Xavier sometimes gets typecast as Big Man U. Look at the NBA products: Tyrone Hill, Derek Strong, Brian Grant, Aaron Williams, Torraye Braggs. But the position at which the Musketeers arguably have been steadiest the past 15 years is shooting guard.

        It's a strong legacy — Byron Larkin, Stan Kimbrough, Michael Davenport, Jamie Gladden, Jeff Massey, Lenny Brown and Darnell Williams.

        It's now a question mark, with four contenders. Careful not to call it a problem spot.

        “We look at it as a positive,” said Jeff Battle, XU's assistant coach in charge of the backcourt. “We have a lot of athletic guys at that position, a lot of versatility and depth. We have more bullets in the gun than we've ever had.”

        Junior Alvin Brown, sophomore Dave Young and freshman Romain Sato are the natural shooting guards. But senior point guard Maurice McAfee is also a candidate, because freshman Lionel Chalmers could become a starter at the point.

        Make no mistake, McAfee will be starting. But his team-high .394 3-point shooting (89-of-226) might spell a new position. McAfee also led the team in scoring last year (15.1 ppg), which could translate well to the shooting guard spot.

        “That's naturally a scoring position,” coach Skip Prosser said. “You really want, ideally, someone you can put down for "X' number of shots, points, field-goal percentage — things like that.”

        A look at the candidates:

        • Alvin Brown is the most experienced and the most enigmatic. In his fourth year in the program (he redshirted a year), he still awaits his breakthrough season.

        Brown averaged 6.5 points in 17.8 minutes a game last year, playing critical roles in victories over Cincinnati (nine points in 14 minutes) and Dayton (15 points in 18 minutes), but he occasionally vanishes.

        “The challenge is for him to play consistently well,” Prosser said. “There's nobody on our team who works harder than Alvin Brown. But the results haven't manifested that so far in the game.”

        Brown is shooting just .381 in his XU career, just .254 from 3-point range. That's an area in which XU needs help. It shot a mediocre .351 on 3s last year; its opponents shot .359.

        • Young didn't qualify last year academically and was unable to practice. He has struggled in the team's three 24-minute scrimmages, totaling just 10 points on 4-of-25 shooting (0-for-10 on 3-pointers) and 13 turnovers.

        “The year off from practice hurt him,” Battle said. “Once he gets the system down, he's going to be a very talented player.”

        • Sato has lived up to his billing by averaging 12 points a scrimmage, second on the team only to Chalmers (14 ppg). But he has been tentative at times.

        “Being inexperienced, he's still feeling his way around,” Prosser said. “He has been settling for 3s. He hasn't been as aggressive as he needs to be taking the ball to the basket.”

        • McAfee's position depends on Chalmers' development. McAfee doesn't mind the talk of his playing “two” guard.

        “We figure we'll have some different combinations,” he said. “That makes it hard to prepare for us.”

        XU will be creative. Sato and Young figure to get minutes at small forward; each has spent time in practice at that spot. Brown, who last year moved to point guard to back up McAfee, could play either guard spot.

        In the end, not every player will be satisfied with his minutes.

        “This is Division I basketball,” Brown said. “You want competition. It's just part of the game. And nobody's going to back down.”

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