Tonight the Xavier Musketeers begin their season in an exhibition game vs. the Rollins College Tars (Winter Park, FL) at the Cintas Center (7:30 tip). Xavier is coming off a season which saw the Muskies win the Atlantic 10 Regular Season title and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Rollins is a Division 2 program from the Sunshine State Conference where they finished 2nd in last season and advance to the conference tournament final, but did not make the NCAA Tournament. The Tars are ranked #24 in the D2 preseason poll.
Don't know a lot about Rollins? Well you are not alone, here is some basic info on the Tars:
- Lost four players to graduation from last years team
- Feature four players from the Cincinnati area (3 from St. Xavier, 1 from Anderson)
- Head Coach Tom Clusman is entering his 30th season as Tars head coach
- GQ Magazine rated Rollins College #6 in its "America's 25 Douchiest Colleges" rankings
- Notable alumni include former Reds GM Jim "Leatherpants" Bowden and former N*Sync member Chris Kirkpatrick (the one that looked twice as old as the rest of the members...don't ask me why I know that)
There is your basic rundown of Rollins College. Now here are things to keep an eye on for the Musketeers.
- What players will replace the scoring of departed players BJ Raymond, CJ Anderson and Derrick Brown?
- Can Jordan Crawford be as good as advertised?
- Who will win the PG battle between Mark "Cheeks" Lyons and Terrell "Tutu" Holloway?
- Who can step up at Power Forward behind Jamel McLean?
For more info: I will be in attendance at tonights game and may occasionally post updates and thoughts of the action on twitter (@Xavier_eXaminer) and will have post game thoughts here on Examiner.