Crosstown Shootout Preview

The best day of year in Cincinnati is almost upon us, the Crosstown shootout. The Xavier Musketeers come into the matchup with an 8-1 record and are winners of their last four. Cincinnati comes in at 7-2. The Musketeers lone loss came in Brooklyn against the Iowa State Cyclones who have yet to lose a game. The Bearcats lost to nationally ranked Arkansas, and also suffered a loss to mid-major Monmouth at home. 

Cincinnati leads the all time matchup 51-37, but Xavier has won 6 of the last 8 meetings. Xavier head coach Travis Steele was on the hot seat entering this season, but has silenced the doubters by helping to engineer a hot start for Xavier. Steele is 2-1 as a head coach in the Shootout. It will be the first shootout for Bearcats coach Wes Miller.  

Cincinnati lost basically their entire team to the transfer portal last year, so their hot start has been somewhat of a surprise. 

This is one of those games where you may as well throw the records away. The passion and pure hatred on both sides is not fabricated in the slightest, these teams and schools just flat out don’t like each other. 

I like Xaver to come away with a win in this one. They’re deeper, bigger, and are more battle tested. But the Bearcats have a punchers chance.