Just one thing here: Xavier Basketball

After beating the Bad and Ugly Rams of the A10, the Good remain. VCU has a solid team and has put together quite a program over the years as well. The Rams have made the NCAA tourney 5 times in the last 10 years, and 3 times in the last 4 years, including that Final Four run in 2011. 

Shaka Smart, who's been the head coach since '09, has put together another fine team this year. The Rams have been in the top 25 much of the year, and even after losing at SLU on Wednesday, boast a 9-3 conference record, a half game back of the Billikens. VCU plays a face-paced game with 40 minutes of intense pressure defense, "Havoc" as they call it. They score 77.5 pts a game, good for 14th in the nation. But the craziest stat is that they average more than 12 steals/game, easily the highest in the country. Throw in that they have 4 players averaging double-digits points per game and add that as a team they shoot 45% and this is a very tough team to beat.

Earlier this season, when UC's guards pressured pretty much any Xavier ball-handler that wasn't Semaj Christon, they had a lot of success. Given that VCU's pressure is 10 times that of UC's, feel free to go into the mindset of a scared child walking into a dark alley alone for tomorrow's matchup. More bad news is that the students start their spring break this weekend so our home court advantage takes a hit for these next 3 games.

Just so we aren't completely negative here, I will mention that Xavier has been a home underdog two times this season and both times went well. We beat Butler and Temple. Maybe the trend continues and we make it 3 for 3! Go Muskies!