Xavier starts NCAA journey vs. Texas Southern (Mar 15, 2018)
After resting for a few days, Xavier gathered Wednesday night to watch the First Four and after witnessing Texas Southern advance to the Round of 64, the Musketeers are ready to get back to work.
Xavier landed its first No. 1 seed and opens what it hopes is a long NCAA Tournament run Friday against Texas Southern in the first round of the West Region at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
Coach Chris Mack grew up in Cincinnati, attended and played at Xavier for two seasons and after two stints as an assistant coach, took over the top job in 2009 when Sean Miller took over in Arizona.
He knows, almost better than anyone, how special it is to land that No. 1 seed.
"Xavier was barely on the map when I was in high school," Mack said after the team learned officially what had been speculated for months as the Musketeers held off Villanova for the Big East championship.
But he also knows that seeds mean little once the ball goes up and the tournament begins.
"I told them, this was well-earned. We played a very, very tough schedule all the way through and we were, by and large, pretty successful with that schedule," Mack said. "Having said that, it's not going to mean much when we play on Friday. We'll have to be ready to go, but I think it's a testament to (the team), our talent level, our togetherness, so I'm proud of those guys."
Xavier's opponent, Texas Southern, took a strange road to its second consecutive NCAA Tournament berth.
The Tigers (16-19) began the season 0-13 but went on a tear after that and extended their winning streak to eight games Wednesday with a 64-46 victory over North Carolina Central, marking the program's first NCAA Tournament game victory.
"First of all, we're just happy to be here in this situation," coach Mike Davis said. "We worked hard this year to get here.The guys played well tonight. We started off the season 0-13 and everybody was concerned about the record, but we knew that the record wouldn't be who we are as a basketball team. I didn't design our schedule to make us feel good; I designed the schedule to get us better, and we got better."
Their season-opening losing streak came against some of the nation's top teams, including Gonzaga and Kansas as well as Ohio State, Syracuse and Oregon, and all of those games were played on the road.
"You can't train your brain to stay focused unless you go through some tough times," Davis said. "That's why I designed my schedule the way I designed it, for us to get better and for us to be tough as a team. So, if you notice, nobody on this team celebrated. Nobody jumped up and down, high-fiving. We did the same thing in our conference tournament."
Should Texas Southern become the first No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1 seed, it would advance to play Missouri or Florida State in Sunday's second round.
