Xavier coach Lostat Limbo has been shying away from all media appearances during Xavier's 1-8 skid. Since then Xavier has become the A10 punching bag - losing 5 of those 8 at a suddenly unforgiving home arena. (Xavier's
only win during that span came against non-conference team Northern Arizona.)
At times Coach Limbo has appeared despondent and apathetic to his teams' struggles, declining to comment during post-game conferences and scaling back his team's practice schedule. However, following a
hard fought victory against conference rival Duquesne (a team which annihilated Xavier at home in a
record 3-round loss), Coach Limbo once again approached a media eager for answers about Xavier's shocking free-fall.
"Coach Limbo - I think I speak for the entire room when I ask 'What the ufck happened???'""It boils down to this - we had a rough streak of home losses, a place where we've been accustomed to winning, and we let it get to us. *I* let it get to us and we lost our edge because of it. I let the team stop caring, because I stopped caring and, as a coach, you can't let that happen - you have to treat every game as if its your first and last."
"Coach - many speculated that Xavier's downfall began after your ejection from a close - and arguably winnable - road game against UMass. Comments?""Well, that certainly didn't help our cause, but I think the nail in the coffin was the 3 round loss to Duquesne at home. We've never gotten our asses handed to us that quick and it took us a few games to recover. By then it was too late - we couldn't hit our shots early on or find any momentum, much less put up an early lead. We were a sinking ship and Lady Luck wasn't doing us any favors. Sometimes she'll throw you a bone late in the game and give you an opportunity to climb back in it, but 2 of our 3 losses since Duquesne have come in only 5 rounds. We've had to adjust our gameplan accordingly and figure out how to start winning games in the first quarter."
"Coach - many noticed a distinct change in your attitude after the loss to #1-ranked Conference rival Rhode Island. Why did that loss have such an impact on you and the team?"We trained very hard for that game. We even worked out an arrangement with Rhode Island to practice at their arena. We studied lots of game film and put a lot of effort into being ready for them and it just wasn't enough. I had hoped an upset against such a powerhouse team would light a fire under our asses, but in hindsight, it was a terrible decision. I put too much pressure on the guys to beat a team that no one expected us to win and all that preparation for just Rhode Island, meant that we weren't ready for the games we could have won.
"Coach - will today's win over Duquesne result in a resurgence for Xavier?""One can hope, but I think we need a dominant win to get our momentum back heading into the playoffs and today's win was not that. We gave Duquesne several opportunities to take the game back from us - it was far too close for my taste. I'd like to say we're saving our best for last, but until we start catching some breaks, or at the very least start on an even keel, I can't make any realistic promises. In fact, our pending
loss to St. Joseph's is just more of the same - early advantage for our opponent and virtually no opportunity to get a leg up."
"Are you suggesting the season is lost?""I'm suggesting that we need a miracle and if its going to come, its now or never. No more questions."