Good thing Nova won last night

[Ball2003]

Hang with me for a second.

As we all know from two years ago, the committee is more than willing to drop a team a few seeds if they lose one of their top players.

What I'm afraid of is the committee looking at the post-James team and not seeing many (if any) wins, without paying close enough attention to who we played during that stretch.

If we had somehow backed our way into the double bye, we would have most likely played our first tournament game against Villanova, which is a more-likely-than-not first-round exit. Even if that included a home win against Syracuse, the committee would be looking at a 1-4 record for the James-less Warriors.

Now here's where there might be a silver lining in the single bye instead of a double bye: it gives us one more game that should be a little more "winnable." Aside from a last-breath desperation from Georgetown, I think we win handily against any of the BEast teams below Nova.

As it stands, if we are going to get that double bye, we are probably going to have to earn it with a big upset in Pitt. That will be more than enough proof that we can play without James.

Whichever way it goes, with the Nova win last night, there is a much better chance that Marquette picks up two wins without James, and that should help keep our seeding a bit more stable.

[MU_Warrior44]

Interesting way of looking at it. I actually tend to agree with this line of thinking.without that double bye, the first BE tournament game is a MUST win. Assuming we win though, it'll help us.

[MR.HAYWARD]

good win becuase I hate ND,  also we run up against ND when recruitng Chicago for BE recruits better them not making the NCAA then them making it

[lab_warrior]

I like that Nova winning basically punched ND's NIT ticket.  Have fun, Irish!

[CTWarrior]

This is our best team since 2003 and likely our best team for another few years at least so excuse me for not being ecstatic that our best team over the course of almost a decade is going to finiish 5th in its conference. 

[Badgerhater920]

This is our best team since 2003 and likely our best team for another few years at least so excuse me for not being ecstatic that our best team over the course of almost a decade is going to finiish 5th in its conference. 

....with no inside presence in the toughest conference in America behind 3 top 6 teams and 4 top 11 teams.

[lab_warrior]

Looks like CTWarrior wins the "Grouchy Smurf" award for today.

[CTWarrior]

Looks like CTWarrior wins the "Grouchy Smurf" award for today.

Well, grouchy I suppose, but disappointed more than anything. 

When this season started, I figured we'd be pretty much what we were a year ago.  After the non-conference schedule, it looked to me like we would actually be worse.  But ever since conference play started, slowly but surely, the team showed me time and again what they could do despite their lack of size.  So when I finally start believing and dreaming of a run at the Big East and a long NCAA run, James gets hurt and we're back to being roughly what we were a year ago or a little worse. 

[RawdogDX]

Well, grouchy I suppose, but disappointed more than anything. 

When this season started, I figured we'd be pretty much what we were a year ago.  After the non-conference schedule, it looked to me like we would actually be worse.  But ever since conference play started, slowly but surely, the team showed me time and again what they could do despite their lack of size.  So when I finally start believing and dreaming of a run at the Big East and a long NCAA run, James gets hurt and we're back to being roughly what we were a year ago or a little worse. 

yep.  It's a sad thing. I was so excited about filling out my bracket with MU going far and meaning it.
Arguably the best MU class ever and they got hurt at the worst possible time and never played with a serviceable center.

Guess we'll have to just know that we are one of the top programs based on consitency in our conference reccord.

[Badgerhater920]

Guess we'll have to just know that we are one of the top programs based on consitency in our conference reccord.

I mean, let's not give up on the season yet. We still have two of the top guards in the country and Lazar isn't slowing down either with 16-10 against tough matchups on Sunday.

Maybe we should look at it this way: Instead of being the highly seeded team that teams were really looking to upset early in the tourney, we can now be that 5, 6, or 7 seed (not to exclude the chance that we get a 4 or 3) that still has loads of experience and nobody wants to play.
We play two of the deepest, most talented teams in the country here to finish off the reg season and will undoubtedbly get another grueling matchup or two in the BE tourney. What a great way to prepare for the dance with guys getting used to their roles without DJ.

stay positive, WE ARE MARQUETTE!

[NotAnAlum]

Got to admit this is not a terrible line of reasoning.  Back when I saw us competing for a 2 seed I wanted the double bye to have a shot at making to the finals.  Now I'm holding on for dear life trying to keep a top 5 NCAA seed.  After watching Nova last night they ain't losing on Wed night at the BET if they have to play and they probably will beat us without James, even with no rest. (How many points will Reynolds score if he is guarded by Mo all night, 40+).  So we should be able to beat someone on Wed (with the rest advantage) (Hopefully not GT with that beating a team 3 times jinx) then put up a good fight against what should be a top 10 Nova team and rest for the real tourne.