Anyone Remember When Xavier Played Good Basketball?

When Xavier goes south, the Musketeers do not limit it to just one end of the court. They have been struggling for most of February. It will not cost them an NCAA Tournament bid, but it sure will drop their seeding. The Musketeers have now lost three of their last four with this latest loss to Charlotte, 65-60.

For Charlotte, this was their first win over a ranked team in four years. The team has struggled this year, and will likely finish with a sub-.500 record. It was their first win over Xavier since the 49ers joined the Atlantic 10 in six games. Still, rushing the floor seemed a bit forced. Especially after beating a team that was just hanging on in the Top 25, and Charlotte was tied or led for much of the game.
As for Xavier, it has shown that struggles at one end of the court affect it at the other end. In this game, the Musketeers were frustrated much of the game with their poor shooting. Much of the blame belongs to Xavier's struggling guards. They could not get shots to fall from the perimeter and struggled to penetrate to the basket.

Those guards then seemed to hang their heads and not give much of an effort defensively. All too often, they allowed themselves to be screened or just gave up on plays to allow Charlotte to shoot unchallenged 3-pointers.