9 teams to root against - the 9 that would need to pass MU to take us out

[bamamarquettefan]

I know, I know, Marquette has to win first.  But based on Lunardi, here are the 9 teams that would have to all pass MU to knock us out of the tournament, so root against them every day.  How nice to have Alabama at the top of the list so I can continue to root against them from football season ("we will spot you 24 points," as we say in Auburn).  Obviously someone further down could have huge upset wins to vault way up, or someone above us could collapse to fall below, but here are the 9 just behind MU that we should root against. (s-curve number by team, Marquette is 41, or the 41st best team in the tournament according to Lunardi)

1.   42-Alabama,
2.   43-Cincinnati,(I know how these guys could get a loss!)
3.   44-Baylor,
4.   45-Boston College,
5.   46-Richmond,
6.   47, Michigan State
7.   48-Michigan State,
8.   49-Memphis
9.   69-Wichita State.

Then come tournament time, you start eliminating one of these teams from the bottom up every time a surprise conference champion creates an extra team in any of these 12 conferences:
1.   Big East – 11 – 12th place or lower
2.   Big 12 – 6 – 7th place or lower
3.   Big ten – 6 – 7th place or lower
4.   SEC – 6 – 7th place or lower
5.   ACC- 5 – 6th place or lower
6.   Pac 10 – 3 – 4th place or lower
7.   Mountain West – 3 – 4th place or lower
8.   Atlantic 10 – 3 – 4th place or lower
9.   Conference USA – 2 – 3rd place or lower
10.   Colonial Athletic – 2 – 3rd place or lower
11.   West Coast Conference – St. Mary's must win
12.   WAC – Utah State must win

Probably only a couple of those 12 possibilities happen, but a couple of those 9 spots behind us will be eaten up by surprises.  The other conference tournaments are irrelevant in Lunardi's order – only one team goes no matter who wins.

So right now Wichita State is the first team out above.  If that order stayed the same and Utah State were upset in their conference tourney so that the WAC suddenly had two teams, then you eliminate Memphis from the tournament.  If the 3rd place team in Conference USA wins to give CUSA 3 entrees, then you eliminate Michigan State, etc.

[cheebs09]

I know, I know, Marquette has to win first.  But based on Lunardi, here are the 9 teams that would have to all pass MU to knock us out of the tournament, so root against them every day.  How nice to have Alabama at the top of the list so I can continue to root against them from football season ("we will spot you 24 points," as we say in Auburn).  Obviously someone further down could have huge upset wins to vault way up, or someone above us could collapse to fall below, but here are the 9 just behind MU that we should root against. (s-curve number by team, Marquette is 41, or the 41st best team in the tournament according to Lunardi)

1.   42-Alabama,
2.   43-Cincinnati,(I know how these guys could get a loss!)
3.   44-Baylor,
4.   45-Boston College,
5.   46-Richmond,
6.   47, Michigan State
7.   48-Michigan State,
8.   49-Memphis
9.   69-Wichita State.

Then come tournament time, you start eliminating one of these teams from the bottom up every time a surprise conference champion creates an extra team in any of these 12 conferences:
1.   Big East – 11 – 12th place or lower
2.   Big 12 – 6 – 7th place or lower
3.   Big ten – 6 – 7th place or lower
4.   SEC – 6 – 7th place or lower
5.   ACC- 5 – 6th place or lower
6.   Pac 10 – 3 – 4th place or lower
7.   Mountain West – 3 – 4th place or lower
8.   Atlantic 10 – 3 – 4th place or lower
9.   Conference USA – 2 – 3rd place or lower
10.   Colonial Athletic – 2 – 3rd place or lower
11.   West Coast Conference – St. Mary's must win
12.   WAC – Utah State must win

Probably only a couple of those 12 possibilities happen, but a couple of those 9 spots behind us will be eaten up by surprises.  The other conference tournaments are irrelevant in Lunardi's order – only one team goes no matter who wins.

So right now Wichita State is the first team out above.  If that order stayed the same and Utah State were upset in their conference tourney so that the WAC suddenly had two teams, then you eliminate Memphis from the tournament.  If the 3rd place team in Conference USA wins to give CUSA 3 entrees, then you eliminate Michigan State, etc.

No wonder Izzo does so well in the tourney, he gets two teams. Thanks for the post though. I was interested the teams that are right around us.

[mikem91288]

Hate to bring this up but what if UWM wins their conference tourney? They have been playing well lately,and we have been struggling a bit. It would be pretty tough to have them make the tourney and not us.....

[GoPanthers33]

Panthers have been on a roll lately and now we need to beat Cleveland St to get a double bye.

I think Milwaukee winning the HLT would help Marquette as it would give them another quality win on their resume. Milwaukee is already in the top 100 RPI and it will keep rising if we continue to win.

Being a Wisconsin team homer I want to get 3 state teams into the tourney again! (and I still think it has a chance  to happen)

As for the list to start this topic it comforts me to know that those are the teams that would have to pass us because I think our resume is much better then someone like Alabama.

[mu_hilltopper]

I prefer the Dance Card:

http://www.unf.edu/~jcoleman/dance.htm

41   Michigan St.   -0.4851   31.38%   45
42   Baylor   -0.6668   25.24%   56
43   Memphis   -0.7452   22.81%   27
44   Washington St.   -0.9724   16.54%   70
45   Boston College   -1.0827   13.95%   35   
46   Richmond   -1.1271   12.99%   68
47   UAB   -1.2294   10.95%   40
48   Marquette   -1.4998   6.68%   53
*** THE BUBBLE BURSTS HERE ***            
49   Kansas St.   -1.5598   5.94%   37
50   Butler   -1.57   5.82%   48
51   Valparaiso   -1.7514   3.99%   59
52   Cleveland St.   -1.8446   3.25%   46
53   Coastal Carolina   -1.9462   2.58%   61
54   Michigan   -2.004   2.25%   43
55   Texas El Paso   -2.0661   1.94%   50