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Xavier Basketball: Can “core four” lead Musketeers to bounce-back season?

By Jacob Zinkula

(Photo by Frederick Breedon/Getty Images)
(Photo by Frederick Breedon/Getty Images) /
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JACKSONVILLE, FL – MARCH 21: An Xavier Musketeers fan poses before the Xavier Musketeers play the Georgia State Panthers during the third round of the 2015 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena on March 21, 2015 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
JACKSONVILLE, FL – MARCH 21: An Xavier Musketeers fan poses before the Xavier Musketeers play the Georgia State Panthers during the third round of the 2015 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena on March 21, 2015 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /

2018-19 was a transition season for Xavier Basketball. With a lot of returning talent, can the Musketeers have a bounce-back season?

(Credit to sports-reference and KenPom for statistics and BIG EAST Conference and Xavier Musketeers for GIFS)

Head coach Chris Mack led Xavier Basketball to the NCAA Tournament in 15/18 seasons going back to 2001. After taking the job at Louisville last offseason, the program missed the tournament for the first time since 2014 (NIT 3-seed).

To be fair to new head coach Travis Steele, the team lost a lot of contributors like Trevon Bluiett, JP Macura, Kaiser Gates and Kerem Kanter. This is likely part of the reason Mack felt like it was the right time to move on.

Despite an up-and-down 2018-19, the season provided valuable experience for some of the team’s younger players. The Musketeers return all but three players rotation players from last season’s team, and most importantly, each of its “core four” players: Quentin Goodin (rising senior), Naji Marshall (rising junior), Paul Scruggs (rising junior) and Tyrique Jones (rising senior).

It’s also worth noting that Xavier finished last season really strong. After starting 3-8 in the Big East, the Musketeers won 6/7 final conference games. The team was knocking on the door of a tournament appearance but fell in overtime to Villanova in the second round of the conference tournament. There’s a case to be made that Travis Steele and the “core four” finally got comfortable and that they should be able to carry the momentum over to this upcoming season.