By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Xavier players may not be too familiar with their NCAA Tournament first-round opponent Troy State, but perhaps that's because the Trojans are newcomers to the big dance.

Troy State (26-5) earned its first-ever NCAA Tournament bid by winning the Atlantic Sun Tournament after finishing as regular-season champion, as well. Its reward is to play third-seeded Xavier, the No. 10 team in the nation, Friday in Nashville, Tenn.

ABOUT TROY STATE

• Nickname: Trojans • Location: Troy, Ala. • Record: 25-5, 14-2 Atlantic Sun • Bid: Automatic • Coach: Don Maestri (356-240, 21st year overall) • Key players: Ben Fletcher (14.2ppg, 42 steals) Rob Lewin (12.3 ppg, 8.0 rpg) • Notable: Troy State scored an NCAA record 258 points in a win against DeVry (Atlanta) in 1992.

That's fine with Troy State's players. Until this year, the endings of the last two seasons had been hard in Troy, Ala., because the Trojans were expected to take the A-Sun title but came up short in the postseason tournament. After losing three starters, this was supposed to be a rebuilding year, but athletic players such as Rob Lewin and Ben Fletcher have thrived with a new defensive tactic that has led to exciting games and plenty of wins.

There's a lot of pride, said Don Maestri, in his 21st season as Troy State's coach. "It's fun and exhilarating to see your school's name up on the board, especially when it's your first time like it is for us."

Maestri got his team in this position by employing full-court pressure defense based on the amoeba zone played by Jerry Tarkanian's early-1990s UNLV teams. It has resulted in a fast pace that puts up 80.5 points a game. Troy State has forced 555 opponent turnovers. When the Trojans get back to their half-court defensive set, they fall into a trapping zone that closes off the middle of the lane, much like Temple, which defeated Xavier in Friday's Atlantic 10 tourney semifinal in Dayton, forcing 20 XU turnovers.

"That's behind us," said guard Lionel Chalmers, who committed nine of those turnovers. "Now we have the NCAA Tournament, and we worked hard all year for this, so I don't think we're going to take anything for granted."

Lewin and Fletcher lead the team in steals with 42 and 41. But they know Xavier, the A-10 regular-season champion, plays a level above their Atlantic Sun counterparts.

"We're excited to be in the tournament and to be playing Xavier," said Fletcher, a 6-foot-3 senior. "They have to be a good team to be the No. 3 team in our region."

Three times Troy State scored more than 100 points, including a season-high 117 points in a 47-point throttling of Stetson on Feb. 27.

Fletcher averages 14.2 points a game, while Lewin shoots 54 percent from the field and grabs eight rebounds a game.

If Troy State manages to pull off an upset of Xavier (25-5), it would be quite a feat. A No. 3 seed hasn't lost in the first round since North Carolina was upset by Weber State in 1999.

E-mail ddow@enquirer.com