If you look at the raw metrics like Bart Torvik and KenPom.com, Xavier is a bubble team. They’re 39th on Torvik and 44th on the KenPom; the cut line for at-large bids usually covers the top 40 or so teams in the country, so X is right there for snagging an invite to the Big Dance.
According to Eamonn Brennan’s Bubble Watch, Xavier is in the “work to do” category, which, considering the above, kind of makes sense.
I’m not sure I buy it though. Xavier is 30th in the polls - and I know we bang on how dumb the polls are as an assessment of how good a team is, which they are.