Xavier took a risk by opting to give coach Sean Miller – who first coached the Musketeers from 2004-2009, before leaving to spend over a decade at Arizona – a second stint, considering the varying success of coaching returns.

After Miller’s first year back, it appears that any concerns have been alleviated.

XU returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five years last season, making the Sweet 16 as a No. 3 seed and as one of the frontrunners of the BIG EAST. 

pic.twitter.com/I0pbtO0fZ2

— Xavier Basketball (@XavierMBB) March 25, 2023

It was a triumphant return to the Big Dance and a throwback for Miller, who took the Musketeers to the Sweet 16 twice in the late 2000s during the program’s days in the Atlantic 10 Conference. 

Year 2 is abound, and the challenge for Miller and his staff is to keep the good vibes going.

With an injection of high-level transfers and multiple highly regarded high school recruits, Miller is concocting a team that’s truly his during the first full calendar year of his second stint in charge.

Will the plan work? Time will tell. But the early signs may be apparent on the islands in just a couple of weeks, when many of those newcomers to the Musketeers program make their competitive debuts with XU on a brief summer tour.

Here’s a peek at the Musketeers ahead of trip to the Bahamas, where they will face Canada’s University of Victoria on Aug. 8 and the Bahamian national team Aug. 10. Both games will be streamed live on FloHoops.

Dayvion McKnight

With Xavier needing a quick fill-in for the dual scorer-distributor role in the backcourt that Souley Boum often occupied last season, Miller looked in the next state over and found McKnight, a two-time All-Conference USA selection and the engine of the Hilltoppers’ offense for successive seasons. 

In fact, no player in the CUSA had more assists than McKnight’s 176 during the 2021-2022 season, and in the next year, no player in the CUSA had more 2-point makes than McKnight’s 180.

McKnight features a strong sense of awareness with the ball in his hands, and with an ability to finish that makes him a wickedly effective ball-handler even while standing at just 6-foot – he’s a more-than-capable Boum successor, if things go to plan.

Quincy Olivari

The all-time leader in 3-pointers at Rice, Olivari – also a two-time All-CUSA nod during his time with the Owls – played multiple games against McKnight in conference play and now will share a backcourt with him in the BIG EAST. 

Olivari was third in the league in scoring last season at 18.7 points per game and third with 94 triples, fitting him right into a Musketeers mantra that had the squad finishing in the top 5 nationally as a team at 39% from deep, but it’s Olivari’s ability to clean up on the glass, despite being just 6-foot-3, that likely is going to make him an indispensable part of Miller’s rotation. 

The Georgia native averaged over five rebounds a game for three straight seasons at Rice, a key addition after two of Xavier’s top 3 rebounders from 2022-2023, Jack Nunge (7.8) and Colby Jones (5.7), departed.

Abou Ousmane

Zach Freemantle’s return meant Xavier was always going to have an experienced presence in the middle for it anyway this upcoming season, but Ousmane’s transfer – after being arguably the CUSA’s best interior defender for two straight seasons at North Texas – softens the blow of losing the 7-foot Nunge and gives Miller a different type of look on the low block, too. 

Whereas Nunge liked to stretch the floor on offense (40 3-pointers in 2022-2023), the 6-foot-10 Ousmane keeps it old school and largely in the post up, though he must improve on converting on his opportunities (49.9% career field goal percentage). 

Still, Grant McCasland’s Mean Green had the best overall defense in America (55.8 points allowed per game) for a reason, and Ousmane, the CUSA’s two-time reigning champ in defensive rating, was a major player in that.

Logan Duncombe

The 6-foot-10 center returns to his hometown of Cincinnati after playing two seasons at Indiana, where he sometimes had a frustrating time getting the wheels turning. 

He played just 20 minutes with the Hoosiers during his freshman campaign (2021-2022) and just as he seemingly was beginning to carve out some minutes at IU during his sophomore season, sinus surgery forced him to miss the final 18 games. 

A prep standout in Ohio and a top-100 recruit nationally out of high school, the talent is undoubtedly there, and even with Freemantle and Ousmane in the mix for the Musketeers next season, it never hurts to have a little extra depth on the interior.

Trey Green

Committed to XU for almost an entire year, Green – a four-star point guard who played prep ball with both Link Academy in Missouri and Prolific Prep in California – very well may end up being the star of the Musketeers’ 2023 class as its highest-rated prospect. 

With MOKAN Elite on the AAU scene, Green helped lead his squad to the prestigious Nike EYBL Peach Jam title and won the MVP award there with averages of 16 points, 3.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game in the event, giving Miller an option in the backcourt that’s already seen (and thrived) in an elite level of competition.

Dailyn Swain

The all-time leading scorer at the Columbus Africentric Early College school and a four-star prospect, Swain turned down other in-state offers (including Cincinnati and Ohio State) and went with the Musketeers, even after needing to be reoffered when Miller got the job following the 2021-2022 season, committing to Xavier last September. 

A 6-foot-7 wing who can be deployed in a variety of roles on the floor, Swain – a prior Ohio Division III Player of the Year and one of the state’s best recruits in the Class of 2023 – has a multitude of ways he can contribute on the floor, and Xavier’s summer tour may provide a peek into how Miller plays to utilize him in the 2023-2024 season.

Xavier head coach Sean Miller announces four-man class: https://t.co/H6qny3A5Us pic.twitter.com/FFR3nqKoA1

— Xavier 247 (@musketeerreport) November 10, 2022

Reid Ducharme

Excellence runs in the Ducharme family, and Reid already has seen his surname flourish first-hand on the biggest stages thanks to his sister, Caroline, an All-BIG EAST performer with the mighty UConn women’s program. 

But at Xavier, the 6-foot-7 Reid will be ready to try and carve out his own legacy on the wing. 

Highly regarded for his shooting ability, Reid dropped 42 points in a game at Peach Jam with his AAU squad and saw his stock boost all the way up to being a four-star recruit, giving Miller three in all in the 2023 class. 

Considering that Miller proved in his first season in his second stint at XU that getting good looks from the outside and converting them was of high priority, Ducharme should be able to slide right in as another option from deep that to whom the Musketeers can turn.

Kachi Nzeh

Likely more of a project than a finished product at this point in his college career, especially considering the names ahead of him on the depth chart in the Xavier frontcourt, the three-star Nzeh’s development should be worth monitoring throughout the summer tour and beyond, nonetheless. 

A 6-foot-8 big man with a massive 7-6 wingspan, Nzeh originally was a sprinter in track & field, before hitting a growth spurt early in high school and focusing on building his game on the hardwood from there, doing enough to impress the Xavier coaching staff and have them sold on his potential high ceiling. 

Keep an eye on how Nzeh adjusts to the speed of the college game – if the transition is seamless while he keeps on polishing his game, Miller and his coaching staff might have unearthed a gem.