Pictures from Wednesday's Practice

The Musketeers practiced at Guillermo Angulo Coliseum on Wednesday in preparation for the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, which begins on Thursday for Xavier against Missouri.



Head Coach Sean Miller addresses the team.



Half-court drills.



(From left to right): C.J. Anderson, Brad Redford, and Terrell Holloway (52) run through a drill as B.J. Raymond (11) looks on.



The Musketeers run through their offense in half-court drills.

Xavier vs. Toledo Live Blog

UPDATE 7:42: Toodle-EE-Do got off to a quick start and led 4-3 at the 18:20 mark but the Musketeers regrouped with a 7-0 run.

UPDATE 7:58: One of the refs just whistled Dante Jackson for a carry. I wonder how they determine when to call that one. Meanwhile, Toldedo has cut the lead to three with 10:10 to go. Seven turnovers in the early going for XU.

UPDATE 8:06: Toledo's Justin Anyijong just went on his very own 7-o run to knot the game up but Jamel McLean answered with a couple of dunks to energize the crowd and, more importantly, reclaim the lead for XU.

UPDATE 8:22: Great finish to the half for the Musketeers. It was tied at 15 and the next thing you know Xaiver is going into the half with 36-19 lead. Not bad.

UPDATE 8:48: Toledo cut the Musketeer lead to 15 after a jumper by Tyrone Kent and a three from Anthony Byrd but XU answered the with a three of its own by BJ Raymond. With the lead back out to 18, 42-24, the Rockets called for a timeout. Out of the break, the Rockets immediatly turned the ball over - the Xavier "D" is too much!

UPDATE 9:04: Over a two-minute span neither team was hitting from the floor, with only one field goal going in for the Rockets. All seven of Xavier's points during this stretch came from the line, including a perfect 4-f0r-4 from Terrell Holloway.

UPDATE 9:07: And what a jinx that was... Holloway missed his next free throw... and then was called for a foul.

UPDATE 9:16: BJ Raymond just committed a cardinal sin... fouled a very hot-handed Tryone Kent as he made a three for the Rockets. Kent made his free throw. But... BJ answered right back with a three of his own. Musketeers still in control, 64-47.

UPDATE 9:30: Kent continues to light up Cintas as he hit back-to-back 3's for the Rockets... he now has 29 points. But with 3:16 left seems like his effort may be for naught. XU leads, 73-56.

UPDATE 9:35: Now the question is: Will Kent break a record tonight? Two more 3's and he's now got 35... he finally missed a shot with just over a minute remaining.

UPDATE 9:40: Confirmed, Kent has broken Delonte West's record for most points scored by an opponent's player in Cintas Center. West scored 33 on Jan. 17, 2004 when he was playing for the then-No. 1 ranked Saint Joseph's Hawks. Kent scored only five points in the first half - and 32 in the second for a new record 37 points.

In the end, Xavier comes out on top, 65-81.

Xavier vs. IPFW Live Blog

Xavier
Brown
Raymond
Anderson
Jackson
Love

IPFW
Daniels
Botts
Carson
Yearby
Mocevic

UPDATE 7:36: Full house here at Cintas Center for the Musketeers' 2008-09 season opener. The new intro video put together by technicallyl savvy Chris Schaaf really got the crowd fired up.

UPDATE 7:40: Anderson gets XU its first field goal of the night ... IPFW has turned the ball over three times in the first two minutes.

UPDATE 7:45: Big time play there by Frease ... he took a rebound away from a Don made a strong move and dunked it with one hand. Gotta love that.

UPDATE 7:54: The McCallister's Trivia Question is pretty unbelieveable ... Xavier men's basketball has graduated every senior since 1986. That's a lot of guys.

UPDATE 8:10: Xavier is really suffocating the Dons .... IPFW is shooting just 14.3 percent from the floor and has turned the ball over nine times. It's not like IPFW is missing a bunch of open shots, XU is contesting everything.

UDPATE 8:51: Well this one is all over but the cheering ... Xavier leads by 27 with under 14-minutes to go. If IPFW comes back this post will be the worst jinx of all time.

Xavier vs. Findlay Live Blog

Xavier
G - Jackson
G - Raymond
C - Love
F - Brown
F - Anderson

Findlay
G - Parker
G - Lewis
C - Bostic
F - Roberts
F - Evans

Notes: Tonight's game will be the only exhibition contest of the season for Xavier. Findlay comes into tonight's showdown ranked No. 1 in Division II ... XU also played a closed scrimmage against Akron last Saturday but that can't be publicized any further, even in the blogosphere.

UPDATE 7:04: Pretty good crowd tonight and a good student turnout. I will guess the attendance number is somewhere in the neighborhood of 7,000.

UPDATE 7:06: Derrick Brown wins the tip ... you have to think he will win most of those this year.

UPDATE 7:08: XU has a bit of a beef/height advantage tonight and early rebound numbers exhibit that ... 4-0 Xavier.

UPDATE 7:13: First look at the highly-touted Terrell Holloway and Kenny Frease. The big fella get called for an illegal screen as he one of Findlay's players has a bruised kidney now.

UPDATE 7:21: A fast break dunk by Jamel McLean caps a 14-3 Xavier run and brings the crowd to its feet. The new guys look good in the early goings.

UPDATE 7:32: Kenny Frease just slammed it home, but was immediately called for a technical foul. Frease laughed it off, but Dante Jackson and B.J. Raymond had a few words to offer. The crowd didn't care, they loved the dunk, cheering "KENNY FREASE... KENNY FREASE."

UPDATE 7:46: Findlay is as good as advertised and plays an aggressive brand. The Oilers are 7-of-9 from the free throw line while Xavier is only 1-of-4. A big part of XU's game over the last couple year has been making more free throws than its opponent attempts and Findlay is making that tough. On a side note, does anyone know why Findlay's mascot is an Oiler?

UPDATE 8:05: Xavier leads 37-23 at the break. I thought this would be a good time to remind you about this year's halftime lineup, which was discussed on The X Blog here. Oh how I wish Red Panda was riding around on her unicycle right now.

UPDATE 8:19: A little attitude on this Findlay team. After a thunderous backdoor dunk, Josh Bostic got in Frease's face and got a little verbal. The official immediately lit him up with a technical. Just adding to the flavor.

UPDATE 8:35: B.J. Raymond just hit two straight three-pointers, making a calming motion with his hands and saying "I got it." XU leads 55-39 with 11 minutes left to play, so it sure looks like it.

UPDATE 8:43: Brad Redford checked in and buried two free throws then drained a 3-pointer from about three feet behind the line.

UPDATE 8:52: Tight sneakers now after Morgan Lewis has scored five straight points, cutting the Xavier lead to three points with under five-minutes to go.

UPDATE 9:18: This blogger thought that desperation 3-pointer had a chance and it did draw some iron. Lots of turnovers for XU but there is plenty of time to get that tightened up. Thanks for reading.

FSN's Men's Basketball Season Preview Schedule

As many of you probably know, FSN will be producing a pregame show before each of its XU men's basketball broadcasts. FSN also put together a season preview and it will air at the following times ...

November 9 at 4 p.m.
November 10 at 8 p.m.
November 11 at 12 p.m.
November 12 at 3 p.m.
November 13 at 9 p.m.

Vote for Cintas Center as the Nation's "Toughest Place to Play"

For the first time ever, EA SPORTS will be naming one NCAA school's home venue the "Toughest Place to Play" in college basketball. We are told that Cintas Center has received a lot of votes and is currently in the top five.

Just when you thought you were done with elections ...

VOTE HERE

Sean Miller Upcoming Appearances On TV/Radio

Xavier men's basketball coach Sean Miller will be in studio with Paul Daugherty for WLW's SportsTalk on Wednesday night from 8-9 p.m. Miller will be a guest on WKRC-TV's "The Sports Authority" on Sunday night, November 9.

Some WBB News This Afternoon

In between watching college football and cleaning up after any Halloween-related mess, keep an eye out for the first edition of this season's AP women's basketball poll. It may just be of particular interest for Xavier fans.

Findlay Exhibition Game Will Be On Radio

The Nov. 7 exhibition game against the University of Findlay will be broadcast on 700 WLW with Joe Sunderman and Byron Larkin calling the action. This will also be the premier of a new pre-game format that will include a player interview in addition to the pre-game thoughts of Sean Miller.

Xavier radio broadcasts are a productions of Xavier Sports Properties, which is a division of Learfield Sports.

Media Week Continues

Xavier held a media Day yesterday in conjunction with A-10 Media Day. Today began three consecutive days of one-one-one interview sessions with Sean Miller, the assistant coaches and the veteran players for use on the upcoming preseason show (premiers on Nov. 9) and half hour pre-game shows on Fox Sports Ohio. Show host Ray Crawford and producer Brian Hunterman sat down with Miller, Jamel McLean, Dante' Jackson, Jason Love and Andrew Taylor. Afterwards they taped a good portion of the afternoon practice session in the auxiliary gym. Fox Sports Ohio wasn't the only media around today. Mike DeCourcy of The Sporting News took in today's session. It looks like he'll be back at Cintas Center for one of XU's early games, most likely Toledo on Nov. 17.

There's more FS Ohio stuff on tap the rest of the week. Tomorrow will be sit-downs with C.J. Anderson, B.J. Raymond and Derrick Brown as well as Athletic Director Mike Bobinski. Friday the assistant coaches will share their thoughts with FS Ohio.