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Top-seeded Xavier looks for strong start to postseason

Mar 12, 2009 - 12:38 PM Saint Louis (18-13) vs. No. 19 Xavier (24-6) 12:00 p.m. EDT

ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey (Ticker) -- Xavier will look to start the quest for an infrequent double when it opens the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament against Saint Louis in Thursday's quarterfinals.

The 19th-ranked Musketeers (24-6) recently notched their sixth league title and third in as many years. However, that success has not always spread over to the conference tournament.

Xavier, which has been in the NCAA Tournament six of the last seven years, has claimed only one A-10 tournament crown in the last four years. It also has only won both the regular-season and tournament titles in the same campaign twice, the last coming in 2002.

After starting the season with a 20-2 mark, the Musketeers ran into some troubles down the stretch, splitting their last eight games, but still secured the top seed for the third straight year. Xavier, however, failed to reach the tournament's title game each of the previous two seasons.

The Musketeers should have little trouble getting past the Billikens (18-13), who had lost their final three regular-season games before edging La Salle, 62-60, in overtime in the opening round of the tournament on Wednesday.

Kwamain Mitchell scored 18 points for Saint Louis, including a layup with 1.8 seconds left in the extra session.

Yet, Xavier has won its last three meetings in the series, including a 70-44 romp on January 8 in which Saint Louis was held to 16-of-52 (31 percent) from the field. Derrick Brown scored 20 points for the Musketeers.

Beyond being a strong defensive unit, as it led the A-10 in field-goal percentage defense (.388), Xavier also owns a balanced offensive attack that includes three players with 1,000 career points.