“This was every aspect of the meaning. This was March Madness,” said Sabourin, a Badin High School graduate and three-year walk-on for the Musketeers.
“You just can’t describe the feeling. It’s honestly just amazing.
“It doesn’t get better than this — the energy and the fact that we basically had a home crowd here.”
It sounded like it before tipoff.
Xavier took the court against Texas in the First Four finale in front of a crowd that gave off Cintas Center vibes. The Musketeers weren’t at Cintas, though. They were at University of Dayton Arena.
“Tonight was probably one of the best moments of my basketball career,” Sabourin said. “The way we came back and won and never gave up — didn’t fold.
“It’s just an awesome feeling. It just means more in March. Everyone can feel it — both sides. It’s amazing when you’re on the winning side.
“When you’re on the losing side, it’s one of the worst feelings there is.”
He didn’t have to worry about that.
‘A dream come true’
Sabourin grew up a Xavier fan, so there was a sense of destiny.
Both of his parents, David and Lisa, graduated from there.
Sabourin went through the recruiting process, having played hoops at Badin before graduating in 2022, as Division II and III colleges were mainly on his list. He also looked at schools like Miami down the road just to attend as a student.
“There was something that just kept telling me that Xavier was the place for me,” Sabourin said. “My mom and dad met there. They went to school there.”
He even got a nudge from grandma.
“She really wanted me to go there and get a Jesuit education,” Sabourin noted.
“My grandma said she would help if that’s what it took.”
Sabourin decided to go there and start his studies in finance. And he eventually took things further.
“I emailed the coaching staff to let them know that I was interested in being a walk-on once I decided I was going to go there for school,” he said.
Xavier didn’t have much for him at the time, but he was offered a chance to work some camps.
“I thought maybe I could be a manager and then move my way up from there.”
Sabourin did become a manager the summer after graduating high school, and for about three months, he was labeled as a manager-practice player.
“Then after practice one day, I got the news,” Sabourin recalled when Xavier assistant coach Ryan Anderson and director of basketball operations Cam Miller approached him with an offer.
“‘We don’t really see a purpose of you being a practice-player manager because you can’t really do both at the same time,’ they told me.”
Sean Miller, who was hired that same year for his second coaching stint at Xavier, elevated Sabourin to be a walk-on.
Sabourin, who immediately called his mom, said, “It was a dream come true.”
“Ian is a valuable person and player in our program every single day,” Miller praised. ”He’s a great competitor. He’s an even better person.
“I think he wants to be a coach. I think he will become a great coach one day,” Miller added. “He’s just incredibly valuable, very unselfish, a great kid, a great person. He’s going to leave with a Xavier degree, and I know he wants to be a coach.
“The training and the type of experience will be so helpful for him to be a coach one day. I have no doubt.
“But first thing’s first, he really helps us.”
Scouting the opposition
Sabourin understands that he doesn’t see the court often. But he understands his role, and he understands his value.
So does Miller.
“We use our scout team and the guys like Ian — probably as much as any program in the country — so he’s a real fixture and part of us every day,” the coach said.
Sabourin the last week at practice was put in charge of mimicking Texas fourth-man Arthur Kaluma, who averages 12 points a game.
“I learned everything about him,” Sabourin said. “I learn everything about the team — what sets they run, what they do after their sets, what underneath out of bounds play they run.
“I pretty much imitate a player.”
Sabourin, coincidentally, remembered Kaluma from when Xavier played Creighton before Kaluma transferred to Texas.
“I actually got to play him two years ago,” Sabourin said. “I already knew he was a big shot faker. Every time I caught the ball this weekend in practice, I’m shot faking. I’m reminding the players. Every time I got the ball — even if I didn’t catch the ball — I’m saying what I’m doing.
“I don’t think we jumped on one of his shot fakes all night, which is amazing. That means my job was complete — at least I think it was,” Sabourin added with a laugh.
Kaluma was held to just eight points on Wednesday night, which saw Xavier rally from a double-digit deficit to beat Texas 86-80 and advance to the NCAA Tournament’s first round.
“I’m supposed to keep the energy up, be electric on the bench,” Sabourin said. “And when we see a play called that we recognize on the scout, we call it out and let the players know what’s coming — just to give them a little reminder so they can be ahead of it.
“We love it. Us scouting guys, we’re never sitting. All of our heads are pounding because we’ve been screaming the whole time.
“We just have to continue to show our emotion on the sideline.”
Sabourin and the Musketeers get to do it again against Illinois at 9:45 p.m. Friday in a Midwest Region first round matchup in Milwaukee.
“We just love Xavier basketball. We love winning. We just don’t want the season to end.”
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