Can't stress how big that win against Florida was for the Musketeers.
Xavier all but locked up a tourney bid with that win at Florida.
We learned a lot about X on Saturday, here is the breakdown of what we know.
--- Xavier showed the tournament committee exactly what it wanted to see. It wanted to know that Xavier could win against a top opponent on the road. They were 0-7 in previous games away from Cintas against projected tourney teams.
No more.
Also, as Pat Forde points out, the resolve it showed in holding strong when Florida pulled even was very impressive.
The committee also wanted to know that X could win big games out of conference. At Florida is no easy place to play and the Musketeers were clearly the better team all day.
Jerry Palm currently has Xavier as a No. 7 seed. So does Joe Lunardi.
--- When Xavier plays defense, it can compete with any team in the country. The problem is they haven't done it consistently enough, particularly rebounding.
You can trace much of that back to the production of Jamel McLean, maybe the Muskies' most inconsistent player.
On Saturday, he was a manimal with 13 rebounds (tied for career high), including countless clutch boards down the stretch as X pulled away. He added 8 points and two blocks.
If you look back at Xavier's last five losses, McLean has not made a significant impact in four of those.
Against Wake Forest he blew up for 21 points and 10 rebounds in the double OT loss. (Probably the best XU as a team played in any of its losses this year.)
Other than that, McLean posted these numbers:
Loss at Kansas State: 4 points, 7 rebounds in 17 minutes
Loss at Butler: 0 points, 0 rebounds in 3 minutes
Loss at Temple: 4 points, 8 rebounds in 19 minutes
Loss at Dayton: 7 points, 7 rebounds in 26 minutes
McLean dominating is in no way the deciding factor if the Musketeers win or lose games. They have won in spite of his poor efforts on multiple occassions. The first game against Dayton he managed but 2 points and 3 rebounds. He had 1 point and 5 rebounds against Cincinnati.
But when he does play well, he is the complement on offense to Jordan Crawford and on the boards to Jason Love that represents difference between making the tournament and making a run in the tournament.
You can argue the three most impressive wins on Xavier's schedule not counting the UC game are:
Convincing win against Rhode Island: 16 points, 8 rebounds
Blowout of LSU: 10 points, 10 rebounds
Win vs. Florida: 8 points, 13 rebounds.
If McLean can become a consistent force down the stretch, that could be all Xavier needs to match its postseason run of 2009.
--- Did I mention that Jordan Crawford can close? Yeah, I did. And he did it again against Florida. His and-1 bucket in the final minute absolutely broke the Gators.
He does it every close game.
I just don't see him failing in March when every game is close.
--- The rest of the way for Xavier presents a nice balance of opportunity and winnable games.
2/17: St. Joseph's (9-16). They are 1-9 on the road this season. Should be easy win.
2/20: at Charlotte (18-6), one of the toughest places in basketball to play. 49ers are 8-2 in conference. They are 9-1 at home this year including a win over Temple. This will be a tough one, but they can afford a loss thanks to win against Florida.
2/24: at Saint Louis (16-8), this is no picnic, the Billikens are 13-1 at home. They just beat a red-hot Dayton team there in double OT this weekend. Realistically, X just needs to split this and Charlotte.
2/28: Richmond (20-6). While you were sleeping, Richmond moved into first place in the A-10. The Spiders are no walkover, even for X at home. Just ask Rhode Island. But as good as X has been at the Cintas Center, they will be favored heavily here.
3/3: At Fordham (2-21). A starting lineup of Kenny Frease, Brad Redford, Andrew Taylor, Jeff Robinson and C. Trent Rosecrans wins this game. I predict CTR with a tip-in at the buzzer.
3/6: St. Bonnies (10-13): This should be a nice Senior Day blowout for Jason Love.
Xavier following suit and splitting the tough two-game road stretch and winning at home -- where they have run off 29 in a row -- that puts them at 22-8 and 13-3 in one of the more difficult conferences in the country.
A nice run in Atlantic City at the A-10 tourney and you could see Xavier going as high as a No. 3/4 and probably no lower than 7/8.
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