It’s the fourth straight week in the top 10 for the Golden Eagles.
Shoutout to the University of Kentucky, as their lopsided loss to Ohio State in the CBS Sports Classic has opened a door for Marquette men’s basketball. UK was #4 in the AP Poll last week, and losing by 20 to the Buckeyes kicked them down to #10 this week. As a result, Marquette moved up one notch in the top 25 to #8.
FUN FACT: Whatever Marquette does in the poll a week from now is completely dependent on what the voters want to do! MU beat Butler and Xavier this week to do their part to move up a spot, but the Golden Eagles won’t play again until December 31, one day after next week’s poll comes out.
This is the 39th 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 1,038 points in the voting this week, which has them 59 points away from #7 Kansas, and 68 points ahead of #9 Oregon. That does mean MU gained ground on KU since last week, so I guess the one spot jump up wasn’t entirely just due to Kentucky dropping down? Kind of?
Once again, Noted FS1 Talking Head Seth Davis is your top Marquette proponent this week. He has MU at #5 in the country, one spot up from his ballot last week. The Golden Eagles also got a lone sixth place vote this week, and then it’s multiple voters at every number through #12. One at #13 and #14, three at #15, and then Mike Hlas at #16. Apparently Mike Hlas thought those Butler and Xavier wins were pretty great because he just moved Marquette from unranked to #16 this week. Show your work, Mike!
Iowa State remains your top ranked team on Marquette’s schedule this season as the top three spots in the AP poll went unchanged from last week. The Cyclones are also the only opponent ranked higher than MU this week. UConn is the next best ranked team, staying steady at #11. Purdue rounds out the list of ranked opponents, but they did tumble five spots to #21 this week.
Three of the top four Receiving Votes teams are on Marquette’s schedule. Maryland leads off the group at the #26 spot and 119 points, Dayton is right behind them with 108 points, and St. John’s is two spots back from there at 90 points. You can also find Georgia (45 points) and Wisconsin (9) down here.
As mentioned above, Marquette won’t return to action until after next week’s AP poll is out. That one will be a New Year’s Eve visit to the AMP to face Providence. Tipoff is set for 5pm Central, and FS1 will have the broadcast. Given the timing, the goal is to get PC fans to leave the building early to head to their NYE plans.
You can check out the entire top 25 right here and see how everyone voted for Marquette right here.