So....What are we ranked on Monday - 1/6/2025?

[muguru]

Guru expects MU to win every game and anything less than 40-0 with a natty is a failure to meet expectations.
Ergo, no win is improbable.

Absolutely 100% FALSE and a bold faced lie. But, keep believing what you want. Let's forget(conveniently I suppose) that if the call for the foul up 3 is executed properly, that game NEVER goes two OT's, therefore making the game a win, not an "improbable" one. However, I suppose by saying "improbable", it props it up to be more then what it was.

Even besides the foul up 3 not being executed properly, and even without Markus, that was a game that MU was expected to win. Cite all the #'s and BS you want about how they were underdogs etc etc(people buy into that sh*t way too much), the simple fact of the matter is, USE THE FREAKING EYE TEST. No one does anymore. It didn't take/or shouldn't have taken a rocket scientist to know MU was the better team going into the game. They were the better team during the game(even without Markus) and they were the better team after the game. It was a great win under the circumstances, however, it is incredibly fair to argue that those circumstances should have never unfolded to begin with.

Either way, it's long over with..I'm on to Villanova.

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

Lol guru posts never cease to amaze me.

[MuMark]

Xavier was a 2 point favorite in that game.......

On to Nova......

[BallBoy]

Absolutely 100% FALSE and a bold faced lie. But, keep believing what you want. Let's forget(conveniently I suppose) that if the call for the foul up 3 is executed properly, that game NEVER goes two OT's, therefore making the game a win, not an "improbable" one. However, I suppose by saying "improbable", it props it up to be more then what it was.

Even besides the foul up 3 not being executed properly, and even without Markus, that was a game that MU was expected to win. Cite all the #'s and BS you want about how they were underdogs etc etc(people buy into that sh*t way too much), the simple fact of the matter is, USE THE FREAKING EYE TEST. No one does anymore. It didn't take/or shouldn't have taken a rocket scientist to know MU was the better team going into the game. They were the better team during the game(even without Markus) and they were the better team after the game. It was a great win under the circumstances, however, it is incredibly fair to argue that those circumstances should have never unfolded to begin with.

Either way, it's long over with..I'm on to Villanova.

Your eye test must use anti-blue and gold lens. I am not starting an argument on whether you are a fan but your ability to accurate evaluate MU's team relative to the competition is way off. Maybe you are high on the MU ganja and think MU only has the munchies for cupcakes.

If MU wins your eye test tells you that the opposing team sucked and we should have won.

If MU loses your eye test tells that was a game MU should never have lost because the opponents sucked. 

No matter the line or skillset of the MU opponent, MU should win. If they don't it is a complete failure of Wojo or the players.

At this point of the season you should be able to say the MU is going to struggle at home with Seton Hall. They will struggle with Nova on the road.  They will struggle with Creighton at home. If they win those games those are games which the team stepped up and achieved a good quality win. More than the some of the parts.

So you should be able to use the eye test on MU to say MU isn't a Top 5 team and will have to play to their fullest potential to win and the likelihood they win all three of those games is an amazing feat.

[Scoop Snoop]

Ok, maybe I am guilty of a little schadenfreude, but the frosting on the cake is that the list of "others receiving votes" this week includes Joey's Michigan State, Arizona, Purdue, Ohio State, Michigan and UVA. Nice to beat out some teams that networks can't stop talking about all the time. 

[Eldon]

I'd hate to poop on the party, but most of the advanced metrics had us being ranked 14, so let's temper our enthusiasm a bit.

There's still a lot of expectations to be met yet.

[muguru]

Your eye test must use anti-blue and gold lens. I am not starting an argument on whether you are a fan but your ability to accurate evaluate MU's team relative to the competition is way off. Maybe you are high on the MU ganja and think MU only has the munchies for cupcakes.

If MU wins your eye test tells you that the opposing team sucked and we should have won.

If MU loses your eye test tells that was a game MU should never have lost because the opponents sucked. 

No matter the line or skillset of the MU opponent, MU should win. If they don't it is a complete failure of Wojo or the players.

At this point of the season you should be able to say the MU is going to struggle at home with Seton Hall. They will struggle with Nova on the road.  They will struggle with Creighton at home. If they win those games those are games which the team stepped up and achieved a good quality win. More than the some of the parts.

So you should be able to use the eye test on MU to say MU isn't a Top 5 team and will have to play to their fullest potential to win and the likelihood they win all three of those games is an amazing feat.

You have NO fucking idea what my eyes tell me, and don't try to pretend you do. If you read anything on this board, I have already said on more than one occasion already that the Nova game scares me. It is not a good time to be playing them.

If you don't think MU is a better basketball team than Xavier, Butler or Providence(just a few examples), then I'm not going to waste my time with you because you have ERO basketball knowledge. It's that simple.

[brewcity77]

You have NO unnatural carnal knowledgeing idea what my eyes tell me, and don't try to pretend you do. If you read anything on this board, I have already said on more than one occasion already that the Nova game scares me. It is not a good time to be playing them.

If you don't think MU is a better basketball team than Xavier, Butler or Providence(just a few examples), then I'm not going to waste my time with you because you have ERO basketball knowledge. It's that simple.

Dude, we've won 6/7. Relax. Have a drink or a smoke. It's okay to enjoy it and not go aggro on everyone who ever responds to you.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

I have already said on more than one occasion already that the Nova game scares me. It is not a good time to be playing them.

Do my eyes deceive me or is guru offering an excuse?

[MU82]

Do my eyes deceive me or is guru offering an excuse?

Chuckling.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

then I'm not going to waste my time with you because you have ERO basketball knowledge. It's that simple.

Speaking of which, MU needs to update our unis to this from the ERO league

[Johnny B]

You have NO unnatural carnal knowledgeing idea what my eyes tell me, and don't try to pretend you do. If you read anything on this board, I have already said on more than one occasion already that the Nova game scares me. It is not a good time to be playing them.

If you don't think MU is a better basketball team than Xavier, Butler or Providence(just a few examples), then I'm not going to waste my time with you because you have ERO basketball knowledge. It's that simple.

Give the whole I'm worried about the timing thing a rest already. I can easily just respond back and say nova is shaken and marquette is gelling, therefore I feel good about the game. I'm not necessarily saying that but yeah. This stuff just isn't worth mentioning 15 times. I dont think previous games for either team have that much impact on this game. Could go either way. Would you feel better about this game if NOVA was coming off a 9 game win streak? What if marquette was on a losing streak? Would you be less scared. What are you scared about anyway? Unless it's a complete blow out a loss doesnt even hurt us much.

[Marquette4life]

I'm not scared for a loss. I'm scared at how much upside this opportunity provides us

[Silkk the Shaka]

I'm not scared for a loss. I'm scared at how much upside this opportunity provides us

The only thing I'm scared of is being scared. And quite frankly, that scares me.

[Marquette4life]

The only thing I'm scared of is being scared. And quite frankly, that scares me.

this.

[Mr. Sand-Knit]

18 ... that's a very nice jump. It shows that the electorate appreciates our body of work this last month: 6-1, including some very nice wins.

And the beautiful thing for those who think being ranked somehow will de-motivate our lads this week is that Nova is still ranked ahead of us. So, if he chooses to refer to the polls at all (some coaches don't like to), Wojo can say this:

"We deserve to be ranked. It is validation of all the hard work you guys have done, and of the way we have been able to win games whether we have been at our best or we have had to overcome adversity. It shows how close we have become as a team, and how playing for each other can lift us to ever-greater heights.

"And even though we are 6-1 over the last month, and even though we beat Villanova like a drum in January, and even though we finally are starting to get the respect we deserve, we STILL are ranked 3 spots behind Nova.

"This game Wednesday is not gonna be easy. They're desperate to win, and they are at home. We need to match their intensity and take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to show how far we have come this season, this opportunity for you to tell the world that Marquette will be heard from on a national stage before this season is done.

"I have so much faith in you, and so much love for all of you. Now let's kick some a$$!"

Did u write knute rocknes speeches for him?  Keep ur day job

[BallBoy]

You have NO unnatural carnal knowledgeing idea what my eyes tell me, and don't try to pretend you do. If you read anything on this board, I have already said on more than one occasion already that the Nova game scares me. It is not a good time to be playing them.

If you don't think MU is a better basketball team than Xavier, Butler or Providence(just a few examples), then I'm not going to waste my time with you because you have ERO basketball knowledge. It's that simple.

To quote Herm Edwards (out of context), "that's why you play the game."

If the better team was going to win every game there is no reason to play it and no team wins on paper.

If you truly were basing things on the eye test then you would be saying that MU looks like a better team then Nova.  Nova isn't  as good as previous years. Gillespie isn't a great player but he is their second leading scorer. They are undersized down low. They play a 4F and one guard offense.  Their 3pt shooting is not as good. We shouldn't see it as a bad time to play Nova, what you should see now is the the top teams showing them who is better.

However you say it's a bad time to play Nova. Why would Nova's last games impact the eye test?  Why would location of the game impact the eye test?  It shouldn't but it does.

All of the teams you list, they are top 50 Net and Top 60 KenPom. Likely not much difference in balance between them. Each will have strengths and weakness. Butler who you say isn't as good is ranked 23rd to our 22nd on KenPom.  So it could be true that MU is better but maybe not that much better that they could over come a road game or a player going off who normally isn't great.

Xavier isn't as good of a shooting team from 3pt range but they have three players that average double figures and Jones is a double double machine. They had a player that hadn't hit a three in two months just hit well defended shits. They don't suck and have good wins. MU is the better team but maybe not so much that it doesn't takes double overtime on the road.

That Providence team that you say isn't as good also beat Creighton and Butler so they must have some good aspects. They are a very good offensive rebounding team. They almost just throw up shots to get rebounds. Maybe they are just good enough to steal one from MU on an off night.

Sometimes games are determined not by the better teams but how the ball bounces.  MU has 6 losses on the season and none of them are bad by any stretch of the imagination.  I don't sweat losses as the better teams lose all the time and outside a very few teams who create their own matchup problems most teams in the top 50 are relatively close in skills.

Maybe instead of telling people how you smart you are and how they have zero basketball knowledge you open your eyes and ears to different perspectives.

[MU82]

For several weeks, the humorously named Raleigh-Durham-area columnist Luke DeCock was one of the few who had MU in his top 25. He dropped us out after our 1-3 start, but then put us back in, and here's what he wrote yesterday:

"I had to ask myself this week, 'Why do I seem to be consistently higher on Marquette (back on the ballot at No. 18 this week) than anyone else?' So I did a little self-analysis to back-check my work, and I guess I'll just have to live with it. The Golden Eagles have only one bad loss (at home to Providence) against a bunch of quietly good wins (Purdue, at Kansas State, at Georgetown, at Xavier) and are 22nd in KenPom, 18th in WAB, 17th in SOR. That's a top-25 resume by my criteria."

He obviously didn't know when he wrote it that so many fellow voters would rank MU at least as high this week. I like his explanation, and I look forward to seeing where he and others rank us after we get a less-quiet win tomorrow at Nova.

[muguru]

I'm not scared for a loss. I'm scared at how much upside this opportunity provides us

Bingo! And like it or not, history under Wojo has indicated, they do not perform well typically when they have a HUGE opportunity in front of them. Let's hope this time is different.

[muguru]

Dude, we've won 6/7. Relax. Have a drink or a smoke. It's okay to enjoy it and not go aggro on everyone who ever responds to you.

I apologize, just edgy...HUGE opportunity tomorrow night and I want it badly.

[muguru]

Do my eyes deceive me or is guru offering an excuse?

NOT an excuse whatsoever. Makes it tougher in my mind, but still expect them to win.

[Miss Katie’s]

For several weeks, the humorously named Raleigh-Durham-area columnist Luke DeCock was one of the few who had MU in his top 25. He dropped us out after our 1-3 start, but then put us back in, and here's what he wrote yesterday:

"I had to ask myself this week, 'Why do I seem to be consistently higher on Marquette (back on the ballot at No. 18 this week) than anyone else?' So I did a little self-analysis to back-check my work, and I guess I'll just have to live with it. The Golden Eagles have only one bad loss (at home to Providence) against a bunch of quietly good wins (Purdue, at Kansas State, at Georgetown, at Xavier) and are 22nd in KenPom, 18th in WAB, 17th in SOR. That's a top-25 resume by my criteria."

He obviously didn't know when he wrote it that so many fellow voters would rank MU at least as high this week. I like his explanation, and I look forward to seeing where he and others rank us after we get a less-quiet win tomorrow at Nova.

I like this post.  Thanks for sharing.   

[MU82]

And like it or not, history under Wojo has indicated, they do not perform well typically when they have a HUGE opportunity in front of them. Let's hope this time is different.

I hope it's not different than the 20 huge opportunities Wojo's Warriors capitalized on in going 20-2 over 3 months last season. I also hope it's not different than the 7 huge opportunities Wojo's Warriors have capitalized on so far this BEast season.

Every game, especially every conference game, is a huge opportunity. Since the start of last season, Wojo's team has capitalized more often than not.

I apologize, just edgy...HUGE opportunity tomorrow night and I want it badly.

Not more badly than Wojo and his players do.

NOT an excuse whatsoever. Makes it tougher in my mind, but still expect them to win.

So do I, and already have said many times that they will win.

I honestly expect our Warriors to win every game ... while being realistic enough to accept that the other team's coach also gets paid, and the other team's players also are talented and highly motivated.

[MU82]

Did u write knute rocknes speeches for him?  Keep ur day job

My day job is as a basketball coach ... and I get to come up with pregame speeches a couple times every week during the season.

Now crawl back under your rock and find some more good Marquette players to rip, you wonderful "fan" you.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

NOT an excuse whatsoever. Makes it tougher in my mind, but still expect them to win.

So let me get this straight.

All American player being injured is an excuse.

Playing on the road is an excuse.

The opposing team being on a three game losing streak is not an excuse it just makes  the game tougher.

Seems to me like all three things make the game tougher... or in your words are excuses