Excuse me, it's Zavier

A-10's Musketeers are no Cinderella story, but they have overacheived

Thad Matta would like a little respect. Jamie Squire/Getty Images

ATLANTA -- Back in the late '80s and early '90s, they were still "Xavier of Ohio." They played in a conference with Evansville and Loyola (Chicago), shared the dilapidated Cincinnati Gardens with a minor league hockey team and showed up on national TV maybe once a year.

Ah, how the times have changed.

There are undoubtedly many who will still label the Musketeers' Elite Eight run as a "Cinderella story," but not anyone who's followed their program the past two decades. Cinderellas don't play in a state-of-the-art on-campus arena. They don't produce national players of the year and regular first-round draft picks.

"If you do the research on Xavier basketball over the last 18 years," coach Thad Matta said, "it's been a helluva program."

A helluva program, but one that's outdone even itself this time, reaching the brink of the Final Four and playing the game's most recognizable program, Duke.

"No one knew we could get to this point," Musketeers guard Lionel Chalmers said. "I think it means more to us than a team like Duke that's supposed to be here."

For longtime Xavier followers, Sunday's game is simply the latest chapter in a basketball renaissance that began with Pete Gillen, Byron Larkin and Tyrone Hill, continued with Skip Prosser, David West and James Posey and has now reached a new pinnacle under Matta, Chalmers and Romain Sato.

Now if people -- including Mike Krzyzewski -- could just pronounce the name of their school right.

"It used to be about 50-50," Matta said about the number of times he hears that awful hard X at the beginning. "After this year, it should be more like 80-20."

That's because Zavier has spent more time in the national spotlight this month than ever before, starting with its stunning rout of then-No. 1 St. Joe's in the Atlantic 10 tournament, followed by impressive NCAA tournament wins over Louisville, Mississippi State and Texas.

That this would be the season the Musketeers reached a new level has come as a surprise. Xavier's more recent success (consecutive Atlantic 10 titles in 2002 and '03) had been equated solely with departed All-American West -- and without him, the Muskies started the season 10-9.

As the postseason has played out, however, with wins over then-No. 1 St. Joe's, Louisville, Mississippi State and Texas, it's become apparent this was never a one-man show. Sato and Chalmers have followed in the footsteps of their marquee predecessors, while Anthony Myles, Dedrick Finn, Justin Cage and Justin Doellman have shed their relative anonymity to make major contributions.

Together, they're etching their names into history alongside two current ACC coaches (Gillen and Prosser) and 10 future NBA players in recent Xavier lore.

"This is a really good basketball program," Krzyzewski said of Xavier.

Matta knew well the Musketeers' success long before he got the job. He played for Xavier's then-Midwestern Collegiate Conference rival Butler in the late '80s when the Muskies, not far removed from a 21-year postseason drought, were working on a string of six straight NCAA tourament berths, including uspets of No. 4 seed Missouri (1987) and No. 3 seeds Georgetown ('90) and Nebraska ('91).

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"They used to drill us," said Matta, who was playing against teams that featured Larkin, Hill and Derek Strong. "You knew Xavier was a team that could always make a [NCAA] run, always dabbling in the top 25."

With the success came a step up in lifestyle for the 6,500-student Jesuit school, both in conference affiliation, joining the Atlantic 10 in 1995, and habitation, moving into the 10,250-seat Cintas Center in 2000. The latter event coincided with a new streak of four NCAA tourney berths, with second round appearances the two seasons before this one.

"It's unbelievable," said Chalmers, an Albany, N.Y., native who arrived in the fall of 1999. "The fans expect us to win. We sell out every game. I don't think a lot of schools have that kind of support."

Even so, the Musketeers often deal with second-class treatment in their own city to crosstown rival Cincinnati and its substantially larger alumni base. In a telling sign of Xavier's perpetual life as an underdog, Bob Huggins' Bearcats are largely viewed as the bigger powerhouse nationally, despite the fact the Musketeers have beaten UC six of the past eight years and have now gone further in the tourney than any Cincinnati team since 1996.

Such treatment should prepare Xavier well for life as Duke's next anticipated conquest.

"As long as we're in the tournament, we're going to be the underdog," Myles said. "But we're making the way now for Xavier teams that come later on to get the respect."

Stewart Mandel covers college sports for SI.com.