Marquette Basketball’s Bracketology Outlook: March 7, 2017

The question is thus: Is Marquette safely into the NCAA tournament after beating Creighton on Saturday? Let’s take a spin through the various bracketology efforts around the internet and see what the guys who pay attention to these kinds of things have to say.....

ESPN (3/6/17): Marquette has shifted out of the First Four, rising to a 10 seed. They’re still in Joe Lunardi’s Last Four Byes, though, sitting in the third spot clear from Dayton. The Golden Eagles get a first round game out in Sacramento against #7 seeded South Carolina, with the winner moving on to a game against either #2 Oregon or #15 UC-Irvine. The Big East has a total seven teams in ESPN’s bracket, with #1 Villanova, #3 Butler, #7 Creighton, #10 Providence, #10 Seton Hall, and #12 Xavier joining the Golden Eagles. Xavier is now the best team headed to Dayton.

CBS (3/7/17): Jerry Palm has moved Marquette out of Dayton as well, pushing them up to a #10 seed. That gives them a trip to Indianapolis here for a first round game against #7 seed Marquette West Iowa State, and a potential second round game against either #2 Kentucky or #15 Northern Kentucky. For the record, Marquette still has an “On The Bubble” notation here, but all of the #10 seeds have one, as does #9 seed VCU. All Big East teams are cleanly in the 68 team field with no one going to Dayton: #1 Villanova, #3 Butler, #7 Creighton, #8 Seton Hall, #10 Providence, and #11 Xavier.

SB Nation (3/7/17): The #10 seed is a popular spot around these parts, as is a match up against South Carolina. That’s what Chris Dobbertean has in his latest bracket, matching Lunardi right down to putting the game out in Sacramento. As could be expected by being in the West Region, the second round game would likely be against #2 Oregon, although #15 seed Texas Southern always has a chance to say something about that. There are three Big East teams in the last eight in here, with Providence (#10 seed) and Seton Hall (#11 seed) avoiding Dayton and Xavier (#11 seed) having to make the short trip up I-75 for the First Four. #1 Villanova, #3 Butler, and #7 Creighton round out the list of Big East teams in the field.

Sports Illustrated (3/7/17): Ok, this is slightly confusing. Michael Beller is constantly updating an article last timestamped on February 28th, but it includes discussion of Tuesday’s conference tournament championship games. I’m going to count that as a Tuesday morning update. Ok, so with that in mind, Marquette is a #9 seed at the moment, scheduled to square off with #8 seed Wichita State in the South Region. That would give the winner a second round game against either #1 North Carolina or #16 seed Nebraska-Omaha. #1 Villanova, #3 Butler, #7 Creighton, #9 Providence, #10 Seton Hall, and #11 Xavier round out the Big East’s participation. Everyone in the Big East avoids Dayton in this iteration of the bracket.

Fox Sports (3/3/17): Stewart Mandel hasn’t updated his bracket since Friday afternoon, so keep that in mind when I say that he has Marquette slotted as a #8 seed. He thought this BEFORE the win over Creighton. That means a first round game against #9 Arkansas and a potential second round game against either #1 Gonzaga or #16 North Dakota. The Big East looks to be pretty set on getting seven teams in, as Mandel has all seven clear of Dayton: #1 Villanova, #3 Butler, #6 Creighton, #10 Xavier, #10 Seton Hall, and #11 Providence.

NBC Sports/College Basketball Talk (3/6/17): Dave Ommen likes the Golden Eagles a whole bunch, but does not like me all that much. He has Marquette as the #9 seed in the South Region, but that means a first round game against #8 Dayton. Yuck. That slots into a potential second round game against either #1 North Carolina or a #16 seed that’s coming out of the First Four. Speaking of the First Four, Ommen has Xavier headed there as well as the third to last at-large team in the field. Providence and Seton Hall are still at a bit of risk as well as they’re in the group of teams with the last four byes out of Dayton. Here’s the seed rundown for the Big East: #1 Villanova, #4 Butler, #7 Creighton, #10 Providence, #10 Seton Hall, and #11 Xavier.

Bracket Matrix (3/6/17): Everyone’s favorite aggregator updated on Monday night. That update slots the Golden Eagles as a #10 seed while appearing in 124 of 125 brackets. The lone holdout is Real Time RPI, and I suspect that they’re going purely by their RPI calculation, where Marquette is #55. Of course, that’s also where the Golden Eagles sit in the NCAA’s official RPI. Anywho, MU lines up six spots clear of the First Four, which is pretty nice. A #10 seed would mean a game against a #7 seed, which right now would be Creighton, Wisconsin, Dayton, or Oklahoma State. Obviously the Creighton and Wisconsin games can’t happen, and it would be a trip to watch the “defense optional” contest between the Golden Eagles and the Cowboys. The Big East gets the expected seven teams in here: #1 Villanova, #4 Butler, #7 Creighton, #10 Marquette, #10 Seton Hall, #10 Providence, and #11 Xavier.