Xavier, Sean Miller Look to Reload After a Very Good Season

This article was published before the announced injuries of Zach Freemantle and Jerome Hunter, both of whom could be out for the season.

By almost any measure, Sean Miller’s first season at Xavier was a tremendous success. Two years removed from being dismissed at Arizona, Miller led the Musketeers to 27 wins, a second place finish in the Big East (15-5), and trips to the conference title game and the Sweet 16 in March.

Unranked until late December, Xavier never left the AP Top 25 after first cracking it on Dec. 26 — rising as high as #8 in the country and finishing 13th in the final poll. Miller and Co. took out Kennesaw State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, then knocked off his alma mater (Pittsburgh) in the second, before falling to Texas in the Regional Semifinal.

UTEP transfer Souley Boum was one of two unanimous All Big East First Team selections last March, while Colby Jones was named Second Team and was later drafted just outside of the first round of the NBA Draft in June.

Considering Xavier hadn’t reached the NCAA Tournament since 2018, and lost a key piece over the final month of the season, it felt as though Miller maxed out what he could with his veteran group last year. The 2023-24 version will have a lot more question marks in November, considering all they lost in the spring. Once again, Miller looked to transfers from Conference USA to fill the void.

Here’s a look at Xavier: