Friday, October 13, 2000
Xavier moves into its dream house
Revitalized basketball program made Cintas Center possible
By Neil Schmidt
The Cincinnati Enquirer
College basketball season begins tonight with an intrasquad scrimmage, but there will be no bigger victory in Xavier University's 169-year history.
Midnight Madness at the $46 million Cintas Center is a triumphant homecoming for the men's team, which has played off campus the past 17 seasons.
When last seen here, it was a once-proud program trying to grab for greater glory. Now it's the university's hallmark, a team that regularly makes tournament appearances and holds national rankings. The women's program has fol lowed suit.
The 10,250-seat arena, which held its first event last month, is the crown jewel of a small university with big ambitions.
“When you pull something off that maybe people look at as beyond your capabilities in a previous time, it changes your self-image in a very positive way,” athletic director Mike Bobinksi said.
Xavier basketball is no longer the Little Engine That Could. This facility makes it a force.
“It's reflective of our desire to compete at the high est level,” men's coach Skip Prosser said.
The unique structure — designed by NBBJ Sports and Entertainment, the same firm which designed Paul Brown Stadium — includes an arena, student dining hall and conference center. About 400 events have been booked this school year, including sporting events, conferences, graduations and wedding receptions.
No taxpayer money was used. Funding came from donations, seat and luxury suite sales, and commercial contracts.
New arenas are supposed to be the domain of massive, public institutions. Private schools of similar makeup — like Georgetown, Boston College, DePaul, St. John's or Villanova — aren't building new buildings.
“It says a lot about everybody's commitment to having athletics at the highest level here,” women's coach Melanie Balcomb said. “There isn't a finer building in the country.”
With both XU basketball teams having built reputations as overachievers, winning despite the lack of top-notch facilities and big-name recruits, it's now safe to dream new dreams.
Final Fours included.
“You look at UC when they made their run — build ing Shoemaker (Center), hiring (Bob) Huggins, getting big-time recruits — that helped bring them to national prominence,” said 1988 XU grad Byron Larkin, the school's all-time leading scorer.
“I think the building of Cintas will do the same for Xavier.”
The growth curve
Xavier's men made their name with a surprise National Invitation Tournament title in 1958, but the program slipped into disrepair.
By 1979, XU — still playing in Schmidt Fieldhouse, which opened in 1928 — had just two winning seasons in the previous 15: 14-12 in '75-76 and 14-13 in '78-79. And in the latter, XU lost at home to an NAIA school, Wheeling (W.Va.) College, and to a NCAA Division II, Northern Kentucky University.
Prosser, then 27, was a high school coach at Linsly Institute in Wheeling.
“It was a big thing in Wheeling that they had beaten a Division I team,” he said. “What I've heard since is, it was a pretty big thing at Xavier as well.”
The XU athletic board conducted a national search for a new coach and picked Bob Staak, the top assistant on a Pennsylvania team which made a surprise Final Four run in 1979. Staak's first recruit was Anthony Hicks, who would set what was then the school scoring record.
Xavier joined a conference that year for the first time — the Midwestern City, later renamed the Midwestern Collegiate — and won the league in its second year. In Staak's fourth season, 1983-84, the Musketeers reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 23 years.
“Staak was big-time,” said Steve Wolf, who played for XU from 1980-83. “You had to be a heck of a recruiter to get guys to play there (at Schmidt). He was really the key.”
In the '83-84 season, XU moved its men's games to Cincinnati Gardens. Pete Gillen came in 1985 and took the Musketeers to the NCAA Tournament his first six seasons. The '89-90 team reached the “Sweet 16,” the best finish in school history.
Prosser took over in 1994, and the program moved to the high-profile Atlantic 10 the next year and won the league in its second season. The average attendance — less than 2,000 in 1979-80 — reached 9,924 in '97-98, 98.3 percent of capacity in the Gardens.
XU has had winning seasons 17 of the last 18 years, winning 20 or more games 11 of the past 13 years. It currently has six alumni on NBA rosters.
The women's team, which played in Schmidt until this season, had a similar climb. Becoming an NCAA Division I program in the '82-83 season, it didn't muster a winning year until going 14-13 in 1990-91. Two years later, it reached the NCAA Tournament. It has achieved national rankings the past two years, totaling 49 victories in that span.
“The timing is neat for both of us,” Balcomb said.
In hindsight, XU's decision to drop football after 1973 helped the university narrow its focus.
“The focus that was taken towards basketball at a point in time has been very productive,” Bobinkski said. “Basketball has raised our profile far beyond what we could have done in any other athletic venue.”
Dream come true
It was hard to recruit to the Gardens. The building was often freezing because of the hockey ice beneath the court.
“We called it the icebox,” senior guard Maurice McAfee said. “We'd be practicing in jogging pants and tops, and skull caps sometimes.”
Those are the biggest bonuses of this building: It looks great. And it's warm.
“We've always had things in place that were attractive to (recruits),” Prosser said. “The academic culture based on graduating our student-athletes. Success in terms of wins and losses. Success developing NBA players. And now we have the facilities to compete with anybody.”
The men's team filled the last of its three open scholarships for next year last month. All four women's recruits who have come for visits committed here.
“That (arena) was a big draw for me,” said Purcell Marian senior Keith Jackson, a high-ranking recruit who committed to XU. “Xavier's got the best of everything right now.”
Fan interest has been intense. Of the 22 luxury boxes — all costing $40,000 per year, all taken — 20 were sold four years in advance. About 7,300 season tickets have been sold.
“It's a great feeling, like you bought a new house,” Wolf said. “Now being a Xavier player is a little more special than it was before.”
Tonight is the party. Then the heavy lifting begins.
For Xavier basketball, there are now $46 million worth of expectations.
“The ingredients make for a very successful program, one able to sustain itself into the future,” Larkin said. “Forever.”
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Xavier moves into its dream house
