By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

There are no misconceptions among Xavier players as to where the team is positioned in regard to the postseason despite the Musketeers' three-game winning streak.

Xavier is a team that has become used to having an NCAA Tournament bid all but locked up at this point in the season. But at 13-9 and 4-5 in the Atlantic 10 Conference, the Musketeers must extend their streak Saturday against Massachusetts and beyond to get into the NCAA Tournament picture. Anything short of winning out and advancing a couple games in the A-10 Tournament might leave the Musketeers heading to the NIT instead.

"We're playing the way we should have been playing the whole year," senior Lionel Chalmers said. "We're taking it one game at a time, understanding that we need to win each one. It may not be the case that we do need to win each one, but that's how we want to approach it."

That awareness has shown in Xavier's last three games, wins against Cincinnati, Fordham and Richmond. Defensively, the Musketeers improved over that stretch, limiting teams to 37 percent shooting from the field, and coach Thad Matta said that's essential to the team's success in the final weeks.

"I think we've played with a little more sense of urgency," Matta said. "I think we've played with more pride in what we're trying to get accomplished. Most importantly, it's been our day-to-day approach that we're trying to take. To think past today would be foolish for this team because we don't have the capacity to do that."

After playing sub-.500 basketball in January, and losing three straight games at one point, Xavier seems to have woken up to the fact that there are no more chances to let up.

Xavier players already have felt the embarrassment of spending a couple weeks in last place in the A-10 West. They finally moved into a tie for fourth with Tuesday's win at Richmond, but even that is an unusual spot for Xavier this late in the season.

"We just have to get up there in the conference rankings," senior Anthony Myles said. "Everybody knows what's on the line. They know they have to come out and give it their all."

In the last three games, Myles, Chalmers and Romain Sato, the three seniors, played some of their best basketball of the season. Among them, they have accounted for 72 percent of Xavier's scoring during the winning streak.

"Mainly, us three seniors have to take over this team and get us where we want to go," Myles said. "The last three games, we've all been doing pretty good. We know what we've got to do to get where we want to be in the NCAA Tournament."

E-mail ddow@enquirer.com