NCAA: Xavier v Maryland - Thurs 6:50pm 3/16/17

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

Xavier quietly confident ahead of Maryland tourney matchup - Patrick Brennan, Cincinnati Enquirer - March 15, 2017

Excellent preview article by Patrick Brennan – well worth a read. Best of luck to Chris Mack and the Musketeers tonight.

In March Madness, Xavier perfect example why matchups matter more than seeds - Gary Parrish, CBS Sports – March 15, 2017

The Musketeers will gladly take their No. 11 seed over Oklahoma State's spot in the NCAA Tournament

Coaches are way more concerned with their paths to the second weekend than the numbers beside their names. They’d much rather be an 11-seed with a diminished and struggling first-round opponent than a 10-seed with a first-round contest against a team that’s played well down the stretch. Which brings me to a pair of interesting matchups:

• No. 7 Michigan vs. No. 10 Oklahoma State
• No. 6 Maryland vs. No. 11 Xavier

Question: Would you rather be Brad Underwood or Chris Mack right now?

I would much rather be an 11-seed with Xavier’s first-round game than a 10-seed with Oklahoma State’s first-round game, and here’s why: Maryland is 4-6 in its past 10 games and 2-3 since Michal Cekovsky suffered a season-ending injury. So the Terrapins are neither at full strength nor playing well. Meantime, Oklahoma State’s first-round opponent, Michigan, is 10-2 in its past 12 games with six wins in that stretch over NCAA Tournament teams. The Wolverines enter this NCAA Tournament on a five-game winning streak that culminated with them winning the Big Ten Tournament on Sunday afternoon.

• Maryland is 45th at KenPom.
• Michigan is 20th.

So Oklahoma State got a better seed than Xavier. But Xavier got a more favorable game.

[herodotus]

Maryland is highly overrated. They got an early boost from beating Georgetown before everyone knew that Georgetown was garbage this year.

[X Factor]

Nice 11 point win over Maryland...moving on.

[Omaha1]

Everyone in my house was hooting and hollaring for XU. Well done guys. But man does the B1G suck or what?

[jfan]

Go X, big win. Macura had a bad shooting night and X still won comfortably. Take down FSU!!

[ecasadoSBU]

Great win X!!!! Nice "upset"

[Irishdawg]

Nice win Xavier. Need to keep this momentum rolling through the weekend!

[kayako]

Great job O'Mara!

[mel ott]

Love watching the Big East teams. O"Mara was tough. Love seeing the big 10 take some lumps- #5 and #6 seeds lose. Hope CU can take care of business tomorrow to add to the record.

[Bill Marsh]

So happy for all Xavier fans with all that this team has been through. Hats off to Coach Mack.