A Pre-Big East Tournament Look At Marquette In The Bracketology World

Before Marquette men’s basketball gets started in the Big East tournament on Thursday morning, let’s take a quick spin around the internet and see what people are thinking about the Golden Eagles when it comes to where they might land in the NCAA tournament. After all, Selection Sunday is just three days away, and the committee already spent all day Wednesday hard at work putting teams into the field of 68.

First, some quick background information as to what Marquette’s tournament profile looks like right now.

Record: 25-6, 17-3 Big East
NET Ranking: #13
Vs Quadrant 1 Opponents: 6-5
Vs Quadrant 2: 5-0
Vs Quadrant 3: 6-1
Vs Quadrant 4: 8-0

For whatever it’s worth, Thursday’s quarterfinal game against St. John’s is listed as a Quadrant 2 game for Marquette. However, St. John’s is at #98 in the NET and the cutoff for neutral site games like the conference tournament is #100, and beating the Red Storm could easily knock them to #101.

Onwards to the Brackets!

SB Nation (3/8): We start off with our Blogging Overlords as always, and Chris Dobbertean has the Golden Eagles as the 10th best team on his seeding list. That makes them a #3 seed, and he had put them in the South Region with a first round game in Columbus. That’s a first round game against #14 Montana State which locked up the Big Sky championship late Wednesday night after this bracket was put together. The theoretical second round matchup here is either #6 Michigan State or a #11 seeded First Four team from a game between Pittsburgh and Utah State. I am guessing that seeing four more Big East teams will be the unanimous call across the board here: UConn (#3), Xavier (#4), Creighton (#6), and Providence (#10). For what it’s worth, the Friars are slotted as “Last Four Byes” here.

ESPN (3/9): Joe Lunardi updated his bracket after the last games of Wednesday went final, so this is as fresh as fresh can be. He has Marquette as the #3 seed in the Midwest Region, and has sent them to Des Moines for the first round. Their first round game is against #14 Kennesaw State, kings of the ASUN. The potential second round contest is fascinating, as it would be either a #11 seed coming out of a First Four game between Penn State or Oklahoma State.... or #6 Kentucky, and MU is currently on a three game winning streak against the Wildcats with every game coming in the NCAA tournament. As expected, there are four more Big East teams in this field: UConn (#4), Xavier (#4), Creighton (#6), and Providence (#10).

CBS Sports (3/9): This is also a freshly updated Thursday morning field of 68, and yep, Jerry Palm still likes himself some Marquette. He has the Golden Eagles as the #2 seed in the East Region. For the record, a #2 seed would be MU’s best seed since they started seeding the tournament in 1979. That gives them a first round game in Des Moines against #15 seed Vermont, and I would very much not like to play a KenPom top 125 team as the #2 seed, thank you very much. A win there would lead to a second round game against either #7 Iowa State or #10 Memphis. As expected, there are four more Big East teams in this field: UConn (#3), Xavier (#4), Creighton (#7), and Providence (#8).

The Athletic (3/8) ($): We return to the land of expectations with Marquette as a #3 seed in Brian Bennett’s bracket. They’re in the Midwest Region here and off to Columbus for a first round game against #14 Louisiana, who have locked in as the champions of the Sun Belt. The second round game here would either be against #6 Kentucky or #11 Rutgers. It would be kind of fun to see our old friends from Piscataway. As expected, there are four more Big East teams in this field: UConn (#3), Xavier (#4), Creighton (#6), and Providence (#9).

Fox Sports (3/8): Hey, look at that, Fox remembered they have a website, neat. Anyway, Mike DeCourcy has Marquette as a #3 seed here in there Midwest Region, and that gets them a first round game against #14 Furman, champions of the SoCon. The potential second round game would be against either #6 Saint Mary’s or #11 Auburn. As expected, there are four more Big East teams in this field: UConn (#3), Xavier (#4), Creighton (#7), and Providence (#9).

Cracked Sidewalks (3/7): Friend Of The Show Alan Bykowski gave things a shake on Monday and landed with Marquette as a #3 seed, but also at #9 overall so riiiiiight on the edge of moving to the #2 line. He has the Golden Eagles in the South Region and in Columbus for a first round game against #14 Kennesaw State. The second round would be either #6 Iowa State or #11 Mississippi State, but I thought we were supposed to avoid regular season rematches until at least the Sweet 16? As expected, there are four more Big East teams in this field: UConn (#4), Xavier (#4), Creighton (#7), and Providence (#10).

Haslametrics (3/8): As always, this isn’t a bracket projection, just an organization of teams into a seed list by way of an algorithm, and this is if the season ended right now, not projecting what might happen down the line this season. This is with results through the end of play on March 7th, for the record. Marquette is the second best #3 seed here, falling one spot behind Arizona and standing ahead of Connecticut and Kansas State. A #3 seed gets you a first round game against a #14 seed, and those are Louisiana, UC Santa Barbara, Iona, and Kennesaw State at the moment. As expected, there are four more Big East teams in this field: UConn (#3), Xavier (#4), Creighton (#8), and Providence (#10).

T-Rank (3/9): Just like Haslametrics, this is “if the season ended today” as spit out by a computer, and it would appear this includes all games through the end of business on March 8th. The algorithm slots Marquette in as a #3 seed, alongside Arizona, Kansas State, and Connecticut. The #14 seeds are familiar names if you’ve read everything: Louisiana, Furman, UC Santa Barbara, and Kennesaw State. As expected, there are four more Big East teams in this field: UConn (#3), Xavier (#4), Creighton (#5), and Providence (#11). The Friars are a Last Four In team here.

Bracket Matrix (3/8): Please remember that while the Matrix updated on March 8th, that means that the brackets had to be published before the update to make it in. With that in mind, Marquette averages out across 99 projections at 2.94 which makes them the best #3 seed in the aggregate field. Their fellow #3 seeds are Gonzaga, Kansas State, and Tennessee. The #14 seeds are Louisiana, Furman, Kennesaw State, and UC Irvine, with the Anteaters appearing as the auto-bid placeholder for the Big West over their co-regular season champions UC Santa Barbara on 79 of the 99 projections. As expected, there are four more Big East teams in this field: UConn (#4), Xavier (#4), Creighton (#6), and Providence (#10).