The Quick & The Dirty: #1 Villanova A Lot, Marquette Less Than That

As I start typing this, the #1 ranked Villanova Wildcats are taking their frustrations over losing to Butler out on Marquette to the tune of 88-60 with five minutes and change left to play. The second half has been one long massacre, as VU extends an 11 point lead out to 28 for the time being.

Villanova’s shooting 72% overall and 67% on three-pointers. Taking purely overall numbers, Kris Jenkins is the Wildcats’ worst shooter on the night, going 7-for-11 from the floor. I say “worst” because he’s got the most missed shots with four. Three of his four misses have been from behind the three-point arc, where he’s 6-of-9 on the night, which is pretty great for him and pretty goddamn awful for whoever’s supposed to be guarding him.

It’s 91-66 now, as the Golden Eagles have gone on a 6-3 run. Huzzah.

I can’t even pretend to be upset about any of this. After the #18 ranked Bulldogs gave Villanova their first loss since last year’s Big East tournament title game, even the 13% chance that KenPom.com gave to MU seemed a bit generous.

Marquette’s a middling team, with NCAA tournament hopes. Villanova’s poised to take a run at becoming the first repeat NCAA tournament champion since Florida in 2006-07. They’re very good, Marquette is not. They’re very attractive, Marquette is not.

It is what it is. This was a scheduled loss. And they lost, or, barring the weirdest 2:58 in college basketball history, Marquette will lose this game. Whatever. The path to 10 Big East wins never involved beating the Wildcats at Wells Fargo Center. Beat Seton Hall on Wednesday night and this doesn’t matter, not that it mattered at all in the first place.

It’s 93-69, by the way. A 9-5 Marquette “run” since I clicked “New Story” on the editor. Go figure.

By the way, Marquette’s shooting 46.2% on threes and has an effective field goal percentage of 51%. That’s probably not good, given how many threes are going through the net.

93-72 with 99 seconds left, thanks to some free throws by Matt Heldt.

2-6 in the first eight games is the goal. 3-5 is in sight. Just beat Seton Hall on Wednesday.

Hey, it went final before I hit publish. 93-81, Villanova wins, which is HILARIOUS.