Dennis O'Connell has lived in California for 12 years, but he made the trip back to Cincinnati with alumni from all over the country for homecoming at Xavier University and the opening of the basketball season at the school's new Cintas Center.

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Xavier and Miami christen the Cintas Center. (AP photo) 600 | 800 | 1024

        “I'm pretty excited about the whole thing,” said Mr. O'Connell, a 1965 graduate of Xavier. “I remember Schmidt Fieldhouse. But this is wonderful, it's great. It generates a lot of pride on the campus.”

        Mr. O'Connell was among more than 10,000 people who filed into the Cintas Center Saturday afternoon for Xavier's first basketball game against Miami University. The $46 million, 10,250-seat multipurpose complex does much to unify the campus and gives the basketball program a new home back on campus.

        “Oh, it's beautiful,” said Phil Caponi, a 1972 grad who drove down from West Chester with his son Gino Caponi. He stood inside the cavernous arena as Xavier and Miami players warmed up on the floor below.

        “I remember the times at the Schmidt Fieldhouse,” he said. “But this, this is great for the program, great for the university, everything.”

        “It's a great way to watch a basketball game,” said his son Gino, who graduated last year from Miami University. He said he was rooting for Miami.

        “He may have to walk home,” joked his father.

Xavier students hoop it up. (Jeff Swinger photo)

        Lee Buse, who lives in Springfield Township and kept season tickets for eight to 10 years when the Musketeers played at the Cincinnati Gardens, was taken with the school's new digs.

        “It's lovely, it's wonderful,” he said. “It beats the Gardens. We always dreamed of having this.”

        Saturday, though, wasn't the first time he'd been in the Cintas Center.

        “We snuck in here when it was being built,” he said. “We've been watching it all the way. I think it's going to help recruiting. All you do is walk 'em in here, see the place and they'll sign.”

        Matt Graham, a Xavier freshman, was selling programs at the game. The center not only will help with recruiting athletes, he said, but it will be a boost to school spirit.

        “I think having it on campus will make every student want to come,” said Mr. Graham, who is from Louisville.

        Steve Engelman and his wife, Jennifer, are from Centerville, Ohio, and both are graduate students at Xavier. Both were impressed with the center. “I think it's fabulous,” Mr. Engelman said.

        They came to the game with their son, Eric, a sophomore at Miami, and Eric's girlfriend, Lauren Angellotti, also a Miami sophomore.

        “We're going to let them sit with us,” Mrs. Engelman joked.

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