Marquette Basketball’s Bracketology Outlook: February 7, 2017

Last week Tuesday, Marquette was sitting around after following up their upset of #1 Villanova with a home loss to Providence. A brief look at the bracketology outlooks around the web made it seem like that loss to the Friars did not affect Marquette’s chances of making the NCAA tournament all that much.

Then Marquette lost at St. John’s the very next night.

That’s not good, and it’s definitely worse than losing to Providence.

MU stopped the skid with a Saturday win on the road over DePaul, so let’s dive back into the bracketology projections to see how the prognosticators are looking at the Golden Eagles after those developments.

ESPN (2/6/17): After an 8 seed last week, Marquette is a 9 seed this week in Joe Lunardi’s bracket. The Worldwide Leader’s bracket expert has given the Golden Eagles a fascinating storyline draw against #8 USC, since Katin Reinhardt ditched the Trojans to play for Marquette this year. They’re assigned to the West Region with the game taking place in Salt Lake City and partnered up with a 1/16 game between Gonzaga and Weber State. Lunardi has five Big East teams not named Marquette in the field: #1 Villanova, #6 Butler, #6 Xavier, #6 Creighton, and #12 Seton Hall, and the Pirates are the absolute final team into the field and paired off with Illinois State in Dayton. Two teams just barely on the outside are of interest to Marquette fans: both Michigan and Georgetown are listed as “Next Four Out.”

CBS (2/5/17): Marquette sits at a #10 seed in Jerry Palm’s newest bracket after coming in at #8 last week. He has the Golden Eagles in the Midwest Region headed to Indianapolis to face #7 seed Minnesota, and the winner of their game would advance to face the winner of #2 Louisville and #15 Belmont. #1 Villanova, #4 Creighton, #5 Butler, #7 Xavier, and #11 Seton Hall join Marquette from the Big East in the field of 68, although the Pirates have a trip to Dayton to deal with here. SHU is third to the last team in, while Michigan is second to last.

SB Nation (2/7/17): Because it posted on Tuesday morning, Chris Dobbertean’s bracket is the freshest of any of them that we’re keeping an eye on. The official bracketing expert of our blogging overlords has dropped Marquette from an 8 seed to a 10 seed this week. It’s a bit of a combination of the ESPN and CBS brackets, as MU is off to Indianapolis for their first round game, but they’re paired up with USC as the #7 seed. The winner of USC/Marquette would advance to get the winner of #2 Louisville vs #15 Winthrop. Officially, MU is three spots clear of Dayton in Dobbertean’s seed listing, so things are kind of tense. There are six total Big East teams in the field including Marquette: #1 Villanova, #3 Butler, #5 Creighton, #6 Xavier, and #11 Seton Hall, with the Pirates checking in as the final at-large team to make the tournament.

Sports Illustrated (2/6/17): Just like Joe Lunardi, Michael Beller shifted the Golden Eagles down one spot to a #9 seed this week. They’re in the South Region and set up with a first round game against #8 Michigan State. The winner of MU/MSU would advance to see either #1 Baylor or #16 Weber State. #1 Villanova, #5 Butler, #6 Creighton, and #7 Xavier round out the Big East’s participants in this particular variation on the bracket, with Seton Hall earning “First Four Out” status and Georgetown joining Michigan as part of the “Next Four Out.”

Fox Sports (2/3/17): Stewart Mandel didn’t adjust Marquette’s position at all over the past week, keeping the Golden Eagles as an 8 seed. Last week it was Georgia Tech as a first round opponent, this week it stays in the ACC with Clemson as the 9 seed on the other side of the court. The winner would advance in the South Region to face Baylor, presuming the Bears avoid becoming the first #1 seed to ever lose to a 16 seed. Mandel has four more Big East teams in the field: #1 Villanova, #3 Creighton, #4 Butler, and #7 Xavier. Seton Hall and Providence earn First Four Out status, while Georgetown and non-conference Marquette foes Georgia and Pittsburgh are in the Next Four Out department.

NBC Sports/College Basketball Talk (2/6/17): We neglected to check in with NBC Sports/CBT’s bracket from Dave Ommen last week, but we’ll pick them up here going forward. Marquette is a 9 seed in his newest bracket, squaring off against 8 seed Iowa State in the first round. The winner would advance to play Gonzaga, the #1 seed in the West Region, or, if you fancy upsets, #16 Texas Southern. There are five more Big East teams in this field: #1 Villanova, #5 Butler, #6 Creighton, #7 Xavier, and #12 Seton Hall, with the Pirates sitting three spots away from the cut line and headed to Dayton for the First Four. Marquette foe Michigan is in the First Four Out, while Georgetown is in the Next Four Out.

Bracket Matrix (2/6/17): Everyone’s favorite aggregator ran an update on Monday night, so it’s about as fresh as you can get. Marquette has an average position of 9.59 while appearing on 91 of the 98 brackets, which slots them in as a 10 seed, along with Arkansas, Indiana, and Clemson. Bracket Matrix just lists the teams, so we can only look at the list of 7 seeds to get an idea of possible opponents: Notre Dame, SMU, Northwestern, and USC. Six Big East teams make into the at-large segment of the list: #1 Villanova, #4 Butler, #5 Creighton, #6 Xavier, and #11 Seton Hall, with the Pirates getting the second to last available spot and of course a trip to Dayton as a result. Michigan appears in 28 brackets and Georgetown is in seven, with both teams getting listed under “Next Four Out.”