By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Says David West: "For my story at Xavier to be complete, I want to be on one of those great teams." The Enquirer/Michael E. Keating

T O U R N A M E N T   H I S T O R Y

1961 Morehead State 71, XU 66 1983 Alcorn State 81, XU 75 1986 No. 5 seed Alabama 97, No. 12 XU 80 1987 No. 13 XU 70, No. 4 Missouri 69 No. 5 Duke 65, No. 13 XU 60 1988 No. 6 Kansas 85+, No. 11 XU 72 1989 No. 3 Michigan 92+, No. 14 XU 87 1990 No. 6 XU 87, No. 11 Kansas State 79 No. 6 XU 74, No. 3 Georgetown 71 No. 10 Texas 102, No. 6 XU 89 1991 No. 14 XU 89, No. 3 Nebraska 84 No. 11 Connecticut 66, No. 14 XU 50 1993 No. 9 XU 73, No. 8 New Orleans 55 No. 1 Indiana 73, No. 9 XU 70 1995 No. 6 Georgetown 68, No. 11 XU 63 1997 No. 7 XU 80, No. 10 Vanderbilt 68 No. 2 UCLA 96, No. 7 XU 83 1998 No. 11 Washington 69, No. 6 XU 68 2001 No. 6 Notre Dame 83, No. 11 XU 71 2002 No. 7 XU 70, No. 10 Hawaii 58 No. 2 Oklahoma 78, No. 7 XU 65 Total appearances: 14 (Record: 7-14) +Eventual national champion

He is not Shane Battier. He is not Kenyon Martin, Tim Duncan or Calbert Cheaney.

He is David West, and he is tired of being compared to the aforementioned players who returned to college for their senior years and won the John Wooden and Dr. James Naismith Awards as the most outstanding player in college basketball.

Yes, West came back to Xavier for his senior year. Yes, he is a serious candidate to win the Wooden Award.

But he is not Shane Battier.

"I'm not anybody else, and I'm not trying to be anybody else," West said. "I'm myself. I'm not worried about what anybody else did, or whatever. I'm not going to walk behind anybody or follow in anybody's footsteps."

Instead, West came back to make a name for himself and for Xavier in the NCAA Tournament. The Musketeers never have advanced past the regional semifinals of the tournament. They also never have had a player as highly touted as West to lean on in March.

After a 78-65 loss to Oklahoma in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season, no one at Xavier thought West would pass up NBA money to return for a senior season. The story of his surprise announcement at the team banquet in April is almost legendary on campus now. If West can take Xavier deep into the NCAA Tournament, he may become something of a living legend at XU.

"When you go to any university, guys are always measured by guys who played in the past," West said. "When I got here, people were measuring me to Tyrone (Hill) or (Brian) Grant. One of my things was, when I went to college I wanted to make a name for myself, meaning I wanted to put my own stamp on this university. So now when guys come in, I'm that new bar to which guys get measured.

"That in itself is just a great accomplishment if you're going to be remembered here forever. Every time someone mentions Xavier basketball, they will say David West."

For that to happen, there can't be any first- or second-round exits. Those teams aren't remembered by anyone but coaches and diehard fans. Teams and players that break new ground are the ones that live in people's minds forever.

"We understand what it takes to get to the round of 32," West said. "Now we have to learn and have to become a better team so we can get beyond that point."

XU learned a little just by playing Oklahoma, which eventually advanced to the Final Four. Oklahoma took over in the final five minutes and turned a close game into a comfortable win.

West said the loss was hard to take, because the Musketeers saw how close they were to Oklahoma's level.

"We were right there with maybe five or six minutes to go in the game. Then their greatness showed," West said. "Those great teams like Oklahoma do it for 40 minutes. Those are the teams that go to the Final Four. We played 35 minutes and took five minutes off."

Not this season, West said. The intensity, the preparedness, will be at the highest level from the first game to the last.

"Leadership comes with that, being able to understand that's what it takes," he said.

The Xavier sports information office has launched a campaign to promote West for player of the year, because until now, national media always considered him a second-tier player, a step below the first-team All-Americans.

Maybe it was his size. He's listed at 6feet9, 240 pounds, but NBA scouts say he is really more like 6-7.

Or maybe it's because he wasn't a McDonald's All-American out of high school. Instead, he spent a year at Hargrave (Va.) Military Academy.

"You can't judge how badly a kid wants to be great," said former Xavier and current Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser, who recruited West. "We knew from watching him in pick-up games that he would be special. Then in the Cincinnati game his freshman year, he competed against Kenyon Martin and held his own, and we ended up winning.

"David wasn't one of the premier players, even at Hargrave. But he has always been competitive. That's something you can't always see."

It's finally becoming visible. West, who graduates in December and has a light course load this semester, spends more time than ever granting interviews.

"I just want to be known as a good basketball player," West said. "I don't care whether or not people consider me to be the best."

But he's still competitive enough to try to be the best. Now he has to get his team to that level.

The way West talks, he clearly respects the players on the Oklahoma team last season. And he likes to talk about the 1989-90 Xavier team with Hill and Derek Strong, the only Xavier team to get past the round of 32.

"Those guys were part of great teams," West said. "For my story at Xavier to be complete, I want to be on one of those great teams."

• Return to the 2002-2003 College Basketball Preview