Saturday, March 04, 2000
NCAA berth still in Muskies' minds
Regular season ends today against St. Joseph's
BY MICHAEL PERRY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
In terms of Xavier's seeding in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament, today's game against St. Joseph's means nothing. In many other ways, it means everything.
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ST. JOSEPH'S at XU
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• When: 2 p.m. today
• Where: Cincinnati Gardens (10,100)
• Records: SJU 12-14 (7-8 Atlantic 10); Xavier 18-10 (8-7)
• TV: Fox Sports Ohio
• Radio: WKRC-AM (550)
BY THE NUMBERS
• 1,511: Darnell Williams' career points.
• 423: Williams' career rebounds
• 179: Williams' career assists
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• It is Senior Day. Before the game, seniors Darnell Williams, Obi Harris, walk-on Kyle Ballinger and team managers Todd Kalsey and Dan Shworles and their parents will be honored.
• It may be the final XU game in the Cincinnati Gardens (barring a home NIT game). After the game, Xavier will make a presentation to Gardens owner Jerry Robinson, and a 10-minute video will show highlights of great moments of XU basketball at the Gardens.
• Xavier coaches and players still believe there is a scenario in which they can get to the NCAA Tournament. That starts with a victory today and includes three victories at the A-10 tourney.
“There are a multitude of reasons for us to be attentive and try to play very well against St. Joe's,” coach Skip Prosser said.
Xavier is coming off a heartbreaking 65-64 loss at St. Bonaventure, in which it missed four potential game-winning shots at the end.
Because Temple defeated George Washington 98-67 Saturday, Xavier (8-7) can tie the Colonials (9-7) for second place with a victory today, but GW wins the tiebreaker and is already the No. 2 seed from the West Division.
The Musketeers are the third seed from the West and play Rhode Island at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. If they win, their next game would be at 9:30 p.m. Thursday against Saturday night's St. Bonaventure-Massachusetts winner.
St. Joseph's is coming off a 62-59 upset over No. 5 Temple on Tuesday night.
“It was a special time for these players,” coach Phil Martelli said. “One of the things we've emphasized ... is we haven't put our heads down all year when we've been beat in tough games, we don't want to walk around with our heads in the cloud and cost ourselves another game because we weren't prepared.”
Martelli was warned by a caller on his weekly radio show that the scene at the Gardens today could be “the wildest scene since the Cincinnati game.”
“We're well aware that we have to be ready for that emotional jolt at the beginning of the game because it's going to be there and we have to answer that,” Martelli said.
X FILES: Freshman David West was sick and sat out Saturday's practice. If West can't play today, Aaron Turner and Kevin Frey will start at power forward and center. Turner may start in Frey's place if West does play.
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