Are we even in the tournament?

[Mr. Neutral]

http://www.suntimes.com/hoops/863881,CS ... est27.stng

Full-page width, inch-high headline-

"Mountaineers climb with Huggins"

[RONALD78]

I agree. The coverage of Xavier by the news media has been almost non-existent. It is if Xavier is not in the tourney.

[muskienick]

The lack of coverage may be true at the national level but it surely isn't happening that way here in Cincinnati. To its credit, the Enquirer has been awash with Muskie articles. Today, there is front-page coverage and a number of articles on the sports page as well.

Even the local radio talk show hosts are prying Xavier fans from their usual pursuits to their telephones to make calls. I often don't agree with their takes, but at least they are bringing Muskie hoops to the forefront on their shows.

[Mr. Neutral]

That's true, nick, and I've taken issue with guys who expect every story to have a pro-Xavier slant.

It just seems that we're in a very unique (and almost invisible) position in this tourney, especially for one of the final 16 teams. We're not a BCS team, we're not the "feel-good underdog".

Basically, we're the guy in a charcoal grey suit, white shirt and muted tie; we look fine, but not eye-catching.

[MarvAlbert]

Except for the recent Dana O'neil article on Miller, the only coverage we've been getting on espn is in the podcasts where andy glockner will say "xavier has terrific offensive balance and can pose a problem for some teams" and then they go on to talk about every other team in the tournament...

[muskieman]

another chip the players can carry on their shoulders and make WVa pay. I wonder what the players at West Virginia think of all the Huggins press, like they haven't had the impact in their success.

[brownlavender]

I just hope Huggy wears his beutiful mustard yellow pimp suit, last time he did they scored a whopping 39 points

[muskienick]

You are so right, Gary. "Gray" is the perfect word to use as it applies to Xavier at this stage of its basketball existence. A phone call from a Muskie fan from Cleveburg to the Mo Eggar show this morning was typical of our program's perception by others (Mo was not there today and the show was being hosted by --- seemingly --- some 12-year-old stand-in which is justified given Mo's own abilities as a radio host). The radio guy said that tonight's game would be a "defining moment" in X's history. The caller asked him to define what he meant by "defining moment" and he provided a very feeble and nebulous description.

The caller said that XU would need to proceed beyond tonight's game to achieve "defining moment" status since we've already been to the Sweet Sixteen twice before during this Modern Era of Muskie Hoops. He further said that a 3-seed beating a 7th-seed could hardly be described as a "defining moment."

The host dug himself a somewhat deeper hole by refusing to admit that Gonzaga was a nationally recognized program and calling the Zags just another mid-major. (This was in reply to the caller's suggestion that Xavier had achieved pretty much the same level of excellence as their Spokane, Washington Jesuit brothers.) While not denying that X hadn't matched the Zags' achievements, the host used that as evidence to indicate the Muskies' non-major standing among the better colleges in D-1 basketball.

[Shadow]

People know about Xavier. I was eating in a pub outside the UA campus in Tucson on Easter Sunday and watching the game that was on at the time. Some kids at the next table were talking about UA's exit in the first round and I said "my team is still in". They asked who it was and when I told them, they said "Wow, they got a real good team"
X is not unknown.

[Mr. Neutral]

<<X is not unknown.>>

No, we're not. Are we receiving the pub you'd think a 29-6 Sweet 16 would get? I'd say no.