What’s on tap in terms of challenges for the Golden Eagles in Cara Consuegra’s first season in charge? Well, not much, and that’s fine.
The announcement of the preseason Associated Press top 25 poll for women’s basketball kind of came and went around these parts. Not because we’re not paying attention to women’s basketball, but because it was kind of a given that Marquette wasn’t going to be in the preseason top 25 to start Cara Consuegra’s first season in charge. The Golden Eagles spent eight weeks in the top 25 last season, but none after January 22nd, and when you mix that up with the coaching change and just six players returning, well, you can see why MU not getting ranked isn’t a surprise to anyone.
However, just because Marquette isn’t ranked doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t take a peek at it to see who’s on the MU schedule.
Turns out, it’s only exactly the two teams you would expect to find out are in the top 25, both out of the Big East.
UConn starts the year at #2 in the country, picking up 708 points in the polling and using two first place votes to help them along the way there. They’re sandwiched in between both USC teams: South Carolina is #1 with 745 points and 27 first place vote, and Southern Cal is #3 with one first place vote.
The other team in the top 25 is Creighton, picking up where they left last season as the #23 team in the country. They’re #21 in the preseason top 25 with 152 points. That’s a little bit closer to #20 Ole Miss (165 points) than it is to #22 Kentucky (108). Is that good or bad for the Bluejays? I have no idea.
And that’s it for ranked teams on the schedule. Unsurprisingly, Consuegra isn’t/didn’t get a chance to challenge her team when putting the final touches on this year’s schedule. With that said, there is a return bout from last season that does show up in the Receiving Votes area. Illinois picked up 23 points worth of votes in the preseason voting, and that makes them the unofficial #29 team in the country. As luck would have it, Marquette is playing the Illini down in Champaign on the last day of the first week of the season. I’m not saying MU would get votes if they beat Illinois there…… but it’s at least a possibility, right?
You can check out the entire top 25 right here.