Luke Winn describes who he sees as contenders this year by using adjusted defensive efficiency and adjusted offensive efficiency. (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/luke_winn/01/07/midseason/index.html?bcnn=yes)
MU isn't mentioned in the article, but a few Big East teams are. Pitt, Georgetown and WVa are listed as contenders, while Notre Dame is listed on the Early Warning List (suspect team).
Not sure where to get the info, but anyone know where MU ranks as far as adjusted defensive efficiency and adjusted offensive efficiency?
http://kenpom.com/sr.php?team=Marquette&y=2009 (http://kenpom.com/sr.php?team=Marquette&y=2009)
MU is lagging behind this year in defensive efficiency (#60). Hopefully, MU will continue to get better in this area and trend towards last year's rank (#10). If I'm not mistaken, didn't Luke Winn write a similar article last year about this and state MU was a contender based on its off and def efficiency (#24, #10)?
Another interesting stat from Pomeroy's site.
Top 5 teams based on KenPom's ratings.
1 Duke
2 West Virginia
3 Pittsburgh
4 Connecticut
5 Georgetown
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17 Louisville
26 Marquette