Bilas on ESPN Gameday

[willie warrior]

While talking about seedings and bubble teams, Jay raised the question, what will they do with Marquette who has lost 5 of last 6? he stated that they are clearly not the same team without j
James.

This is starting to really concern me.  In the context of bubble teams, It sounds like we could end up a 10 seed, although Bilas did not say that.

Not a very good position to be in at tourney time.

[ecompt]

A 10 would be absurd. In our five losses, we had leads in the second half in four of them before running out of gas. I'm guessing we get a 7.

[willie warrior]

Fox Sports projects us as a 10 seed.

I do not like it.

[NavinRJohnson]

Fox Sports projects us as a 10 seed.

I do not like it.

That is a definite outlier though. Will either look really smart or really dumb.

[Tulsa Warrior]

Sometimes if you are treated with a lack of respect it is a heck of a motivator. 

Of the defeats there were some pretty close games against some very good teams.

[Moonboots]

If that's the case, I'd shudder to be the 7 seed who has to look at their matchup and be the "favorite" against a 10 seeded Marquette.  James or not, this is a good ball team, definitely top 25 in the nation, which should suggest a 6 or a 7.  We'll see.  An 8 would be killer.

[79Warrior]

Sometimes if you are treated with a lack of respect it is a heck of a motivator. 

Of the defeats there were some pretty close games against some very good teams.

Why is it a lack of respect? no matter how you slice it, we have slipped big time.

[Fred Garvin]

Villanova was one of the last teams in last year,and they went to the sweet sixteen.What is the diff between a 10 and a 7,they play each other.

[GOMU1104]

A 10 would be absurd. In our five losses, we had leads in the second half in four of them before running out of gas. I'm guessing we get a 7.

But we lost...that is what maters

[StillAWarrior]

Hopefully they'll keep in mind that the losses were to (my prediction) two No. 1 seeds (Pitt and Louisville), a No. 2 (UCONN), and a couple of 4s (or so) (Syracuse and Villanova).

But, I'm not terribly optimistic.  Fact is, we're not nearly as good without DJ.  Many people said all year that if we lost one of the three guards we'd be a bit screwed.  Those people were right.

Hopefully we can play a couple of good games and make it out of the first weekend.

[Moonboots]

Hopefully they'll keep in mind that the losses were to (my prediction) two No. 1 seeds (Pitt and Louisville), a No. 2 (UCONN), and a couple of 4s (or so) (Syracuse and Villanova).

But, I'm not terribly optimistic.  Fact is, we're not nearly as good without DJ.  Many people said all year that if we lost one of the three guards we'd be a bit screwed.  Those people were right.

Hopefully we can play a couple of good games and make it out of the first weekend.

An 8 or a 9 would make that incredibly difficult.

[MUPig]

If we do get 8 or 9, hope we get put in same bracket as Memphis. 

[Daniel]

I'm very concerned with the seed, and can easily see us as an 8/9.  I hope not, but with lost last 5 of 6, and like Bilas said, close or not, they are still losses.  I think we are playing better now than the first game or two that we were w/o DJ.  Maybe we've turned hte corner and can run a few.  But the seed is a killer - I hope we do better than the dreaded 8/9.

But I look at it all, and anything is possible.  that's the scary part.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I'm very concerned with the seed, and can easily see us as an 8/9.  I hope not, but with lost last 5 of 6, and like Bilas said, close or not, they are still losses.  I think we are playing better now than the first game or two that we were w/o DJ.  Maybe we've turned hte corner and can run a few.  But the seed is a killer - I hope we do better than the dreaded 8/9.

But I look at it all, and anything is possible.  that's the scary part.

Look at it this way, an 8/9 would suck because of the first round game, but I can assure you that most #1 seeds would not want to play us in the 2nd round (if we won).  We would be one of the tougher 8/9 teams in awhile considering we were a top 10 team just a few weeks ago....if you believe we were really that good (I'm not so sure).

We certainly aren't the team we were but still pretty good.  I'm still hoping for a 6 or 7 but am expecting the 8/9.


On the other hand, it's why that last 25 seconds against Villanova was such a blown moment.  A chance to beat a top 10 team without DJ and shut up the critics.