NCAA Tournament Coverage: Xavier vs Florida

The Saint Louis Billikens, with a recent run of excellence, had already secured an invite to the NIT. On Wednesday night, the darlings of the Gateway City were looking to upgrade their March hotel stay to an NCAA level, but the Xavier Musketeers forced them to accept their modest accommodations.

A Saint Louis squad that had begun to hope it could reach college basketball's biggest party will have to book a more modest postseason suite. SLU's dim but real NCAA Tournament hopes were dashed at Chaifetz Arena, as the visitors from Xavier zapped them in a crucial conference collision. The two-point triumph lifted Xavier into a three-way tie with Richmond and Temple for the league lead at this late stage of the season, while the Billikens fell two games behind in the conference race.

Before explaining how this game was won and lost, it needs to be said that no one in Saint Louis should be too disappointed with the way the 2010 college basketball season has turned out. After starting the season with eight losses in their first 20 games, the "Bills," as they're sometimes called in an affectionate abbreviation of their regular nickname, showed no signs of being a team worthy of the postseason. Coach Rick Majerus - who knows how to steer an under-the-radar program to the prime-time spotlight (just look at what he did in Salt Lake City with the Utah Utes) - had not been getting through to his players through the first two and a half months of competition. As January ended and February began, SLU sat at 12-8 with four bad non-conference losses ( Iowa State, Georgia, Missouri State, Bowling Green). It would have been so easy and understandable for this moribund program to accept a 10th-place finish in the (14-team) Atlantic 10 and gear up for 2011, but instead, the Bills found inspiration and success.

Saint Louis stormed through February, winning all three of its road games against its peers and then breaking through against upper-tier competition in the A-10. A pair of home-court conquests against NCAA tourney aspirants Dayton and Rhode Island fueled hopes of a late-season carpet ride to the field of 65. Given the Billikens' back-loaded schedule against the top teams in the conference (Xavier being just the first in a series of five-star throwdowns, with Temple and Dayton to follow), there was a chance for SLU to thread the needle and accumulate an in-conference resume that could overwhelm the ugly non-conference portion of its portfolio.

The key phrase, though, was "thread the needle." Majerus's men had emerged as a legitimate possibility for the Big Dance, but only if they could run the table over the remainder of the regular season, and at least two rounds into the upcoming A-10 Tournament.

Now, that dream is done. The sons of Cincinnati made sure to "X" out SLU's plans for the NCAAs.

Midway through the second half of this emotional encounter, the Bills were dictating tempo and slowing the game down just the way Majerus would have liked. However, Xavier was able to break free from the clutches of the home team's grinding style and dogged defense. A 16-0 run turned a 49-46 deficit into a 62-49 lead for the Musketeers, silencing what had been a very active and vocal crowd on the SLU campus. With Xavier guard Jordan Crawford hitting two 3-pointers during that prolonged period of dominance, coach Chris Mack's men took control of the contest.

Saint Louis - in trouble but not terrified by the alarming turn of events - made a furious late charge and shaved the Musketeers' lead to 71-69 in the final 30 seconds, but a go-ahead 3-point attempt by guard Kwamain Mitchell bounced off the rim. Xavier rebounded and called timeout with 10 seconds remaining. After an SLU foul created another dead-ball situation, the Musketeers inbounded the ball with seven seconds to go. A long down court pass was tipped by a Billiken defender, but the ball fortuitously (for Xavier, at any rate) caromed into the hands of Musketeer big man Jason Love. The 6-9, 265-pound bruiser with an agile shooting touch was fouled and hit two free throws to give the X an insurmountable 73-69 lead with just 4.6 seconds remaining. Saint Louis had come closer than many thought after Xavier rocked the Bills with that 16-0 run; nevertheless, the boys from Ohio had come to Missouri and knocked the home folks out of the running for a hotel upgrade in March.

It bears mentioning that Saint Louis has pretty much punched its ticket to the NIT, which should give the school's fan base much reason to cheer. This has been a resurgent season for Billikens basketball, and no one should forget that fact. What was a ho-hum campaign with no cause for optimism has suddenly sprouted in these final weeks before spring. Rick Majerus can now point to progress in his attempt to revitalize Saint Louis basketball.

The sideline master will just have to wait at least one more year to reach the NCAA Tournament, though. That's an art Xavier has perfected.

With two Elite Eight appearances since 2004 and (including this season) nine NCAA appearances in the past 10 seasons, the Musketeers have established a standard of quality even better than their other non-BCS conference counterpart, the Gonzaga Bulldogs. If Majerus and the bold but beaten Billikens want a model for success, they can look within their own league and point to the team that dashed their dreams on a wild Wednesday night in the Midwest.

Atlantic 10 Conference Basketball Fans

Xavier vs Saint Louis Basketball Recap