Sean Miller has preached it all year. In the biggest game of the year, he got it
ALL IN has been defined various ways this season. Sean Miller himself has talked about it a lot. Last night, it meant that entire community of Xavier Nation needed to be all in.
And man Xavier was from before this game even started. It was the students camping at 7pm the night before. I don’t know about the weather in Cincinnati, but tonight up here last night got miserable. 30 mile an hour winds, temps in the low 20s, frozen precipitation. Gross. No matter, sometimes all in means risking a light case of hypothermia. And, of course, Sean Miller was there in the morning.
By the time Braydan was messaging us from his seat in a sea of white, the Cintas was absolutely rocking. I was stuck at work and wanted to watch, so I blocked all notifications on my phone (what are the odds there is an emergency at home?), turned off sports talk radio, and soldiered through in the quiet. Sometimes all in means one brother in the best atmosphere in college basketball and the other in a stony silence.
And then, the game. We talked on the podcast about the dread that comes with a big lead for Xavier. In the first half came a barrage. Dante Maddox stretched a four point lead to seven with a three made in his signature fashion. Then came the nightmare scenario, Xavier built an enormous lead on a 16-3 run. Jerome Hunter got his only bucket on a play that was pure effort (and probably an over the back), Dailyn Swain scored, and Ryan Conwell and Dante Maddox were blistering.
All in can mean a lot of things. Dante Maddox talked in episode four about how hard the adjustment for him had been. He was forthright about the challenges that come in changing from the being The Man to being part of a machine. His thankfulness for the opportunity and genuine desire to be a good teammate came through in the interview as he talked about supporting the team, being all in, while awaiting his chance.
That chance has come as the calendar swings toward the best part of the year. Dante two hand shoved Ryan Kalkbrenner, attacked him on the dribble, threw ludicrous passes, and launched his trademark shot with abandon. He punched Creighton in the first half, when they made a run in the second, he floored them with a three pointer and a beautiful feed to Zach Freemantle.
Or maybe it was Ryan Conwell who floored them. Some idiot on Twitter told us a couple weeks back “Conwell is horrible.” I hope his part of all in is admitting he was wrong. Some days, you can tell Conwell is on one. He and Maddox were a casual 7-10 from deep today. When Creighton cut it to eight, Conwell answered with a 5-0 run of his own. The mouth guard was out, he was gesturing to the crowd, it was confidence exuded. The guy just wasn’t missing his chance to win the big game. He and Dante fed off each other.
And somehow, we’re 584 words in without mentioning the leading scorer. No one questions how invested Zach Freemantle is. He’s battled back through multiple injuries in multiple seasons to get back to where he is. Where is he? Scoring 23 in a must win game. Creighton put Ryan Kalkbrenner on Dailyn Swain and dared Freemantle to beat them, so he did. 8-8 inside the arc, 23/6/3 with no turnovers, and a block made him the unquestioned game MVP. You have to wonder if Greg McDermott regrets his tactical decision now.
Speaking of that Sean Miller was brilliant in this game. Early on he threw a double team at Kalkbrenner every time he caught the ball in the post, then immediately had the defense in full rotation. That is neither easy nor normal. Kalkbrenner responded with three turnovers as he could not figure out where the open man or space would be. Jamiya Neal was frequently the bail out option. He turned the ball over another four times because Xavier dared him to be the guy who made the play. Something Miller saw convinced him Neal wasn’t up to it. He was right.
That meant Dailyn Swain had Kalkbrenner on him. For awhile, that looked inspired because Dailyn looked confused. He almost apologetically tried a couple threes, drove a couple times and looked surprised no one challenged him, then he sort of drooped his shoulders and got taken out. Then he came back in the game. His shot never started falling, but evidently someone told him that he can impact a game in a lot of ways, so he did. He hassled Neal, he suffocated poor Steven Ashworth for a couple possessions, he picked Kalkbrenner, and what he did to Isaac Traudt and Mason Miller was almost illegal. He was something of a roving defensive menace, just sort of drifting around, choosing victims at will. He finished with 10/7/5 and somehow made his 5-16 from the floor palatable.
Part of All In means all. So John Hugley battered Kalkbrenner and dished out three assists while not ever looking for his own shot. Jerome Hunter grabbed one of Xavier’s two offensive rebounds and stuck it back while also doing all the things he does. Marcus Foster? 3/3/5 with a block and a steal as he just continues to be a glue guy along the lines of Andre Walker.
We’ve poked fun (and wept) and Xavier being the best 30 minute team in the nation. Tonight they were brilliant for 36, struggled for four, and put together the game that they desperately needed. That community from the first paragraph showed up in a deafening wall of white and I’m quite certain the headaches from Dana’s are still reverberating this morning.