Rush The Court

Rush the Court will be providing wall-to-wall coverage of each of the NCAA Tournament from each of the 13 sites this year. Follow our NCAA Tourney specific Twitter accounts at @RTCEastregion, @RTCMWregion,@RTCSouthregion and @RTCWestregion.

Three Key Takeaways:

1. It Felt Like Weber State Was Good Enough to Hang With Xavier: The Wildcats were frequently in the game with the Musketeers tonight. They knocked a 15-point lead down to seven or eight points in both halves. They matched Xavier bucket for bucket to start the second half. These are very important ingredients to pulling off a monumental upset. Weber State had to be in the game or in control of the game to make it happen. At the very least, it competed successfully. Only at the very end of the game did Xavier pull away.
2. It Never Felt Like Weber State Was Going to Beat Xavier: As I said, the Wildcats matched the Musketeers shot for shot for much of the game, which also means they weren’t able to get stops and get out of their own way. Xavier controlled the boards (+16 advantage), but the Wildcats missed critical free throws (5-of-11) and got killed in the paint by (42-30 Xavier advantage). The upset was possible but ultimately incomplete.
3. Xavier’s Primed To Take Michigan State’s Vacated Spot as Potential Title Contender: I’m not saying the Musketeers have successfully claimed Michigan State’s throne as one of the top teams left in this Tournament, but their chances got a lot better tonight. So did Oklahoma’s. And Oregon’s. And a host of other clubs. An early exit from the Big East Tournament appears to be just that regarding the Musketeers and not indicative of a hangover effect.

Star of the Game: This honor goes to Musketeers’ big man James Farr. The senior went for 16 points and 15 rebounds (seven offensive rebounds!) while also showing us he can dunk and drop a skyhook with the best of them. He also had two blocked shots. All in a day’s work for the… Farr of the Game.

Quotables:

• “Boxing out Weber State’s frontcourt is a little bit like Villanova.” – Xavier forward Jalen Reynolds
• “”Jalen Reynolds.” – Xavier forwards Trevon Blueitt, James Farr and Remy Abell when asked who would win a dunk contest between the Incredible Hulk and teammate Jalen Reynolds.
• “Like I told him in the locker room, I told him, ‘I don’t have the words.’ Four years ago, he walked into our program a kid and is leaving our program a man.” – Weber State head coach Randy Rahe on departing senior Joel Bolomboy.

Sights and Sounds: The last game of the day in St. Louis gave us our least liveliest atmosphere, which was to be expected, but not in the Weber State cheering section. With under three minutes to play, the students began singing the hook to Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend.” It didn’t affect the final score of the game in any way but it’s nice to end the post on a silly note.

What’s Next: Xavier will take on Wisconsin after the conclusion of the Syracuse-Middle Tennessee State game on Sunday evening. The game will be broadcast on TNT.