The Golden Eagles dropped their non-conference finale on the road against Dayton.
Following a grueling week where Marquette traveled to play #6 Iowa State and hosted in-state rival #11 Wisconsin three days later, the Golden Eagles lost their lone game scheduled last week against Dayton in the Flyers’ building. That sent MU sliding from the #6 ranking in the Associated Press poll to #9 this week while simultaneously catapulting Dayton into the rankings at #22.
There is no reason stress about tournament seeding or Marquette’s place at the top of the Big East rankings yet despite dropping to 9-2. In terms of losses, losing games on the road at two notoriously difficult buildings to play in against good teams that cracked the AP Poll isn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination.
This is the 38th consecutive week that Marquette has been in the AP top 25 after appearing in all 21 polls a year ago. We have not seen a run like this in the Associated Press poll since the 1970s, and hooooooooboy, we’re in for a treat if Shaka Smart gets to this mark. This is the longest AP run since MU appeared in every ranking from December 29, 1969 through December 3, 1979. Nearly 10 full years! 166 consecutive polls! Al McGuire was good at his job.
Marquette received 926 points in the poll this week, squeaking by #10 Oregon by 23 points while ending up 130 behind #8 Kansas. Notably, the UConn Huskies are one slot behind Oregon at #11 after going undefeated since their nightmare in the Maui Invitational where they went winless in three games.
Just looking at the resumes between Marquette and Kansas makes it clear who should be ranked higher. Marquette is 9-2, having notable wins against #6 Purdue, #11 Wisconsin, Georgia and Maryland. The 8-2 Jayhawks’ marquee wins came against a UNC team that was ranked #9 but is now 6-4 and Duke when they were #11, while suffering worse losses to Creighton and Mizzou.
Seth Davis is your top Marquette voter this week, putting the Golden Eagles at #6. He’s pretty far out there, so to speak, as no one has Marquette at #7. Multiple voters have Marquette at every spot between #8 and #13, and then things thin out from there. One vote at #14, two at #15, one at #16 and #17, none at #18, and one at #19. Mike Hlas is no fun this week, as he dropped Marquette completely out of the top 25….. after having them at #7 last week. What the heck, Mike?!
Iowa State holds down the top spot amongst Marquette’s opponents this week, staying steady at #3. We already mentioned UConn at #11, so onwards to Purdue, who dropped five spots from #11 to #16 after losing to Texas A&M who climbed from #17 to #12. Dayton rounds out the list of ranked teams on the slate at their previously mentioned spot of #22.
St. John’s is the top MU opponent in the receiving votes area this week, getting 50 points to be the unofficial #32 team in the country. They are joined there by Maryland (24 points), Georgia (18), Wisconsin (18 points after being ranked #20 last week), and Creighton (12).
Marquette returns to action Wednesday, opening their BIg East schedule at home vs. Butler. Tipoff is at 8pm CST, with FS1 on the call.
You can check out the full AP Poll here and see how the voters viewed Marquette right here.