Maybe Xavier was already in the NCAA Tournament field before its BIG EAST Tournament opener against Butler. Maybe it wasn’t.
It all depended on which talking head, which NCAA Tournament bracketeer, you listened to the past week or so. But life on Bubbleville is a precarious existence at best. So the prevailing theory was the Musketeers could ill afford a loss to No.10 Butler Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. Not if they had plans for later in March.
Like many teams in this pandemic scarred season, the Musketeers had their share of ups and downs coming into the tournament.