Xavier defeated No. 25 Creighton on Saturday in a way that had the faithful dreaming. The 92-70 final was thorough and convincing and bent the magical phrase “Final Four team’’ from Why? To Why Not?
The last weekend of the year has been the holy grail for the Musketeers. Coaches from Pete Gillen to Sean Miller have left Victory Parkway believing they’d maxed out Xavier’s postseason potential. Thad Matta turned to Ohio State because he thought he had a better chance of reaching a Final Four in Columbus. He was right. Then.
More: No. 10 Xavier bounces back with rout of No. 25 Creighton, 92-70
This is Chris Mack’s best team. He won’t say that, of course. There’s no advantage in a coach making that sort of proclamation in mid-January. “Not yet,’’ was the closest he’d come on Saturday.
Mack likely would vote for the 2015-16 team of two seasons ago. That team spent two months ranked in the Top 10 before being upset by Wisconsin in the second round of the Madness. It had the offense of Trevon Bluiett, the sheer talent of redshirt freshman Edmond Sumner, the emerging J.P. Macura, the shutdown defense of Remy Abell and a couple versatile big men, Jalen Reynolds and James Farr.
This team is better than that team. Bluiett and Macura are seniors, and playing like it. Sumner was a fine talent, but he wasn’t as consistent as Quentin Goodin is. Sumner averaged four assists and two turnovers a game. Goodin is at six and two. Farr and Reynolds were good. They weren’t better than the trio of big men Mack rolls out there now: Tyrique Jones, Kerem Kanter and the vastly improved Sean O’Mara.
“The three front line guys they run at you are all a little different,’’ Creighton coach Greg McDermott noted Saturday.
This team has all the Final Four basics: A go-to scorer to win a one-point game (Bluiett), a smart and creative point guard (Goodin), decent interior defense and a player who ties it all together (Macura). Mack is a veteran March participant. He did his best work last year, taking to the Elite Eight a team that had lost six games in a row in February.
The Musketeers are fast and athletic enough to win a shootout; they’re patient and wise enough to win a slowdown showdown. They pass the ball as well as any XU team I’ve seen. They aren’t selfish. If Bluiett is worried about his NBA future, it doesn’t show on the court. He’s good at making his teammates better.
On Saturday, they blew up the Blue Jays. A close game early became a rout halfway through the first half. A Kaiser Gates conventional three-point play made it 33-22 with 5:41 left. The Musketeers had a double-digit edge the rest of the game.
How clear cut was it? Xavier had 22 assists and 11 turnovers. Xavier forced 20 Creighton turnovers. The Blue Jays were averaging just 11. Xavier shot 53 percent in the first half, Creighton 32 percent.
In 22 minutes, Macura had 10 points, six rebounds and five assists. Bluiett had 24 points, and was 5 for 7 from three-point range. O’Mara had 12 in 16 minutes, including seven in a row in the second half, to quiet a Creighton comeback. And so on. Xavier got double-figures scoring from six players.
“Our effort was remarkable,’’ Mack said.
There’s nothing like a two-game losing streak to get minds right. Losses at Providence and No. 1 Villanova got the Musketeers' attention. “More focused, played together, more energy,’’ Kanter explained.
“If we’d have played our tails off at Villanova and dropped it, that’s fine,’’ Mack said. “I didn’t think we played with maximum effort.’’
They did Saturday. The result was devastating. Telling?
There are no dominant teams this year. Three have been ranked No. 1 already. Final Fours can be as mercurial as they are elusive. South Carolina, a No. 7 seed, got there last year. UConn was a 7 in 2014. The Huskies won it all. VCU made it as an 11 in 2011. Butler made the title game two years in a row. Reaching the last weekend can be as simple as playing great at the right time and getting favorable matchups.
In 1992, UC got to the Final Four by beating UTEP and Memphis in the regional. UTEP had upset Kansas. UC owned Memphis, beating the Tigers four times that year. (Remember the way Nick Van Exel did multiple numbers on Penny Hardaway?) The Musketeers dream isn’t as impossible as it used to be.
Why is it Xavier’s time?
Why not?
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