Jordan Crawford’s only experience in the NCAA tournament was so bad that he pretends it never happened.

Crawford was one of the happiest Musketeers when Xavier got a No. 6 seed and a first-round NCAA tournament game against Minnesota on Friday in Milwaukee. The Atlantic 10’s leading scorer played at Indiana as a freshman and had some of his worst moments in his final game for the Hoosiers.

Indiana made the tournament as a No. 8 seed and lost to Arkansas 86-72 in the first round in 2008. Crawford was 0 for 5 from the field and failed to score in 21 minutes.

“I’m very excited just to get back out on the court and play in the NCAA tournament because last time was not a good one,” Crawford said Sunday. “It was real quick, and it wasn’t good. That was my last game for two years. There was so much going on, I didn’t really get to experience the NCAA tournament like that. It’s going to be new to me.”

Crawford transferred to Xavier, sat out a year and led the Musketeers (24-8) to a share of their fourth straight A-10 regular season title. They lost to Richmond in the semifinals of the conference tournament.

“This is the reason I transferred to Xavier — to play in the NCAA tournament,” said Crawford, who averages 19.7 points per game. “And I think we have a nice chance of advancing.”

Xavier reached the tournament for the fifth straight year and the ninth time in the last 10 years. The Musketeers have won at least one game each of the last three years, and have advanced to the round of 16 the last two years.

Crawford’s return will come against a Big Ten team, one that’s very unfamiliar to the rest of the Musketeers. Minnesota and Xavier haven’t played since the 1950s, when the Golden Gophers won the three games between the schools.

The Golden Gophers (21-13) reached the NCAA tournament with a strong finish, knocking off Michigan State and Purdue before losing to Ohio State 90-61 in the Big Ten tournament title game on Sunday. Even then, Minnesota wasn’t sure it was in.

Xavier had no such worries. The Musketeers were upbeat as they watched the NCAA selection show at a local restaurant.

“We were as excited as anybody,” junior guard Dante Jackson said. “Before we went there, we knew we were in, we just didn’t know who we were playing and what team it would be.”

Their biggest surprise didn’t involve them. The Atlantic 10 got three teams into the tournament — Xavier, Temple and Richmond. Temple was the regular season co-champion with Xavier and won the conference tournament, then got a No. 5 seed.

“I thought Temple was going to get a 3 or a 4 (seed),” Jackson said. “I was kind of shocked that they got a 5. But I think our conference is well-represented in the tournament, and that’s all you can ask for.”

Xavier reached the regional semifinals last season before losing to Pittsburgh 60-55. The Panthers are in Xavier’s bracket again, setting up a possible second-round rematch. Pitt plays Oakland in its opener.

“Yeah, we saw Pitt and as a team, we’re excited that they’re in our bracket,” junior forward Jamel McLean said. “It’s not about looking forward. I think Minnesota is our prime objective right now. We hope we see Pittsburgh and then we’ll take that game from where we left off last year. I think we have a lot of motivation.”