Saturday, February 23, 2002
Q&A with Perry and Schmidt
By Michael Perry and Neil Schmidt
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Have a question about area college basketball teams? Cincinnati Enquirer reporters Michael Perry and Neil Schmidt are ready to answer them.
Q, from Mike in Anderson: The officiating in the XU-St. Bonaventure game (Feb.9) was the worst I've ever seen. Do officials ever get fired for poor performance? I know they get “graded” for their work, but do failing grades mean they lose their job?
A: Yes. A review process is done by each league's supervisor of officials. “If at the end of the year, certain officials aren't up to snuff, they're not rehired,” Atlantic 10 publicist Ray Cella said. “That has happened a few times.”
In the A-10, questionable calls are brought to the attention of supervisor Mickey Crowley, usually by an irate coach. Crowley hears their beef, then watches the game tape. If he disagrees with the coach, Crowley will call him to explain why. If he agrees, he'll send the tape to the official with a written explanation. Those then and it factors into the year-end review.
There are 62 officials this year that work A-10 games. FYI, Crowley is retiring at season's end; Jim Satalin will be his replacement.
Q, from Dan in Wyoming: It seems Xavier's schedule is still an issue, seeing as the popular knock on them is they have only one win against the RPI's Top 50. Meanwhile, they have pretty strong ties with Wake Forest (Skip Prosser), Virginia (Pete Gillen), Butler (Thad Matta's old team), Seton Hall (Louis Orr and Jeff Fogelson), and maybe even Providence (Gillen's old team). Why don't they take advantage and play these teams? That would be two more games against Top 50 RPI teams this year, four more games against the "power" conferences (ACC and Big East), and a game against one of the best of the mid-majors.
A: Actually, a of Thursday, two of XU's victories were over Top 50 teams (No.41 Kent State, No.46 Wisconsin).
As for the teams you cited, consider first that schedules for this season were nearly finished before Prosser left and Matta arrived last spring. But the main reason most of those games wouldn't happen is those coaches don't want to play each other. Most coaches hate to play their friends, and in the case of Prosser and Gillen, they'd consider playing XU a lose-lose proposition. Beating XU could only tarnish their spots in Musketeer history.
An educated guess is that Seton Hall might be the best possibility for a game. Orr, a former XU assistant, set up a series with the Musketeers when he was at Siena last season. but left before getting to play the games.
Q, from Dave in Loveland: I am an XU alum and big fan but am also realistic. They are too aggressive on defense and going for too many blocks. They let guys drive past them hoping to block their shot from behind. Not only does this give up several easy lay-ups but also easy stickbacks as all the Xavier players are jumping for the block rather than blocking out. Also, they are barely going six players deep. In the A-10 and NCAA tournaments they might get real tired real fast playing that many big games in such a short span. Good teams are going to exploit these two weaknesses of Xavier.
A: Statistically, XU is a good rebounding team, ranking second in the league in rebounding margin (plus-4.1). But the boxing-out issue is a concern the coaches share. XU has allowed its opponents 319 offensive rebounds, nine more than the Musketeers have on the offensive glass. But the payoff to this aggressive defense is that blocks statistic: XU leads the A-10, averaging 4.8 per game.
XU is actually in a seven-player rotation, which is the same number Matta used at end of last season at Butler. More than the number of players, the lack of depth in the frontcourt remains a bigger concern.
Q, from Dave Goins: Why in the world was the UC vs. DePaul game (Tuesday night) not on local TV?
A: Nobody picked up the game. The leading candidate would have been Channel 19, which has a contract to air a minimum of 10 UC games and is showing 15 this season, said Tom Hathaway, UC's assistant athletic director for media relations. Hathaway said the UC-DePaul game was played during a ratings sweeps period for TV stations, and the network did not want regular programming pre-empted.
Q, from Ralph in Salem, Va.: During the recruiting process, I would imagine that coaches such as Pete Gillen or Skip Prosser might see or hear about recruits that are good ballplayers but don't fit their program at that particular time. Do they ever refer kids like that to Thad Matta at Xavier? Does Bob Huggins have a rapport with other coaches around the country where they will funnel kids into each other's programs? Or is it as dog-eat-dog as it's made to appear?
A: We can't speak for everyone, but we went right to Coach Huggins for an answer to this one. Huggins said it goes both ways — he has referred players to other coaches he knows and they have referred some to him. He said that is not unusual. We do know that when players wish to transfer, typically coaches will help the player find a new school.
Have a question about area college basketball teams? Cincinnati Enquirer reporters Michael Perry and Neil Schmidt are ready to answer them. E-mail your UC or XU basketball question to basketball@enquirer.com.
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Q&A with Perry and Schmidt
