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The MAC's favorite Mrs. Doubtfire lookalike is saying HELLOOOO! to Cincinnati. Rumors flew about this weekend and now the Cincinnati Enquirer's Shannon Russell confirmed that Matt Stainbrook, departing center for Western Michigan, will be taking the trip south to Xavier and play there. He'll sit out the 2012-13 season and be ready for 2013-14.
I don't know much about Xavier's style of play but I think anybody who saw a couple games remembers Kenny Frease, a gargantuan of a center (7-0, 275 according to the bio if you believe it). Stainbrook is shorter than Frease but just as much of a space eater (6-9, 290) and there are some concerns, from what I've read in XU message boards, that his style of play may not mesh well — but WMU's offense has roughly the same tempo.
Here's what I can tell XU fans: every game I saw Stainbrook play, either online or in person, he demonstrated an uncanny ability to dominate inside for for short spurts, but then either come physical or mental fatigue, became invisible. At times the Broncos had to lean on him for scoring and that's not necessarily his forte. If he's used for maybe 20 minutes a game to wear down an opposing power forward or get some offensive boards, he can certainly contribute. And the shots he takes are remarkably high percentage — his 58.0 FG% was tops in the MAC and in the top 100 nationally.
Fun sidenote: in 2010, Stainbrook's debut game was against Xavier: 10 points and seven rebounds in 27 minutes in a narrow three-point loss.