Elite Again!

[George Remus]

Xavier University Men’s Basketball team finished the 2007-08 season with the school’s second Elite 8 appearance and a record number wins, finishing with 30 in what many considered Xavier’s best team of all time.

While the debate on whether this past season was Xavier best all time, there certainly is no debate on how great the season turned out or how wonderfully Xavier played throughout the course of the year.

Going into November 2007, Xavier was set to take on one of its most challenging non-conferencing schedules facing it without Justin Doellman, Justin Cage and Brandon Cole. They were blessed with a very talented and veteran backcourt however in Drew Lavender and Stanley Burrell along with other returnees that provided much enthusiasm to fans and high expectations by the team and coaches.

Xavier would begin the season unranked but not with any internal doubt that they belonged among the elite in college basketball. Xavier started the year looking a bit shaky going 2-1 with a last second loss to local rival Miami (OH). While losses to Miami at Miami were not uncommon over the last 15 years, fans and players alike were some what shocked and concerned by the early set back. Questions immediately arose as to how good would Xavier be away from Cintas.

Those feelings were quickly set aside with Xavier’s impressive results from the Chicago Invitational Challenge over the Thankgiving weekend. First, Xavier outlasted what would become an NCAA participant and MAC Champ Kent State team in impressive fashion. Xavier then faced its first real test of the season, Indiana. IU led by an impressive returning core and ballyhooed freshman phenom Eric Gordon was ranked in the top 10 nationally going into the game and would rip off an impressive number of wins in the non-conference schedule before a coaching scandal torpedoed their chances for a deep NCAA run.

Derrick Brown set the tone early with one of his (ordinary for him) spectacular dunks over IU big men and Xavier played like the top 10 team that day, holding IU and Gordon in check, beating IU by 15. This win gave the team confidence that would last for the next few months and gave fans the first glimpse of what Xavier might be capable of on the national scene. It also served as Stanley Burrell’s defensive coming out party as it would be the first of many outstanding defensive efforts over the course of the season.

Xavier then beat up on two decent “buy game” teams at Cintas before finally getting revenge and a much needed series win over Creighton. The team was looking good and fans were pumped as XU was 7-1 going into the annual Crosstown Shootout against UC at Cintas.

With its first top 25 ranking of the year, Xavier headed into the Shootout as heavy favorites over a rebuilding UC program. Those not familiar with the rivalry expected a double digit win for Xavier but those that follow both programs and the previous year’s game had to know that this game would come down to the wire.

UC took Xavier’s early punches but never allowed XU to go on one of their patented runs to blow the game open. To UC’s credit, they slowed the tempo and fought for every loose ball and really out toughed Xavier all around for 37 minutes. To Xavier’s credit, the team finally came around in the late minutes to grab the victory from the jaws of defeat.

The win opened up questions once again from fans on exactly how good was Xavier. Concerns arose not so much on the final score of the game but to how hard Xavier played over 40 minutes in a big rivalry game.

Concerns would mount as Xavier would then travel to play at Arizona State and proceed to lose by 20 while looking lost offensively for the entire second half. While it was only XU’s second loss all season, it was the first true road test since their loss at Miami and the same result was disconcerting for fans and players alike.

Xavier would return to Cintas to play its toughest non-conference opponent of the year in top 5 Tennessee. Xavier would lose again but they looked much better and had chances late to pull the upset. A loss here was not devastating by any stretch of the imagination but it did make XU’s last 4 games extremely important for positioning in the RPI and nationally rankings as well as providing Xavier with a nice cushion and confidence heading in to A10 play.

As the stretch run of the non-conference season began, Xavier would proceed to blow out Delaware St. Kansas State, UVA and Auburn. The most impressive win was on a neutral court over KSU which featured one of the best players in the country in freshman Michael Beasley. Beasley would go onto be a first team All-American and runner-up for National Player of the Year. Beasley was held significantly under his average for points per game and would not factor as XU won easily at US Bank Arena. Xavier would finish their non-conference campaign at a very healthy 12-3 and looking like a solid NCAA team.

The Atlantic 10 Conference was coming off yet another unimpressive collective performance in the 2007 conference season but going into league play, the A10 was looking dramatically different and boasting its best RPI in years with experts predicting as many as 5 NCAA teams from the A10 on Selection Sunday. Clearly, Xavier would not be facing an easy task against the A10 this season as UMASS, Rhode Island, St. Joe’s and Dayton looked like legitimate contenders to take Xavier’s Regular Season A10 crown. Even the traditional bottom feeders looked vastly improved and fans expected nightly wars in the next three months to be the norm. The teams that would distance themselves from the pack would clearly be some of the best in not only the league but the country as well.

The Musketeers would quickly jump out 2-0 winning two home wins before dropping another road game at Temple. The Temple loss, Xavier’s fourth of the season would serve as a wake-up call and spring board for Xavier. Refocused on the task at hand, Xavier would reel off 11 straight A10 wins, distancing themselves from the pack, solidifying their at large resume and sky rocketing through the national polls. Not all of the wins were as impressive as other’s and many came down to the wire like the last second Derrick Brown tip in at SLU. There were blowouts and come from behind wins such as SJU which would become signature wins for XU that the NCAA committee would use to grade Xavier’s season come Selection Sunday.

The A10 conference season would end with a 14-2 record against many top 100 RPI teams and a few top 50 wins that would highlight Xavier’s resume as the big dance was quickly approaching. Xavier however still had to play in the A10 Championship Tournament in Atlantic City, with an automatic NCAA bid as the prize.

Heading to AC, Xavier was a lock for the NCAA Tournament and was simply playing to improve their seed. Looking for its first 2 seed, Xavier would have to play Dayton for the third time this season and 6th time in a two year period. Dayton, which started out on fire, struggled in conference play do to some injuries, would be fighting for the NCAA lives as they clearly need more wins to feel safe on Selection Sunday. Xavier would once again prevail, extending their dominance over their in state rival and most likely putting an end to Dayton’s NCAA hopes.

Next up would be another three time opponent in St. Joe’s. Xavier split the conference series with both winning home games. While Xavier was an NCAA tournament lock, SJU needed a big win and looked for Xavier to provide it. Xavier would comply ending its chances of winning both the Regular Season Title and Post Season Title for 2008. Regardless of the loss, Xavier had put together a very impressive NCAA resume over a 4 month period. Fans and the team hoped for a 3 seed but nothing was guaranteed for another few days.

Selection Sunday finally arrived and Xavier was in a great position to breathe easy as the brackets were announced, knowing they were in and simply awaiting their seed and first round opponent. The committee awarded Xavier with a 3 seed, its best seed ever and only the second 3 seed in school history but paired Xavier with a very hot Georgia team in the first round.

Georgia was coming into the tournament as one of the hottest team in the country. Having no hope for any post season, Georgia would make a miraculous run through the SEC Conference and a tornado that would force them to play two games in one day. They would win 4 straight and earn the automatic bid as SEC Champs.

The first round game between Xavier and Georgia would also be the first game of the three week long tournament. Playing in D.C. Xavier would struggle for the first 30 minutes against Georgia before finally putting things together to pull out a come from behind win, 73-61. Whatever the reason for Xavier’s lackadaisical play against Georgia, Xavier would not have much time to dwell on it as they were now set to face a young but talented Purdue team in round two.

Going into the second game of the tournament, Xavier was presented with a chance to earn the schools third Sweet 16 appearance as well as validate their overall body of work to date. For Xavier to call this season an overall success they would need to beat Purdue and prove to themselves how truly good they could be.

Xavier would play much better against Purdue than they did against Georgia as Purdue star Robbie Hummel would be held in check allowing XU to advance to just their third Sweet 16 in school history. C.J. Anderson and Drew Lavender each scored 18 points, Josh Duncan had 16, Stanley Burrell added 11 and two other Musketeers scored eight apiece in an 85-78 victory that carried Xavier into the semifinals of the West Regional. Xavier would shoot 54 percent and break the single-season school record for wins (29). Next up would be 7th seed West Virginia, a surprise winner over 2nd seeded Duke.

Somehow, someway, Xavier and Bob Huggins are cosmically linked as the WVU head coach cannot seem to escape his long time nemesis from his days as Cincinnati’s head coach. This time the stakes were as high as ever as the winner would go to the Elite 8 and the loser would go home. Xavier was looking to makes its second Elite 8 in five seasons and continue to build its national reputation as one of the true big time programs in the country. Huggins was looking to highlight his resume with another Elite 8 to the three he reached while coaching UC.

When the game finally started, Xavier would come out on fire from behind the arc and defensively building an 18 point halftime lead. As we all would soon find out, however, the game was far from over as Huggins made halftime adjustments and West Virginia whittled away at Xavier’s lead.

WVU would take their first lead with less than 10 minutes to go in the second half and Xavier’s swagger was replaced with desperation as their once commanding lead was now gone. Xavier and WVU would exchange leads and ties for the next several minutes but Josh Duncan would hit two free throws for two of his 26 points to put Xavier ahead with 1:28 to play.

Both teams went a bit cold until WVU’s star Alexander hit a 15 footer over Jason Love with :42 seconds remaining to tie the score at 64. Alexander was also fouled on the shot giving him a chance to take the lead with a bonus free throw shot. Alexander missed the shot in unbelievable fashion keeping Xavier’s hopes alive. Lavender would miss XU’s last shot attempt at the buzzer sending the game into overtime.

The early part of overtime would belong to WVU as they would build a six point lead mid way through the overtime session. B.J. Raymond (who was held scoreless in regulation) would hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to put the Musketeers ahead 75-74 with 1:18 to play. He then shook loose on an inbounds play, took a crosscourt bounce pass from Stanley Burrell and made a 3 with the shot clock expiring for a 78-74 lead with 30 seconds left. That shot will go down as one of the best in Xavier history and sealed the victory and second Elite 8 appearance for Xavier.

Very few programs can boast what Xavier has accomplished in the last 5 to 10 years but even with all they have accomplished on and off the court in that time, there are two things eluding them at this point. One is a Final 4 appearance and the other is a National Championship. With their win over WVY, XU was on the brink of realizing one of its longtime goals of making the Final 4. All that stood in the way was the #1 seed UCLA Bruins with Final 4 appearances in the last two years, the richest history in all of college basketball and some extremely talented players including freshman standout Kevin Love.

UCLA would prove to be just too much for Xavier in the end as they would make their 3rd straight Final 4 at Xavier’s expense. Only one team goes home as a winner from the NCAA’s each year and hopefully one year Xavier will be that team. Xavier’s 30-7, A10 Regular Season Title and Elite Eight participant team will forever be considered one of the greatest in the program’s history. Their ability to improve from year to year and from the start of the season through the end is a sign of great coaching and player development. Xavier’s future is bright and it is indeed a very exciting time to be a Musketeer fan.

[muskieman]

When did all this happen!

[gundun]

Thanks for bringing back such wonderful memories with that excellent review of the season.

[_LH]

Nice recap. I am already looking forward to November.