BIG EAST TEAM PREVIEW #11 XAVIER MUSKETEERS

The second Big East team with a new head coach next season is Xavier. Sean Miller left the program after they reached the NCAA tournament last year to take the Texas job. Miller stated that his reasoning for leaving was to coach in a bigger conference and have more NIL resources. Xavier seemingly was able to get a pretty solid replacement in former New Mexico head coach Richard Pitino. Pitino led New Mexico to back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances, even reaching the Round of 32 last year after upsetting Marquette last year. Xaver will have an entirely new roster next season after the coaching change.

Projected Lineup:

G All Wright (Valparaiso transfer)

G Malik Moore (Montana transfer)

F Gabriel Pozzato (Evansville transfer)

F Tre Carroll (FAU transfer)

C Anthony Robinson (Virginia transfer)

It's really tough to sort out what role everyone will have next year for Xavier. They have the largest transfer portal class in the Big East with 10 transfers. I'm guessing that 6-foot-3 Valparaiso transfer All Wright and that 6-foot-4 Montana transfer Malik Moore start in the backcourt for Xavier. All Wright was a highly coveted guard in the portal. In his freshman season at Valpo, he won the freshman of the year in the Missouri Valley conference, while averaging 15.5 points per game. Malik Moore was another good guard they landed from the mid-major level. He was an all-conference player in the Big Sky during his junior season last year. Moore averaged 12.6 points and shot 40.9 percent from three-point range. Watch out for 6-foot-3 Boise State Roddie Anderson and 6-foot-2 North Dakota transfer Mier Panoam to also play a vital role in Xavier's backcourt. Panoam averaged 13 points and 5.8 rebounds last season at UND. As for Roddie Anderson, he transferred in from Boise State before last season to Xavier but redshirted.

The frontcourt is also full of transfers. Evansville transfer Gabriel Pozzato was probably their best addition. Like All Wright, Pozzato also comes with three seasons of eligibility and comes from the Missouri Valley Conference. Pozzato had a nice freshman season last year, averaging 14.9 points and 4.4 rebounds. Florida Atlantic transfer Tre Carroll should also be a starter next season. He earned all-conference honors in the American Athletic Conference, while averaging 12.2 points and 5.2 rebounds. Virginia transfer Anthony Robinson is Xavier's only incoming transfer who comes from a power conference program. In his freshman season last year, he averaged 3.6 points and 2.4 rebounds in just 9.2 minutes. Robinson should have a much bigger role for Xavier next year. Another transfer that Xavier brought in that should make an impact off the bench is 6-foot-9 forward Filip Borovicannin, who followed Pitinio from New Mexico. They also brought in 7-foot center Papa N'Diaye, who also comes from the Mountain West at UNLV.

When a team brings in 10 transfers from different schools, it's hard to have a good idea of how they will perform next season. Richard Pitino brought in a lot of quality players for his first season, but they don't really have anyone that I could see averaging 15+ in the Big East conference. It will definitely be a balanced scoring attack next year for Xavier. They should be able to rebound and defend well, but it's hard to see them finishing super highly in the conference with an entirely new group of players.

Prediction: 7th in Big East