Oct. 15, 2008

CINCINNATI --- It’s difficult to discuss the 2008-09 season without talking about recent success, especially the record-setting 2007-08 campaign behind the leadership of a trio of senior stars, Drew Lavender, Stanley Burrell and Josh Duncan. Xavier lost those three senior starters off of last year’s team but has two starters and several key reserves back and a highly-touted class of newcomers. Those are a few of the reasons why The Sporting News has Xavier ranked number 19 in its preseason magazine. XU tied a school record at the end of last season with a No. 12 ranking in the final AP Poll and broke the school record with a final ranking of No. 8 in the post-tournament USA Today/ESPN coaches Poll.

Xavier made its third straight NCAA Tournament appearance last season and their seventh in the last eight years. Xavier (30-7) set the school record for most wins in an entire season on its way to a second NCAA “Elite Eight” appearance in five years and a second straight Atlantic 10 Conference Regular Season Championship. Xavier has now recorded three straight seasons of 20 wins or more and 11 in the last 12 years.

Fifth-year head coach Sean Miller, the 2007-08 Atlantic 10 Conference Coach of the Year, is accustomed to the high expectations.

 “At Xavier the bar is always high,” said Miller. “We challenge ourselves to continue to build on our tradition of winning. Each year our team faces new challenges.  However, the best programs in college basketball compete for excellence every season regardless of what happened the year before.  There is a difference between having a great team and having a program that can sustain excellence. We want to be that type of program.”

Xavier’s two returning starters from its 2008 NCAA “Elite Eight” team that led the Atlantic 10 in scoring margin (+11.7 ppg.) include last season’s second-leading scorer Derrick Brown (10.9 ppg.), a junior forward, and C.J. Anderson (10.7 ppg.), a senior forward.

Senior guard/forward B.J. Raymond, the fifth-leading scorer last season at just under double figures (9.9 ppg.), also returns. XU returns 55.4 percent of its scoring from the 2007-08 season. Xavier also returns its top three rebounders from a team that led the Atlantic 10 and was 29th in the nation in rebounding margin at +5.2 rpg. Brown (6.5 rpg. as a sophomore), Anderson (5.9 rpg.) and junior Jason Love (5.5 rpg.) are all back for the upcoming season. XU returns 72.2 percent of its rebounding from the 2007-08 season. Sophomore Danté Jackson played understudy to last year’s defensive leader, Stanley Burrell, and has high hopes to fill that role this season.

Also cracking the “top 40” rankings in the preseason publication rankings were fellow Atlantic 10 Conference

members Saint Joseph’s at No. 32 and 2008 A-10 Tournament Champion Temple at No. 38.  Both teams

advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season and were among a league-record eight teams to reach the

20-win plateau. 

XU opens the season on Friday, November 7 at 7 p.m. with an exhibition game against Findlay at Cintas Center.