah no from a a Xavier perspective because I I know I’ve been there where I watched my team where where guys have gone down and you’re like hey like obviously we still want to win the game but here’s maybe like one or two things even if we can’t pull out the win that I want to see out of the team as they try to fight back it and kind of adjust to life without this player what what do you think Xavier wants to see out of this team obviously outside of the wind but hey if you leave hardford you know saying hey maybe we we played a close game or or was a little bit more competitive than we thought it would be given the injury uh what what are a couple of those areas they’d be saying they’d be like satisfied to some extent leaving with yeah I I think for this team right like if you want to talk about something that I think has plagued them early on in the year it’s been you know rebounding and and turnovers so I think to to show that they’re still they’re still in the fight that they still have some juice left um like go out go to Yukon and take care of the basketball and battle on the glass right and even if you come up short like those are some things you can point to and you can you could say hey like this team’s still in it that they they still have what it takes so those are kind of two easy answers but beyond that I would say like some of these guys who have struggled Off the Bench for Xavier like now is the now is your time to really Step Up and show what you can do so I’m looking at guys like Dante Maddox and John hugley and and cam Fletcher who’s really only played in one game so far this year but now you know it’s 67 a guy who can rebound the ball a guy that has size like he’s going to be called upon quite a bit more so I’m kind of looking those are the things that I’m looking at on Wednesday night yeah of those bench guys who who now have that opportunity to stand up uh and play a little bit more who who do you who would you like to see make the biggest impact from that group or or who do you think can make that biggest impact well I think for me it’s probably Jerome Hunter um and my evidence for that would be two years ago when Xavier went to the Sweet 16 Sean’s first season back at Xavier Zack Freeman basically he broke his foot in late January and they didn’t have him for the final 15 games of the season and the guy who filled his shoes was Jerome Hunter and he played really well he did exactly what the team needed him to do he played defense he rebounded he finished around the basket those are the little things that I think Jerome has done before and they’re going to need him to do those things again yeah no I think it it’s going to be a really interesting it was always going to be an interesting match upon Wednesday but uh very curious to see what this what this looks like now given given the injury news and seeing who’s going to step up on this Xavier team I’ve got to say like if you’ve got Yukon Marquette you know on the front end of things here does mean as the season goes along it schedule should lighten up a little bit and maybe get a a chance to get free mantle back depending on how things ultimately end up playing out does that give Xavier fans a little bit of Hope thinking about things as the season goes along for sure I mean I I think like if you were to take the the collective pulse on Xavier’s fan base right now like it’s not great you know um you know you you lost the game at TCU that you were very much in control of that you kind of gave away at the end you were in control at Cincinnati in the cross town shootout and you couldn’t close that one out and now today everyone wakes up and around lunchtime they found out they find out that Zack Freeman’s out so I I think that the fan base is pretty down right now but the truth is like they still have 20 20 games left 21 if you count Madison Square Garden at the end and you know they got to find a way to to get going and get on a run and ultimately like you got to start winning some big games they don’t have a quad one win yet so um there’s an opportunity on Wednesday night to do that yeah well well Adam I I appreciate you taking some time here to uh come on help break down this game I know it’s uh been a crazy news day so thanks for uh being able to make some time and come on and uh Yukon fans even though uh he’s working on Xavier content definitely check out all all his stuff because they’re doing some really cool stuff over on the Shawn Miller pod so so plug the Pod quickly before you head out yeah Shawn Miller podcast you can find us anywhere that you get your podcast our YouTube channel is uh is kind of where everything goes right now we’re also doing a season long docu series kind of a version of Hard Knocks um documenting Xavier season so yeah it’s been it’s been a lot of fun it’s been a crazy amount of work we literally were doing this with with three people um but it’s pretty cool right like you know I can’t ever remember a full inseason season long docu series behind the scenes style thing for College basketball program so it’s been pretty cool and obviously you know a lot of what happens is out of our control but you know we have a responsibility to document the season so whatever happens happens and we’re there to capture it well well if uh if Dan early hears about this maybe the Connecticut scoreboards got to go inside next year with uh with the Yukon team you inspire us here there you go that’d be a great idea Before I Let You Go just from what you’ve done as part of this work following the team to this point this season give us like an interesting nugget or something that’s like surprised you as you’ve been diving into things yeah that’s a good question um I would say like the the thing that has surprised me the most is that I think if if you watch Shawn Miller coach right you you think he’s this just all the time intense dude I think I’ve been really surprised by the amount of moments when just like his Humanity shines through right when they’re in team meeting and he’s interacting with the guys and it’s like yeah you know this is a guy who played college basketball in the Big East way back in the day and yeah now he’s a Coach and he’s got this resume and this pedigree and all these he’s done all these things but at the end of the day I I’ve been like really shocked at just how normal he is on a day-to-day basis really I’m sure Dan Hurley’s like that too right like he he’s probably someone who gets you know a lot of grief and a lot of flak for the way he acts during basketball games but you’re you’re getting to see 1% of who he is in this game yeah there’s way more to him than than just that so I think that’s kind of been the most Illuminating thing all right well Yukon fans go check out the content sounds like really cool stuff you’re doing so Adam appreciate the time looking forward to to seeing you in town on Wednesday yeah I’ll be there man I’m looking forward to it too awesome thanks so much thanks Jared
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