Chris Mack Says It Would be ‘Unprecedented’ if Xavier is Left Out of NCAA Tournament

After losing Edmond Sumner for the season to an ACL tear and dealing with an injury to Trevon Bluiett, Xavier has lost six of its last seven games heading into the Big East Tournament. But coach Chris Mack says his team clearly deserves to make the Big Dance.

.@CoachChrisMack, asked in the Big East teleconference about securing an NCAA tourney bid, said this: pic.twitter.com/Jb5sKobK1D

— Shannon Russell (@slrussell) March 6, 2017

Ranked No. 43 by KenPom.com, Xavier is currently among Joe Lunardi’s “Last Four In.”

Xavier is the No. 7 seed in the Big East Tournament and faces No. 10 DePaul on Wednesday night. Mack says he’s not taking anything for granted and knows his team has work to do this week in New York.

Assuming Xavier makes it, the Big will have seven of 10 teams in (70 percent), eclipsing the 2011 Big East mark of 69 percent when 11-of-16 teams made it and UConn won the NCAA championship.

Count Marquette’s Steve Wojo among those who thinks the Big East deserves seven teams.

Wojo also says @BIGEASTMBB deserves 7 teams in the Dance “and I hope it works out that way”

— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) March 6, 2017

Meantime, Mack gave an update on forward Tyrique Jones, who hit his head in the DePaul game, saying it’s going to be a “mutual decision between Tyrique, his family, the doctors and everybody here associated with Xavier.”