GREENVILLE, S.C. — It’s safe to say Xavier Edmonds, TCU’s 6-foot-8, 245-pound junior forward, is having a good week.
Wednesday, the former No. 1-ranked junior college player in the nation at Salt Lake Community College was involved in his first NCAA Tournament news conference. He was having such a good time talking to the media, greeting well-wishers and participating in the Horned Frogs’ public practice that he pulled out his phone and began preserving the moment in pictures.
One day later, Edmonds scored the winning basket in the closing seconds as No. 9 seed TCU defeated No. 8 Ohio State 66-64 in the East Region.
But the best is yet to come. Saturday, the Horned Frogs play top-seeded Duke, which narrowly avoided being tossed out of the tournament by No. 16 Siena. Edmonds is likely to draw the assignment of guarding Duke first-team All-American freshman Cameron Boozer.
“It’s a challenge we’re up for,” Edmonds told Hoops HQ. “We’re not afraid of any name, any school. I trust in my teammates. They know I’m going to do my part, and I know they’re going to do their part. If we have that right cohesiveness and we’re dialed in on defense, I like our odds.”
It has taken Edmonds a while to get to this moment. He was a three-star recruit at Bishop Montgomery High in Torrance, Calif., but his academics suffered because during the pandemic, he helped take care of his plus-sized family that includes nine siblings.
“But he stayed at the same high school,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. “Not many other kids would have done that. They’d have transferred to another school and gotten 12 A’s on arrival.”
Because of his loyalty to family and his school, Edmonds needed to enroll at Salt Lake. But during his time there, his teammates helped him develop a work ethic. As a freshman, he averaged 14.0 points and 7.4 rebounds. The next season, JUCOrecruiting.com anointed Edmonds as the No. 1 junior college player in the country after he averaged 19.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists.
In the NIL and unlimited transfer era, some schools have strayed from recruiting junior college players, preferring to pay players who have proven Division I ability. But not Dixon.
“I look at myself as a JUCO guy,” Dixon says. “My goal in coaching was to be a California junior college coach. Because Lute Olson coached there. Jerry Tarkanian. Denny Crum. Those were the guys when I was starting out. You wanted to be those guys.”
With a soft spot in his heart for junior college players, Dixon always has tried to keep one or two on his roster, whether it was at Pitt or TCU.
“You’ve got to find ways,” Dixon said. “Some schools have more resources than us. But you’ve got to find the right kids. We’ve been recruiting ‘X’ for four years. His coach at Bishop Montgomery is a legend (38-year head man Doug Mitchell). And his coach in junior college was Dave Rice, who had coached at UNLV.”
Siena Iron Men Nearly Pull Off an Upset for the Ages
16th-seeded Saints wear down late as top-seeded Duke escapes with a 71-65 victory. Siena kept its starting five in for the full 40 minutes.
Since stepping up to Division I and the mighty Big 12 Conference, Edmonds has had to learn on the job.
“Division I has been a big change,” Dixon said. “He’s gotten better. I’ve pushed him. He wasn’t always a details guy.”
Edmonds has gotten better picking his spots, knowing when to shoot and when not to. The game has slowed for him. His 3-point shooting has improved. And he’s not afraid of the moment, as he proved against Ohio State.
His game-winning basket came off a broken play.
“I found (6-foot-7 sophomore David) Punch on a short roll,” said Brock Harding, the Horned Frogs’ starting point guard. “He had two people coming at him, so he was able to find ‘X’ and he put that last basket in. We knew if we kept doing what we’d been doing all game, something good was going to happen for us.”
Like Edmonds, Harding isn’t afraid of what’s coming next. And he thinks Edmonds is up to facing off against Boozer.
“He’s an undersized big, but you would never think that watching him play,” Harding said. “He can rebound with whoever’s out there in front of him, he can finish over whoever’s out there in front of him and he’s a really good passer. I think the JUCO thing doesn’t really matter. If you can play, you can play.”
Edmonds is averaging 12.6 points and 6.6 rebounds, and converting 57.2 percent of his field goal attempts – shooting 41.2 percent from 3-point range and 61.2 from 2. He’ll be a handful for Boozer or whoever else Duke runs at him.
But whatever happens against the Blue Devils, Edmonds, who stayed true to his school and true to his family even though that delayed his entry into Division I basketball, is just glad to be here.
“This is something I never thought I’d be doing,” Edmonds said. “Not too many people get to experience this. Yesterday I told my teammates only one in nearly 7.8 million people get to experience March Madness.
“I looked it up. That’s how excited I was.”
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