3/10/25 - The Sean Miller Radio Show

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Try Health provides sur pleasingly human care that drives the
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enjoy and buy. Dilly Bistro presenting sponsor of the Sean
Miller Radio Show. Now Here are Joe Sunderman and Byron Larkin.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Welcome to the Sean Miller Radio Show. A from Jilly
Bistro at Marrimott. I'm Joe Sunderman a lot with Byron
Larkin to the head coach of the Xavier Musketeers, Sean Miller.
Another good week for the Xavier Musketeers. They won two
this past week. The Musketeers are now twenty one to
ten of the season, six over five hundred in the
Big East thirteen and seven. The Musketeers knocked off Butler

(00:45):
last Wednesday ninety one, seventy eight, and then over the
weekend knocked off Providence at Sentas in front of another
ten thousand, five hundred plus fans seventy six to sixty eight.
And Sean, you talked about the fans every time you
get an opportunity, and I have to tell you they
have been spectacular down the stretch run during the seven
game winning stream.

Speaker 3 (01:05):
No, they have Joe and it impacts all of us
especially you know, I think for a fan sometimes you
wonder how much the players, you know, appreciate you, how
much of a difference you make on in a particular
game setting. Do they recognize it, does it impact them?
And you know the answer is a huge yes with

(01:26):
an exclamation point. Every player and me as a coach,
our staff, you know, you really number one appreciate our
student section. You know, it's not like we have thirty
thousand students and out of that thirty thousand, a few
thousand make it to our game. You know, most of
our students are coming to the game and it's an

(01:48):
incredible environment. I know, the opposing team it's difficult for
them because of where the student section is located, and
then the rest of the building I think feeds off
the student section. But the sellout crowd how it felt
this week. You know, it's one of the many things
that separate Xavier from a lot of other places and programs.
And we've talked about this. When you think of the

(02:10):
programs that have done it for decades and have been
consistent over the years, that home court advantage has always
been in place. It's a part of their program. You know,
let's use Duke as the example. Love them, hate them whatever.
When you think of Duke, you think of Cameron Indoor
Stadium and what it feels like. And trust me, when
you walk in there as a visiting player, team coach,

(02:33):
it's different. It's difficult. You know. You think of Kansas,
you think of fog Allen Field House and what does
it feel like? Why is it that Kansas never seems
to lose at home? And you know, the Centas Center
is when you look at our win percentage, when you
look at so many great teams that have come in
here and have left with a loss. It's not just

(02:54):
the team, it's both. It's the home court advantage, it's
our crowd. It's how loud it gets. And I think
everybody in the Big East fears the Centa Center and
respects it equally. And it's a huge part of what
we do moving forward. You know, people ask me all
the time, you know, coach, what is it that I
can do to help? Or what is it you know,
what are you you need? Don't ever underestimate season tickets,

(03:17):
Don't ever underestimate showing up when the weather's bad. Don't
ever underestimate staying with us when we're not playing well,
because it has a funny way of working out, especially
when you compare those other programs that don't have what
we have when it comes to that great home crowd,
the force of the Centile Center in the student section.
But thank you for everybody now that it's over. You

(03:39):
did a great job and inspired our team, I think,
to really finish.

Speaker 4 (03:43):
Strong, coach, And it is very real as I played
in the Cincinnati Gardens, and when we played in the gardens,
we just expected to win, you know, expecting to win
and winning it becomes part of your culture and part
of your program. And I think that's what has been
established here in the Centa Center because when it's loud

(04:06):
and rocking, it's like you just don't feel that they're
going to lose.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
That's right, and you know, look and what it does too,
it sends a message to our players that what they
do is important. There's a lot of people that care
about our program and care about their performance and want
to win, not just us. And you never feel like
you're out there alone. And when you're on the road
and you guys know it too. It's one of the

(04:31):
many great things about the Big East. It's what the
Big East has across the board. Some are better than others,
but I'll use Crayton as the example. Not a lot
of people in college basketball visit Omaha or think about
Omaha Nebraska when they think of college basketball. That if
you're getting ready to play at Creighton and you go
into that arena, the size of it, the first class

(04:53):
nature of it, the student section they have a really
good one, and just the pageantry of that eighteen thousand,
you know, populated crowd. Creighton feeds off of that. They
also have a really good home court. I think Marquette.
You know, Marquette plays in the arena where the Milwaukee
Bucks play, but when it's their night, it's very night.

(05:14):
From the court, to the colors, to the people. They
have a great home court. And we do too. And
it's something that I bring up a lot because when
you talk about competitive advantages, that may be our strongest
competitive advantage that we own, and Byron, we've owned it
for many years. Guys like you guys when you played,
the different coaches that have come here, and it's for me,

(05:38):
it's something that is at the top of the list
when you talk about building a program. Continuing to build
a program and have great success. You know, we get
seventeen home games, and what does it feel like, what
does it look like, and what would it feel like
for the visiting team on all seventeen of those contests.
I played at pitt a long long time ago and

(06:00):
had a great experience, but Pittsburgh is still a football
town in a hockey town, and when you played, the
sense that you got is if we were good and
playing well, I think our crowd would really show up
and they would cheer louder, and it just seemed to
mean more. But the thing that would always drive me crazy,

(06:22):
and I've never forgotten it, but if Georgetown was coming
to town or Syracuse was coming to town, I mean,
everybody came to the game, and it was a sign
of they're not really here to watch you, They're here
to watch the other team. They're here because it's a
big game, they're here because they're in town. And that's
when you could say what you want, But that feeling

(06:45):
is something that you can't overcome. That now is you
know you have a decent program, but you're not serious
the serious programs, they come to watch their team, regardless
of who the visiting team is. Look if Ucon shows
up and they're back to back national champions, everybody understands it.
They'll be a little bit more fever in the air.

(07:08):
But at the end of the day, the Centale Center
is always about the same because they love our fans
love Xavier basketball, and we appreciate that.

Speaker 4 (07:18):
Coach.

Speaker 2 (07:19):
The awards are now for the Big East, and there's
one that I'm very happy to see, the Big East
Sportsmanship Award winner Jerome Hunter.

Speaker 3 (07:28):
Yeah he earned that, it didn't he? Yes, yes, yeah.
Jerome asked me today, he said, Coach, what did they
do to get the sportsmen in the war? Like whether
the you know, like, how does that work? You know?
And I looked at him and said, you earned it,
like three times over, you really did? You know his resiliency,
you know? And for those of you don't really know

(07:51):
Jerome's true story. Out of Columbus, Ohio, he went to Indiana.
He went to Indiana, My brother would have been the
head coach, and in his first year, Jerome red shirted
because he actually had season ending surgery. He had two surgeries,
both were at the Cleveland Clinic. And the reason that
he had surgery at the Cleveland Clinic is that his

(08:12):
diagnosis was ambiguous. No one could really pinpoint what his
problem was. He was losing circulation in a leg and
it became a vain problem, not a knee problem, not
a structural problem, and they finally figured out what it was.
But the extent of the surgery was he needed two surgeries,

(08:32):
and both of them were long surgeries where he was
actually in the hospital for you know, more than a
few days. I'd put it more towards a week. And
in both cases the surgery took a long time, to
the point where he missed everything the year. There was
a period of time in that first episode that he
wasn't sure whether he was going to be able to

(08:53):
play basketball, and then he got cleared played and then
he transferred to Xavier, and then when I got here,
obviously he had a great year, finished really strong around
this time of year two years ago. He was one
of our best players, as you guys remember, and then
Jerome and Essence suffered a heart attack that summer. Why

(09:16):
it remains, you know, I think we've kind of got
to the point of he's safe the surgery was a success.
He was cleared. But again, did we think that Jerome
potentially was in jeopardy of not playing basketball again. Absolutely,
and we would have to listen to his healthcare doctors,
et cetera. He had the surgery, he recovered, you know,

(09:39):
you think about it. He went about eight or nine months,
he got through the blood thinner party, got cleared for activity,
cleared for contact. And last year when we finally got
him back to practice, when he was playing with contact
and he was you know, ineligible to playing games, he
tore his achilles in practice. And his achilles was right

(10:00):
at the beginning of February. So if you have one
of the three things that I just described as a
young person, I think you would feel like you've overcome
a lot when you have three of those things and
you're playing again, and you're playing right now. I think
Jerome is playing well, the best that he's played this year.

(10:20):
I mean, you could see where the dark days, the depression,
you know, the wondering out loud of what what do
I do? How does this work? You know, I know
there's no textbook for my path. You know, he relied
on his teammates, He relied on Xavier University. He relied
a ton on his family. But I give Jerome, I mean,

(10:41):
an immense amount of credit for sticking with it, staying
the course, overcoming adversity, has his degree, And you know,
I think that if there's anybody that's a testament of
being able to overcome things and get to the other
side with a smile on his face, you know, it's Jerome.
So if he wonders what he did to get the

(11:03):
Sportsmanship Award, there it is. And by the way, in
terms of being a great teammate, a hard worker, a
graduate of Xavier University, and somebody who handles himself with
an easy smile all the time, nobody does it better
than Jerome. And I'm just I'm really thrilled for him
that he's healthy and also that here we are at

(11:24):
the end, and I think that he's playing with a
lot more confidence in helping us more maybe than he
has all season long.

Speaker 4 (11:30):
Yeah, Coach, the thing about him is, as you said,
he always seems to have a smile on his face.
I mean, he I think he appreciates the journey now
because he's had to overcome so many obstacles. He you know,
basketball has been taken away from him multiple times.

Speaker 3 (11:46):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (11:46):
Yeah, he's fought back to be a major part of
this program, get his degree and hopefully play the NCAA
tournament one day. What's he like to coach every day?

Speaker 3 (11:55):
Now? You know he he gives you everything that he has.
He is one hundred percent guy. You know, he shows up.
I think that sometimes he cares so much about about
being good and getting better that he sometimes can be
his worst own worst enemy, right, So confidence sometimes with
Jerome can come and go. And I don't mean that

(12:17):
in a negative way that you know he wants to do.
I worried about him going into Senior night because that
was his last game ever playing at Sentas, and when
you have the journey that he's had, you could see
where nerves and you know your mind's not on the
task in hand, and maybe things don't go as well.
But he played very well against Providence. We needed him.

(12:40):
He did a great job and I was really glad
to see him settle in and do a great job
in his last game. But he's a real good teammate
as well. Byron, he doesn't have to score a lot
of points to be happy. I think he really truly
plays the game for Xavier. He plays the game to win,
and if we win, for the most part, he's able

(13:00):
to move forward in a positive way. All guys want
to do well, especially in your last year, and I
think Jerome right now is hungry to finish strong.

Speaker 2 (13:08):
This is a Sean Miller Coaches Show from Billy Bistro
and Marymount on fifty five KARC and the Varsity Network.
Welcome back to the Sean Miller Show where I have
Billy Bstrill and Mary Matt.

Speaker 4 (13:22):
When you're out of town and want to keep up
with live college sports, be sure to download the new
Varsity Network app. It's available for both Apple and Android.
Listen to College Sports Live with the Varsity Network App.

Speaker 2 (13:33):
We do have some special guests here tonight. And what Sean,
when you talk about putting together an organization and a team,
I admire these young men beyond belief. They'll do anything
for anybody and they really keep everything going well. The
senior student managers are here tonight.

Speaker 3 (13:46):
Yeah, you know, we have what I think is the
best group of managers in the country. I believe that
it's a manager program that's thrived for decades and a
lot of guys when they've left Xavier as former managers
have gone on to do amazing things in life, and
some of it is in basketball, but a lot of

(14:06):
those guys have gone on to do great things. And
one of the reasons I believe is, I mean, it's
the ultimate teammate, the ultimate unselfishness. These guys are behind
the scenes. They're not necessarily out on a court, but
like our organization and our program could not run efficiently,
we could never reach the heights that we're trying to
reach without them. We call them our backbone. And this year,

(14:29):
in particular, we have six senior managers. I didn't get
a chance to see them before our home game because
there are so many seniors, both players and these guys
that I think they came out and got recognized at
the end of the first media time out the other
night against Providence, so I invited them here to the
radio show. I think they deserve a lot of the

(14:52):
most attention that you can give, these guys because of
how hard they work, the hours they spend, what they
do behind them the scenes. I think the impact that
it really makes on one thing, and that is winning.
You know, winning, and when you have a great manager program.
I think the players do better, the coaches do better.
Everything runs smoother. And if you've ever followed us, like

(15:14):
you two guys have on the road traveling, and you
think about all that goes into like leaving the Centale Center,
getting to the hotel, scouting shoot around, you know, the uniforms,
all the different things that happen. It's unimaginable the workload
and the time spent that these guys put in. And
they do it for really nothing. They do it for

(15:37):
the love of Xavier, the love of the game, and
I think they do it for brightening their own futures.
So I wanted to recognize these guys. I'm gonna start
with the the ad group here, Avery, could you stand up, Andrew,
and then we'll go to the g's here, Graham and Gray,

(15:59):
and you have Matt and Myles. So those are six
senior managers. These guys do great work. So we're we
are very proud of them, and we'd love to thank
them and in any way that we can, and I
thought bringing them here to the final radio show would
be a nice thing for them.

Speaker 4 (16:16):
Yeah, Coach, I'm just amazed at like their energy, their
their organization, and you really don't realize until you're like
behind the scenes or you're on the road and you
see these guys, you know, getting rental cars and coordinating laundry,
taking care of the players, rebounding for him, doing all
those things, being on call for them at the whole time.

(16:37):
And it's they're they're a big part of your player
development because they they are you know, they're there when
a player wants to get some shots up at you know,
eleven o'clock at night. A lot of time time these
guys are there helping them and that you know, and
they don't have to do that. They just go the
extra mile.

Speaker 3 (16:54):
And no, they're incredibly valuable byron in there. They're super organized.
I can't say that enough. Like three o'clock's three o'clock,
you know, six o'clock, six o'clock, and they keep everybody
on schedule. They keep us on schedule as a coaches
and just the details that are done on a daily basis.

(17:16):
I don't think any group does it better than the
managers here at Xavier. And it's it's really a tribute
to the program itself. What these guys do is they
leave a legacy behind them. If the young freshman managers,
sophomore managers. They learn from these guys. They show them
the ropes. These guys at one point when they came
to Xavier, learned from a lot of people here. You know,

(17:38):
Mario Mercurio, Ryan Reynolds. Those are two guys that you
know are no longer managers. Obviously they're part of the
athletic administration. They're part of our staff. Those guys when
it came to college, they did similar things to this
group of six, and that's how they learned their trade.
And it's it's really amazing to see how so many
of these guys translate from going to college getting a

(18:02):
great degree here at Xavier and then in addition, the
time they've spent networking and learning team building and what
to do and how to do it, to know how
they hit the job market with is astonishing. There's a
couple of managers that worked for me and worked for
our program at Arizona and they came to a Xavier

(18:23):
game recently. You know, they just came to watch us
play a game, and you know, you start to double
back and say, what are you doing now? Where do
you live? What are you doing? And it's fun to
see the track that these guys are on professionally and
a lot of their time started with being a manager
at Xavier, sacrificing and being a part of a basketball

(18:46):
family and something that's clearly bigger than yourself, and their
sacrifice is unmatched. So once again, if everybody could give
these guys a big hand, we really appreciate and respect
what they do. Maybe well, let one or two these
guys come up and talk and talk to you guys
as well.

Speaker 4 (19:02):
It's fine, yeah, Because the other thing I'm amazed is
like how many how many managers travel with the team.
It's like sometimes it looks like eight to nine managers
and we have as many managers as players all and
they do a.

Speaker 3 (19:19):
Lot of different things, no question about it. They do
an amazing job. Coach.

Speaker 2 (19:26):
The All Beast Big E selections are out. Zach Freemantle
made the second team. He's playing like a first team
All Big member of my in my humble opinion, he
is a player that we've watched for a number of
years now. He's overcome adversity, but his work ethic in
his ability to develop his game, I just marvel when
he works with his left hand in the game, his

(19:48):
right hand he can open any door on the floor
in terms of anything an opponent gives him. He can
score multiple directions. But it's nice to see Zach Freemantle
with an All Big E selection on the second team.

Speaker 3 (19:58):
I mean, well deserved, Joe. I mean when you look
at what he's done in the last six games, his
shooting percentage, his points per game, which is a little
bit less than twenty. He's scored in double figures in
all twenty eight games that he played in this year,
which is remarkable. There aren't a lot of even the
best of the best if you look at this first
team All Big East or the second team All Big East,

(20:18):
and there's some great names. I mean when you look
at these guys, I mean Ryan Kulkbrenner, Micah Peevey from Georgetown,
Cam Jones, Zubie from Saint John's, R J. Lewis from
Saint John's, Eric Dixon that led the nation and scoring
in Solomon Ball, Alex Caravan, Steven Ashworth, Kadari Richmond and Zach.
But I guarantee you not all of those ten I

(20:40):
would be willing to bet have scored in double figures
in all twenty eight, all thirty games they've played this year.
It's really hard to do. But I think the thing
that Zach has really learned is to be a better
defensive player, to play with more effort and energy outside
of his scoring, and really to be more of a
complete player. Put all that together this year, and you know,

(21:02):
I think the other part and we've talked a lot
about this the last couple of weeks as we're closer
to the tournament, when you missed three weeks, and I
would say, have the three weeks that Zack missed, and
it came right in the middle of our season. He
practiced maybe three days, so you missed eighteen days. It's
not easy then to play the next game and score

(21:24):
double figures or then all of a sudden hit the
ground running and be the best that you can be. So,
you know, both with our team and missing him at
that period of time, we had to work through a
really tough time for us. It was a very difficult
part of our schedule. He wasn't with us. We weren't
sure if he was going to come back. Then he
did come back, and then I would say, right after

(21:44):
the Saint John's home game, I really think Zach hid
another gear and it makes sense looking at where he's
at in his career. But he's a terrific player and
my hope is that the best is yet to come,
both in Madison Square Garden and beyond.

Speaker 4 (21:59):
It's the thing about the Zach that kind of says
it all. I mean, heading into the Providence game, he
was thirty three point shy of being in the top
ten and scoring history and Xavier's history. Now he's already
in the top ten and rebounding. So once he eclipsed

(22:19):
that mark, he'll be one of four players who are
in the top ten and scoring and rebounding other players.
The other three players David West, Romayne Sato and Tyrone Hill.

Speaker 3 (22:31):
Yeah, that agree.

Speaker 4 (22:32):
That tells you what kind of career Zach has had.

Speaker 3 (22:37):
Yeah, he's been He's been added a long time. And
I think that's the other part that all of us
really appreciate. His loyalty to Xavier went through, a coaching change,
went through. You know, I hate to go through these
hardships because it starts to depress you when you listen
to it all. But you know, between him and Jerome Man,
it's it's it's really tough, and you think about last

(22:58):
season for us, I mean all that happening while we
are going through the season. You have these two guys
that are just sitting there on the sideline and you
look at him, say, man, I hope one day you
can return to the court. It's great to see both
of them out there. But in Zach's case, it's great
to see him be able to be healthy and playing
as well as he's been playing. You know, even the
game this week Providence, and then if you go back

(23:20):
to Indianapolis when we played at Butler, there weren't too
many better players that played college basketball this past week
than what Zach did in both of those games. I mean,
his shooting percentage, his points is rebounding, you know, under pressure,
being able to deliver some of his biggest baskets came
at the most crucial times. And defensively, he's moving better,

(23:41):
he's in the right spot, cares more, gives us more.
And I think that that's also part of what we
appreciate the most about him, is he's getting better in
some of these other areas where maybe at one time
you could poke a hole in his game, or people
or just generally couldn't give him as much credit. He's
way more well rounded and uh, and I think he

(24:02):
knows that as well.

Speaker 2 (24:03):
You're listening to the Sean Miller Coaches Show from Billy
Bistrow and Marionbound on fifty.

Speaker 3 (24:07):
Five k r C and the Larsary Network.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
Back to the Sean Miller Show from Billy Bistro and
marinmont Bud Light, perhaps Sponts, Roxavier Athletics, Easy to drink,
easy to enjoy and Coach.

Speaker 4 (24:22):
We were talking about the managers and uh, we fail
to mention that Jim Body, the general manager here at
Dailly Bistrow, was a former manager, favior manager.

Speaker 3 (24:35):
That's my point. Look at what he's doing in life, right,
got an amazing restaurant and there you go. I'm sure
if if we asked him, he would tell you that
some of the lessons that he learned that make him
successful here he learned as a manager at Xavier. I'd
be one to bet that he could. He could, He
could say yes to that, you.

Speaker 2 (24:53):
Know, you know, along those along those lines, this place
has been wonderful for the co it's your show. We
have never been at an establishment that we have been
served so well. And they wanted the program, they really
wanted here. We have been packed every single night. And
let me tell you right now, thank you to everyone that.

Speaker 3 (25:12):
Yeah, thank you guys.

Speaker 2 (25:13):
Yeah, sure to appreciate you, and we appreciate you here tonight.
First Ryan Conwell, Yeah, third team. You have a lot
of players getting decorated. To talk about Ryan Conwell in
his journey this year in the Musketeer uniform.

Speaker 3 (25:26):
Well, I thought a couple of weeks ago when we
were talking about Ryan, I said, you know, it would
not surprise me at all if he doesn't really hit
his stride at the end. And sure enough he is.
He's I think he scored twenty points four consecutive times.
You know, my hope is it can become five here
on Thursday. But he's playing his best basketball of the year.

(25:49):
You know, that's that's a theme you asked about Jerome.
I'd say, I think Jerome's at his best right now.
Zach is at his best right now. I think Ryan
Conwell is also at his best right now. But Ryan,
he's had a remarkable season. It's not easy to transfer
from program A to program B, but I think in
his case, jumping from Indiana State to Xavier, you know,

(26:11):
there's gonna be a difference in the Big East there's
gonna be difference with our overall schedule, and although he
was an amazing, terrific player on a great team at
Indiana State, there was going to be a learning curve
and a new experience for him. But he's handled all
of it well, the ups the downs, and there's been
a lot more ups for him than there have been downs.
But as he's gone through the Big East and played

(26:34):
against the different defenses in different styles and left Cincinnati
to play in these ten you know, away from home venues,
I just think he's gotten more confident, more sure of himself.
We as coaches, I think, have continued to learn him better,
and that's also part of it of putting him in
a best position to be successful. But you know, right now,

(26:56):
Ryan's practicing well, playing well, and I was just to
see him get the third team All Big East. Look,
if you made a Big East first team, second team,
third team, there's fifteen players. I mean, you're a really
terrific college basketball player. There is no there's no weak
link there, And again I'm glad that he was able

(27:17):
to make it.

Speaker 4 (27:17):
Coach, he's a he seems to his his personality seems
to be very steady. He doesn't seem to get too
high too low. He just seems to be very calm.
And his demeanor. I like that he doesn't celebrate. Some
guys act like they just hit the lottery every time
they make a shot. You have all these dances and
all that crap. But he doesn't do that. I like

(27:39):
his I like his demeanor on the court. Coach. What's
he liked personality wise? The coach? Every day?

Speaker 3 (27:45):
No, what you see is what you get. He's He's
got a lot of substance to him. You know, he
loves the game. He listens, He's a willing learner. He's
a very good teammate. He shows up and works at
it every day, not only inside our actic structure, but
outside of it as well, getting you know, extra work
in whether it be in the evening or in the morning,

(28:06):
et cetera. He's a wonderful person, he really is. We're
very fortunate to have him, and I do think that
the best is yet to come for Ryan.

Speaker 4 (28:15):
Right.

Speaker 2 (28:15):
We're Gymley Bistro, Marrymont. This is a Sean Miller's coaching
show on fifty five KARC and the Barsody Network Factor
Gimley Bistro and the Sean Miller Show.

Speaker 4 (28:30):
Coach. He we were talking about Senior Day and we
talked a lot about Fremantle and Jerome Hunter. The thing
about Senior Day is you had a couple of players
like Hunter and Freemantle who have been around Xavier for
a long time. You also have some seniors and Marcus
Foster and Dante Mannix who've been here less than a year. Right,

(28:55):
What's what's it been like to coach those guys in
and Foster and what have they meant to the program?

Speaker 3 (29:02):
Yeah, you know, I'll start with Marcus Foster. You know,
when we recruited Marcus to bring him here, we thought
he was, you know, in a way, a Swiss army knife.
You know. I think it's a good analogy to bring
up in that he could do a lot of different
things to help your team win, and in particular on
the defensive end. Because of Marcus's size and strength and

(29:24):
his intelligence, he has been instrumental in building a better defense,
improving our defense being a difficult defense to score against.
He's guarded smaller perimeter players, he's guarded bigger forwards. He's
become one of our team's best defensive rebounders and that's
really an important role for him. You know, a lot
of times when we take him out, you feel that

(29:48):
we lose something on defense, not necessarily because of the
guy we're subbing in, but just his understanding know how,
intelligence and again his physicality, and I think from an
offensive perspective, you so, Marcus has shot in the high
thirties from three really from start to finish. He was
in and around forty percent for a long time and
it's dipped a little bit. But to give you that

(30:09):
fourth three point shooter on the court. At times, there
are games I'll point to Georgetown at home where if
Marcus didn't play the way he played, I don't know
if we win, you forget about those games. He had
a double double and he had a big night from three.
So I think that Marcus has really come in here
and been everything that we thought he would be. He
has been very well coached at Furman where he won there,

(30:31):
and I think that the impact he's had on this
year's team has been really instrumental. And you know, again,
I don't want to say it as if it's over,
because a lot of times this is where the new
journey begins. And I think somebody that's been in March Madness.
Like Marcus was on the Furman team a few years
back that beat Virginia in the first round of the

(30:52):
NCAA tournament. So Marcus has been in a tournament. He's
also been in conference tournament games that have meant the
NCAA tournament. So we're going to really call on that
continued experience that he's given us. You know, with Dante,
I think Dante, you know, his game really speaks volumes
in that. You know, look, he's had twenty four to

(31:12):
twenty five points off the bench numerous times, his shot making,
his scoring punch. You know, he had seven assists in
zero turnovers, and I thought it was a misprint because
he didn't play. He only played sixteen minutes the other night.
It's hard to get seven assists in sixteen minutes, but
seven assists zero turnovers on Senior night. You know, he

(31:33):
quietly had a great game when you consider that. But
he's becoming better playmaking Byron obviously the last month, I
think that Dante has settled in more and you know,
looking forward to getting him back on track here hopefully.
On Thursday night from three.

Speaker 2 (31:49):
He was in the gym after the game, by the way,
putting up jump shots.

Speaker 3 (31:52):
He loves it. I believe the man. Yeah, he loves it.
He works at it. He's early to the gym in
the morning, he'll come back at night. You know, he practices.
And you know, we have a group of guys really
like that. That's one of the strengths of our team
and that we have a group of guys that really
do enjoy basketball. They love basketball, and it's probably a
bad place to come to and I'm probably a terrible

(32:14):
coach for a player that is playing just for notoriety
or doesn't love it. You know, it's just I think
the passion you have to have to play in the
Big East at Xavier under the conditions that we put
them through. You're gonna have to love the game to
really enjoy your experience. And we have a lot of
guys that do. Those that don't, uh, they're not going
to be having as good an experience. He definitely loves

(32:37):
the game.

Speaker 2 (32:38):
Say you're listening to the Sean Miller Coach You Show
from Billy Bistro, Marymount in fifty five PRC and the
Varsity Network, Welcome back to the Sean Miller Show or
Jillary Bistro and Mary Matt coach.

Speaker 4 (32:54):
We talked about a lot of the seniors, but we
haven't mentioned Davy. He's been with the program two years
and just.

Speaker 3 (33:05):
Been rock solid, rock solid.

Speaker 4 (33:07):
I still don't think I've ever heard him say a word,
but he's been he's been steady. I don't think he's
ever missed the game in two years.

Speaker 3 (33:17):
Or He's very durable, very dependable, and really it's let's
say the best for last. In a lot of ways
that you know, Daveon represents a lot of things that
when we recruit moving forward, that we're going to look
for and every day person, in every day player, somebody
that never cuts a corner, whether it be in a
player development, in the weight room, or in practice. And

(33:39):
then in terms of the games, you know, whether a
year ago we were always fighting uphill, he played all
the way to the end, and then this year, you know,
regardless of whether we're winning, we're losing, how it's going,
he just he's always the same in terms of steady,
plays to win, cares a lot about winning. And you know,
one thing that's that he's done a great job over

(34:00):
the last month, and really it's been more than a
month but I think the last five weeks in particular,
he's turned it up. Is his defense, his ball pressure,
his effort level, it really has gone up, and it's
disrupted the other team. It's made us more difficult to
play against. You know, he leads our team in deflections,

(34:20):
him and Dalen Swain. He leads our team and steals
him and Dalen Swain, and a lot of times the
assignment that he has Byron is a difficult one when
you consider who he covers defensively, and I think that
sometimes you know, statistics are revealed on the offensive side,
but everybody in our program really respects what Daveyon's doing

(34:42):
every single day defensively. Coach.

Speaker 2 (34:45):
As you move to the tournament in New York at
Madison Square Garden, first of all, what's it like to
take a team into that building. I know, for even
the broadcasters, it's special to go in that building and
have the pleasure of broadcasting from Madison Square Garden.

Speaker 3 (34:59):
I mean, it's spectacular, you know. I think for a player,
it's it's just there on the same court that that
their their idols have always not only have played on it,
but their idols have said this is my favorite place
there's no place like Madison Square Garden. There's no place
like this arena, in particular in March. And they've heard

(35:21):
that from Michael Jordan, They've heard that from Lebron James,
They've heard that from you know, virtually every player that
plays in that building they leave it and say that
this is different, this is extra special. So now when
they have that opportunity, and remember earlier this year we
played Saint John's in a really good game, weren't able
to finish it, but each of our guys actually has
experience of at least playing in the building, which is good.

(35:43):
And I know they're excited for the Big East tournaments
as they should be.

Speaker 4 (35:47):
Coach in that turn biggiest tournament situation, when you're playing
consecutive games, what's one of the biggest challenges for you,
like after to advance, what's the biggest challenge as a staff,
Because I've heard you know coaching staffs, you know they
play on Monday, they got to play Tuesday, and sometimes
the coaches don't even go to bed, they're up all

(36:09):
night preparing their their teams and looking at films. What's
the biggest challenge as a staff for you with that
quick turnover.

Speaker 3 (36:17):
Yeah, I mean, I think it's it's really trying to
keep everybody on schedule and on point to leave the
game they just played and move moved to the next
challenge because there is no celebration. I mean, you just
you're quickly onto literally the scouting of the next game
because it's the next day, and you know, we work

(36:39):
ahead byron, so you know, for example, we will have
scouted Saint John's so that if we're fortunate enough to
beat Marquette the second that game ends, and if Saint
John's would be our next opponent, then we're locked and loaded.
We're ready to go in terms of like what we do,
what we need to work on, what we need to

(36:59):
talk to our guys about, the film will be virtually done.
So and that's the case with anyone that we could play.
So I think, you know, when you look at it,
we'll know, for example, I think it's the winner of
Villanova versus Seaton Hall maybe, so you know, once you
know the winner, it will be whether Villanova or Saint

(37:19):
John's wins, we would be ready to go for that.
Now that sounds good. But being able to get the
guys from the court to the locker room, to the bus,
to the hotel, back down to the room. Let them recover,
but let them say, fellas, it's go time. Here we
have the next game. So it's those games come very
very quickly. That's why an experienced group, a team that's

(37:41):
played in the tournament before, has an advantage. And I
like that for our team because we have a lot
of older guys that have been in conference tournaments and
they've gone through that experience before.

Speaker 2 (37:53):
Played a team for the third time, any special twister turns.

Speaker 1 (37:57):
No.

Speaker 3 (37:57):
I think we both know each other well and a
lot of times in that game, Joe, it's the team
that makes the hustle, plays that plays their very best.
You know they have the advantage.

Speaker 2 (38:07):
Yeah, you played them now for eighty minutes, the scores
tied and you won by two.

Speaker 3 (38:12):
They won by two, Yeah, no doubt.

Speaker 2 (38:13):
Yeah, and so pretty much you're skinting reports stay pretty
much the same.

Speaker 3 (38:17):
Though, it does, you know, I think Marquette, you know,
you have to be able to take care of the ball.
They force turnovers against Marquette. You have to keep them
off the offensive glass. They're a very deceptive offensive rebounding team.
They're not big, but They're very quick and athletic to
the ball and they get second shots. You know, they're
i think the third best offensive rebounding team and maybe

(38:39):
the second best team in terms of forcing turnovers. So
taking care of the ball and rebounding it, and I
think on our end, you know, playing great team defense,
it'll put us in a position to be there.

Speaker 2 (38:54):
All right, I think we're just about out of time.
I want to thank everyone for a great year here
at dell A Bistro. This has been a Sean Miller
show on fifty five KRC and the Varsity Network.

Speaker 1 (39:11):
Live from the Dilly Bistro in Merrimont. This has been
the Sean Miller Radio Show on the Xavier Sports Network
from Learfield, presented by Try Health. Try Health provides surprisingly
human care that drives the best health outcomes. Be seen,
be heard, be healed. Visit tryhealth dot com, bud Late,

(39:33):
Easy to Drink, Easy to Enjoy, and by Dilly Bistro,
presenting sponsor of the Sean Miller Radio Show. The preceding
has been a Learfield presentation on the Xavier Sports Network.