And Now, A Marquette Bracketology Check

It’s a big week for Marquette men’s basketball.

They have won six straight, including twice against a ranked team last week. They are ranked in the Associated Press poll for the first time since February of 2020. They are 3-0 on what certainly looked like a Seven Game Stretch Of Doom before it started.

With all that in mind, it’s officially time to start keeping an eye on where the Golden Eagles stand in the NCAA tournament picture. That’s right, it’s time for a bracketology round up!

Heerrrrrre we go!

SB Nation (1/25): We’re nothing if not Company People here, so we’ll start with the Mothership’s own Chris Dobbertean and his projections for the field of 68. He has the Golden Eagles as a #5 seed, which seems very nice. That’s also up from his last bracket, which is also nice. A #5 seed here means a first round game in Pittsburgh against a #12 seed First Four winner, in this case either Arkansas or Wake Forest, along with a second round potential meeting with #4 seed Kentucky. There are six other Big East teams in this bracket: Villanova (#3), Providence (#4) Connecticut (#6), Xavier (#7), Seton Hall (#7), and Creighton (#8).

ESPN (1/25): Joe Lunardi also has Marquette on the rise, but in this case it’s up to a #6 seed. That means a first round game in Indianapolis against #11 Boise State, and a potential second round game against either #3 Michigan State or #14 Princeton. As expected, there are six more Big East teams in the field here: Villanova (#4), Xavier (#5), Providence (#6) Connecticut (#6), Seton Hall (#8), and Creighton (#9).

CBS Sports (1/24): Can I interest you in a #6 seed for Marquette? That’s what we’ve got from Jerry Palm, who plots the Golden Eagles against #11 seed Indiana in Portland. This does come along with what I think is a bracketing error, as it would set up a possible second round rematch against #3 seed UCLA, as well as their opponent #14 Seattle. CBS doesn’t include a conference breakdown, but I’m pretty sure there’s only the same six in the bracket here: Providence (#2), Villanova (#4), Xavier (#4), Connecticut (#5), Seton Hall (#7), and Creighton (#7).

The Athletic ($, 1/21): Keeping in mind that this bracket was assembled on Friday, in between Marquette’s wins over Villanova and Xavier, Brian Bennett has MU installed as a #7 seed. He sends them out to San Diego for the first round where.... and I’m not joking here..... the opponent would be #10 Murray State. Try to keep it together. The second round game would be against either #2 Arizona or #15 UC Irvine out there. Once again, six more Big East teams in the field: Villanova (#3), Providence (#4), Xavier (#5), Connecticut (#6), Seton Hall (#6), and Creighton (#9).

Fox Sports (1/25): First, let’s all agree that it’s garbage that Fox Sports doesn’t actually run a website and thus I have to sift through their tweets to find Mike DeCourcy’s bracket. The fact that I have to actually read the bracket instead of Command-F’ing the thing to find Marquette is merely a secondary issue to that. ANYWAY, Mike has Marquette as a #5 seed here, which gives them a tantalizing first round game in the West Region against #12 seed Iona and Rick Pitino, but it appears to have the same potential UCLA rematch bracket error in the second round for the Golden Eagles. Once again, six more Big East teams in the field: Villanova (#3), Providence (#3), Connecticut (#5), Xavier (#6), Creighton (#7), and Seton Hall (#10).

Sports Illustrated (1/25): We turn our eyes to Kevin Sweeney’s bracket here. He’s got the Golden Eagles as a #6 seed in the Midwest Region. No bracket here, so we don’t know the potential destination, but once again, there’s Murray State as the opponent as a #11 seed. Guys, this isn’t funny. That would mean a potential second round game against either #3 LSU or #14 Princeton in this situation. Only five more Big East teams in the field here: Villanova (#3), Providence (#4), Xavier (#5), Connecticut (#6), and Seton Hall (#7). Creighton gets First Four Out status, and in fact is the very first team just outside the cut line.

Cracked Sidewalks (1/25): Let’s go to the icon Alan Bykowski doing the bracket work over at CS. Even taking his incredibly homer sensibility into account, he has Marquette as a #6 seed. In this particular workthrough, he built out a bracket and slots the Golden Eagles into a first round game in Indianapolis against a #11 seed First Four winner, either Wyoming or Florida State. The second round would potentially feature either #3 Texas Tech or #14 Towson here. We go back to six more Big East squads in this version of the field: Villanova (#2), Connecticut (#5), Xavier (#5), Providence (#6), Seton Hall (#8), and Creighton (#9).

Haslametrics (1/26): A quick clarification is necessary here, I think. Erik Haslam’s bracket projection is based on the other metrics he’s calculating on his website and it’s current up through the results of Tuesday night’s games. That’s why I’m calling it as “published” on 1/26 even though that’s not really what he’s doing. ANYWAY, Marquette fits in here as a #7 seed alongside Alabama, Texas, and Davidson. That would mean a first round game against a #10 seed, which are currently made up of Loyola Chicago, San Francisco, Miami, and Indiana. Six more Big East squads are in the field here: Villanova (#3), Xavier (#5), Providence (#5), Connecticut (#8), Creighton (#9), and Seton Hall (#12). The Pirates are a First Four 12 seed here, for the record.

T-Rank (1/26): Bart Torvik’s site gives you two different versions of the bracket. One is how the algorithm projects the season to eventually end up, and one is if the season ended right now. Since everyone else’s brackets are a snapshot of where we are right now, we’re focusing on the “ended right now” version here. That has Marquette as a #7 seed, which has them roughly comparable to BYU, Iowa State, and Texas. It also means a first round game against a #10 seed, which would mean picking from either Boise State or San Francisco as the Golden Eagles can’t get West Virginia or Creighton here. Six more Big East squads are in the field here: Villanova (#2), Connecticut (#5), Xavier (#6), Providence (#5), Seton Hall (#8), and Creighton (#10).

Bracket Matrix (1/24): As always, we wrap these things up with a look at what everyone’s favorite bracket composite site says about the Golden Eagles. With 90 projections contributing right now, Marquette is a #7 seed alongside the likes of BYU, Seton Hall, and Texas. They appear on all 90 brackets, which is great news, with seedings ranging between #3 and #11. If you want to think about the first round game, then you’re looking at a group of #10 seeds made up of Oklahoma, Saint Mary’s, and Wake Forest with Creighton unavailable to match up with MU in the first round. There are six more Big East teams inside the cut line here and only six getting any recognition on any of the 90 brackets: Villanova (#2), Xavier (#4), Providence (#6), Connecticut (#6), Seton Hall (#7), and Creighton (#10).