Youthful Xavier exceeds outsiders' expectations

(Photo: Rick Osentoski / USA Today Sports)After Xavier’s men’s basketball team wrapped up last season in the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16, some hoops pundits doubted its ability to pick up where it left off without stalwarts Matt Stainbrook and Dee Davis.

Inside the locker room, though, the Musketeers knew they had something special.

Chris Mack’s team shrugged off the Big East preseason coaches’ poll, which pegged it to finish fourth in the conference, and focused on an offensive style that didn’t go through do-it-all passer and scorer Stainbrook.

The new-look Musketeers became faster behind 6-foot-6 point guard Edmond Sumner, who’d spent the prior year dealing with tendinitis in his knees.…