Busting Brackets
Fansided

NCAA Basketball: Biggest takeaways from 2019 Charleston Classic

By Tristan Freeman

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - MARCH 15: Andrew Nembhard #2 of the Florida Gators celebrates in the game against the LSU Tigers during the Quarterfinals of the SEC Basketball Tournament at Bridgestone Arena on March 15, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - MARCH 15: Andrew Nembhard #2 of the Florida Gators celebrates in the game against the LSU Tigers during the Quarterfinals of the SEC Basketball Tournament at Bridgestone Arena on March 15, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
5 of 5
Next
CINCINNATI, OH – NOVEMBER 15: Quentin Goodin #3 of the Xavier Musketeers looks back out on the court after colliding into the bench during the second half against the Missouri State Bears at Cintas Center on November 15, 2019 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
CINCINNATI, OH – NOVEMBER 15: Quentin Goodin #3 of the Xavier Musketeers looks back out on the court after colliding into the bench during the second half against the Missouri State Bears at Cintas Center on November 15, 2019 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /

Xavier – Needs more production outside of its “Big 3”

The returning key players for the Musketeers have all played as well as we expected them to. Paul Scruggs, Naji Marshall and Tyrique Jones are all averaging over 14 ppg and have taken turns being the lead scorers in any given game. But the defeat to Florida and even the UConn battle to a lesser extent showed a glaring weakness. Xavier needs all three of those players to play well to give them an edge. And if even just one struggles, this team can very well lose to any above-average program. Hence why Missouri and Missouri State pushed them earlier this season.

Quentin Goodin and stretch forward Jason Carter are the best bets to help out the trio of Musketeers, while the Musketeers are still waiting on the returning of freshman guard Kyky Tandy, who’s out with an injury. He would be a nice boost to a Xavier bench that has been underwhelming to say the least.

Florida – Gators are slowly getting things together

After almost losing to Saint Joe’s to start out the Charleston Classic, the Gators put things together to look the best they’ve looked in the early part of the season. Kerry Blackshear finally has gotten some help on the offensive end with Keyontae Johnson and Andrew Johnson scoring more. Scottie Lewis and Noah Locke hitting shots have finally opened up the offense to go along with an already solid defensive front.

Yet still, Florida doesn’t look like a Final Four/national title team at the moment. And maybe they aren’t supposed to. Outside a senior grad transfer Blackshear, this is still a very young team overall who needs plenty of time in order to get things to gel. Five-star freshman Tre Mann has really struggled so far but look for him to eventually get things going.

Next. Biggest takeaways of the week. dark

While some teams look like juggernauts out of the gate, others don’t start working things out until January/February. With all its youth, Florida might just be one of those teams. But when they go on that big run during SEC play, watch out for all the bandwagon supporters to come back after dubbing the Gators as the preseason team to beat.

Home/NCAA Basketball News