The Xavier Musketeers men’s basketball Group Reflects Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The faculty’s team currently competes in the Big East Conference. Of all Division I programs however to make a last 4, Xavier has the most all-time tournament wins with 27. Xavier has appeared in the NCAA Championship 27 times, 15 times in the last 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 have won one Big East Conference regular season title in 2018.
Xavier has been recorded one of the top-20 most precious college basketball programs in america.
The first Xavier Basketball game on record was February 20, 1920 in 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 continued under second head coach Clem Crowe. Throughout Crowe’s 10 years as Xavier head coach, Xavier compiled a listing of 96–78. Crowe’s 96 wins as a head coach rank fourth all time among Xavier head trainers. [5]
Following the 1942–43 season, play has been suspended for the following two seasons due to World War II. In 1945, the program resumed under the leadership of head coach Ed Burns. In his one season as head coach, Burns compiled a list of 3–16.
Back in 1946, Burns was replaced by Lew Hirt. Under Hirt, the Musketeers first postseason appearance was in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) throughout the 1948 NAIA National Basketball Tournament, the national championship for small schools. Xavier ended in 4th place, losing to Hamline University at the nationwide third-place match, 58–59. 1948 was the only year Xavier appeared at the NAIA Tournament.
In 1951, Hirt has been replaced as head trainer from Ned Wulk. Wulk guided the Musketeers into National Invitational Tournament appearances in 1956 and 1957. The 1956 look marked Xavier’s initial NIT win, an 84–80 victory over Saint Louis.
After a loss to Bradley in the 1957 NIT, Wulk was replaced as head trainer by Jim McCafferty. McCafferty headed the Musketeers back into some third straight NIT in 1958. With wins over Niagara, Bradley, St. Bonaventure and Dayton, Xavier captured the NIT. This was the very first postseason championship won by any Ohio Division I school.
In 1961, McCafferty led Xavier to their first appearance in the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament. On March 14, 1961, Xavier fell to Morehead State in the Kentucky State Fairgrounds in Louisville, Kentucky.
McCafferty has been replaced as head coach in 1963. He would be followed by Don Ruberg (1963–67), George Krajack (1967–71), Dick Campbell (1971–73) and Tay Baker (1973–79).
In 1979, Xavier was one of the charter members of the Midwestern City Conference (nicknamed the MCC or Midwestern City 6, also currently known as the Horizon League), which also comprised Butler, Evansville, Loyola (Chicago), Oklahoma City, and Oral Roberts. That season also marked the hiring of head coach Bob Staak, who compiled an 88–86 list during his six seasons as head coach, including a return to both the NCAA Tournament and NIT.
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