— Xavier Basketball (@XavierMBB) February 2, 2021
Seven of Xavier's initially scheduled 20 Big East games have now gone by the boards. A 20 day break wasn't enough to rid the program of the Covid issues that have now irreparably damaged the season. With the cancellation of this Villanova game the Musketeers will now be off until at least the 11th of February, when they are slated to take on DePaul.
It's obvious at this point that there is some sort of breach in Xavier's protocols. Players and tier one personnel are either not being careful enough themselves or are having consistent contact with people who aren't. The program must now consider some sort of more drastic action or resign itself to stop/start play. If Xavier accrues the resume they need to make the tournament but then has another shutdown, the NCAA won't. Xavier will either forfeit ir be replaced and the tournament will roll on without them.
And that is a big if right now. Xavier has a tournament resume through 13 games. This is evidenced by 85 of the brackets on Bracket Matrix having them. However, the Musketeers aren't adding anything to that and haven't since maybe their Q2 win over Providence or the victory over Oklahoma back on December 9th. No one cares that X beat St. John's or Butler. Since mauling the Sooners Xavier is 4-2 with two Q2 wins and then some detritus.
Here we go again. Xavier needs to figure it out or watch the season move on without them.