SAN JOSE, Calif. — The tattered wreckage of another NCAA tournament favorite laid on the floor of No. 11-seeded Xavier's locker room, amid all the cut-off ankle-tape husks, wadded-up towels and navy-blue jerseys. The Musketeers print up their pregame scouting reports on a series of poster-sized white sheets, complete with opposing player headshots, breakdowns of tendencies, and guidelines for how to stop them.
The Musketeers' managers tape the scouting reports to the wall—at the SAP Center before their Sweet 16 game against No. 2-seeded, 7.5-point favorite Arizona, the sheets were on the back wall of a repurposed hockey locker room—and players' tradition after wins is to storm in, tear them down, and then tear them to pieces.