Head Coach Richard Pitino went to work this offseason, as the Xavier Musketeers’ NIL budget nearly tripled. Plenty of new faces were brought in, and with those new faces comes heavy expectations. Today, we will be going through the Musketeers’ roster and schedule, while also establishing the expectations for the 2026-2027 season.

A promising note, the Musketeers won all three of their exhibitions, taking down Dayton, Tennessee and Kent State.

Meet the Team

#0 Gabriel Pozzato: 6’7″ Redshirt Sophomore forward from Novara, Italy. Previous School: Evansville (2024-2025) – injured last season with Xavier

#1 Mike Nwoko: 6’10” Senior forward from Toronto, Ontario. Previous School: LSU | Preseason All-Big East Third Team

#2 Kalek House: 6’3″ Freshman guard from Scottsdale, Arizona | Previous School: None

#3 Tru Washington: 6’4″ Senior guard from South Phoenix, Arizona. Previous School: Miami (FL)

#4 Filip Borovicanin: 6’9″ Fifth Year guard from Belgrade, Serbia. Previous School: New Mexico (2024-2025)

Borovicanin was recently ruled eligible amid the chaos in the courtroom.

#6 Harrison Aligbe: 6’8″ Freshman forward from Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Previous School: None

#7 Asher Elson: 6’11” Freshman forward from Brooklyn, New York. Previous School: None

#8 Rolyns Aligbe: 6’9″ Junior forward from Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Previous School: Southern Illinois

#9 Ruben Dominguez: 6’6″ Senior guard from Puerto Real, Spain. Previous School: Texas A&M

#11 Chance Westry: 6’6″ Senior guard from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Previous School: UAB

#12 Braden Appelhans: 6’6″ Senior guard from Blue Springs, Missouri. Previous School: Drake

#15 Kason Westphal: 7’1″ Redshirt Freshman forward from Salida, Colorado. Previous School: None

#16 Nikos Chitikoudis: 6’9″ Senior forward from Thessaloniki, Greece. Previous School: Robert Morris

#17 Gedeon Basson: 6’2″ Freshman guard from Douala, Cameroon. Previous School: None

#20 Henry Thole: 6’7″ Freshman forward from Union, Kentucky: Previous School: None

#24 Jovan Milicevic: 6’10” Junior forward from Toronto, Ontario. Previous School: New Mexico (2024-2025) | Preseason All-Big East Third Team

#25 Michael Wolf: 6’1″ Graduate guard from Greenwood Village, Colorado. Previous School: None

Coaching Staff

Head Coach: Richard Pitino

Associate Head Coach: Isaac Chew

Assistant Coaches: Tarvish Felton, Kareem Richardson, Greg Youncofski, Daniel Walters

Schedule Preview

Xavier’s full schedule, with tip times, dates and TV networks. Courtesy: ESPN

Non-Conference: To start, we will break down the non-conference portion of Xavier’s schedule. They play a total of twelve games, eight at home, three at neutral sites and one on the road.

Home: Mount St. Mary’s (Nov. 2), Eastern Michigan (Nov. 6), Detroit Mercy (Nov. 10), Cleveland State (Nov. 17), Iowa (Nov. 20), Texas Southern (Dec. 2), Purdue Fort Wayne (Dec. 9) and FIU (Dec. 12)

Neutral: Mississippi State (Nov. 13), Texas A&M (Nov. 25), Virginia (Nov. 27). They play Mississippi State in the Greenbrier Tip-Off, which is based in West Virginia. They play Texas A&M and Virginia in the Battle 4 Atlantis, which is a Thanksgiving MTE.

Away: Cincinnati (Dec. 5)

The Musketeers have a solid non-conference schedule, matching up with five different power conference opponents. Mississippi State is a game Xavier should win. Iowa is coming off an Elite Eight appearance and will be a tough team to beat. In the Battle 4 Atlantis, Texas A&M is another game that could very well go Xavier’s way. However, Virginia is ranked No. 9 in the nation, meaning they are projected as an elite squad. That game will teach the Musketeers a lot about how well they can compete among the top of the country. Last but certainly not least, we have one of the most highly anticipated Crosstown Shootouts in a few years. The rest of Xavier’s non-conference games are buy games, meaning they should win all of them.

Conference: The Big East is expected to improve greatly from last season, with some analysts even giving the conference up to seven projected NCAA Tournament bids, including our very own NKY Bracketology. Per usual, UConn and St. John’s are the teams everyone wants to catch. St. John’s comes to Cintas on January 26th. UConn is the Musketeers last home game of the season, March 6th. Other notable home games are Villanova (Jan. 6), Providence (Mar. 3), Marquette (Jan. 23) and Creighton (Dec. 22). Of note, Creighton is Xavier’s Big East home opener. January 16-26 is a crucial stretch for the Musketeers, as they travel to UConn and Villanova and host Marquette and St. John’s all in a ten-day span.

Expectations for the Musketeers

The expectations have been raised greatly for Xavier this season, with a NIL budget of $14 million before Borovicanin (per Pitino’s infamous testimony), expectations follow. The Musketeers finished 15-18 last season, which was one of the worst seasons in a long time. This year, they were voted sixth in the Big East Preseason Coaches Poll.

The first major expectation for the Musketeers should certainly be the NCAA Tournament. This is an extremely talented group that has the skills to make the dance. Not only should they make the tournament, they have a serious chance of securing a single-digit seed. An expectation is a bid, a goal is a single-digit seed.

The second goal is a successful Big East slate. The Musketeers are among a grouping in the Big East that figures to be extremely tight. At minimum, this team should go greater than .500. 12-8 is a realistic goal this season, assuming they take care of the teams they should at home and don’t drop any to the bottom tier of teams in the conference.

On top of that, the Big East Tournament means a lot to everyone involved. If Xavier performs how they should, they could earn themselves a bye into the quarterfinals. Either way, the quarters are an expected result. A lot of fans are hoping for a semi-final appearance for these guys, which would put them in the top four of the Big East. This would establish themselves as a serious contender and beat their preseason expectations.

Finally, the standard is a victory in the Crosstown Shootout.. That standard doesn’t change this season, all of Xavier Nation expects Pitino and Co. to go into Fifth Third Arena and grab a win.

While you are here, check out our Women’s Basketball Season Preview: