At the end of January, it looked like the sky was the limit for Xavier. At 17-5 and 9-2 in conference, they looked like they were poised to make a run at the league title and in contention for some kind of protected seed in the NCAA tournament, maybe even one close to home in Columbus.
Then something akin to disaster struck, as a team that went 7 deep lost a vital piece in Zach Freemantle. Freemantle was leading the team in rebounding and posting an astounding 15.2/8.1/2.9 game line on .585/.636/.653 shooting. In addition to his obvious statistical contributions, he was the guy Xavier could turn to to break a scoring drought and unquestionably the team’s best defensive rebounder.