Xavier has, hopefully, hit their nadir and started back up.
When Saturday dawned Xavier was 91st in the NET. This was their lowest all-time ranking in college basketball’s reasonably new system. The Musketeers had dropped two games to Q3s and missed a golden chance to knock off Houston. As we’ve mentioned before, the de facto cut line for the NET and selection on Selection Sunday is 38th. Xavier couldn’t see that with the Webb Telescope.
What a difference a day (or weekend) makes, though. Xavier has bounced all the way back up to 67th in the NET after knocking off Q1 Cincinnati. Beating the Bearcats wasn’t just hilarious and fun, it in some ways redeemed a real slog of a non-conference schedule. Oakland and Delaware were a bit much, the mediocre mid-major across the city not only wasn’t able to win, they may have just snapped X out of their funk.
Xavier wasn’t the only team that went out and helped Xavier, though. Remember how St. Mary’s was supposed to be good this year, then they weren’t? They went to Colorado St., 16th in the NET and undefeated at the time, and won. That jumped the Gaels up to a Q2, which meant that Xavier grabbed a Q1 and Q2 win on the same day.
Xavier is not in a position where they are sitting pretty for a bid. 67th in the NET, 45th in KenPom, and 57th in Torvik isn’t impressing anyone just yet. However, the Musketeers are no longer in a position where their season appears to be teetering on the brink. Beat Winthrop to end the non-con and Big East play will offer plenty opportunities to put things right. In just one day, Xavier crawled right back into this thing.