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Helluva first season back at Xavier for Sean Miller and the Musketeers! Let's review

OUT:
*Adam Kunkel
*Souley Boum
*Colby Jones (going pro)
*Jack Nunge (going pro)

STAY:
*Jerome Hunter
*Zach Freemantle
*Desmond Claude

IN:
*Kachi Nzeh
*Dailyn Swain
*Reid Ducharme
*Trey Green
*Logan Duncomb (transfer from Indiana)
*Dayvion McKnight (transfer from Western Kentucky)
*Quincy Olivari (transfer from Rice)
*Abou Ousmane (transfer from North Texas)

My 0.02:
*Loved this season for Xavier. Far from perfect but this program has already made huge strides with Sean Miller back at the helm in Cincinnati. They'll definitely miss Boum, Kunkel, Jones and Nunge but they got an excellent class coming in! Future is bright for the X-Men!

POST-DEADLINE UPDATE:
Oof. Xavier lost 4 of their best players who either exhausted their eligibility (Boum and Kunkel) or declared for the pros (Nunge and Jones). Thankfully, the Musketeers kept a very good freshman in Claude, an excellent spark off the bench in Hunter and a proven veteran and great player in Freemantle. The X-Men will have a pretty new but a very talented team in the coming year. Very good HS recruiting class by getting Green, Swain and Ducharme (all 4-stars). They seem to have gotten some good players in the portal. McKnight was good at Western Kentucky, Olivari was good at Rice and Ousmane was the anchor of the North Texas defense, which was one of the best in the country. All 3 of those guys need to prove themselves in the Big East though. Then there's Duncomb. He didn't get much playing time at Indiana but suiting up for IU at all is a big deal. I think this Xavier team will experience growing pains at first but they'll get better as the season progresses. Sean Miller is a damn good ball coach.

Would Nunge actually get a 7th season to utilize the covid exception? Would certainly need a waiver and a 7th season would also certainly be new ground for the NCAA. Seems doubtful?

I’d be surprised if Freemantle came back. I suspect he will transfer, at least look at his options- but currently I’d lean towards him not returning.

I think Jones will test NBA, 50/50 that he will return.

Rumor is Nunge will come back if the NIL money is right.

Nukem2 wrote:Would Nunge actually get a 7th season to utilize the covid exception? Would certainly need a waiver and a 7th season would also certainly be new ground for the NCAA. Seems doubtful?

I believe the extra "clock" for Jack is due to injuries sustained while at Iowa.

Jim Neutron wrote:I’d be surprised if Freemantle came back. I suspect he will transfer, at least look at his options- but currently I’d lean towards him not returning.

I think Jones will test NBA, 50/50 that he will return.

Rumor is Nunge will come back if the NIL money is right.

50/50 is pretty generous for a guy projected to go late 1st round.

Nukem2 wrote:Would Nunge actually get a 7th season to utilize the covid exception? Would certainly need a waiver and a 7th season would also certainly be new ground for the NCAA. Seems doubtful?

Why not? Just because he’s 47 years old?

Jim Neutron wrote:I’d be surprised if Freemantle came back. I suspect he will transfer, at least look at his options- but currently I’d lean towards him not returning.

Is Freemantle unhappy at Xavier?

Xavier has a top 15 recruiting class coming in. They might be a year away, but it looks like Miller will have a lot to work with.

So much remains TBD with X’s roster for next season.

Jasper67 wrote:

Jim Neutron wrote:I’d be surprised if Freemantle came back. I suspect he will transfer, at least look at his options- but currently I’d lean towards him not returning.

Is Freemantle unhappy at Xavier?

We might see a lot of the older guys leave. These guys have been together for two or three years and just came back under a new coach to accomplish something meaningful after falling just short of the tournament in multiple seasons. So, literally the only person I'm confident is back next year is rising sophomore Desmond Claude.