The most mysterious teams in college basketball
By Patrick Stevens December 23
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2015/12/23/the-most-mysterious-teams-in-college-basketball/
The end of December, by and large, means the end of non-conference games. There are a few, scattered intersectional gems in January and February, and the Jan. 30 Big 12/SEC Challenge promises some interesting games. But the hay is largely in the barn for fun out-of-league games prior to the NCAA tournament. Still, there are a few teams currently boasting gaudy records that are difficult to fully assess based on their opponents to date.
With the caveat that these non-conference schedule strengths could still improve, here are some teams that remain a bit mysterious nearly six weeks into the season, with thire non-conference schedule rankings according to CBSSports.com's RPI and KenPom.com included.
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Marquette (No. 290 CBS, No. 329 KenPom): The first week of the season was not good. The Golden Eagles lost to annual Ohio Valley contender Belmont at home in their opener and then got waxed at Iowa six days later. But since then? It's tough to complain much about what freshman big Henry Ellenson and Co. have accomplished.
Marquette (9-2) has a couple victories that figure to look better as the season goes along (vs. Louisiana State in Brooklyn, at Wisconsin), and the top half of the Big East is strong enough to provide plenty of opportunities for quality triumphs. There's no doubt the bottom half of the Golden Eagles' non-conference schedule was poor, but they will have a chance to overcome it if their offense can develop some more.