Selection Sunday 2018: Projected No. 1 seeds for March Madness

Xavier Musketeers (28-4)

The Xavier Musketeers were the team that finally knocked Villanova off the top spot in the Big East that the Wildcats had held for the previous three years. Xavier has made a transition from perennial underdog to quality high-major program under the direction of head coach Chris Mack. This year’s group is one of the deepest teams in the country and it isn’t out of the norm for 10 different players to see game action routinely. A trio of seniors have helped Xavier rise to the top of the NCAA this year: Trevon Bluiett, Kerem Kanter and the notorious J.P. Macura.

Bluiett is one of the best scorers in all of college basketball and the seasoning of staying all four years shows in his leap in efficiency on offense. Kanter is the younger brother of New York Knick center Enes Kanter and you would be forgiven if you thought the two were the same person just based off their style of play. Finally, there’s Macura. He can do a little bit of everything, which includes getting under the skin of his opponents and other coaches. A nucleus of underclassmen (Kaiser Gates, Quentin Goodin, Tyrique Jones and Paul Scruggs) round out the roster for the Musketeers.

Last year, Xavier made a run to the Elite Eight as an 11 seed before ultimately falling to the eventual national runner-up Gonzaga Bulldogs. This year, they go from the hunters to the hunted. There will be an “X” — no pun intended — on their backs as some teams within their bracket might not believe them to be the same caliber top seed as we’ve grown accustomed to.

The fact that the Big East had a resurgence as a conference is a big boost to Xavier’s resume. Their non-conference blowout loss to Arizona State has not aged well and their rivalry match against Cincinnati is the only real marquee game they played outside of Big East play.