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If you're about my age and have always loved college basketball, you were introduced to Weber State in 1999:
Behind 36/3/1 from star forward Harold "The Show" Arceneaux, the Wildcats stunned three seed North Carolina in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Now they're back and lined up to face Xavier. Here's a quick look at what this year's Weber State squad looks like.
Resume vitals
| RPI: | 108 | v. top 100: | 1-2 |
| KenPom: | 132 | Road/neutral: | 13-7 |
| Best win: | South Dakota State (RPI 31, KP 80) | Worst loss: | @Utah Valley(RPI 275, KP 284) |
Top performers
Weber State is basically a two-headed monster this year, with shooting guard Jeremy Senglin and power forward Joel Bolomboy leading the way. The two combine for 35.4 of the teams 76.2 points per game and both play more than 30 minutes per game. Senglin is a big-time scorer who can get buckets at all three levels. Bolomboy is a bully on the glass at both ends who does most of his offensive work in the paint, but he can step out and shoot it enough to keep defenses honest.
Here are the stats for the whole team:
| Rk | Player | G | MP | FG% | 3P% | FT% | TRB | AST | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeremy Senglin | 34 | 34.8 | .493 | .444 | .618 | 3.5 | 2.8 | 18.2 |
| 2 | Joel Bolomboy | 32 | 31.4 | .581 | .365 | .702 | 12.7 | 1.1 | 17.2 |
| 3 | Kyndahl Hill | 34 | 23.4 | .617 | .100 | .753 | 5.9 | 0.9 | 8.2 |
| 4 | Zach Braxton | 33 | 20.4 | .619 | .528 | 4.1 | 0.5 | 6.9 | |
| 5 | Ryan Richardson | 28 | 20.4 | .385 | .364 | .846 | 1.8 | 1.3 | 6.9 |
| 6 | Dusty Baker | 33 | 18.5 | .381 | .393 | .810 | 2.5 | 1.9 | 5.5 |
| 7 | McKay Cannon | 34 | 21.0 | .392 | .386 | .711 | 1.9 | 2.7 | 5.4 |
| 8 | Cody John | 29 | 17.4 | .374 | .158 | .605 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 4.6 |
| 9 | Richaud Gittens | 34 | 17.4 | .360 | .345 | .654 | 2.1 | 1.3 | 4.3 |
| 10 | Juwan Williams | 20 | 8.4 | .467 | .455 | .760 | 1.6 | 0.1 | 3.3 |
| 11 | Jeremiah Jefferson | 7 | 8.0 | .571 | .444 | 0.6 | 1.1 | 2.9 | |
| 12 | J.C. Kennedy | 4 | 2.0 | .667 | .667 | 1.000 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 2.0 |
| 13 | Kiko Stavrev | 4 | 5.0 | .250 | .000 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.5 |
Final thoughts
I don't think this is a bad matchup for Xavier, though I guess you would hope so in a 2-15 game. Weber State has two stars and a host of role players of varying levels of mediocrity. A glance at their offense shows they like to play slow, don't get to the glass, and turn the ball over a lot. If Xavier can get a few early stops through turnovers or on the defensive boards, they should be able to turn this one into a laugher.