Saturday night's loss at Marquette marked the second straight season in which Xavier University's men's basketball team closed the regular season with back-to-back losses while on the NCAA Tournament bubble, pinning themselves in an uncomfortable corner heading into the Big East Conference Tournament.
Incomplete performances have followed the Musketeers like a shadow, and that's ultimately what led to their loss in Saturday's regular-season finale. It wasn't lack of heart or lack of hustle, it was the inability to make open shots and put 40 minutes together.
But the larger issue for this team seems to be that on a given night there's often a critical piece missing from the winning formula, and over the last two seasons those flaws have flared up at the worst possible time – in March.