MU is #17 in latest ESPN Poll

[ge1974]

AP poll actually. Seems about right.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/rankings

[TulsaWarrior]

I like this quote from the ESPN Power ranking. "Five days after losing at Georgetown, Buzz Williams' squad bounced back with a 79-69 victory over No. 16 Pittsburgh. It's amazing that this team is in first place in the Big East standings considering how much it lost and how little it added."

[CaribouJim]

MU has 10 games scheduled against the AP top 25. SU and ND to go.

[ValiantSailor]

MU has 10 games scheduled against the AP top 25. SU and ND to go.

And those are our final two home games. Only the SU game will give us a rankings boost, should we win. We must win all of the others or we'll slide.

VS

[IWB]

Put this in another thread:

Ohio State - I saw this on the ESPN scroll and didn't believe it, so I had to look it up. Sure enough.....

Ohio State, while still ranked 18th, is 1-7 against the top 25.

[DCwarrior]

Unfortunately for our tourney seeding, we're only 1-4 against the RPI top 25 (UW is 26). A win against Cuse would be a huge resume builder. It would also help if a few additional teams we beat (LSU, USC, S. Hall) could join the RPI top-100 by season's end.

[Markedman]

USC is #100 right now so they have a chance. Looking at SH's schedule I don't see how they can do it unless they beat us and even that wouldn't do it(119 currently). They aren't winning at Lousiville.....LSU has a chance.

[bleedbluegold03]

this team's collected enough small jewels that it's definitely a lock for the NCAA. That being said it sure would be nice to have an actual top 5, diamond, class victory. Seems like that is really the only thing that's eluded Marquette during it's tenure in the BEast, a true top-notch victory. Falls right in line with Marquette being a consistently above average team, but never the top team.

Since Buzz took over, Marquette is 0-8 against top 5 teams and 3-4 against teams ranked 6-10 with best wins each season being vs. #13 Nova in '08-'09, vs. #10 Nova in '09-'10, vs. #10 Cuse in '10-'11, and @ #7 UW last year. For a program the level of Marquette, I think that is underachieving.

Given the level of recruiting Buzz has achieved since getting here - raising the overall average level of talent 1-10 but not breaking through to top 30, NBA prospect players - this performance against top teams (those generally with more NBA level talent) makes sense. That being said, as UW clearly indicates, it is not a prerequisite to have comparable (or even close) talent levels to knock off a top dog.

Entering into Monday's game I fully expect Cuse to be at #5, having just beaten Gtown in a big bout in the Carrier Dome on Saturday. A victory against a team the caliber of Cuse would do a lot of things for our program and Buzz personally, not to mention put us in the driver's seat for BEast regular season title and a top 4 NCAA seed, but I am getting ahead of myself...

[Markedman]

Yeah you are getting ahead of yourself....we have 2 road games before we play Syracuse and the road has not been kind this season.

[kneelb4zerg]

Unfortunately for our tourney seeding, we're only 1-4 against the RPI top 25 (UW is 26). A win against Cuse would be a huge resume builder. It would also help if a few additional teams we beat (LSU, USC, S. Hall) could join the RPI top-100 by season's end.

Is Pitt not RPI top 25? If not, says a lot about RPI.

[bleedbluegold03]

you're just subjecting yourself to coach speak; any rational fan will have us going 1-1 this week going into next Monday. As fans we can get a head of ourselves as we cannot control anything on the court.

[DCwarrior]

Is Pitt not RPI top 25? If not, says a lot about RPI.

Pitt is 32 and UCONN is 31

[MKE_GoldenEagleFan]

you're just subjecting yourself to coach speak; any rational fan will have us going 1-1 this week going into next Monday. As fans we can get a head of ourselves as we cannot control anything on the court.

I see this week as a 2-0 week if we want to be serious about a big east title, SH is down a man and while Nova has had some good games they are certainly beatable. This week I'd be disappointed with 1-1. We have to prove ourselves on the road here or otherwise we are going to get killed come seeding time with our poor road record.