By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Thad Matta celebrates the A-10 victory over Dayton. (Craig Ruttle/ Enquirer)

FIRST ROUND

No. 7 Xavier (23-10) vs. No. 10 Louisville (20-9) Time: 9:50 p.m. Friday Place: Orlando, Fla. TV: 12, 7 Radio: WLW-AM (700)

After months of postulating, second-guessing and crossing fingers, Xavier is in the NCAA Tournament.

In the end, the Musketeers (23-10) took out all the guesswork and earned an automatic bid by winning the Atlantic 10 Tournament. But until then, the climb into NCAA contention from a 10-9 start seemed arduous, if not impossible.

When it did happen, Xavier was able to take a day or two to reflect on winning 13 of its last 14 games and earning a No. 7 seed.

Now it's back to work. The progress of Xavier's program will be tested Friday against 10th-seeded Louisville in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Xavier is playing in its fourth straight NCAA Tournament, but it has been 14 seasons since the Musketeers got past the first weekend.

Xavier's best showing is a regional semifinal appearance in 1990. The sudden late-season surge and subsequent Tournament berth this year haven't changed the program's philosophy that an NCAA Tournament run to the Sweet 16 or better is a necessary step for growth.

With everything from recruiting to scheduling to television demand affected by NCAA Tournament success, the Musketeers still need to reach a higher level in the postseason.

"It's important, but you recognize that only very few teams get to say, 'We had a great run in March,' " Xavier athletic director Mike Bobinski said. "Certainly we want to be one of those teams. We work day in, day out and year in, year out toward that end, and it's going to happen. Will this be the year? Who knows? But we're going to approach it as if it will be."

Xavier exists as a "tweener" basketball program. With regular NCAA Tournament appearances and Atlantic 10 titles, as well as 18 nationally televised TV games in the last two seasons, XU is too competitive to be considered a mid-major.

The Musketeers are not good enough in the postseason, however, to be grouped with schools in major conferences or Gonzaga, a small-conference program that has used the NCAA Tournament to build a big-time reputation.

"The better you do in the NCAA Tournament, the more you're perceived at a certain level by other people in the basketball world," Bobinski said. "I know that for a fact from a television perspective. Made-for-TV events like the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, the Jimmy V Classic, the higher-profile events. Gonzaga gets in those things. Other teams get in those things because of the success they've had in March."

If Xavier is ever to be included in that program category, it's no longer enough to just make the NCAA Tournament. Multiple wins must accompany those berths. Last year was supposed to be the breakthrough year when the Musketeers received a best-ever No. 3 seed and boasted the national player of the year in David West. The dreams ended quickly, however, with a second-round upset loss to Maryland.

"The goals don't change a bit (this year)," Bobinski said. "The goal last year was to take it to the absolute furthest point that we could. We didn't do that, quite honestly. That's no secret."

The last month and a half of this season suggests this could be the Xavier team to finally do some Tournament damage. The Musketeers closed the Atlantic 10 Tournament with a forceful showing, winning four games in four days - including a blowout against then-No. 1 Saint Joseph's and a title-game comeback against Dayton on the Flyers' home court.

Since falling into last place in the A-10 West at the end of January, Xavier has adopted a must-win agenda for every game.

"Our backs have been against a wall ... " Matta said. "So much of it is you have to go in and compete and have that mindset of playing with a little bit of fear of, 'We don't want the season to end.' "

E-mail ddow@enquirer.com