Last Year: 27-10; Second (15-5) in the Big East Conference, lost in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament
Head Coach: Sean Miller (Second Year)
Projected Starting Lineup
| PG Dayvion McKnight – 6’0″, 195 – Senior |
| SG Quincy Olivari – 6’3″, 200 – Senior (5th) |
| SF Dailyn Swain – 6’7″, 200 – Freshman |
| PF Gytis Nemeikša – 6’8″, 220 – Senior |
| C Abou Ousmane – 6’10”, 244 – Senior |
Projected Starters’ 2022-23 Stats
Dayvion McKnight: 16.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 3.8 apg, 1.8 apg – 45.6% FG @ Western Kentucky
Quincy Olivari: 18.7 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 2.2 apg, 1.0 spg – 36.4% 3FG @ Rice
Dailyn Swain: Consensus Top 150 recruit
Gytis Nemeikša: 11.3 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 1.7 apg, 1.2 spg – 31.2% 3FG @ Zalgiris Kaunas’ II
Abou Ousmane: 11.1 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 1.3 bpg, 0.9 spg – 48.7% @ North Texas
Experienced Reserves
| F Zach Freemantle – 6’9″, 227 – Senior (5th) |
| G Desmond Claude – 6’6″, 207 – Sophomore |
| F Jerome Hunter – 6’8″, 216 – Senior |
| G Kam Craft – 6’6″, 211 Sophomore |
Experienced Reserves’ 2022-23 Stats
Zach Freemantle: 15.2 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 2.9 apg, 0.9 spg – 58.5% FG
Desmond Claude: 4.7 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.8 apg, 0.8 spg – 42.3% FG
Jerome Hunter: 7.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 1.3 apg, 0.4 spg – 57.5% FG
Kam Craft: 2.6 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 0.3 apg, 0.2 spg – 50.0% FG
Freshmen
| G Trey Green – 6’0″, 168 – Freshman – Consensus Top 100 recruit |
| W Reid Ducharme – 6’7″, 200 – Freshman – Consensus Top 150 recruit |
| F/C Kachi Nzeh – 6’8″, 230 – Freshman – Consensus Top 200 recruit |
| F/C Lazar Đoković – 6’10”, 230 – Freshman / Serbia |
| F/C Saša Ciani – 6’9″, 240 – Freshman / Slovenia |
So, Sean Miller is back. Didn’t take him long.
After a couple of seasons off, the former Xavier and Arizona head coach led the Musketeers to 27 wins, a Big East Tournament title game appearance, and the Sweet Sixteen in his first season back in Cincinnati. After four years without an NCAA Tournament bid, the home fans who know him well were glad to have Miller back last fall. The local adoration only increased after he got their proud program immediately back on track. Miller’s exit from Tucson may not be a chapter which he’d have preferred to include in his legacy, but the page has now been well-turned to a bright new future for the coach and his Musketeers.
In keeping with the theme of moving on, most of Xavier’s rotation is going to be new. Four of the top five scorers from last year have gone, and Miller has brought in some exciting new faces in what certainly appears to be a successful, quick retool. And with some of the biggest returning stars on this year’s team still shelved with injuries, it feels a lot like Xavier is indeed starting over.
Last year’s Musketeers were one of the highest-scoring and most efficient groups in the country. They shared the ball so well that four players averaged 14+ points, and moved it so well that they ranked 34th in the country in possessions per game. In Miller’s first year, part deux, Xavier ranked in the top ten nationally in points per game, field goal percentage, 3FG%, and total made 2FG’s – and they led the nation in assists. Unfortunately, they weren’t a tidy defensive bunch. “We have to be able to match up with three point shooters better,” Miller said this summer. Despite making the third-most total buckets of any team, Xavier actually allowed their opponents to make 29 more shots than they did.
That was then and this is now, and Miller’s best teams in Tucson were highly defensive-minded; between 2013-2015, the Wildcats were a top 20 national defense. Just how much this year’s Xavier team ends up like last season’s – on both ends – will be determined in large part by the team’s biggest returning star, Zach Freemantle.
A 1,227-point scorer, Freemantle decided to come back and use his ‘Covid Year’, hoping to go out on his own terms after a left foot injury ended his season prematurely last year. Unfortunately, it was the same foot which Freemantle had corrective surgery on prior to the 2021-22 season and which cost him the first few weeks of that campaign. This spring, he had another surgical procedure, and in late summer it was revealed that his foot has not meaningfully improved. It’s now possible that Freemantle won’t play until after the new year – if he plays at all. When he’s right, Freemantle is a highly productive offensive player who can stretch opposing defenses with his smooth mid-range game or turn opponents into pylons with his post moves. Though he played just 22 games last season due to the injury, Freemantle had been having his best year.
Jerome Hunter is a tough, smart, versatile forward who became a starter when Freemantle got hurt. From that time on, Hunter averaged 10.3 points and 5.9 over the final 15 games of Xavier’s season. “If there’s one player I would point to kind of you want to embody the culture of a team or a program, it would be Jerome because he just simply plays to win. And everybody in our locker room knows it. He knows it,” Miller praised Hunter at the Sweet Sixteen in March. “I’m just incredibly happy for him, and as a coach, I’m very proud of what he’s become.” Like Freemantle, though, Hunter has also been sidelined with an officially undisclosed medical condition, and he may not suit up for the Musketeers this season. The absence of each veteran is a significant blow.
“It’s hard to believe, you know, it’s like you’re dealing with like, a quarter of your team, with like six-to-nine month, year-long injuries, three of them, you know, it’s just a hard deal,”. Miller told reporters via Zoom from the Caribbean, where Xavier played an exhibition srries this summer. “But it also allows those that are participating in practice, in games, to have more pressure placed on them, more repetitions, they get all the work.”
A pair of highly accomplished transfer guards have come aboard to try and replace the 31.4 points, 10 boards and 8.7 assists per game which departed stars Souley Boum and Colby Jones gave the Musketeers last year. Dayvion McKnight and Quincy Olivari arrive in the Queen City with a combined four all-conference selections back with their previous programs, and Miller is confident that their complimentary skills will make for a smooth changing of the guards. “We really believe in Quincy Olivari and Dayvion McKnight,” Miller told Rick Broering for Musketeer Report from the Bahamas. “Two proven winners…and, you know, bringing those guys in really helps the freshmen because they’ve been through the battles. They’re battle-tested. They don’t know Xavier, they have not played for us, but they’ve played three and four seasons of college basketball. So that experience is so important to our team.”
“We really believe in Quincy Olivari and Dayvion McKnight. Two proven winners…they’re battle-tested.”
– Sean Miller
Named Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball in 2020, McKnight has spent the past three seasons starring for the Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky. A guy who makes things happen all over the court, McKnight has averaged better than 16 points in each of the past two seasons, and he’s racked up 147 steals over the course of his 94 career games. McKnight finished in the top five of Conference USA in assists at the end of each of those seasons, and two years ago ranked 16th nationally by averaging 5.5 helpers per contest. He’s very quick with the ball, and despite being a 6’0″ guard, McKnight has averaged 5.2 boards the past couple of years; and he grabbed 52 rebounds on the offensive side alone last season. “I love the way he plays,” says Miller of his new point guard.
With a take-on-anything style at both ends of the floor, McKnight will have plenty on his plate this year. Not only has McKnight proven himself as a terrific on-ball defender who can give the other team’s best guard all sorts of trouble, his great vision and awareness allow McKnight to be disruptive away from his assignment as well. The quarterback of his group on his end of the floor and the opponents’, McKnight communicates well and never lets anybody near him make an easy pass. When his guys have the rock, McKnight is a bowling ball of a lead guard. He loves to get downhill and create in the lane, and has gotten to the foul line (where he’s an 80.9% shooter) more than 300 times over the past two seasons. McKnight isn’t a high-volume outside shooter, but he’s improved up to a 34% rate over his last two campaigns, and also keeps defenses honest with a solid 42.4% mark on mid-range shots the last pair of seasons, per Bart Torvik.
McKnight uses his dribble inventively, hesitating, crossing and faking his way in from the perimeter; and when he’s in rhythm off the bounce, he can drain shots in bunches. He’s also terrific as a shot maker and distributor in transition; and given McKnight’s sticky fingers, he creates plenty of live-ball chances. McKnight ranks fourth all-time at WKU in assists per game, third in total setups, and second-highest assist rate ever on Big Red’s campus. Only problem is, he’s also averaged 2.9 turnovers per game thus far, and Miller will really want to see that tightened up. If McKnight can translate his range of considerable skills to the Big East, though, he’ll be one of the better point guards among many good ones in his new league.
Olivari had a tremendous four-year run at Rice, and brings a proven deep threat to Miller’s lineup. In the three years since he became a starter, Olivari has averaged 15.7 points and 5.7 boards. He’s grown his game, also; over the past couple years he’s dished out 119 assists in 55 games played. Unfortunately, Olivari has coughed up 129 turnovers in that same span. Part of that was because the Owls ranked 336th in points per game allowed last year, and Rice needed Olivari to get shots off and score at all costs. With the freedom to roam afforded by Rice running most of its offense through center Max Fielder, who led C-USA in assists last year, Olivari had tremendous license to create for himself. So he did, and utilized off-ball movement and his keen sense of drifting to where defenders aren’t to rank third in the league in scoring. Olivari’s true calling card is his jumper; he’s knocked down 252 triples so far (good enough for 20th in C-USA history), at a 37.8% clip. He leaves Houston as the Owls’ all-time leader in made treys and three point percentage.
Every team Xavier plays this year will have to commit valuable defensive resources to covering Olivari on the perimeter, and if he can keep it up, the newcomer will provide Miller’s team with great spacing. Olivari made a concerted effort to drive the ball more last season after attempting just 75 shots near the basket over his previous three seasons combined. Those efforts paid off; Olivari took 109 shots in close last year, made more than 57% of them, and earned 169 foul shots (he made 79.3% of them) – more than twice as many freebies as he’d tried in his three previous campaigns, combined. Defensively, Olivari isn’t at the same level as McKnight, and will need to give his best effort yet – especially given Miller’s stated desire to clean up the perimeter defense in particular. The blend of skills which Miller’s new guards bring to the table is enticing, and given McKnight’s proclivity for getting downhill off of ball screens and Olivari’s excellence as a spot-up shooter (he shot well enough to rank in the 87th percentile nationally in such situations last year), Xavier’s offense should have a tailor-made new connection to help lead the way.
Without Freemantle or Hunter, virtually everyone up front this year will be new. Abou Ousmane was at the heart of one of college basketball’s best defenses the past two years at North Texas. Now that he’s brought his skills to Cincinnati, Miller is hoping that Ousmane can help lead a defensive transformation for the X-men. A solidly-built, rangy rim protector, Ousmane has good instincts and covers ground quickly; his 45 blocks were fifth in C-USA last year, and he’s active in the passing lanes to deny and pick off feed attempts. He uses his feet well to establish position and doesn’t get bullied, but Ousmane can be a bit robotic still and tends to have a bit of trouble with quicker and more athletic bigs. He picked up fouls at an alarming rate at times at UNT, often against the better teams (and best bigs) which the Mean Green faced. His effectiveness was limited by Ousmane fouling out six times last season, and racking up four fouls in six more games. Ousmane is a traditional pivot offensively, without a strong desire to operate on the perimeter. He’ll set a heck of a pick, though, and knows how to roll towards the rim and finish anything he catches along the way with a flush. Though Ousmane has made better than 64% of his attempts around the cup for his career, Ousmane was asked to be a top offensive option at North Texas.
Partly because he is a talented short-range shooter and partly because there was not an abundance of natural scorers on Grant McCasland’s last two UNT squads beyond outstanding K-State transfer Tylor Perry, Ousmane was asked to be a legitimate offensive threat for the Mean Green. He saw better than a 26% usage rate the past two seasons as McCasland sought to establish a source of post scoring, and Ousmane did a fine and winning job. He attempted roughly the same number of shots from mid-range as he did around the rim, per Bart Torvik, and Miller will hope to see about the same production on fewer looks. With more scorers around him in Cincinnati, Miller is going to ask Ousmane to focus on what he does most efficiently. In addition to being a strong finishing option around the hoop and capable of dropping in jumpers around the lane, Ousmane is a physical presence on the glass who works hard in addition to his physical gifts. He grabbed 86 offensive boards last year (fifth in C-USA), and Ousmane came up with 27 putback tries each of the past two seasons, per Hoop-Math. It’s not that Miller wants to diminish anything which Ousmane does well; it’s just that he will need the veteran big man to be the cleanest and straightforward he’s ever been with the touches he gets.
Kachi Nzeh is a stout young big from Nigeria whose ascent as a prospect has been meteoric. A former Junior Olympian, Nzeh won a 400m Gold medal at just 14 years old, but given his height and some encouragement from his parents, Nzeh gave hoops a try. 20+ Division I offers later, Nzeh is an exciting new option for Miller, who pounced at the chance to land a prospect like Nzeh. “He was like, ‘Listen, I’ve seen you once, my assistants have said great things about you, and I’ve had guys similar to you, and I’m willing to offer you because I believe in you, and I believe that you’re the guy for us,” Nzeh told City of Basketball Love of his first time meeting Sean Miller.
The young big reminds Miller of players he has coached before like Aaron Gordon and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, and Miller sees similar potential in Nzeh’s gifts. With the opportunity to see the floor often this summer, Nzeh has shown great defensive skills along with energy and effort on the glass – and he boasts upwards of a 7’6″ wingspan. The combination of speed, length, size and desire which Nzeh has shown so far have his new coach excited.
“He’s only been playing basketball for a little over three years,” Miller said from the Bahamas. “I think just his improvement, whether it’s physically, or just watching him each week, I feel like his improvement just shines, because he’s coachable, he’s an incredibly hard worker, and he’s got great, great talent; his good hands, can really jump, and he’s got a great body and frame…he goes after the ball and rebounds.” With so much of last year’s frontcourt shelved, Nzeh will be counted on immediately.
A late signee, Serbian forward Lazar Đoković will also factor significantly into the rotation up front. A versatile big guy, Đoković played very well for his home country at this year’s U-19 FIBA World Cup, averaging 14.9 points and 7.3 boards to go along with more than three helpers per game. The growing youngster began his career as more of a perimeter player but has adapted his game to the paint. He still has the mobility of a wing, and Đoković has slick footwork and a good bit of quickness near the hoop. He can put the ball on the floor and seems to have a good plan for what to do both as he drives and once he gets where he wants to go. If he can defend at a high enough level, Đoković’s palette of talents should see him getting minutes in a few different lineup combinations.
| Five Stats Which Tell The Tale (with national ranks) |
| 80.9 – Points Per Game (7th) |
| 14.6 – Opponent Assists Per FG Made (307th) |
| 39.0% – Team 3FG Percentage (4th) |
| 35.8% – Opponent 3FG Percentage (283rd) |
| 71.0% – Team Free Throw Percentage (212th) |
Sean Miller’s decision to add David Miller (no relation) from San José State as an assistant this spring has paid immediate dividends. An ace recruiter with international ties and influence, David Miller was a longtime assistant to Sean Miller at Arizona prior to doing great work in helping Tim Miles to make the Spartans into contenders. In addition to Đoković, David Miller was instrumental in helping Xavier to land Lithuanian forward Gytis Nemeikša this summer. The NCAA has declared Nemeikša to be a senior in eligibility, as he’s been at university overseas in addition to playing with one of Lithuania’s top pro squads. Since he only gets one year to play, Nemeikša plans on carving through the Big East like King Mindaugas the Only. A rangy combo forward who can score inside and out, Nemeikša should be very ready to handle the step up in competition. “The first thing about Gytis is he is experienced, playing for his club team, Zalgeris, in Lithuania, is very, very good competition. I think he is, his game is kind of a blend player,” Sean Miller says of Nemeikša. “Helps you in a lot of different ways, doesn’t need the ball in his hands, uh, to be effective…he’s right at 6’7″, with really long arms.” It’s not hard to see Nemeikša playing a few different roles this year, and his positional versatility combined with strong effort on the glass could give an echo of what Hunter offered the Muskies over the second half of last season.
The backcourt depth doesn’t end with McKnight and Olivari; Miller is expecting big things from second-year player Desmond Claude. With a range of skills and considerably more size than the oldsters ahead of him, Claude slots in as a terrific third guard who can also play along with Olivari and McKnight on the wing. A 4-star recruit last fall, Claude played in all but two of Xavier’s games as a freshman, averaging 20.8 minutes per tilt. A good and versatile defender who is quick enough at his size to cause some matchup problems for the other team, Claude is also a solid and active rebounder at both ends of the floor. Claude likes to drive in close and can finish creatively in and around the lane. He isn’t yet a great outside shooter, though; Claude was under 30% on all shot attempts away from the cup as a freshman. “Coming in last year as a wide-eyed freshman, you look at him early on here this summer, he’s like a different person and player,” Miller said of Claude in August. With his experience, the ability to guard multiple positions, and an air of veteran confidence now, Claude may be the team’s 6th man this winter.
Kam Craft, like Hunter and Freemantle, has been rehabbing this summer. Craft had knee surgery, and is hoping to get back to full strength by the beginning of the new year. The sophomore guard hasn’t fully resumed basketball activities, though, and may not be back until sometime during the season. Craft played in 15 games last season as a rookie, and has real scoring potential once he’s back to 100%.
| Five Out-of-Conference Game to Keep an Eye on |
| @ Purdue – November 13 |
| vs Houston – December 1 |
| N – Saint Mary’s – November 19 |
| vs Cincinnati – December 9 |
| N – Washington – November 17 |
There are lots more freshmen arriving to provide depth and, potentially, contribute in starring roles. Two of the freshmen are a pair of 4-star wings who offer contrasting skills which should combine to help out from the start. “Dailyn Swain is a name that maybe doesn’t come across your radar yet – I think it will,” Miller told reporters this fall. Swain is a long and lanky perimeter player who moves like a guard, could develop into an NBA wing as he adds strength, and sees the floor like a coach on the court. “Swain is a big, playmaking wing, who may just be scratching the surface of his potential,” Adam Finklestein of 247 Sports wrote of Swain around the time of his signing with Xavier. “He handles and passes the ball very well for his size, and can create offense for both himself and his teammates. While he’s at his best playing north to south in the open floor, where he can show some very high-level flashes, there’s also the potential to be a pick-and-roll threat and playmaker in the half-court. He’s naturally unselfish with good court vision.” Swain has the potential to guard virtually any non-big, and has a sense of how to be in the right place to make good things happen at both ends of the floor. He’s really not much of a shooter yet, but Swain will earn his minutes in lots of other ways. With his versatility and playmaking skill, Swain could play a lot immediately.
Swain’s classmate, Reid Ducharme, is less graceful, but can really shoot the ball and knows how to play with some physicality. “They see me as a shooter, but value other parts of my game too,” Ducharme told 247 Sports after pledging to Xavier. “Defense and out-working people are important to Coach Miller and they see a lot of that in me.” Ducharme has a reputation for being a bit streaky from the outside, but has developed his dribble-drive game over the past year and should be able to offer some different looks when defenders close out fiercely. With the lede sufficiently buried, Xavier’s highest-rated incoming prospect is point guard Trey Green. “Trey Green is a point guard for us who can really shoot the ball and be a difference-maker,” Miller has said of the freshman. A recruit whose star just kept ascending as his prep career came to an end, Green has been rated a borderline Top 50 player by some publications, and he provides tremendous insurance to Miller’s rotation. Green is a smart and savvy passer who makes up for his small stature by making great reads and utilizing angles and his quickness. He’s also a terrific shooter, and that should make for a nice change-up when Miller needs to give McKnight a break. “He may be small and slight but he knows how to play the game and if you leave him open he will punish you,” says Travis Branham of 247 Sports.
With the injury situation relentlessly being what it is in the paint, Miller continued upgrading his roster all the way through September. That’s when he added Slovenian big man Saša Ciani to the post for the X-men. Ciani played well for a junior pro team in his home country, and has on multiple occasions competed for Slovenia on the international stage. This past summer, Ciani averaged 12.3 points and 8.6 boards for Slovenia at the U-20 European Championship. A strongly-built post player, Ciani won’t need to sit and develop for a year – he’s physically ready to play in the Big East right now. He doesn’t operate much outside of the lane right now offensively, but if Ciani can provide another genuine post defender it will be a big help. He should also contribute significantly on the boards, and Ciani may end up being a clutch late addition by the time March approaches.
With so much being uncertain due to injury this offseason, Miller and his staff focused on what they could control. “The things we’re implementing are things that will stand the test of time. It’s not like we’re experimenting,” Miller told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “We’re trying to put in the fundamentals of everything we do, so in March we’re going to be talking about the same things.”
There are few teams which have been so snakebitten by injury over the past year or so, but Xavier is hoping that things begin to even out soon. “We want to be healthy from start to finish,” Miller told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “We’re due for some good luck in that department.” While that may not quite be the case yet, Miller and Co have ensured that there are plenty of talented players as insurance against further attrition.
“We’re a deeper group this year, like one through ten,” Miller declared at Big East Media Day. “I think we have more firepower, we have more players that there isn’t a big difference between the starter and somebody who you may call our seventh man. And we have to call on that, and it has to become something that fuels us and helps us.” If McKnight and Olivari can continue to be the stars they’ve been, Xavier will have a new foundation to build upon. His new band of merry Muskies will of course have a much larger target on their backs this time around, but that’s fine. They were expecting it, anyway. Miller was always planning on making Xavier a contender once more. Just as it was last year, there’s no time like the present to get down to winnin’.
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