Let The Madness and Juicy Upsets Begin!

Tonight in Dayton is the play-in game between Alabama State and Morehead State. It's good to see Morehead get in the show, since a lot of my buds form Georgetown went to school there. Other alums from Morehead include Phil Simms and Wayne "Box" Miller. The winner of this game earns the right to get bludgeoned by Louisville Friday night. But some of the lesser seeds have a chance to advance. 11th seeded Utah State in the west takes on Marquette. Marquette lost 5 of its last 6 games and is playing without Dominic James. Utah St. won 30 games this season. That game is already on my upset alert. Also on the radar, 12th seeded Western Kentucky over 5th seeded and offensively challenged Illinois. Arizona is a 12 seed and will meet 5th seeded Utah. Arizona(19-13) sneaks into the field with an ugly overall record. The Wildcats lost 5 of their last 6, but 4 of those were on the road. And this team has talent, so watch out. Xavier's B.J. Raymond knows all about the pitfalls and upsets associated with the NCAA.



Xavier has the best seeding in the 4-team pod, but they still get shipped out to Boise instead of a trip up I-75 to U.D. Arena. But like Sean Miller says, the only thing that matters is that they are in.

Here's a link to the USA Today scouting report on Xavier's opponent, Portland State.
http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=app&sParam=33640860.story

Xavier in NCAA Tournament with 4 Seed

Xavier University will meet Portland State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The game will be played on Friday in Boise, Idaho. The game will tip off 7:25 p.m. Eastern, so the Musketeers get a little prime-time love. The fourth seeded Musketeers and thirteenth seeded Portland State are part of the East Region of the brackets.
Xavier (25-7) is making its fourth consecutive NCAA appearance. Last year the Musketeers were one win away from making it to the Final Four. They lost in the Elite Eight to U.C.L.A. This is Xavier's 20th NCAA bid, the 10th time the Musketeers have been included as an at-large bid.
Should Xavier win its' first round game, the Musketeers would play the winner of the Florida State-Wisconsin game.
Louisville claimed the overall number one seed. The Cardinals will play Friday in Dayton against the winner of the play-in game, Morehead State and Alabama State. Ohio State will also play Friday in Dayton. The Buckeyes claimed an 8 seed and will play Sienna. This sets up a potential match up of Louisville and Ohio State in round two.
The University of Dayton made the field as an at-large team. The 11th seeded Flyers will meet the 6th seeded West Virginia Mountaineers Friday in Minneapolis.

Christmas plays Grinch, steals tourney from "X"

Temple's Dionte Christmas made every big shot his team needed down the stretch. The Owls upset top seeded Xavier 55-53 in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament in Atlantic City.
Christmas scored 10 of his game high 20 in the final 6:16 of the game, including two late 3-pointers and a free throw with 7 seconds left to give temple a 4 point lead and put the game out of reach.
Xavier went through a 5 minute stretch late in the game without scoring. Derrick Brown's jumper gave the Musketeers a 3 point lead with 7:24 to play. By the time the Muskies scored again, Temple had built a 4 point lead.
The win keeps Temple perfect against the Musketeers in A-10 tournament play. Temple has won all 5 tournament meetings. Xavier (25-7) will now enter the NCAA tournament with an at-large berth instead of the automatic bid that comes from winning the A-10 tournament. Temple (21-11) moves on to play in tomorrow evening's championship game.

That's the nuts and bolts of Xavier's evening. Now what happens to the Musketeers when it comes to an NCAA seeding? The overall record is impressive, but in the final 10 games of the season "X" finished with a (5-5) record. Will this keep Xavier from grabbing a 4 seed? The difference between a 4 and a 5 is big for the fans because of the location of the pods. With a 4 Xavier would have the best seed in its pod and perhaps a chance to go to Dayton. Before Friday's loss the experts had Xavier with a 4 seed but heading out to Boise. They had top seeds Louisville and Michigan State hogging the comforts of U.D. Arena. With a 5, Xavier is totally at the mercy of the 4th seed in its bracket. That could be anywhere.