We’re back!
The bracket has been revealed and the Muskies are back! Xavier drew the 3 seed in the Midwest region, playing on Friday in Greensboro, North Carolina. Xavier will take on the 14 seed Kennesaw State Owls out of the Atlantic Sun. The Owls went 15-3 in the conference regular season and were tied with Liberty for the top of the league. They knocked off Queens and Lipscomb on their way to the conference final and eeked out a thrilling 67-66 win over Liberty to win the automatic bid.
A quick scout on the Owls shows they’re small, shallow, and extremely experienced. They are 58th in the nation in D1 experience and 2nd in minutes continuity; this group has been playing together for a while. They don’t shoot a ton of threes, but they shoot them well and get to the line. On defense, they’ll try to force turnovers and seal off the glass through gang rebounding. They don’t contest the arc very much at all.
We’ll have a full preview of the game and breakdown of Xavier’s entire pod, as well as looks at the region and the bracket as a whole in the coming days; stay tuned. In the meantime, what matters is that it’s Selection Sunday and Xavier has once again heard their name called. Back on the tracks.