It's that time in the college basketball season when scoreboard watching can reveal major developments in the national postseason picture.
On Wednesday, scoreboard watching revealed a major gift for Xavier basketball in the form of a Villanova loss.
Prior to Xavier's 9 p.m. game against Seton Hall at Cintas Center, the Providence College Friars defeated Villanova in Providence, 76-71, to drop the Wildcats to 23-3 overall and 10-3 in Big East play.
That means the Musketeers (23-3, 11-2 Big East) carried a full-game lead into their 9 p.m. tip against Seton Hall.
Xavier can expand that to 1.