TOP 10 RANKING!

[PGsHeroes32]

I think this is great! Obviously ranking are more gravy or icing. But lots of fun. I wonder if we could get any higher...some great teams have to lose...perhaps if we win the next 3.

BUT... we are obviously over-ranked. We have to admit there has been a bit of fairy dust sprinkled on the Marquette in 2018-2019 season.

NOTE: I lived in Columbia, South Carolina in 1997...USC won the SEC regular season, beat Kentucky twice...but became the first 2 seed to lose to a 15 (Coppin State). They were over-achievers living on fairy dust.

MU doesn't have to suffer that fate.

Trying to decide if the second portion was teal worthy or not.

[BM1090]

I agree to an extent. We're not one of the top 10 teams in the country, but our resume certainly stacks up with anyone and I think we're deserving of the ranking.

[tower912]

It is odd.  The metrics are not in Marquette's favor due to 3 blowout losses, a lack of blowout wins, and a couple of cupcakes that were narrower margins than expected.   Marquette played a solid OOC schedule and why 11-2.  7-1 in the Big East.  The record is worthy of the rankings.   The record and the metrics are not synced. 

[brewcity77]

BUT... we are obviously over-ranked. We have to admit there has been a bit of fairy dust sprinkled on the Marquette in 2018-2019 season.

Are we? For that to be the case, the teams behind us have to be underranked. So who's underranked?

Kansas without Azubuike? They are 6-4 in their last 10 with bad losses to ASU & WVU.

Virginia Tech? Their entire resume is a win over Purdue.

Houston, Texas Tech, Buffalo, LSU, NC State? Their resumes are built on soft schedules. Marquette has as many top-25 kenpom wins as those 5 teams combined.

Villanova, Louisville, Purdue? They've come on strong of late, but haven't a run of results like the 15-1 stretch that vaulted us into the top-10.

Iowa State, Maryland, Mississippi State, Florida State? They've all had their highs, but recent results certainly don't warrant being ahead of us.

That leaves Wisconsin as the only other top-25 team behind us. I think it's a hard case to rank them ahead of us on merit.

Honestly, if you base rankings on body of work, there's a better case for us being underrated than overrated. Nevada and Kentucky both have some blemishes on their resumes that make us look pretty good by comparison...

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

We have a top 10 resume. I wouldn't argue with anyone who said we have more of a top 25 team. Personally, I think that's better than the reverse.

[Goose]

I really cannot figure anything out this season. I was thinking that it was a lot of bad teams out there, including the BE, but now think it might be a very large number of average teams this season. Truthfully, I am enjoying the ride and will share my feelings on this season after the final game. I do not think it is fair to throw out negatives at this time, nor do I think it is accurate to throw out crazy praise. Maybe MU is the 10th best average team in the country. If so, I hope they end up the 1st best in March/April.

[Herman Cain]

I am delighted for our 10/9 rankings . It helps in many ways. If we can keep putting up no loss weeks we will  drive it even higher.

My general view of the rankings, is that outside of a handful of teams each year that are head and shoulders above every one else, the rest of the rankings are more a function of the trend of the teams etc. MU has a lot going for it in terms of the roster we are competing with, yes there are some very athletic type teams that may deliver a beat down every once in a while. However, for the most part we match up well with most of the ranked teams and have definitely earned the respect we are getting.

Xavier was able to get themselves in the top 5-7 in the last few years under a similar set of circumstances.  They caught an unlucky draw in the tournament and had to go up against a very athletic Florida State team last year and lost early. 

[warriorchick]

The Women are only averaging 1,800 fans a game and that's with two sellouts figured in there.  There need to be a lot more fans at the last 4 home games - this is a phenomenal team that deserves more support.  I'd really like to see senior day on Feb. 24th sellout for them also.

Well, they are playing at home on Friday February 8 (Georgetown) and Sunday, February 10 (Nova).  If you are in town for NMD, you have zero excuses not to catch at least one of those games.

[Johnny B]

Who outside of the top ten is clearly better than us? Honeslty I don't think anyone else ranked under us is clearly better at this point. Nevada shouldn't be there. I think the major drop off is after the top 5. After that though no ones really clearly better so I would disagree we are obviously over ranked

[Johnny B]

We have a top 10 resume. I wouldn't argue with anyone who said we have more of a top 25 team. Personally, I think that's better than the reverse.

Not really I mean I'd rather have a legit top ten team ranked in the 20s than a top 25 team overperforming and ranked top.ten. the legit top ten team has a better shot to.go deep in the tournament

[PGsHeroes32]

Not really I mean I'd rather have a legit top ten team ranked in the 20s than a top 25 team overperforming and ranked top.ten. the legit top ten team has a better shot to.go deep in the tournament

Meh. Maybe.

Top 10 resume gets you a better seed and also shows that you clearly have beaten quality teams

A top 10 roster might just never put it all together

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Not really I mean I'd rather have a legit top ten team ranked in the 20s than a top 25 team overperforming and ranked top.ten. the legit top ten team has a better shot to.go deep in the tournament

I don't care about rankings. I said top 10 resume. Meaning I'd rather be a team that is top 25 caliber that wins more games than they should than a team that is top 10 caliber that loses more games than they should.

[CTWarrior]

I'm in the boat with those that think we have earned our ranking based on our wins and losses but aren't really one of the top 10 teams in the country.  We certainly deserved to be ranked higher than Villanova, but if we played them on a neutral floor right now, I think we'd lose.  In mid-December, I would think we'd win. 
Anyway, I don't worry too much about the rankings anyway.  I would love to win a Big East crown, regular season or tournament would be fine by me. 

[Johnny B]

once again, who outside of the top ten is a "real" top ten team that should be ranked in the top ten and  is clearly better than us.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

once again, who outside of the top ten is a "real" top ten team that should be ranked in the top ten and  is clearly better than us.

KenPom would tell you that all the following teams currently ranked below us are actually better than us:

Purdue
Virginia Tech
Iowa State
Wisconsin
Texas Tech
Louisville
Kansas
Auburn
Nebraska
Houston
Villanova
Buffalo
Maryland
LSU
Cincinnati
Florida State
Mississippi State
Florida
TCU
Iowa
Baylor
Ohio State
NC State
Oklahoma

Now I would say we have a better resume than all of those teams and I don't agree that all those teams are better than us. But having watched a lot of them my eye test would rank Virginia Tech, Kansas (w/ Doke, not sure w/o him), Auburn, LSU, Florida State, and Mississippi State as good as or maybe even a little better than us. All IMHO of course. But I think we certainly belong in the conversation.

I agree with your earlier post about there being a clear break at the top. Though I think the break is after the top 7 teams. I think Michigan State belongs in that top level as does Kentucky. Kentucky started off rocky but I have watched a couple of their recent games and they look a lot better. Think they only get stronger as the season goes on. I think the difference between the 8th best team and the 25th best team is pretty small this season.

[brewcity77]

I'm in the boat with those that think we have earned our ranking based on our wins and losses but aren't really one of the top 10 teams in the country.  We certainly deserved to be ranked higher than Villanova, but if we played them on a neutral floor right now, I think we'd lose.  In mid-December, I would think we'd win. 
Anyway, I don't worry too much about the rankings anyway.  I would love to win a Big East crown, regular season or tournament would be fine by me.

That's possible regarding Nova. I think them, Louisville, and Purdue are all playing excellent right now. I wouldn't want to see any on a neutral. I think Houston and maybe Texas Tech are also there. But I think we might be better than Nevada and UNC too.

Somewhere between 8-15 feels pretty accurate and I'm not sure there's much separation between those teams. Whatever looks best for Marquette is best in my opinion.

[Marquette Fan]

Well, they are playing at home on Friday February 8 (Georgetown) and Sunday, February 10 (Nova).  If you are in town for NMD, you have zero excuses not to catch at least one of those games.

I hope a lot of people agree with you - their attendance at their last home game on Sun. Jan. 20th was only 1451 .  And they only had 1613 there for the game against rival DePaul on January 4th.  This is a great team that is so much fun to watch and not many people have come out to see them play this year.  Their average attendance was 1865 last year so it's about the same now.  The team has made a great leap in their results this year and has been nationally ranked all season yet the attendance hasn't really seen a jump so far.  There are only 4 more home games left - I promise you'll have fun if you come out and root this team on.

[PGsHeroes32]

KenPom would tell you that all the following teams currently ranked below us are actually better than us:

Purdue
Virginia Tech
Iowa State
Wisconsin
Texas Tech
Louisville
Kansas
Auburn
Nebraska
Houston
Villanova
Buffalo
Maryland
LSU
Cincinnati
Florida State
Mississippi State
Florida
TCU
Iowa
Baylor
Ohio State
NC State
Oklahoma

Now I would say we have a better resume than all of those teams and I don't agree that all those teams are better than us. But having watched a lot of them my eye test would rank Virginia Tech, Kansas (w/ Doke, not sure w/o him), Auburn, LSU, Florida State, and Mississippi State as good as or maybe even a little better than us. All IMHO of course. But I think we certainly belong in the conversation.

I agree with your earlier post about there being a clear break at the top. Though I think the break is after the top 7 teams. I think Michigan State belongs in that top level as does Kentucky. Kentucky started off rocky but I have watched a couple of their recent games and they look a lot better. Think they only get stronger as the season goes on. I think the difference between the 8th best team and the 25th best team is pretty small this season.

What exactly has Auburn shown you? Lol.

They basically just lose to every good team they play.

Florida state?? Miss State?? crap even LSU has been hardly impressive.

[brewcity77]

I think maybe those teams at their best I'd agree with, but Auburn, Florida State, Virginia Tech, and Mississippi State haven't been consistent enough to convince me you'll get their best effort any given night. LSU I just haven't seen beat anyone significant. Zero top-25 wins is rough.

We had a rough go at St John's, but the one thing this team does is give consistent effort. When the shots aren't there, the defense is. When the defense isn't, Markus is. With rare exception, Marquette is going to give a winning effort every night. That doesn't mean they'll always win, but they consistently give themselves chances to win. It won't always impress the metrics, but it's how you get and stay highly ranked.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

What exactly has Auburn shown you? Lol.

They basically just lose to every good team they play.

Florida state?? Miss State?? crap even LSU has been hardly impressive.

This is all based on eye test, not actual results. Kentucky at Auburn was one of the best games I watched all season. As was Duke at Florida State. LSU had an ugly loss to OK state in November and has looked great since then. None of this is anything but my opinion from watching a handful of games.

But I would be careful to throw stones. There's a reason why KenPom and others rank us in the 30s and 40s. Plenty would look at our wins and say "yeah they've won a lot but they haven't looked impressive doing it."

I think maybe those teams at their best I'd agree with, but Auburn, Florida State, Virginia Tech, and Mississippi State haven't been consistent enough to convince me you'll get their best effort any given night. LSU I just haven't seen beat anyone significant. Zero top-25 wins is rough.

We had a rough go at St John's, but the one thing this team does is give consistent effort. When the shots aren't there, the defense is. When the defense isn't, Markus is. With rare exception, Marquette is going to give a winning effort every night. That doesn't mean they'll always win, but they consistently give themselves chances to win. It won't always impress the metrics, but it's how you get and stay highly ranked.

I agree with a lot of this. We do what we need to in order to get the W every night....unless we don't, then we look really bad from the start. A lot of the teams in our range struggle with consistency.

[Goose]

TAMU
I respect your stance on the rankings discussion. This is a strange year, and the difference between 10-40 or 50 is quite small. As I mentioned in earlier post, I am going with the flow and hope they keep winning. I will add, I do hope some folks do not get ahead of themselves and they keep expectations realistic.

[Disco Hippie]

I was thinking we had a top 20-30 team at best with a 6 seed being the best we would do...and I would have been good with that. 

I don't think we are playing our best ball...if Sacar can start finishing around the hoop more consistently, Markus continues to learn the pg position, Joey plays complete games, and injuries don't interfere we can get better.  Fun times.

Agree about Sacar scoring more, but it seems to me he needs more help on his outside shot.  I know we already have plenty of options there, but it would be great to have another capable outside shooter.  Coach Nelson did wonders for JJJ's outside shot and can do the same for Sacar.   At the end of the day, I don't really care how he scores but I rarely feel confident when he launches from 3.

We're gonna be even better next year with the addition of Koby and a hopefully healthy Greg so if Sacar can improve his 3's, all the better!

[LloydsLegs]

We have a top 10 resume. I wouldn't argue with anyone who said we have more of a top 25 team. Personally, I think that's better than the reverse.

Yes and yes

[PGsHeroes32]

This is all based on eye test, not actual results. Kentucky at Auburn was one of the best games I watched all season. As was Duke at Florida State. LSU had an ugly loss to OK state in November and has looked great since then. None of this is anything but my opinion from watching a handful of games.

But I would be careful to throw stones. There's a reason why KenPom and others rank us in the 30s and 40s. Plenty would look at our wins and say "yeah they've won a lot but they haven't looked impressive doing it."

I agree with a lot of this. We do what we need to in order to get the W every night....unless we don't, then we look really bad from the start. A lot of the teams in our range struggle with consistency.

Well yeah any teams can look good one game. Looks at some of FSUs losses. crap I think Nova clocked them.

LSU needed a miracle against trash mizzou.

The reason for the metrics not liking us is they are simply flawed.

Honestly winning every close game is the sign of a good team. We are probably due to lose one eventually. But aside from the Creighton fluke(we then controlled OT) we’ve been the team to consistently make the plays down the stretch and basically always led in the final minutes of all close games.

That’s how we are constructed. 3 elite shooters, solid Defense, length and rebounding, a super star player and top flight free throw shooters. We are built to win the close ones.

On the other hand you have Auburn, built to hope they are hot otherwise lose to all quality teams they face.

I get it’s your opinion. Just adding more perspective.

[PGsHeroes32]

It’s also worth noting we’ve covered in 6 of our 7 BE wins(missed Hall by .5)

So while we’ve played a lot of close games, we were technically expected to.