The Xavier Musketeers men’s basketball team Reflects Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The school’s team now competes in the Big East Conference. Of all Division I programs yet to make a last 4, Xavier has the most all-time tournament wins with 27. Xavier has appeared in the NCAA Tournament 27 times, 15 times in the previous 17 decades. On March 11, 2018, Xavier made its first ever No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament.
Xavier won four Atlantic 10 Tournament Championships (1998, 2002, 2004 and 2006). Xavier has won or shared 17 regular season conference championships, while winning 9 conference tournament championships. Additionally, they’ve won one Big East Conference regular season title in 2018.
Xavier has been listed one of the top-20 most valuable college basketball programs in the US.
The very first Xavier Basketball match on record was February 20, 1920 at the Fenwick Club in Cincinnati. Coached by Joe Meyer, the Musketeers compiled a 94–52 record during Meyer’s’s 13-year run as head coach in 1920 to 1933. The Musketeer’s success lasted under second head coach Clem Crowe. Throughout Crowe’s 10 years since Xavier head coach, Xavier compiled a record of 96–78. Crowe’s 96 wins as a head coach rank fourth all-time among Xavier head coaches. [5]
After the 1942–43 season, play was suspended for the following two seasons because of World War II. In 1945, the program declared under the leadership of head coach Ed Burns. In his one season as head coach, Burns compiled a record of 3–16.
In 1946, Burns was replaced by Lew Hirt. Under Hirt, the Musketeers first postseason appearance was at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) during the 1948 NAIA National Basketball Tournament, the national tournament for small schools. Xavier finished in 4th place, losing to Hamline University in the nationwide third-place game, 58–59. 1948 was the only year Xavier appeared at the NAIA Tournament.
Back in 1951, Hirt was replaced as head coach by Ned Wulk. Wulk directed the Musketeers into National Invitational Tournament appearances in 1956 and 1957. The 1956 appearance marked Xavier’s first NIT triumph, an 84–80 success over Saint Louis.
Following a loss to Bradley in the 1957 NIT, Wulk was replaced as head coach by Jim McCafferty. McCafferty led the Musketeers back to some third straight NIT at 1958. With wins over Niagara, Bradley, St. Bonaventure and Dayton, Xavier seized the NIT. This was the very first postseason championship obtained by any Ohio Division I school.
In 1961, McCafferty led Xavier to their original appearance in the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament. On March 14, 1961, Xavier dropped to Morehead State at the Kentucky State Fairgrounds in Louisville, Kentucky.
McCafferty has been replaced as head coach in 1963. He would be accompanied by Don Ruberg (1963–67), George Krajack (1967–71), Dick Campbell (1971–73) and Tay Baker (1973–79).
In 1979, Xavier was among those charter members of the Midwestern City Conference (known as the MCC or Midwestern City 6, also now known as the Horizon League), which also included Butler, Evansville, Loyola (Chicago), Oklahoma City, and Oral Roberts. That season also marked the hiring of head coach Bob Staak, who gathered an 88–86 record during his six seasons as head coach, including a return to both the NCAA Tournament and NIT.
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