MU #9 Most Underrated Program of the Last 10 Years

[Avenue Commons]

9. Marquette

The first of two more Final Four teams to close out the list, the Golden Eagles have operated very successfully in the relative shadow of fellow underrated Wisconsin. Now that Marquette has moved up from Conference USA to the Big East, though, it quickly has developed its own major-conference rep. In fact, the running joke soon after the Big East took on five Conference USA schools in 2005 was that it had to take on programs like Louisville and Cincinnati just to get the Golden Eagles. Marquette has made four NCAA Tournament appearances since 2003 in addition to making the Final Four that season behind Dwyane Wade.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2864704

[🏀]

How is Wisco underrated when they were the most overranked #1 team last year?

[Avenue Commons]

How is Wisco underrated when they were the most overranked #1 team last year?

The idea is they are underrated overall over the last 10 years. I don't have any problem with the idea that Division I basketball in the state of Wisconsin is underrated. I think it is very true. Other than North Carolina and California, I think Wisco's top 2 D-I teams could favorably compare with the top 2 teams in any other state I can think of off the top of my head.

[🏀]

Oh, gotcha, miss read it.

[Harrison]

I tend to think 1 conference tournament and zero NCAA wins in the last 4 years will tend to cause you to be underrated or is it overated ???

[Avenue Commons]

I tend to think 1 conference tournament and zero NCAA wins in the last 4 years will tend to cause you to be underrated or is it overated ???

Are you trying to create a role for yourself as the resident contrarian? If you dislike MU hoops so much (and think we are overrated, not underrated) why don't you find another team to support. I'll never understand people who come onto these boards and do nothing but complain about TC and the program.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

I tend to think 1 conference tournament and zero NCAA wins in the last 4 years will tend to cause you to be underrated or is it overated ???

I agree that there have been some disappointments along the way, but in the grand scheme of college basketball, MU has had a very nice 10 year run, and is currently set-up to keep getting better.

I would say MU has gone through some growing pains in past seasons, but is continuing to raise it's national profile and its success. (I know people will say that the past 2 seasons weren't great successes, but I would argue that those seasons were relatively successful given the teams youth and rate of growth).

[jutaw22mu]

I think it's gr8t that someone has recognized that MU has been underrated for all these years.  Our coach is always a target at the end of the season by other schools, yet during the season the media attention given to MU is subpar.  Our own hometown newspaper has poor coverage of our program which may contribute to our status as "underrated."

Last  year after we beat #2 Uconn by 30 points we didn't even crack the top 25 and that was a huge win. 
   

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

How can that be taken seriously when it states we have made 4 NCAA tournaments since 2003?

Would we still be included in the list if their information was accurate? We've made two and lost in the first round both times!

[mu03eng]

How can that be taken seriously when it states we have made 4 NCAA tournaments since 2003?

Would we still be included in the list if their information was accurate? We've made two and lost in the first round both times!

Nitpicking but we have made 4 tournament appearences.....2 March Madness and 2 NIT.  The NIT is still an NCAA  sactioned tournament.  Their information is correct.  Perhaps a misrepresentation but not incorrect.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

How can that be taken seriously when it states we have made 4 NCAA tournaments since 2003?

Would we still be included in the list if their information was accurate? We've made two and lost in the first round both times!

Nitpicking but we have made 4 tournament appearences.....2 March Madness and 2 NIT.  The NIT is still an NCAA  sactioned tournament.  Their information is correct.  Perhaps a misrepresentation but not incorrect.

What?

It says: "Marquette has made four NCAA Tournament appearances since 2003 in addition to making the Final Four that season behind Dwyane Wade."

That's not a misrepresentation. It's wrong.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

How can that be taken seriously when it states we have made 4 NCAA tournaments since 2003?

Would we still be included in the list if their information was accurate? We've made two and lost in the first round both times!

Nitpicking but we have made 4 tournament appearences.....2 March Madness and 2 NIT.  The NIT is still an NCAA  sactioned tournament.  Their information is correct.  Perhaps a misrepresentation but not incorrect.

What?

It says: "Marquette has made four NCAA Tournament appearances since 2003 in addition to making the Final Four that season behind Dwyane Wade."

That's not a misrepresentation. It's wrong.

Maybe they just got the year wrong... obviously we have been 4 times since 2002 not 2003.

2002,2003,2006,2007

Pretty blatant error, but really only 1 year off from the truth, so I'm not sure that it really changes any of the opinions in the article given that its talking about a 10 year span.

[Harrison]

How many other "underated" schools on that list have been to the NCAA 4 times in the last 10 years?  Most of those "underated" schools have been there 7,8, 9 10 times.

Crean overrated...I wonder if that 4 times since 2003 stat came from the same source as a 71% increase in attendance? 

Methinks Crean should read a book about basketball this summer as opposed to writing one.

[ChicosBailBonds]

How many other "underated" schools on that list have been to the NCAA 4 times in the last 10 years?  Most of those "underated" schools have been there 7,8, 9 10 times.

Crean overrated...I wonder if that 4 times since 2003 stat came from the same source as a 71% increase in attendance? 

Methinks Crean should read a book about basketball this summer as opposed to writing one.

Yes, on the list of 10 we have the fewest amount of NCAA appareances...you are correct.  Of course the real question is how many of the programs that didn't make the top 10 should have instead of MU.

If anyone has the biggest gripe, it should be Illinois who should be #1 on this list by any standard

1) Wisconsin 9 NCAA appearances  12 NCAA wins.  1 Final Four
2) Southern Illinois 6 NCAA appearances 5 NCAA wins.  0 Final Fours
3) Xavier  8 NCAA appearances.  7 NCAA wins.  0 Final Fours
4) Stanford  9 NCAA appearances .  12 NCAA wins.  1 Final Four
5) Creighton  7 appearances.  2 NCAA wins.  0 Final Fours
6) Butler  6 appearances.  5 NCAA wins.  0 Final Fours
7) Pitt  6 NCAA appearances.  9 NCAA wins.  0 Final Fours
8) Utah State 6 NCAA appearances.  1 NCAA win.  0 Final Fours
9) Marquette  5 NCAA Appearances.  4 NCAA wins.  1 Final Four
10) Illinois 9 NCAA appearances.  17 NCAA wins.  1 Final Four

I would argue MU deserves to be higher than Utah State for certain and I would say Creighton and Butler as a push (we have more NCAA wins then Creighton by far and the Final Four over Butler)...I'd call it a push.


The teams that didn't make the list:  Gonzaga, Davidson, Winthrop, Utah, Oklahoma State, Ohio State, Boston College, Vanderbilt, Memphis, Penn, Nevada, Oregon, Cincinnati, Saint Joseph's


I don't know who in this country believes Ohio State, Cincinnati, Memphis, BC OSU or Gonzaga are "underrated".  Afterall, this is a subjective poll and designed to elicit argument.  Of course we could count on the same 4 guys to rip MU and Crean for making another nice poll. A poll we never would have made previously.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Of course we could count on the same 4 guys to rip MU and Crean for making another nice poll. A poll we never would have made previously.

The point in disputing this is that it's just another example of Crean's actual recruiting strength lying more in the courting of media opinion than in bringing in anything resembling a servicable big guy.

Nobody who actually follows this program with any ounce of objectivity could seriously consider what we've done since 2003 to be overachieving or underrated. We are not underrated. Since Wade left we've done absolutely ZERO to warrant inclusion in this list, as meaningless as the list may be.

Are we so pathetic as a fanbase that we need to be included in a list like this as some kind of validation?

[Coobeys Oil Depot]

Of course we could count on the same 4 guys to rip MU and Crean for making another nice poll. A poll we never would have made previously.

The point in disputing this is that it's just another example of Crean's actual recruiting strength lying more in the courting of media opinion than in bringing in anything resembling a servicable big guy.

Nobody who actually follows this program with any ounce of objectivity could seriously consider what we've done since 2003 to be overachieving or underrated. We are not underrated. Since Wade left we've done absolutely ZERO to warrant inclusion in this list, as meaningless as the list may be.

Are we so pathetic as a fanbase that we need to be included in a list like this as some kind of validation?

The fanbase may be pathetic but I'm willing to bet that you wouldn't include yourself in that pathetic group. You're just the coolest guy around.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

The fanbase may be pathetic but I'm willing to bet that you wouldn't include yourself in that pathetic group. You're just the coolest guy around.

We finally agree on something.

[ozmetal71]

You don't think that going 20-12 in our first two years of the Big East merits recognition?

A first-round bye in the BET last year?

For a program that was picked to be a bottom-feeder in the BE, we have done a lot.

Harrison, PRN, and 4Everwarriors need to travel back in time to 1977 and maybe then they will be happy with the MU program.  Course, they would still find something to whine and complain about.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Nobody who actually follows this program with any ounce of objectivity could seriously consider what we've done since 2003 to be overachieving or underrated. We are not underrated. Since Wade left we've done absolutely ZERO to warrant inclusion in this list, as meaningless as the list may be.

Are you serious?  Last year when almost every pundit picked us for 12th or 13th in the Big East and we finished 4th.  That wasn't overachieving?  You had us picked 4th...eh PRN?

[mosarsour]

I love reading when PRN gets fired up, and he's also right most of the time as well.

[MUCam]

"he's also right most of the time as well."

- proof that you are wrong most of the time?

Kidding. Kidding. Kidding. Kind of.

[4everwarriors]

Didn't bitch about anything in 1977 except maybe I hated to see it end.

[Sir Lawrence]

Didn't bitch about anything in 1977 except maybe I hated to see it end.

OK, 4ever, now I know you are full of it.  You are telling us that you didn't bitch in December of 1976 when Al announced his retirement after only four games into the season?  You would have been about the only one.  Then we are to believe that you didn't whine when the team lost to DePaul, then Detroit, then Wichita friggin' State, all in a row, (and Butch and Bo were spending a little too much time at the Mug Rack) and it looked like the mighty Warriors were not going to get into the admittedly smaller dance? 

Call me skeptical.  You were at the Ice Bowl too, aina?