Marquette Men’s Basketball Moves Up To #20 In The Associated Press Poll

Turns out the Associated Press poll voters thought a home win over the #6 team in the country was a more notable event than a narrow road loss to the #12 team in the country.

That’s the explanation for Marquette men’s basketball going from #25 in the AP poll last week to #20 this week after beating UConn but losing to Xavier over the past seven days. The Golden Eagles snagged 306 points worth of votes this week, well more than double what they had last week and honestly not terribly far from triple their points from last week. #19 Clemson comes in with 339 points, so Marquette wasn’t that far from getting rid of that 2 in their ranking, and they’re a pretty solid stretch ahead of #21 Baylor with 267 points.

Geoff Grammer remains MU’s biggest supporter, moving the Golden Eagles from #15 last week to #12 in the country in his poll this week. He’s got a three spot lead on everyone else voting for Marquette, as Seth Davis is #2 on the supporters list with Marquette at #15. From there, MU has at least one voter in every spot all the way down to #25, but there are still nine voters who don’t have Marquette in the top 25 at all. Two of these are particularly egregious, as it’s Dave Borges from the New Haven Register in Connecticut and Dave Preston from WTOP Radio in Washington, D.C. If you’re not paying attention to the league of a team from the city that you’re in — especially for Borges who is a UConn beat writer, and who obviously watched MU beat the Huskies — just give up your vote already.

Purdue stays steady at #3 this week to remain the top ranked team on Marquette’s schedule this season. Xavier ascends four spots to #8 somewhat thanks to their win over Marquette on Sunday to land as the top ranked Big East team this week. Connecticut’s losses to Marquette and St. John’s drops them nine spots to #15 this time around, while Baylor’s ranking at #21 is their reintroduction to the top 25 after being outside the poll last week. Providence lost for the first time in Big East play over the weekend, so they are down three spots to #22.

There are some MU foes in the Receiving Votes area. Wisconsin drops out of the top 25 but holds on to 14 points worth of votes, while Creighton is next in line behind them with nine points.

Marquette returns to action on Wednesday night when they host the aforementioned #22 ranked Providence Friars in a rematch of the double overtime thriller in Rhode Island earlier this season. Tipoff on CBS Sports Network is scheduled for 8pm Central, so manage your coffee intakes correctly.

You can check out the entire top 25 right here as well as see where everyone voted for Marquette right here.