What comes to mind when you think of Jacksonville, Florida? If it isn’t high level college basketball that’s either because you didn’t know there are two Division One programs in the city, or because you rightfully assumed that neither are very good. The one that Xavier will play this year, Jacksonville University, was 12-20 last year and finished 247th in the KenPom rankings. That’s so far down that only two teams from the American finished below them.
The Dolphins 5-11 in conference and were eliminated by Liberty in the first round of their conference tournament. That was head coach Tony Jasick’s fifth year in charge of a program that used to occasionally pop into the top 200 on KenPom.