Bracketology 2024: Analyzing bubble resumes of 6 Big East at-large contenders

Xavier Musketeers - 13-12 (7-7)

Things looked rather uneasy in Cincinnati when top returning scorers Zach Freemantle and Jerome Hunter went down before the season even got underway. The worry was not without good reason, as Sean Miller and Co. were tasked with replacing 24 points per game from the previous year.

Second year guard Desmond Claude wasted no time seizing this opportunity. After averaging 4.7 points per game in limited minutes in 2022-23, the sophomore has boosted that number up to 15.8 in a starting role with the Musketeers.

The transfer portal was also a godsend for this group, acquiring three of the team’s top four scorers from across the nation. Former Rice Owl Quincy Olivari has led the way for this squad, averaging 19.1 points per game while maintaining an absurd .443 percentage from beyond the arc. His backcourt partner Dayvion McKnight, a transfer from Western Kentucky, slotted in seamlessly to chip in 12 points of his own alongside 4.9 assists.

Despite the positives from this cobbled-together roster, the Musketeers' season still leaves much to be desired. A difficult out of conference schedule put an early blemish on Xavier’s Quad 1 record (2-9) that never recovered. This, paired with a stretch in late November bookended by Quad 3 losses to Oakland (78-76) and Delaware (87-80) have pushed the team down to a NET rank of 54th.

It will be an uphill climb for the Musketeers as they try to snap their two-game losing slide and claw their way into tournament contention. The team now stares down a gauntlet of road matchups against Marquette, Butler and Georgetown, along with a pair of home games with Providence and DePaul. Unless this team can string all five together and finally prove they can hang among Big East’s elite, the goal of extra basketball might be dead for the Musketeers.