Know Thy Opponent: Xavier Musketeers

  • 11/24/2007 10:45 am in

th_23666_knowthyopponent_122_866lo.jpgThe Hoosiers will wrap up the Chicago Invitational Challenge tonight against Xavier of the Atlantic 10 Conference.

The Musketeers are 3-1 on the season with their only loss coming at Miami (OH) 59-57 back on Nov. 13. The Hoosiers lead the all-time series 8-0.

Xavier advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament a season ago and lost three seniors, but many publications thought highly enough of the Musketeers to include them in their preseason rankings.

Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports had them at No. 20, Andy Katz of ESPN ranked them No. 22 and the Sporting News pegged them at No. 25.

Head coach Sean Miller will rely heavily on his senior backcourt of Drew Lavender and Stanley Burrell. The 5-7 Lavender is a first team preseason All-Atlantic 10 selection. Burrell, a 6-3 guard, entered the season 25th on Xavier’s all-time scoring list and was a third team All-Atlantic 10 preseason selection.

Up front, 6-9 senior Josh Duncan returns from an injury that forced him out of starting lineup late last season. Duncan is leading the Musketeers in scoring at 13.0 ppg. 6-8 sophomore Derrick Brown joins Duncan in the paint and is the leading rebounder (7.0 rpg) and second leading scorer (12.5 ppg).

C.J. Anderson and B.J. Raymond (both 12.3 ppg) are also keys to the Xavier attack. In all, six Musketeers are scoring in double figures.

To learn more about the Xavier program, click here.

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