Midseason is now upon Xavier basketball. The Musketeers are entering the teeth of Big East Conference play and there's no time for them to be contented with their successes to date.
The Musketeers are 14-1, undefeated through two stiff Big East Conference tests and ascended on Monday to a program-best No. 5 ranking in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.
All fine ways to to start calendar year 2018, but it won't matter much in March where the team was on Jan. 1 if they don't keep winning.
Xavier must continue the uphill sledding demanded of Big East play. The sledding continues Tuesday with a visit to Cintas Center from the Butler University Bulldogs (7 p.m., FS1).
Xavier's 77-72 win over last-placed DePaul on Saturday demonstrated how narrow the margins can be in Big East play. The teams largely know each other inside and out.
There are few secrets in the Big East.
Expect even narrower margins against Butler, which has a veteran core that swept the season series against Xavier last season and on Saturday night took down Villanova, then America's top-ranked team.
The Bulldogs (12-3, 2-0 Big East) remain unranked but clearly demonstrated the depth of the Big East, as well as its brutality.
Bulldogs first-year head coach LaVall Jordan hinted the effort against Villanova was an outlier from Butler's body of work thus far, though, saying after the win, "I'm proud of these guys for maintaining their togetherness and having a focus about them that we hadn't seen up until this point."
It is true that the effort required of the 101-93 win over the Wildcats hasn't been consistent over the 15 games the Bulldogs have played.
Butler needed two overtimes to barely eke out a win over lowely Georgetown. In late November, it needed overtime to narrowly dispatch an Ohio State program that's in the midst of a program overhaul.
The Bulldogs' three losses came against middle-tier Maryland and Texas team, and a convincing defeat to nationally-ranked Purdue.
It took Xavier 24 minutes to grow into the DePaul game. Taken at face value, it would be an unconvincing win, but the final 17 minutes and the 16-point comeback by the Musketeers showed their ability.
Ability isn't in question with Xavier. Rather, they need fast starts and attention to detail over a full game.
"We were able to flip something with about 16 minutes left in the game. Our energy increased dramatically," Xavier head coach Chris Mack said afterward.
Xavier fans will hope that the DePaul win was the first and only lesson on the importance of starting games well that the Musketeers will need the rest of this winter.
XTRA NOTES
• As of Monday, all 10 Big East teams were rated in the top 100 in America, according to Ken Poweroy.
• Xavier senior Trevon Bluiett is fourth in the Big East in scoring with 19.7 ppg and is sixth on XU's all-time scoring list with 1,881 points. He will move into fifth place with five points against Butler.
• Xavier's ongoing nine-game winning streak is tied for the longest in the Chris Mack era (nine seasons).
• Mack is three wins shy of setting a new all-time program record for wins.
• The Musketeers have the No. 2 ratings percentage index (RPI) in America.
• Xavier's 14-1 record equals the best start in program history through 15 games. The 2015-16 team won 16 games before its second loss.
SCOUTING REPORTS
No. 5 Xavier Musketeers (14-1, 2-0 Big East)
Offense: 87 ppg
Defense: 71.1 ppg
PROJECTED LINEUP (Player, Pos.,HT., Key Stat) — Trevon Bluiett (G, 6-6, 19.7 ppg), Kaiser Gates (F, 6-8, 9.3 ppg), J.P. Macura (G, 6-5, 12.9 ppg), Tyrique Jones (F/C, 6-9, 9.4 ppg), Quentin Goodin (G, 6-4, 8.0 ppg).
Butler University Bulldogs (12-3, 2-0 Big East)
Offense: 80.1 ppg
Defense: 69.3 ppg
PROJECTED LINEUP — Tyler Wideman (F, 6-8. 10.1 ppg), Kelan Martin (F, 6-7, 18.9 ppg), Paul Jorgensen (G, 6-2, 12.3 ppg), Kamar Baldwin (G, 6-1, 14.5 ppg), Aaron Thompson (G, 6-2, 5.3 ppg).