Marquette Men’s Basketball Slips One Spot In The AP Poll

Back on Tuesday, then-#10 Marquette men’s basketball fell behind 22-6 against then-#21 Connecticut and never really recovered before losing by 15 in Hartford. That left the question as to what the Associated Press voters would do with the Golden Eagles pretty wide open.

Monday’s new AP top 25 brought us an answer: Mostly nothing, largely speaking.

The Golden Eagles are #11 in the country in the newest version of the rankings, picking up 815 points. That’s a slide of less than 100 points, since they had 909 a week ago, so that’s something, as is the fact that new #10 Tennessee only got 896 points to get to that spot now. Kansas State is one spot behind MU with 790 points, so it’s safe to say that the Golden Eagles weren’t that far off from being #12 this week.

Brian Holland, who works in the TV business, and by the business I mean the industry, down in Baton Rouge, is Marquette’s biggest supporter this week, moving the Golden Eagles up two spots in his ballot to #7 in the country right now. Dave Matter picks up the voting at #9, and from 10 through 18, there are at least two people voting for the Golden Eagles at every spot. Most of the votes are coming between 11 and 14, which is, again, pretty solid for a team that left the car in neutral for eight minutes and lost as a result. Matt Tait drops Marquette to #20 this week, but hey: He had them at #18 a week ago, so that’s not too bad all things considered.

Purdue is still the top team in the rankings on Marquette’s schedule this season, but they are no longer the #1 team in the country as a result of their loss to Northwestern on Sunday. The Boilermakers still got two first place votes, but they are #3 in the rankings. Baylor jumps up five spots to #9 this week, which is pretty impressive for a team that has a major loss to #11 Marquette on the books, while Xavier falls three spots to #16 as a result of their loss to Butler. Creighton made a big jump, moving up five spots to #18, while UConn’s win over Marquette combined a loss to the Bluejays evened them up at up just one spot to #20. Providence took a tumble after losing to St. John’s, landing at #24, which is down four places from a week ago.

Marquette returns to action on Wednesday evening, when they will be hosting #16 Xavier at Fiserv Forum with plenty of Big East championship ramifications on the line. Tipoff on CBS Sports Network is set for 6pm, but if you’re in the Milwaukee area, there are still tickets left to be bought as I type this out.

You can check out the entire top 25 right here, and see how everyone voted right over here.