Since he was hired before the 2009 season, Coach Mack has landed at least 15 verbal commitments, many from highly-rated recruits. Standing on the cusp of the 2012-2013 season, though, only five of those players are on the Xavier roster.

How have so many players gotten away from Xavier?

Coach Mack has established a reputation as an up-and-coming young coach, thanks in large part to his two conference championships and two Sweet Sixteen appearances in his first three years at Xavier. The stars and most of the role players on those teams - Jordan Crawford, Tu Holloway, Mark Lyons, Jason Love, Kenny Frease - were brought in by Sean Miller.

Beginning with this season, the Musketeers should be seeing the fruits of Coach Mack's recruiting since being named the Head Coach.

Here is a year-by-year breakdown of players who have verbally committed to Xavier under Mack's watch and what they are doing now:

(Description of each of Chris Mack’s 15 commitments.)

The bottom line is this: programs at Xavier's level are built on talented incoming players developing into functional upperclassmen. Missing one one or two players hurts a school; missing on a whole class leaves a gap in the ranks when those players should have been juniors and seniors.

Mack was hamstrung by his late promotion in 2009 and whiffed on the 2010 class. He lost the gem of the 2011 class when Dez Wells was expelled and again ran into eligibility issues in the 2012 class.

This should be the time where the team is transitioning to all players recruited by Coach Mack.

Instead, there are eight scholarship players on the roster, holes are being plugged by transfers, and the whole thing seems poised on the brink of collapse.

This year is going to be a huge challenge for Xavier on the court, but what happens on the recruiting trail may well determine the success or failure of the program for the near future.

                                                     2011-12 Stats:    
     Active Player     Yr. Position   Ht.   Wt.    G   MPG   RPG  PPG

 1.  Redford, Brad     SR  Guard      6-1   182    35  11.1  0.7  3.2
 2.  Robinson, Jeff    SR  Forward    6-10  225    36  13.6  2.9  3.6   
 3.  Taylor, Travis    SR  Forward    6-8   220    36  14.7  3.7  4.5

 4.  Philmore, Isaiah  JR  Forward    6-8   230    ---  ---  ---  --- 

 5.  Davis, Dee        SO  Guard      6-0   160    36  11.1  0.6  1.9
 6.  Martin, Justin    SO  Forward    6-6   205    31  11.8  2.5  2.9
 
 7.  Christon, Semaj   FR  Guard      6-3   182    ---  ---  ---  --- 
 8.  Farr, James       FR  Forward    6-9   222    ---  ---  ---  --- 
 

                                                     2011-12 Stats:    
    Player            Yr. Position   Ht.   Wt.    G   MPG   RPG  PPG

 1. Philmore, Isaiah  SR  Forward    6-8   230    ---  ---  ---  --- 

 2. Davis, Dee        JR  Guard      6-0   160    36  11.1  0.6  1.9
 3. Martin, Justin    JR  Forward    6-6   205    31  11.8  2.5  2.9
 4. Stainbrook, Matt  JR  Center     6-9   275    33  26.9  6.8  11.4*
 
 5. Christon, Semaj   SO  Guard      6-3   182    ---  ---  ---  --- 
 6. Farr, James       SO  Forward    6-9   222    ---  ---  ---  --- 
 
 7. Davis, Myles      FR  Guard      6-2   200    --  ----  ---  ---   
 8. Reynolds, Jalen   FR  Forward    6-9   220    --  ----  ---  ---        

* At Western Michigan University

Scholarships available for HS Class of 2013 recruits or transfers: 5.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Muddy Waters on September 8, 2012 A college head coach's fourth season as head coach is the season that his chickens come home to roost. Xavier Basketball (Wikipedia) Muddy's Observations: (1) Xavier has not had an overall losing record since the 1995-96 season (13-15; Xavier's first season in the A10). (2) Xavier has never had a losing record in Atlantic 10 Conference play. (3) Xavier's worst record in Atlantic 10 Conference play was 8-8 (in 1995-96 and again in 2005-06). (4) In 2012-13, the Musketeers are looking at their first-ever losing record in Atlantic 10 Conference play. (5) In 2012-13, the Musketeers are looking at their first overall losing record since the 1995-96 season. (6) In 2012-13, the Musketeers are looking at their first 20+ loss season since the 1981-82 season (8-20).

Scouting Roddy Peters (Corey Albertson, MusketeerScoop.com - October 2, 2012)

Update on Four-Star Guard Roddy Peters (Corey Albertson, MusketeerScoop.com - October 3, 2012)

4-Star PG Roddy Peters (Rivals Class of 2013 Profile / # 39 in Rivals 150)

Offers:

Georgetown
Kansas
Maryland
Memphis
Rutgers
Seton
UCLA
Xavier

Prep point guard Roddy Peters, who is the No. 39 basketball recruit in the country, will make an official visit to KU later this month.

District Height, Md. point guard Roddy Peters will pay a visit to the University of Kansas campus on October 19th, according KUSports.com's Gary Bedore. The trip was scheduled during Peters's in-home visit with Jayhawks head coach Bill Self on Tuesday, October 2nd.

Peters is the 39th-ranked basketball recruit in the country, per Rivals.com. The 6'4, 180-pounder from Suitland High School is a four-star recruit who has already made visits to Rutgers and Xavier, and has one lined up with UCLA for this Friday, October 5th.

In addition to those schools, Peters also has Georgetown, Maryland, Memphis, Seton Hall, and Virginia Tech on his radar.

"It feels good to know that both schools [Georgetown and Maryland] are recruiting me, and I'm the only kid that they've done that to," Peters says. "So I want to make the right decision."

Either way, the district will be tracking two game-changing votes this fall.

Quote:

Originally Posted by xavierhoops on September 30, 2012 You do know X has a 5-star coming in this year, correct? You do know a top 10 player in the country has committed for next year, correct?

Quote:

Originally Posted by DistrictBaller on September 30, 2012 (two hours later) Chris Thomas decommitted from Xavier and is opening up his recruitment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by WH on October 4, 2012 A-10 Media Day today at Barclays Center in Brooklyn - Post # 52 WH's Predicted Order of Finish - Rev. 1 I went thru all the skeds and marked wins and losses for league play. Took into account which teams usually have home-court advantages, unbalanced sked, who plays who twice. Here is what I came up with for a loose predicted finish. 1) TEMPLE 12-4 2) ST. LOUIS 12-4 3) UMASS 12-4 4) VCU 11-5 5) ST. JOES 11-5 6) LASALLE 10-6 7) DAYTON 9-7 8) BUTLER 9-7 9) RICHMOND 9-7 10) ST. BONA 8-8 11) GW 6-10 12) CHARLOTTE 5-11 13) XAVIER 5-11 14) FORDHAM 4-12 15) DUQUESNE 3-13 16) RHODY 3-13

Basketball (Early Period): November 14 to November 21, 2012

Basketball (Regular Period): April 17 to May 15, 2013

# 1. Solve the Recruiting Issue

Chris Mack has come just agonizingly short of the Elite Eight twice, that is not debatable. Also germane to the issue of the current Xavier roster is the fact that Mack is yet to have done it with "his" players. Much is made in college sports of winning with players that the coach has brought in himself. Regardless of how much coaching it may take to get any group of players into the Sweet 16 or Elite Eight, a coach simply doesn’t get as much credit unless he does it with "his" guys. It makes no sense, but that is just the way it is.

As Joel explained last week, Coach Mack has been underwhelming so far at bringing in his guys. Jeff Robinson, Jay Canty, Jordan Latham, Griffin McKenzie, Justin Martin, Michael Chandler, D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera, Sim Bhullar, Chris Thomas, Myles Davis and Jalen Reynolds have all committed to Xavier without much (anything?) to show for it since Mack came on board.

That is swinging and missing the likes of which Cincinnati hasn’t seen since Adam Dunn was in town. Unlike Dunn, though, Chris Mack has yet to hit a massive amount of home runs. The caveat, of course, is that Dez Wells was even better than expected and Mack lost him only through the anachronistic Xavier discipline system.

Coach Mack doesn’t have the luxury of hoping that Myles Davis, Jalen Reynolds, Dee Davis and Semaj Christon all pan out and 2012-13 is forgotten because he has to . . .