2014 NCAA Tournament Profile: Xavier Musketeers

Record: 21-12

RPI: 49

BPI: 47

Conference: Big East Conference

How They Qualified: At-Large Berth

Region: Play-in for No. 12 in Midwest

 

The Big East is nowhere near as good as it was last season, but it still has some quality teams in it. The Xavier Musketeers are one of them.

Xavier has shown it can keep up with some of the best teams in college basketball in its first year in the Big East. I am sure no one questioned that entering the season as the Musketeers have made the NCAA tournament many times and have had many successful teams.

 

What You Need to Know:

Leading Scorer: Semaj Christon (17.1 ppg)

Leading Rebounder: Matt Stainbrook (7.3 rpg)

Leading Passer: Dee Davis (4.7 apg)

Bad Losses: USC, Seton Hall (twice)

Good Wins: Cincinnati, Tennessee, Creighton, Providence

 

Xavier has been on two three-game losing streaks this season, but it also went through a stretch where it won eight straight. During that streak, the Musketeers were able to knock off teams like Cincinnati and St. John’s.

Semaj Christon is going to have to be on his A game if Xavier is going to make a run, but you can say that about every team’s star player.

The Musketeers did not dance last season, but they did make it to the Sweet 16 the year before as a No. 10 seed. As we have seen many times over the years, it does not matter if you are a double-digit seed or one of the top ones in the tournament, any team can go down at any given time. Although being one of the higher seeds is nice, at least one double-digit seed seems to find its way in the Sweet 16 on a yearly basis.

Regardless, Xavier is no stranger to the Big Dance and it is more than capable of doing some damage.

The Xavier Musketeers are dancing!

 

Trevor Lowry is a Senior Writer and Copy Editor at www.RantSports.com. If you’re a tweeter feel free to follow him @TheTrevorLowry or add him to your network on Google.