No. 2 Xavier may have had a case for a No. 1 seed as late as early March. For anyone to hear out an argument that the Musketeers are national championship contenders, though, they’ll have to take down No. 7 Wisconsin, a team that played for the title in 2015 and made the Final Four in 2014.
Wisconsin vs. Xavier 2016 live stream: Time, TV schedule and how to watch March Madness online
The Musketeers seem to have more in the tank, while the Badgers reverted to old, plodding ways to win in the first round.
Xavier's impressive 71-53 win over No. 15 Weber State in Friday's first round left little doubt that the Musketeers are good. They never trailed against the Wildcats, and held a double-digit lead for about 30 minutes of game time. And that was with point guards Myles Davis and Edmond Sumner combining for just six points; clearly, there's much more in Xavier's gas tank.
Wisconsin, on the other hand, showed that it can ride with the tank near E in a 47-44 win over No. 10 Pittsburgh. The Badgers haven’t been quite as slow as they were in the heyday of Dick Bennett in recent years under Bo Ryan and now Greg Gard, but prevailing in a 54-possession slog through cold molasses, their slowest game of the year, is evidence that they can still skew “survive and advance” into “plod and progress.”
The winner of Sunday’s game gets a ticket to the Sweet Sixteen and a matchup with either No. 6 Notre Dame or No. 14 Stephen F. Austin.
Game time: 8:40 p.m. ET
How to watch: TNT
How to livestream: March Madness Live
How to listen: Westwood One Sports
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