Let’s Check In On Marquette Basketball’s Bracketology Outlook

Waaaaaay back one week ago, YOUR Marquette Golden Eagles knocked off the #1 team in the country. MU had probably been trending towards “in” when it comes to the NCAA tournament, but that feather in their cap definitely gave their profile quite the boost.

Now, yes, they followed it up with a home loss to Providence which is not so great. But it’s that wet blanket on everyone’s feeling combined with the end of January that means it’s time to check out bracketology! Let’s see if we can get a feel for what the bracketing wizards are thinking about Marquette, and hell, while we’re at it, the rest of the Big East as well.

ESPN (1/30/17) - Joe Lunardi slots the Golden Eagles as a #8 seed in the field, with a first round matchup against #9 Arkansas. The winner would go on to face either #1 Kansas, currently the autobid placeholder from the Big 12, or #16 Texas Southern, the autobid placeholder from the SWAC. Lunardi has four more teams from the Big East in his bracket: #1 Villanova, #3 Butler, #6 Creighton, and #7 Xavier. Seton Hall earns “First Four Out” status, while MU opponent Georgia turns up in the “Next Four Out” grouping. Marquette has a 2-4 record against the teams in ESPN’s field of 68.

CBS (1/30/17) - Jerry Palm also slides Marquette into one of his four #8 spots, but he has the Golden Eagles in a game that I don’t want to see MU fans subjected to: #9 Dayton. No thanks, those guys are jerks. Palm has MU heading out to Salt Lake City for the first round, where the winner of their game would get the winner of #1 Gonzaga vs #16 Texas Southern. The Big East gets six spots in the CBS Sports Bracket: #1 Villanova, #3 Creighton, #4 Butler, #8 Xavier, and #9 Seton Hall are joining MU. With Michigan getting sent to Dayton, Marquette has a 3-5 record against teams in this bracket. Pittsburgh shows up in the “First Four Out” category as well.

SB Nation (1/31/17) - Like Palm at CBS, Chris Dobbertean has six Big East teams in the field for our blogging overlords, including Marquette coming in as - surprise! - an 8 seed. I’m starting to get the impression that some of these guys are avid readers of this website, as Dobbertean has paired up the Golden Eagles with Iowa State as the #9 seed. Their winner would advance to face the winner of (yet again) Gonzaga and Texas Southern out in Salt Lake City. The six BE teams are the ones you would expect: #1 Villanova, #3 Butler, #6 Creighton, #7 Xavier, and #10 Seton Hall, with the Pirates ducking a trip to Dayton for the First Four by three spots. With six Big East teams in, Marquette has a matching 3-5 record against this set of 68 as well. Georgia is camped out there in the “Next Four Out” category.

Sports Illustrated (1/30/17) - Michael Beller sends the Golden Eagles to the South region as, you guessed it, an 8 seed. They get a first round matchup with #9 Michigan State, and I dunno about you, but I’d rather not think about the last time that Marquette played the Spartans in the NCAA tournament. The #1 seed in the South is Baylor, and presuming they could sneak past Weber State, they’d be waiting for the MU/MSU winner. It’s the usual suspects for the rest of the Big East: #1 Villanova, #3 Butler, #6 Creighton, #7 Xavier, and Seton Hall getting a trip to Dayton as a #12. Yet again, a 3-5 record for Marquette against the teams in the tournament.

Fox Sports (1/31/17) - Of course Stewart Mandel has Marquette as an 8 seed. Did you expect something else?? This setup has them paired off with Josh Pastner’s surprising Georgia Tech team in the first round and aiming towards a meeting with #1 Kansas (or, in case of the biggest miracle in sports history, New Orleans). The Big East gets five teams into the Fox field, with Seton Hall getting tagged as “First Four Out.” The seedings for the other Big East teams aren’t terribly surprising: #1 Villanova, #3 Butler, #4 Creighton, and #7 Xavier. Marquette has a 2-4 record against teams in Mandel’s bracket.

Bracket Matrix (1/31/17) - This bracket aggregator doesn’t pair teams off, so we’re left to just say that Marquette averages out to an 8 seed while appearing on all 84 of the brackets that they’re monitoring. They have a high water mark of a 6 seed (one bracket), and their lowest appearances is as an 11 seed (two brackets). The Golden Eagles are joined in the #8 line by Virginia Tech, Minnesota, and Dayton, and if they were to be paired off into a bracket, it would be with the 9 seeds of Iowa State, Arkansas, Indiana, and VCU. Five more Big East teams make it above the cutline: #1 Villanova, #3 Butler, #5 Creighton, #7 Xavier, and #11 Seton Hall with the Pirates as one of the last four in. It’s the same 3-5 record for Marquette against teams in the aggregated field.