By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

More than 100 fans wait outside Cintas Center at 2 a.m. to welcome home players. A sportswriter on ESPN calls Lionel Chalmers the best player in the NCAA Tournament. The team is featured today in a USA Today article. The ESPN.com Web site suggests Xavier could win the national championship.

Xavier basketball coach Thad Matta talks during a news conference in Cincinnati Tuesday. (AP photo)

These are high times indeed at Xavier University, where the Musketeers are no longer just the Big Men on Campus. Xavier's upcoming Sweet 16 appearance Friday, the program's first in 14 years, has drawn national attention that the team is trying hard to ignore - for now.

"I haven't heard anything; I haven't watched TV," Chalmers said. "I think we understand to some extent what's going on, but the season's not over. We're not ready to celebrate that yet."

Xavier (25-10) hasn't been to the regional semifinals, better known as the Sweet 16, since 1990, when the Musketeers lost to Texas. In a Sweet 16 rematch, Xavier plays Texas (25-7) again in Atlanta Friday, but this time, Xavier players say they aren't just "happy to be there."

As much as they've tried to avoid the media hype that continues to build, the players acknowledge that they feel they deserve it after turning a 10-9 season into one that is two games away from the Final Four.

"That's what we've been trying to do, is go out there and make a name for ourselves," said sophomore Dedrick Finn, who scored a career-high 22 points against Mississippi State, including a half-court shot that has been replayed on highlight shows countless times.

"Get our team and our school recognized. But that's not all we want. We think we are contenders for the Final Four and the national title. We want to go out there and prove it."

For that to happen in the next two weeks, Xavier would have to continue what it's done since defeating Saint Joseph's March 11; overwhelm teams defensively and outshoot them on offense. It's a suffocating style of play that's led to eight straight wins and made America's basketball pundits take notice.

Not that Xavier coach Thad Matta is taking a break from daily practice plans to think about what talking TV heads or sportswriters think of his team. He didn't let criticism in January bother him when Xavier was barely above .500, he said, and he's not going to savor the glory now until the season is over.

"In January, I scheduled a vacation for this weekend," Matta said jokingly of the team's up-and-down start. "I was supposed to be in the Florida Keys. Honestly, I think our guys have come to grips with what makes this team a good basketball team. That is, not getting caught up in that (hype). When you've seen the worst of what can take place in a college basketball season, you can appreciate where we're at now. But we're not a good enough team to ever stop and celebrate."

On ESPN's Around The Horn show Monday, Denver Post columnist Woody Paige referred to Chalmers as the best player in the tournament after Chalmers scored 25 and 31 points in wins against Louisville and Mississippi State, respectively. When told of this, Chalmers acknowledged the praise and said, "I'll take that," but then explained the real reason Xavier is among the final 16 teams left playing.

"Coach tells us all the time, players get recognized, but teams get remembered," Chalmers said. "It's unbelievable. I've never been a part of a team that is so about winning and that's it. There's no egos right now. There's none of that. To this point, we've done some things to make history, and I don't think we're done."

---

E-mail ddow@enquirer.com