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Did you hear that Marquette’s men’s basketball moved up to 20th in the Associated Press poll this week? That seems pretty good.
It’s mid-January, so when you combine that fact with MU’s top 25 poll positioning, it seems like a good time to catch up on various Bracketology efforts around the web. It is too early? I don’t think we’re more than halfway through the basketball season, things are starting to solidify.
Let’s get into that, shall we? We have good news to read…..
SB Nation (1/17): WE ARE HOT TO START! Chris Dobbertean seeded Marquette as No. 4, specifically No. 15 overall in his group. That puts MU in the Midwest region with a first-round match against #13 Seattle in Orlando. The second round game would be either #5 Miami or #12 Southern Miss who are currently holding the autobid out of the sunbelt. As will almost certainly be the case for the remainder of the season, there are only four other Big East teams in the field: Xavier (#2), UConn (#3), Providence (#6) and Georgetown. No, just kidding, wanted to make sure you were paying attention. Fourth is Creighton (#9).
ESPN (1/17): To keep the spirits up, Joe Lunardi seeded Marquette as No. 4, again in the Midwest and again in Orlando. The matchup is #13 Marshall, who has the sunbelt autobid, so he’s clearly using a different tiebreaker than Our Blogging Overlords. In either case, the second round contest would be either #5 Rutgers or the winner of a first four game between Oklahoma and New Mexico. Their Big East representation: Xavier (#3), UConn (#3), Providence (#6), and Creighton (#8).
CBS Sports (1/16): Jerry Palm is a hater, at least compared to the first two entries on our list here. He seeded Marquette as the No. 6, and while MU is still in the Midwest region, the first round game will be in Greensboro, North Carolina. The opponent? Still up in the air as he assigned the No. 11 to a First Four game between No. 11 USC and No. 11 Maryland. Want to play Kevin Willard in an NCAA tournament game? The second round game would be against either #3 Virginia or #13 SIU-Edwardsville and the Fighting Brian Barones, who currently hold first place in the OVC. Their Big East representation: Xavier (#2), UConn (#3), and Providence (#6). Yes, that’s right, no Creighton here, and not even in the first four out.
The Athlete (1/13) ($): Just so things are clear, Brian Bennett released his latest bracket on Friday, which is ahead of BLOOD WEEKEND so many ranked teams lost, up to and including MU’s trip against Xavier. With that in mind, he has Marquette as a No. 4 seed, specifically the very last No. 4 seed in the field. In this iteration, that sends the Golden Eagles to the West Region, and in this case to a first-round game in Albany, New York. Isn’t the pod system fun? Anyway, that entails a first-round match against Utah Valley, the WAC’s current autobid marker. The second round would mean either #5 TCU or #12 Oral Roberts. Because I know you are now asking: Yes, Max Abmas is still with ORU. Their Big East representation: UConn (#2), Xavier (#4), Providence (#6), and Creighton (#9).
Fox Sports (1/17): The Big East’s television partner continues to refuse to act like a normal media outlet, forcing us to read things on Twitter like some sort of commoner. Mike DeCourcy seeded Marquette as number 5 here, and because the universe likes echoes, this is a West Region first-round game against Oral Roberts. The second round game would be against either #4 Iowa State or #13 UC Irvine. Their Big East representation: Xavier (#3), UConn (#4), and Providence (#6). Again, no Creighton.
Cracked Sidewalks (1/16): Apparently Alan Bykowski thinks he’s funny, because while he’s pretty much in line with everyone else with Marquette as the No. 4 seed, he has the first round game in Orlando as part of the West Regional… against No. 13 seed Dayton. I don’t want to play Dayton. The second round game would be either #5 TCU or #12 Seed Kent State from the MAC. Their Big East representation: UConn (#3), Xavier (#3), Providence (#7), and Creighton (#10).
Haslametry (1/17): This is an algorithmic projection of the bracket if the season ended after Monday’s games, so there are seeds but no matchups and no placement in the region. Marquette ends up at No. 5 in the seed, although they currently sit at No. 13 on the Haslametric rankings. Honestly, I appreciate that there is a difference between the reviews and the sowing. The other No. 5’s are Saint Mary’s, Florida Atlantic and Miami, while the current 12 seeded are Oral Roberts, Kent State, Sam Houston and one of the top four winners, either Wisconsin or Maryland. You can see that the algorithm is only pumping this out because 1) one of those two Big Ten teams will be removed from there if the selection committee ended up with the starting order this way, and 2) Marquette will be removed from the game having that would draw winners of the first four because of the potential rematch with the Badgers. Their Big East representation: Xavier (#2), UConn (#3), and Providence (#6). Creighton comes in as the No. 2 team from off the field.
T Rank (1/17): Similar to Haslametrics, this is exactly what the computer says the field would be if the season ended with the conclusion of Monday games. This makes Marquette the second best starting position #5. That’s behind Florida Atlantic but ahead of Rutgers Scarlet Knights and New Mexico in the group. Those seeds will be matched against the No. 12s for a first-round game, and that crew currently has Kent State, Oral Roberts and Marshall occupying three of the spots. Fourth would go to a First Four winner, by the way, and right now that’s Memphis and three Big Ten teams: Northwestern, Maryland, and Ohio State. Not to make things any easier: Wisconsin and Penn State have the last two byes in full field. I’m glad that I’m not on the selection committee and don’t run the risk of having to mess it all up. Their Big East representation: UConn (#2), Xavier (#3), and Providence (#7). Creighton comes in in the next four out, six spots off the field.
Bracket Matrix (1/16): As always, the bracket matrix compiles dozens of brackets and averages them all to give you a wide range of opinions all slammed together. Very helpful when trying to get a good average of what people are thinking. That means it tends to lag a bit as you have to release your bracket before the Matrix can catch it. The last update was on Monday, so keep that in mind. Marquette comes into play here as No. 4 while appearing in all 73 brackets alongside Iowa State, Virginia and Miami. #4 gets you a first round contest against a #13 seed and these are currently categorized as Iona (oooo, Rick Pitino!), Utah Valley, Marshall and Liberty (no thanks, absolutely not). Their Big East representation: UConn (#2), Xavier (#3), Providence (#6), and Creighton (#11). The Bluejays come in here on average, but it’s worth noting that they only appear in 55 of the brackets currently in the Matrix.
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