In the 2023-2024 season, the Xavier Musketeers went 1-27, finishing 0-18 in Big East play. That was year one under head coach Billi Chambers, filled with struggles and learning moments.

Chambers had been in the coaching game since 2008, where she started as an assistant at UMBC. In 2011, she moved up to assistant coach at Virginia Tech. Fast forward to 2013, she accepted her first head coaching job at Iona, where she spent 10 seasons with the Gaels. In 2023, she accepted her first power conference head coaching job at Xavier.

“You go back to your why. Despite the fact that those young women signed up for a different experience, you still want to impact people in such a positive way and want them to have a good experience, even when you’re going through the struggles of having to build a program,” Chambers said.

With this philosophy, the program has begun to turn a corner. Last season, the Musketeers finished 11-19. This was the program’s first double digit win season since 2018-2019. Under Chambers, Xavier is on a linear path upwards, winning more games in each of her first three years than the last.

“I think we’ve done a really good job of identifying the right people to fit in the jersey,” Chambers said. “To play for Xavier, and to be proud of wearing Xavier on their chest.”

Junior guard Meri Kanerva is exactly that kind of person. She’s entering her third season with the Musketeers and is the longest tenured athlete on the team. Meri also earned a Big East preseason Honorable Mention. Under coach Chambers, she has high praise for the culture being built at Xavier.

“We are not only focused on our own goals, but also the team’s goals,” Kanerva said. “We want to see each other succeed, but also help the team hit the goals we set.”

This is the culture that builds winning programs, which is exactly what fans want to see at Xavier.

“There’s going to be a lot of feeling on the court this season,” Kanerva said. “People can see that we are excited and we want to play and have fun and compete.”

Kanerva describes the team as competitive and emotional, showing that they want to win every time they step onto the court. Having a serious will to win is a major factor in fielding a successful team, and this year’s Xavier team has exactly that.

The improvement over the past few years has not gone unnoticed at Xavier, as the program is garnering more attention every season.

“We’ve grown every single year, and knowing all the support around here from everybody, administration, president, everything, you know that you’re getting there,” Chambers said.

However, garnering support can’t be done alone, everyone involved in the program plays a crucial piece.

Associate head coach Ashlee Kelly has known Billi Chambers for a long time, as they met while they were administrators. They began their coaching partnership at Iona, where Kelly spent 14 years with the Gaels. The pair shifted to Xavier together back in 2023 and have been focused on turning around this program ever since.

“I’ve been with Billi for a while, just because of how she carries herself and who she is as a person,” Kelly said. “She allows you to be yourself and allows you to have a piece in the program that she’s running.”

Two coaches sticking together for an extended period of time like Chambers and Kelly shows a level of maturity and ability to collaborate that not all people possess. Having these two as the leaders of the program shines a light on the promising future ahead for the Musketeers.

“I think that we’ve done a really good job of growing as people first so that we can be our best selves for the group that we’re coaching,” Kelly said. “We feel like we’ve hit the ground running from the moment we got here and it’s going to be really exciting to see this group do it.”

Essentially, these two have learned how to coach together and are still improving every single day. Hearing that, it makes you wonder why they chose to join a struggling program.

“The challenge of building the program and really wanting to be the one to get it back off the ground to where we know that it’s capable of being,” Chambers said.

Challenges are something that intrigue all competitors when presented, and Chambers is a true competitor. She’s not going to quit until Xavier women’s basketball has returned to its past levels of glory. The program is in great hands and everyone has their “Mind on March.”

Sansom Sports Media also published our WBB Season Preview recently, read that here: