Can we make the NCAAs if our defense doesn't improve?

[Marcus92]

KenPom currently rates Marquette 38th in the country — 17th in AdjO and 83rd in AdjD. That's a similar profile to several teams from last season:

Butler (30) — 15th in AdjO, 97th in AdjD
St. Mary's (34) — 17th in AdjO, 96th in AdjD
Notre Dame (37) — 9th in AdjO, 158th in AdjD
Michigan (50) — 30th in AdjO, 95th in AdjD
George Washington (52) — 29th in AdjO, 104th in AdjD

Butler, Notre Dame and Michigan (all from top 5 conferences) earned at-large NCAA bids. St. Mary's and George Washington played in the NIT.

[brewcity77]

Similarly, I just ran some numbers and right now, our win over Georgia projects to be our best non-conference win with roughly a 60 RPI. The following teams earned at-large bids last year with lesser wins:
.

• Oregon State: 7-seed, their best non-conference win was RPI 70 Tulsa.
  
• Colorado: 8-seed, their best non-conference win was RPI 67 BYU.
  
• Pittsburgh: 10-seed, their best non-conference win was RPI 69 Davidson.
  
• VCU: 10-seed, their best non-conference win was RPI 77 Middle Tennessee.
  
• Temple: 10-seed, their best non-conference win was RPI 210 Fairleigh Dickinson.
  
• Vanderbilt: 11-seed, their best non-conference win was RPI 63 Stony Brook.

[fjm]

Both great posts. What about having a higher RPI conference win?

Maybe I'm uneducated toncertain facts but is a high Noncon RPI win necessary if you perform decently in conference?

[tower912]

No.  Conference foes  will exploit us more and we won't get to .500.

[Class71]

Need to look at the Big East specifically. We need to break into the top 5. SH will be a tough out (i.e. SC game last night). We do not have the D at this point to beat SH. We have to win all games against bottom 4 plus 1-2 games against the top 5. Where does it come from without  great D?

[Zephyr820]

More than likely 5 of the 10 teams will be ranked next week, with PC probably getting votes.  I think you can probably assume 6 will make it but you better be one of the best 35 teams in the country or so to be among the top 6

[Eldon]

Similarly, I just ran some numbers and right now, our win over Georgia projects to be our best non-conference win with roughly a 60 RPI. The following teams earned at-large bids last year with lesser wins:
.

• Oregon State: 7-seed, their best non-conference win was RPI 70 Tulsa.
  
• Colorado: 8-seed, their best non-conference win was RPI 67 BYU.
  
• Pittsburgh: 10-seed, their best non-conference win was RPI 69 Davidson.
  
• VCU: 10-seed, their best non-conference win was RPI 77 Middle Tennessee.
  
• Temple: 10-seed, their best non-conference win was RPI 210 Fairleigh Dickinson.[/u]
  
• Vanderbilt: 11-seed, their best non-conference win was RPI 63 Stony Brook.

Temple may have been a bit of "my bad for f*cking you guys the previous year".  If you recall, UCLA "stole" Temple's spot the year before last.

[#UnleashSean]

Sure we can win without defense. We just need to drop 100 points a game.

[GoldenDieners32]

Im confident with this team, we can make the tourney but we just need to improve the defense a little not a ton just a little

[esotericmindguy]

Go 10-8 in conference and Marquette finishes 19-11. On the bubble. I personally think 10-8 is a stretch. Nova, Xavier, Creighton & Butler are 8 really tough games. Xavier and Seton Hall have been more impressive with their non-conference schedule. If the defense doesn't improve it's more likely they finish 7-11 than 10-8. I see 10-8 as the ceiling.

[Newsdreams]

Sure we can win without defense. We just need to drop 100 points a game.

Yes, we would need to be Golden State. Warriors, hey?

[MUBigDance]

Yes.  We just need decent defense 10 out of 18 games in the BE

[WarriorFan]

NO.

Unfortunately it's that simple.

[GoldenDieners32]

I feel like we can beat every team in the conference besides nova

[fjm]

I feel like we can beat every team in the conference besides nova

Agreed. However, I also feel like we can lose to almost 7 of them with no problem.
I'm an eternal optimist though and say we finish between 4-6.

[GoldenDieners32]

Agreed. However, I also feel like we can lose to almost 7 of them with no problem.
I'm an eternal optimist though and say we finish between 4-6.

I feel like we can finish as high as 3 and as low as 7. I also agree that we could lose to 7 of them. Wojo has to tell them that they have to pick up the defense and the intensity