Xavier Musketeers: 17-7, 8-2 t-2^nd Atlantic-10

Xavier is a team I have kept a close eye on this season for good reason. This past summer a lot of commotion was made about a college kid dunking on LeBron James at a basketball camp run by the reigning. The dunk wasn’t a really big deal as LeBron was just late coming over to help but the kid showed some real stones. That kid is Xavier guard Jordan Crawford. Crawford leads Xavier with 19.6 points per game to go along with 4.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists a contest. He may need to improve his shot selection, but he still hits over 40% from three and almost 45% from the field. The transfer student from Indiana that sat out a year to come to Xavier seems ready to lead the Musketeers on a deep March run.

Key players on the roster include:

- F/C Jason Love, a four-year senior averaging 11 points and eight rebounds with 1.8 blocks a game. Love is shooting 59% from the field

- G Terrell Holloway, sophomore point guard has begun to find his game averaging over 11 points and 4 assists. He is also an 85% foul shooter which is key come tournament time.

Xavier has lost only to quality opponents this season (Wake Forest, Baylor, Marquette, Kansas State, Butler, Temple, and Dayton). Their key wins include: Cincinnati, Charlotte, Dayton, Florida, Rhode Island, MAC leader Kent State. The only blowout they had was at Dayton after the Musketeers had already beaten them this season.

Xavier is a scary team to face in this year’s tournament. If Jordan Crawford gets hot, most teams will have trouble. Good guard play is always the key in March as is good foul shooting. Those are two strengths of this Xavier team. I like Xavier to make it to the Sweet Sixteen as a 6 or 7 seed.