A new era begins in Xavier this fall, with a familiar name at the helm and an entirely new roster largely composed of mid-major transfers.
Sean Miller is off to Texas after a solid three-year run in his return to Cincinnati. Xavier won 27 games in Miller’s first season — earning a three-seed in the NCAA Tournament — but they took a step back from there. A 16-18 2023-24 campaign was followed by 22 wins and an 11-seed in last year’s Tournament. X took out Xavier in a first four game against Texas before falling to a good Illinois club.
The Musketeers lost virtually all of their scoring from a season ago, highlighted by the transfers of Ryan Conwell (16.5 PPG) to Louisville and Dailyn Swain (11.0 PPG) who joined Miller at Texas. Also gone is center Zack Freemantle, who seemed to be a staple of X’s frontcourt for a decade.
Xavier turned to Providence graduate Richard Pitino to replace Miller after his career revival at New Mexico. Pitino spent a season as the head coach at Florida International to begin his career, before an eight-year run at Minnesota that included two NCAA Tournament appearances. But he also a 54-96 record in Big Ten games. A former Big Ten Coach of the Year, Pitino was fired in 2021 after having sub-.500 records in league play in seven of his eight seasons at Minnesota.
Pitino seemed to have found himself in New Mexico. The Lobos went 13-19 in his first season (2021-22), but steadily improved, winning 22, 26, and 27 games over the past three years. Pitino reached the NCAA Tournament the past two seasons — leading New Mexico back to the dance for the first time in 2014. They were top 25 in the nation defensively the past two seasons and took our Marquette in last year’s tourney.