NEW YORK CITY − Last year at Big East Media Day, Xavier head coach Sean Miller said it was "like putting a puzzle together" when it came to his team, which was a shell of the squad that had gone to the Sweet 16 just a few months earlier.

Every year offers a new puzzle for Miller and his coaching staff, but it's not as complex this fall with the Musketeers' reloaded roster.

"We have more pieces," Miller told The Enquirer Wednesday during Big East media day, the unofficial start to the college basketball season.

The last time Xavier was at Madison Square Garden, the program's worst season in nearly three decades was nearing its end after a loss to eventual national champion UConn in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals.

A lot can change in seven months.

"This year is different because we're older and much more experienced," Miller said. "We're more advanced at the moment than we were a year ago."

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Xavier picked to finish 3rd in Big East preseason poll

Xavier is in a much better spot than a year ago, and the rest of the Big East, an 11-coach group that has an average 313 career wins with DePaul's hiring of Chris Holtmann, is taking notice.

Xavier, which is unranked heading into the season (No. 28 AP), was picked to finish third in the Big East in the preseason coaches' poll.

If that prediction holds true, Xavier would be just the fourth team since conference realignment (2013) to get a first-round bye in the Big East Tournament one year after posting a losing record.

'We have to own it every day.'

By now, the Xavier brass has hammered home the "All In" mantra to this season. There's a docuseries premiering next month with that phrase leading off the title. Where did it come from?

It started to show up in social media hashtags this spring. For Miller, it's always been a part of what he's trying to do at Xavier.

"You just can't do special things in college basketball if everybody involved is not bought in," Miller said. "Do what we do. We believe in it. This is how we practice; this is how we lift weights. . . Building something for these guys where this is special and something they want to be a part of that's bigger than their goals. . . All in is a big part of our future. It's how we're building our program. We have to own it every day."

'You learn from a year ago.'

Late last season, Miller admitted that he knew during the team's trip to the Bahamas in August that it would be an uphill climb with Jerome Hunter and Zach Freemantle lost for the year.

Xavier filled out its young roster with three international additions, but there were season-long growing pains. Xavier was behind the proverbial 8-ball in the summer with a slew of players expected to contribute big minutes getting acclimated to college basketball and, in some cases, the United States.

"You learn from a year ago. If you fail or go through what we did, it makes you better," Miller said. "It allows you to see things more clearly on the other side and you become a better coach, program and team because of it."

To fix this, Xavier got healthier with the return of Freemantle and Hunter. They also targeted a certain prospect in the transfer portal: experienced players from winning programs that collectively know the sacrifices a team must make throughout the year to be successful.

Xavier's transfers came from seven schools with a combined record of 149-89 last season.

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"To be well-coached, to be something that's bigger than yourself before you ever come to us so we're not in charge of teaching you that very important concept," Miller said. "The grind of a college basketball season, how long it is, what it feels like to play on the road. Those experiences are to our benefit right now."

The puzzle is never finished in October, though. Xavier's rebounding woes were the focal point of last year's 16-18 record. The Musketeers are not completely healthy after the loss of forward Lassina Traore, who would've played a big part in fixing the struggles on the boards.

That's the main emphasis of Xavier's early-season development during non-conference play, which is the part of the season a team is at its most vulnerable but can improve the most.

"In our league, you have to be a good rebounding team," Miller said. "The concern of mine is, we lost our team's best rebounder in (Lassina) Traore."

Lessons from home

Miller wanted it on the record that he's a fan of Joe Burrow and wants the Cincinnati Bengals to win, but he can't forget his roots completely.

On a few cases last year, Miller echoed that, "the standard is the standard." It's a phrase coined by Steelers' coach Mike Tomlin that says nothing and everything at the same time.

Miller, who grew up just north of Pittsburgh, doesn't mind implementing some of Tomlin sayings and ideals.

"He (Tomlin) is not confused about the main thing: this is how we play, this is our identity, this is how we draft, this is how I coach, this is what we admire about people on our team. It's never changed," Miller said. "At Xavier, it's playing offense with pace and movement. It's being a good defensive team; a connected team. That's what we're about and we have to earn it every day."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Big East Media Day: Putting together Xavier's 2024-25 puzzle