March 21, 2010 | AP Press

MILWAUKEE – Dunking on LeBron James made him a sensation on YouTube.

Now Jordan Crawford is making a name for himself on a more traditional stage, putting together consecutive big games to lead Xavier into the second week of the NCAA tournament.

Crawford scored 27 points, including a breakaway dunk with just over 2 minutes remaining, to help the sixth-seeded Musketeers beat Pittsburgh 71-68 on Sunday night to advance to the round of 16 for the third straight year.

The job of guarding Crawford fell primarily to Jermaine Dixon, the Panthers’ top defensive stopper.

Dixon held Crawford in check for the first 13 minutes of the game, but he eventually got into a rhythm, finishing the game 9 of 15 from the field and 4 of 7 from 3-point range with a few taken from well beyond the arc.

“He started knocking down deep shots and then began getting to the foul line,” Jermaine Dixon said. “It was definitely difficult to stop him.”

Sunday’s game was a rematch from last year’s tournament, when the Panthers beat the Musketeers one round later.

Revenge didn’t seem to be a significant source of motivation for the Musketeers, but Xavier players did seem to be put off by people who lump them in with other overachieving mid-major programs.

“I don’t feel like we’re a mid-major at all,” Love said. “You look at our schedule, we played some of the best teams in the country.”

With the Musketeers leading by five points, Love swatted away a shot at the other end and Crawford went in for a breakaway dunk with 2:04 left.

Brown hit a 3-pointer, cutting the lead to four with 1:45 left. Crawford was fouled and hit both free throws, giving Xavier a 65-59 lead with 1:22 remaining. Gibbs went to the line but hit only one of two free throws.

Terrell Holloway then made two free throws but Brown hit another 3-pointer, cutting Xavier’s lead to 67-63 with 27.8 seconds left.

After two free throws by Crawford, Brown hit another 3-pointer to cut the lead to three with 16.9 remaining. The inbounds pass went out of bounds, but officials gave the ball back to Xavier.

Brown fouled Holloway, who made them both, and Pitt’s Travon Woodall drove for a layup to cut the lead to 3 with 8.2 left.

Dante Jackson missed two free throws for Xavier, but Pittsburgh couldn’t convert either of its final two chances to tie.

March 19, 2010 | AP Press

MILWAUKEE – Jordan Crawford finally mustered a smile.

After a sour experience in the NCAA tournament two years ago, he’s back on March’s biggest stage.

Now he wants to stay as long as possible.

“I’m taking every second in. I’m taking it all in,” Crawford said. “I want to be here as long as I can.”

Crawford scored 17 of his 28 points in the second half and Xavier kept its run of tournament success with a 65-54 victory over Minnesota in the first round of the West Regional on Friday.

Xavier (25-8) will be in the second round for the fourth straight year, this time under first-year coach Chris Mack.

“There are different ways to motivate kids and we’re really tired of being The Little Engine that Could,” Mack said. “We’re a really good program and our kids aren’t scared to play anybody. We don’t always win, but we’re not afraid to compete.”

Crawford has embodied that, playing in his first NCAA tournament game in two years after transferring from Indiana, where the program was rocked by Kelvin Sampson’s departure. Crawford has had five coaches in two years and endured another switch from Sean Miller to Mack before the season.

“I give him a lot of credit for getting ready and being hungry over the offseason,” Mack said. “I give our school and Jordan a lot of credit for maturing as a person in the past year and a half.”

“I can smile now because we’re happy to win, but I want to win again,” he said. “Whoever we play, Pittsburgh or Oakland, I want to go out and win that game. There’s going to be no smiles again.”

Maybe not, but Crawford has found his place as one of the Atlantic 10’s top talents.

After a 4-of-11 first half, he came alive with a driving, off-balance scoop with just over 17 minutes left, and kept making layup after layup before finding his range from beyond the arc.

“It’s like watching somebody playing a video game,” teammate Kenny Frease said. “It’s so fun to watch him play, because you don’t ever want to get used to seeing somebody do the things he does. He went through the lane and made that scooping layup, and he starts hitting 3s.

“It’s like you can’t stop him. Ever. Nobody can stop him.”

The Musketeers seemingly had every answer down the stretch against Minnesota, which had played its way into the tournament by winning seven of its previous 10 under Tubby Smith.

Smith was looking for his 30th NCAA tournament win and first with his fourth program after stops at Tulsa, Georgia and Kentucky, but Minnesota lost for the fourth straight time in the first round to join early exits in 1999, 2005 and 2009.

The Gophers haven’t won an NCAA tournament game since 1997’s Final Four run, and those wins since have been vacated. Now there’s questions of whether Smith will stay, but he said no other school has made him an offer.

“I’m looking forward to coming back to Minnesota,” Smith said.

Mack, an assistant, took over when Miller left for Arizona. In some ways, his season has been one of the Musketeers’ most impressive because they didn’t return a single player who averaged double figures last year.

Xavier certainly has few worries with Crawford, who grabbed brief fame for his dunk on LeBron James at a summer camp in the offseason and is making a lasting impression on college’s biggest stage.

“I can relish this right now,” Crawford said. “But we’re trying to win another one.”

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March 7, 2010 | Atlantic10.com

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Junior guard Kevin Anderson of Richmond has been named the 2009-10 Atlantic 10 men’s basketball Player of the Year in voting conducted among the Conference’s 14 head coaches.

The A-10 coaches also selected Fordham’s Chris Gaston as the Rookie of the Year, Chris Johnson of Dayton as the recipient of the Chris Daniels Award as the league’s most improved player, Temple’s Ramone Moore as Sixth Man of the Year, Damian Saunders of Duquesne as Defensive Player of the Year and Temple’s Fran Dunphy as Coach of the Year. In addition, Yves Mekongo of La Salle was tabbed Student-Athlete of the Year in voting among the league’s sports information directors.

Anderson ranks fifth in the Conference in scoring (17.8 ppg.) while leading the third-seeded Spiders to program highs in both regular season (24) and A-10 (13) victories. A second-team selection a year ago, the native of Duluth, Ga., has scored 20 or more points 12 times this season and also leads UR in assists (83) and steals (56). Anderson is the program’s first student-athlete to be tabbed A-10 Player of the Year since UR entered the league in 2001-02.

A two-time Player of the Week selection this season, Anderson is joined on the All-Conference first-team by Lavoy Allen of Temple, Xavier’s Jordan Crawford, Damian Saunders of Duquesne and Dayton’s Chris Wright. Crawford leads the A-10 in scoring at 19.7 ppg., while Wright garnered second-team distinction last season. For the first time in the league’s 34-year history, the first-team All-Conference consists of only sophomores and juniors.

The All-Conference second-team includes Temple’s Ryan Brooks, David Gonzalvez of Richmond, La Salle’s Rodney Green, Kwamain Mitchell of Saint Louis and St. Bonaventure’s Andrew Nicholson. Teammates Keith Cothran and Delroy James of Rhode Island, Massachusetts’ Ricky Harris, Jason Love of Xavier and Charlotte’s Shamari Spears were named to the third team. Temple’s Juan Fernandez, Damian Hollis of George Washington and Willie Reed of Saint Louis earned honorable mention acclaim

A four-time A-10 Rookie of the Week selection, Gaston leads all freshmen nationally in both scoring (18.0 ppg.) and rebounding (11.4), while his 504 points are the most by a freshman in team annals. The 6-7 forward leads the A-10 with three 30-point performances, pulled down at least 10 rebounds on 20 different occasions, and registered 19 double-doubles. Gaston is the third Fordham student-athlete to earn A-10 Rookie of the Year distinction, joining Bevon Robin (1998) and Bryant Dunston (2005).

Gaston is joined on the All-Rookie team by Chris Braswell of Charlotte, Cody Ellis of Saint Louis, George Washington’s Lasan Kromah, Aaric Murray of La Salle and Rhode Island’s Akeem Richmond.

The first-ever Duquesne player to garner A-10 Defensive Player of the Year distinction, Saunders enters this week’s A-10 Championship atop the league in both blocked shots (93) and steals (84) while averaging 14.9 ppg. and 11.4 rpg. The Waterbury, Conn., resident boasts 19 double-doubles and 19 performances with double-digit rebounds. Moreover, his 84 steals are tops in program history. The All-Defensive team is comprised of Saunders, Allen, Gonzalvez, Dayton’s London Warren and Garrett Williamson of Saint Joseph’s. Allen, Warren and Williamson are repeat selections.

Johnson was tabbed the recipient of the Atlantic 10’s Chris Daniels Award, presented to the Conference’s most improved player. A year ago, the 6-6 forward averaged 6.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and knocked down 24 field goals from beyond the arc. This season, the Columbus, Ohio, native enters the A-10 Championship ranked second on the Flyers in both scoring (11.8 ppg.) and rebounding (7.0 rpg.) while boasting 55 three-point field goals. He has grabbed 10 or more rebounds six times this season and has three 20-point performances to his credit.

Moore has provided a spark off the Temple bench in his sophomore campaign, averaging 7.6 points and dishing out 47 assists in just 17.6 minutes per game. In A-10 play, the 6-4 guard from Philadelphia, Pa., averaged 9.8 points on 51.3 percent shooting (61-for-119).

A three-time Academic All-Conference selection, Mekongo recently earned CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America first-team distinction. The senior forward from Elizabeth, N.J., boasts a 3.81 grade point average while majoring in Integrated Science, Business & Technology. A second-team Academic All-American a year ago, Mekongo averaged 11.0 points and finished his career with 1,014 points. Joining Mekongo on the Atlantic 10 Academic All-Conference Team are Brian Conklin of Saint Louis, Duquesne’s Jason Duty, Kurt Huelsman of Dayton and Rhode Island’s Will Martell.

Now in his fourth season at Temple, Dunphy guided the Owls to their first A-10 regular season title since 2002 and the top seed in this week’s Atlantic 10 Championship. Ranked 16th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and 20th in the Associated Press top 25, TU compiled a mark of 14-2 in Conference play, while its 26 regular-season victories equaled the Owls’ second-highest total in team history. In addition, Temple leads the league in both scoring defense (56.8 ppg.) and field goal percentage defense (38.1). The Owls have captured the last two A-10 Championships and are 81-48 (.628) under Dunphy.

December 3, 2008 | AP Press

CINCINNATI, OH -— B.J. Raymond scored a career-high 32 points against an Auburn defense that already knew better than to leave him open, and No. 14 Xavier remained undefeated Wednesday night with an 81-74 victory, Sean Miller’s 100th as coach.

The Musketeers (7-0) matched the third-best start in their history and their best since 1996-97, when they won their first 10 for the school record. Raymond and the rest of the Musketeers kept it going by firing away from outside against the Tigers (3-4), who had trouble with that before.

In Xavier’s 80-57 win at Auburn last Jan. 6, the Musketeers tied their school record by making 16 3-pointers. Raymond led the way in that one, going 6-of-8 from behind the arc with 18 points overall—a performance that the Tigers surely remembered.

Stunningly, they left him open enough times to top it, letting Miller improve his record to 100-39 in his fifth season at Xavier.

Frankie Sullivan scored a career-high 23 points and helped Auburn cut a 22-point deficit to 60-51 with 6:55 left in the game. Raymond—who else— blunted the comeback by making back-to-back 3-pointers, giving him a career-high seven in nine attempts.

Xavier went 13-of-23 from behind the arc and shot 53.5 percent from the field, but its 22 turnovers and 22-of-36 shooting on free throws allowed Auburn to keep it close.

The Musketeers wore their special gray home jerseys for the first time since last Dec. 22, when they lost to Tennessee, their only loss in their last 29 games at the Cintas Center. The Musketeers never trailed in this one.

Raymond had 16 points in a sloppy first half that featured a dozen turnovers by each team. He hit back-to-back 3s, the second one when he was unguarded on the left wing, in an eight-point run that closed the half and left Xavier in control 37-26.

Against Miami of Ohio last Saturday, Raymond had one of those rare games when he struggles with his shot, missing all but the last of his eight 3-point attempts. It didn’t carry over against an Auburn defense more worried about taking away Xavier’s inside game.

Even 7-foot freshman center Kenny Frease made the first 3-pointer of his career, connecting when he was left unguarded at the top of the key.

A few hours before the game, the NCAA rejected sophomore point guard Jordan Crawford’s request to play for Xavier this season. Crawford transferred last summer from Indiana, and was hoping not to have to sit out a season.

Freshman point guard Terrell Holloway, the team’s best free-throw shooter and quickest ball handler, missed his second game with a stress fracture in his left foot that will sideline him for at least one more week. Xavier is down to one point guard—Dante Jackson, who is more of a shooting guard.