As evidenced by the Musketeers’ run as a No. 3 seed to the Sweet 16 in last season’s NCAA Tournament, there’s little dreaming of the past in the program right now. 

Instead, XU — led by Sean Miller for the second time in his coaching career — is pushing to reach heights beyond what was achieved in Miller’s first tenure.

Now that the opening year is over and questions asking if Miller still has what it takes are properly answered, the next step is to maintain the success as Year 2 approaches. 

This task becomes even more challenging, considering that some key members of the squad, who played a crucial role in establishing the foundation for last year's achievements, no longer are present.

A summer exhibition trip to the Bahamas did at least give a bit of a sneak preview on FloHoops to those interested in what’s next for Xavier. If the best moments from this past week are a sign of things to come, the future is bright again for Musketeer basketball.

Here’s a look at Xavier’s recently completed summer sweep at the Baha Mar Convention, Arts & Entertainment Center, as the program’s preparations for the 2023-2024 season continue: 

Mighty Musketeers

With the second tenure of Miller in full swing, he returned to coach the Musketeers before the 2022-2023 season after more than a decade away, during which, he coached at Arizona, followed by a year-long hiatus from the game. 

XU is back to a postseason standard it can be pleased with, following its return to the Sweet 16 after six years. It’s now all about finishing the job Miller started in Cincinnati in the mid- and late 2000s, which at its best, saw the Musketeers playing in the Elite Eight in 2008.

It’s also about not getting too concerned regarding exhibition results in mid-August. 

That’s mainly in reference to Xavier’s opener Tuesday at Baha Mar against Canada’s University of Victoria, an 80-68 Musketeers win. 

This was a heavily retooled group’s first time competitively playing together against another team, and the result may not have been as lopsided as some observers and fans would’ve expected from a team that made it to the second weekend of March Madness just a few months ago. By comparison, Penn State, also in the Bahamas, beat the Vikes 103-77 on Thursday. 

Still, Xavier had moments where it looked impressive with a bunch of new faces with only a summer of chemistry, leading by as much as 26 in the second half. 

Desmond Claude, a BIG EAST All-Freshman, dominated in the Bahamas and likely will be tasked with succeeding a sizable chunk of the backcourt production left behind by first-team All-BIG EAST guard Souley Boum. 

Meanwhile, Xavier’s finale against Bahamian club team Raw Talent Elite, a lopsided 123-58 win, saw the Musketeers play a bit more loose and have some fun on the floor, as an 18-3 run to start the game eased any nerves. 

Claude again was excellent, scoring 14 of his 22 points before halftime, and an absurd team shooting percentage of 60.5% for the game ensured that there was to be no late potential trouble in the second game, ending the trip on a high note.

Letting it Fly

It’s unsurprising that Xavier likely is opting to rely heavily on the 3-pointer again next season, considering the Musketeers’ elite scoring offense of 80.9 points per game (10th in the country) last season was heavily due to the fact that they could knock down a deep shot when needed, sinking 39% of their triples as a team for the fifth-best rate in the country. 

Xavier kept in line with that mark (and then some) in the Bahamas, seemingly indicating that the triples will continue as long as they keep going down. 

Across both games, XU shot 18-for-42 (42.9%) from deep as a team, and though it likely wasn’t playing much Division I-level defense on the islands, no 3 is ever a total gimme, either. 

Rice transfer Quincy Olivari made half (nine) of his team’s total treys — the specialty of his game, as the Owls’ all-time leader in made 3-pointers, after all. He connected frequently in the backcourt all week, with fellow offseason addition Dayvion McKnight (a former All-Conference USA standout at Western Kentucky before Xavier), who had 10 assists in 19 minutes of play against Raw Talent Elite to finish with a trip average of 7.5 assists per game. 

Claude's two 3-pointers in the second game were a promising indication of his progress, considering he had only managed to make 12 shots from beyond the arc in 729 minutes throughout the previous year.

Lithuanian newcomer Gytis Nemeiksa — who had a sneaky-solid game against Raw Talent Elite with seven points and 10 rebounds in just 16 minutes — got in on the fun. The 6-foot-7 forward knocked down a triple in his first competitive game with the Musketeers since moving from playing ball in his home country.

First-Rate Freshmen

Of the four freshmen on Xavier’s roster for the 2023-2024 season — guard Trey Green, guards/forward Dailyn Swain and Reid Ducharme and forward Kachi Nzeh — most made major impacts at some point throughout the trip to the Bahamas. 

With playing time definitely up for grabs, it was exactly the type of attention they wanted to grab in their introductions to competitive college basketball. 

Against Victoria, Green was a spark plug in the backcourt by scoring 13 points in 19 minutes, knocking down two 3-pointers as the only Xavier player other than Olivari to hit one. 

While Nzeh had a team-high 11 rebounds, Miller most often turned to the center spot, even playing him more minutes than junior and Indiana transfer Logan Duncombe (24 to 13). 

The Raw Talent Elite rout was more of a proper introduction to the Musketeers’ first-year players, though.

Nzeh again was a force down low, earning the start and recording a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds with two blocks and two assists.

Green reached double figures in scoring once again by dropping 12 points on 6-for-10 shooting. 

But Ducharme, held scoreless against Victoria, found an edge in finale by scoring 17 points in as many minutes, while shooting 7-for-10 on the floor, another productive performance on a college hardwood from a member of the Ducharme family. His sister, Caroline, is a standout player at UConn. 

Swain was the only freshman of the bunch to struggle to find his footing across both games, scoring just seven points on the trip, but the four-star recruit and top-100 prospect definitely has the talent to get through the early hurdles and shine with time, as after all, it's still the summer.