Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK The men’s basketball tournament is the NCAA’s biggest showpiece, and they messed it all up. The tournament is finally here. Xavier isn’t in it, nor should they be, but the glorious bracket has been unveiled, the seeding has been analyzed, and the talking heads have talked. It was a great Selection Sunday, because all … [Read more...] about What was the committee thinking?
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Xavier obliterates Butler by four to advance in the Big East Tournament
The star of the first half, or all of us when Des pulls from three. | Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK It’s all binary from here on out, and on a scale of win to lose, X landed on the correct side. This is a game that played out over 40 minutes as a narrative, with fits and starts from both teams as the balance swung this way and that before finding an … [Read more...] about Xavier obliterates Butler by four to advance in the Big East Tournament
Big East Tournament Preview: Taking on Goliath
He’s yelling at a ref? That’s weird | Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports There are hurdles on the way to the tournament and then there is this game, a veritable high jump. Well, to be (in the tournament with) the best you have to beat the best. In order to win the Big East tournament and earn a shot at the auto-bid, Xavier was going to have to beat UConn at some point. That … [Read more...] about Big East Tournament Preview: Taking on Goliath
Xavier wasn’t as good as UConn today
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports This wasn’t entirely unforeseeable, but it still wasn’t fun to watch. The last gift this undermanned, battered iteration of the Musketeers gave to the fan base was hope. They came out of the gate like demons, pressuring UConn all over the floor, making shots, and sustaining an incomprehensible level of energy. Des got a bucket and an assist. … [Read more...] about Xavier wasn’t as good as UConn today
Xavier v. Butler: Big East Tournament preview, matchups, keys to the game
Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK There’s no way out but through for the 2023-24 Muskies. “Half a league, half a league, half a league, onward,” wrote Alfred, Lord Tennyson, regarding the ill-fated Charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean in 1854. The victims of a misunderstood or miscommunicated order, the nearly 700 British cavalrymen were cut down by … [Read more...] about Xavier v. Butler: Big East Tournament preview, matchups, keys to the game