The full look at what Xavier will wear this season

Over the last week Xavier has revealed their uniforms for the 2017-18 season. The home whites we broke down a bit when they came out, and everything that has followed has been variations on that theme.

The road blues:

The alternate away black:

And the “heavy metal” grey alternates:

For starters, that hype video for the greys is on point. For fans of my generation, Kevin Frey desperate lunge into the layup and the windmilling dash back down the court are inexorably burned into our memory. In that same clip is Dee Davis’ gravity defying three pointer to kill off UC. Great stuff. Anyway...

The uniforms retain the same understated class that Xavier is known for. They all look good, they all will undoubtedly feel good, they’ll all feature well in games on national television. On the other hand, there is nothing here that really catches the eye. Maybe that’s the plan. The New York Yankees don’t change their uniform, but it’s recognizable enough that instant annoyance and nausea set in before the brain really has a chance to process what it is seeing. No one ever thinks the Pittsburgh Steelers, Chelsea FC, Manchester United, North Carolina, Villanova, or Florida State are other teams. They all wear basically the same uniform year in and year out.

That continuity is undoubtedly good (you can likely picture all those uniforms easily), but it isn’t always eye catching. Xavier’s uniforms are likewise completely unobjectionable, but they just lack that certain something that would really make them pop. Ultimately, the team is going to make them look good, but even just one really special one-off uniform could seal the deal. Enter the Running Man.