Busting Brackets
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Big East Basketball: Preseason conference power rankings 2023-24

By Jerran Anderson

Apr 8, 2023; Hartford, CT, USA; UConn Huskies fans line the streets for parade through downtown Hartford in the teams honor after winning the NCAA Championship. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 8, 2023; Hartford, CT, USA; UConn Huskies fans line the streets for parade through downtown Hartford in the teams honor after winning the NCAA Championship. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports /
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Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports /

6. Xavier Musketeers

Last season: 27-6, 15-5 in the Big East

The Xavier Musketeers lost just six games all season and went 15-5 in the Big East as head coach Sean Miller finds his stride in the coaching ranks after a two-year hiatus. The Musketeers could see some growing pains in Coach Miller’s second season with just four players returning from last year’s Sweet 16 squad.

Zach Freemantle, Jerome Hunter and Desmond Claude are the leading returners while Quincy Olivari (Rice), Dayvion McKnight (Western Kentucky), Abou Ousmane (North Texas) and freshmen Trey Green, Dylan Swain and Reid Ducharme look to contribute in a big way on a newly-built rotation.

Freemantle and Hunter have already both been lost for the 2023-24 season, though. It will be paramount for the Musketeers to build chemistry right away with their new blood out of the portal.

Olivari is a sure-fire guard who can fill a role after finishing with 18.7 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 2.2 apg and 1.0 spg on 36.4 percent shooting from deep. McKnight is another guard of the Conference USA’s Western Kentucky who can fill another guard spot after posting 16.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 3.8 apg and 1.8 spg in 2022-23. Ousmane can fill the center role at 6-foot-10 after he put up 11.1 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 1.3 bpg and 1.1 apg on 48.7 percent shooting from the floor. Ducharme and Swain will have to grow up in a big way in the frontcourt for Xavier to find success with their veteran experience out indefinitely.

The Musketeers finished second in the conference standings and made the Sweet 16 in this past year’s NCAA Tournament but with a lot of the roster gone and a lot of question marks, they find themselves just outside the Top 5 at No. 6 in the preseason conference power rankings heading into a new season.

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