NCAA Basketball: Top 25 team frontcourts for 2022-23 season

21. Xavier Musketeers

In the 2020-21 season, the best player on that Xavier roster was Zach Freemantle, who averaged 16.0 ppg. But last year, Freemantle took a big step back in favor of Iowa transfer Jack Nunge, who was supposed to be a role player but turned out to be a big nice surprise for the frontcourt.

Nunge was playing second fiddle at Iowa to Luka Garza before transferring over to Xavier but had a big impact at his new stop, averaging a team-high 13.4 ppg and 7.4 rpg. He had a career-high 31 points and 15 rebounds against Cincinnati and became the consistent go-to guy offensively down the stretch, going for double-digits in 14 of the final 15 games.

Freemantle’s stats did decline in favor of Nunge but he himself did get things going in the ladder half of the season. The big games he had in the NIT are hopefully a sign that the Musketeers can figure out how to use both, even if that means that Freemantle is just a 28 mpg 6th Man off the bench.

Also in the frontcourt is Jermone Hunter, a combo forward who split time between starting and coming off the bench, as well as backup big man Cesare Edwards. It’s a solid core that could flourish under new head coach Sean Miller and if Freemantle can get back to the 2020 version, Xavier can get back to the NCAA Tournament picture.