It's not where Xavier's men's basketball team wanted to be, but it's where they ended up.
The National Invitational Tournament starts Tuesday night and the Musketeers, a No. 2 seed, host Cleveland State at 9 p.m. at Cintas Center (ESPNU).
This will be Xavier's ninth appearance in the NIT and the first since 2019.
It may not be the tournament Xavier wanted to play in, but how the Musketeers respond to their current situation will speak volumes.
Cleveland State won the Horizon League regular-season championship. The Vikings (20-10) lost at Oklahoma State in overtime and went toe-to-toe with BYU in their season opener.