The Golden Eagles are #18 in the country heading into a week with just one game on the schedule.
Marquette men’s basketball took on two more losses after dropping out of the top 10 of the Associated Press poll a week ago, so another drop was on the way for the Golden Eagles on Monday. The new poll came out as it always does and yup, there’s Marquette down seven spots at #18 this week.
This is the 46th 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 snagged 442 points in this week’s poll, which is less than 30 points behind #17 Kansas at 469. #19 Ole Miss received 415 points worth of votes, so Marquette is kind of equidistant between the two teams ahead and behind of them at the moment.
No one has Marquette in the top 10 this week, as could be expected. Dave Preston from WTOP Radio in D.C. is MU’s biggest fan right now, installing the Golden Eagles at #11 on his ballot. There are three people voting for Marquette at every spots between #12 and #17, two votes at #18, and then another run of at least three from #19 through #22. Seems that there’s no consensus on where to put MU after losing three straight games to NCAA tournament caliber teams. Eight voters have Marquette nowhere on their top 25 ballot, including Dick Vitale and Seth Davis.
Purdue held onto their #7 ranking, so they remain the best ranked team on Marquette’s schedule this season. We have a new second best squad though, as St. John’s elevates by three spots to #9. It’s their first top 10 ranking since a #9 spot in the last poll of the 1999-2000 season, so congrats to the Johnnies. Iowa State rounds out the top 10 at #10, which is down two spots from last week.
Wisconsin is now in the top 20, moving up five spots to #16. Creighton jumps into the poll at #24 this week, riding a nine game winning streak as well as that W over the Golden Eagles. Maryland rounds out the top 25 with the last spot in the rankings after falling seven spots from last week. They were still more than 70 points ahead of UCLA, so it wasn’t close as to who was and was not in the rankings this week.
To that point, UConn is now the unofficial #27 team in the country. They’re not the only Marquette foe earning votes this week, as George Mason is up to seven points
Marquette returns to action on Tuesday night when they host DePaul at Fiserv Forum. Tipoff is set for 7:30pm and you will need a Peacock subscription if you want to watch.
You can check out the entire top 25 right here, and you can see how everyone voted for Marquette right here.