Xavier men’s basketball was able to exhale after the NCAA Tournament Selection Sunday show.
For the second time in the last three years, the Musketeers learned that they made the field of 68 off the bubble and that this time around they would be dancing as a First Four team.
It is the sixth time that the Musketeers have gone to the NCAA Tournament under Sean Miller, who has spent two tenures at Xavier with a stop at Arizona in between.
With the Musketeers being added to the March Madness field, the Big East conference sent five total programs to the NCAA Tournament, joining St. John’s, Marquette, Creighton and UConn.
Xavier heads into the tournament winners of eight of its last 10 games. The six-week surge late in the season put the Musketeers originally on the bubble after they appeared to be missing out on the tournament around January.
Here’s what you need to know on whether Xavier made the NCAA Tournament and more:
Did Xavier make March Madness?
Yes, Xavier learned during the Selection Sunday bracket reveal show that it had made the field of 68 and the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
However, the Musketeers aren’t technically in March Madness just yet.
The NCAA Tournament selection committee sent Xavier to the First Four on Sunday, where the Musketeers will play the SEC’s Texas Longhorns on Wednesday, March 19 at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio. Xavier and Texas will play for an 11-seed, with the winner advancing to face No. 6 seed Ole Miss in Milwaukee on Friday, March 21.
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‘Tonight, I don’t know if I’ve ever experienced a better feeling in sports than the one I had when our name was announced tonight with our players at my house on Selection Sunday,’ Miller said Sunday. ‘It was hard to describe. It was magical.’
He added: ‘We’re thrilled to be part of the tournament. There’s no doubt that we became a tournament team. … Over the last six weeks in particular, our level of play really jumped up and now it’s up to us to take that level of play into the tournament.’
Xavier entered Selection Sunday right on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament in the ‘Last Four In’ or ‘First Four Out’ category by many bracketologists. USA TODAY’s final bracketology projection had it in the former group.
The Musketeers headed into conference tournament week needing a deep run at the Big East tournament to get off the bubble, as they were 1-8 against Quad 1 opponents and No. 45 in the NET rankings. However, Xavier was unable to do that as it lost to Marquette 89-87 in the quarterfinals at Madison Square Garden on Thursday, March 13.
‘If you ever want to test your balance, the balance as a coach, these last two and a half days really tested (that),’ Miller said of watching the bubble in the lead-up to Selection Sunday.
As for what put Xavier in the field despite an early-round exit in the Big East tournament, one can point to Memphis and VCU helping the Musketeers by not losing the American Athletic Conference and Atlantic 10 championship games on Sunday.
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