Xavier has built itself into a high-level college hoops program

Xavier is one of nine teams to reach the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament at least twice in the past five years.

The 6,700-student university in Cincinnati is keeping company with some serious college basketball giants - North Carolina, UCLA, Kansas, Duke, Connecticut, Louisville, Florida, Texas and Memphis.

So whatever you do, don't call the Boise-bound Musketeers a mid-major.

"That used to make my blood boil," said Xavier athletic director Mike Bobinski, who has been at the school since 1998.

This is a school that last season turned down a national award because it was for "mid-major player of the week."

That mid-major tag seems to be fading - partly because of Elite Eight runs in 2004 and last season. And the Musketeers' national acceptance has risen to the likes of Memphis and Gonzaga, two other schools that don't play in BCS conferences that hold their own on the hardwood.

"We've become accepted into that fraternity of high-level basketball programs," Bobinski said. "No one is surprised to see us advance in the tournament. It's become an expectation, not just for us internally because that's clearly our expectation, but it's become an occurrence that surprises nobody on the national scene anymore."

The Atlantic 10 regular-season champions will try to take that next step - advancing to their first Final Four - starting Friday at Taco Bell Arena. The fourth-seeded Musketeers play No. 13 Portland State at 5:25 p.m. The winner advances to Sunday's second round.

But coach Sean Miller's squad is just 5-5 in its past 10 games, something that isn't a huge concern.

"Although we haven't played our best, I wouldn't look at us as struggling going into the tournament," he said.

The late slide didn't prevent Xavier (25-7) from dropping too far in the seedings. The No. 4 seed is the second-best in school history. Twice, including last year, the Musketeers were a No. 3.

"If we would have finished strong in our last 10 games, we probably would have gotten an an even higher speed, which speaks volumes to how we played in December, November and January," Miller said. "That's where we earned our seed this year. Hopefully we can get that December-January team back on Friday."

Xavier has nonconference wins over Missouri, Virginia Tech, Memphis, Auburn, Cincinnati, LSU and Virginia. Only one of those came at home.

The schedule upgrade is Miller's stamp on the program, and he follows in a line of successful coaches. Bob Staak laid the foundation in the early 1980s, and Pete Gillen started the consistent winning. The late Skip Prosser continued winning as Xavier moved into the Atlantic 10, and Thad Motta began the habit of getting Xavier to win in the postseason.

But the success runs deeper than an impressive coaching tree.

"We have an incredible athletic department and university that supports our program as well as any in the nation," Miller said. "College basketball is important at Xavier."

The team takes charter flights to games from a private airport. Miller has private planes for recruiting trips.

"Our wallets aren't as fat as Ohio State's and they're never going to be,'' Bobinski said. "On the other hand, the things we believe are really important we are doing. We aren't cutting corners. We're doing them at the same level that others are because the things that really matter do matter.

"It all comes down to getting talented players and finding players that fit our place and choose our place, we don't want to give them any reason not to come here. We do things at the highest possible level and that does cost money."

Because Xavier is a private school, it doesn't release its athletic department or basketball budgets.

Miller said the school's on-campus arena built in 2001 as another success. The Musketeers have averaged more than 10,000 fans per game in an area that seats 10,250 since it opened.

"We've had great success playing in it and in front of great crowds, and I think that's a real component of our success and being able to sustain it," Miller said.

The school also is in a fertile recruiting area and can boast the No. 1 graduation rate in college basketball at 100 percent. All seniors have left with their diplomas.

Under Gillen, Xavier dominated what was then called the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now the Horizon). It joined the A-10 in 1995.

"It really fits who we are," Miller said. "The move to that conference and what we've done in it, coupled with those other factors, separated us from so many programs that would love to do what we've done."

Bobinski hopes there is more to come, as evidenced by last year's loss to UCLA in the Elite 8.

"It just reaffirmed in our mind that we are just one step from where we want it to be," he said. "Honestly, we believe that more now than ever. We believe our future is brighter than our past and we're pretty proud of our past. We've accomplished a pretty damn lot."