That same year, Matta's last as head coach, Xavier beat No. 8 Mississippi State and No. 12 Texas in the NCAA tournament before extending Duke to the limit in the Elite Eight. The Muskies lost to the Blue Devils, 66-63, but easily could have won and advanced to the Final Four.

Xavier has maintained its success in the Atlantic 10 and nationally, despite having to constantly replace good coaches -- from Bob Staak to Pete Gillen, Skip Prosser and Matta. Now it's Sean Miller in charge, another young, up-and-coming coach.

Xavier point guard Drew Lavender is a Columbus native and graduate of Brookhaven, the same high school that produced Buckeyes guard Ron Lewis. Lavender essentially had two opportunities to attend Ohio State -- straight out of high school, when he chose Oklahoma, then when he transferred from the Sooners and went to Xavier.

Lavender said he initially chose Oklahoma because he could start as a freshman, but transferred after two seasons. The Buckeyes weren't really an option when he left OU after the 2003-04 season because they already had Jamar Butler running the point.

Lavender and Lewis were teammates on Brookhaven's state championship team in 2002 -- when Lewis averaged 19 points and 10 rebounds and was named first team All-Ohio. Lavender was the sixth man on that team and now averages 11.2 points and 4.7 assists per game for the Muskies.

Both Greg Oden and Mike Conley were asked yesterday if they would've considered Xavier had Matta never left for Ohio State. Both Oden and Conley said they would have.

As if Xavier fans weren't upset enough about losing Matta, learning they may have lost Matta, Conley and Oden is enough to make them miserable.

Oden took just two classes during the winter quarter that just ended, and one of them was the History of Rock Ôn Roll. He was asked yesterday what he remembers about the class, since he just took the final exam earlier this week.

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