This afternoon the Marquette men's basketball team earned its 28th NCAA tournament bid overall and fifth straight. The 28 bids places MU at 12th on the all-time list of NCAA bids. The NCAA appearance also serves as Marquette's 43rd overall post season bid (NIT and NCAA) in their history, good for 9th best in college basketball Division I history.
MU received the 6th seed and will play the 11th seeded Washington Huskies on Thursday in San Jose, CA. This is the 3rd time in the last 6 years that Marquette has been sent to California to play in the first round. With the bid, the Warriors secured their 5th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament. This marks the first time the program accomplished that feat since its legendary run from 1976 through 1980.
Ken Pomeroy will enjoy this matchup, he has MU and Washington as the 28th and 29th top teams in the country according to his formula. Pomeroy predicts a 73-72 win for Marquette.
Marquette is 16-10 all time in the first round of the NCAA Tournament (MU received a first round bye in 1979). The time of the game will be announced likely tomorrow morning.
By my count, it's been 5 straight NCAA tourneys; they went to the NIT in 04-05.
ReplyDeleteHoly cow, dream draw for Marquette. My ratings have Marquette as 14, Washington as 46 and New Mexico as 32.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thepowerrank.com/
Details about the algorithm can be found on the site. Even looking forward beyond that, Marquette can certainly play with West Virginia, and Kentucky is the weakest number 1 seed with those undisciplined freshman.
updated the post -- 5 in a row is correct. thanks for pointing that out
ReplyDeleteGreat work as usual Tim. This will be a VERY tough game. Managing the pace will be crucial.
ReplyDeletea terrific draw for Marquette. The could be sweet 16 bound if things break right.
ReplyDeleteThis could end up being a really good year for the Golden Eagles (and not bad for Siena, too, I hope...)
Good luck to the Golden Eagles, but this one is anything but an easy draw. Do your homework.
ReplyDeleteBrandon -- it is clearly not an easy draw but for the last week most in the MU fan base have been loathing a 8/9 matchup. The UW game will be tight ... on the surface many of UW's strengths are on par with MU's (ie, protecting the ball vs creating turnovers).
ReplyDeleteAgreed EdB ... thx, Diablo
There is no easy draw. Of the teams seeded 5-12, anyone in that window can beat anyone else on any given day....and this goes for all regions. Sure the Pac 10 is down this year, but there's plenty of talent in that conf. I wouldn't be surprised to see MU make to the elite eight, then again I wouldn't be surprised if they lose in the first round. Disappointed for sure, but not surprised. GO MARQUETTE!
ReplyDeleteSorry guys, I got ahead of myself with 6. LOL
ReplyDeleteThis is great. The six seed is generous. No game will be easy, but the Sweet Sixteen is definitely a possibility for this team. Washington and New Mexico are both hot, but absoultely beatable for MU.
ReplyDeleteHey guys,
ReplyDeleteFound this site on google. What are your thoughts? I'm a huge Husky fan, but unfortunately we don't know much about MU. As far as UW, we have some real tough guards that like to penetrate and kick to our wings for 3s. Our posts (Pondexer and Bryan-Amaning) are both huge leaders, with Pondexter finishing near the top of the conference in scoring and rebounding, but he plays like a 2 guard. On defense, we have two 1st-team defenders in Overton and Holiday (Jrue Holiday's brother).
Best of luck from the Dawgs.
Jason:
ReplyDeleteThat's a class act post from a competitor. I just thought you described us, which will make for an interesting match-up. We surprisingly tough rebounders and defenders and we work the ball around very well. We will win if our shooting is on. You will win if it is off (see: Dame, Notre, Milwaukee March 6th).
We have a generous seed. We played well when it mattered and sometimes slipped when it did not (see: DePaul, Chicago, Ugly, ugly loss).
We have a great coach who motivates our team well. You may have heard about one of his predecessors, Al McGuire. He coaches like Al did in the late 1960s. Tough play with an undersized team. We were one game short of the Final Four in 1969 and won the NIT (when it meant something) in 1970. We got smart and recruited big men and won it all a few years later.
We think Buzz might get the team ready for a run. We wish you well, but not TOO well!
thepowerrank, I hope your ratings are right on. I ran my Pomeroy plus NBA prospects, and since Quincy Pondexter is two spots ahead of Lazar in the mock draft, we are virtually even on that as well. When you give us the edge for being hotter due to tougher competition, and them the edge for getting to play on the West Coast, i swear this came out as the closest first round game - dead even. I can't wait. Actually think we will have easier time in second round if we can get through Washington.
ReplyDeleteThe advantage the Huskies enjoy is a stifling perimeter defense. Justin Holiday and Pondexter are extremely long guards, and Venoy Overton is the best on-ball defender in the Pac-10. Thomas has also drawn some big time defensive assignments throughout the season and has come up big. Washington had to erase a 13 point second-half deficit in the first-round of the Pac-10 tourney, blew-out a Stanford team that knocked ASU out of the tournament, then outplayed Cal in the final. They are on fire right now, definitely playing their best ball of the season (won 12 of last 14 and seven in a row).
ReplyDeleteHey Brandon,
ReplyDeleteI should note that we (UW) start Pondexter and Holiday as our forwards. Regarding our perimeter defense, our guards are pretty short so we tend to press on the perimeter, allowing for way too much penetration. The bloggers on this side of the country have been saying that we need to stay out of foul trouble to win.
Also, with Venoy Overton, you will hear a lot about him, but he does NOT start. He comes in at the 15-minute mark to disrupt the rhythm of the other point guard. When I say "disrupt," I mean it. He plays very, very tight defense and opposing fans usually can't stand it (I know I wouldn't if I didn't love UW). He usually gets called for a lot of hand checking calls, as he always full-court presses.
Our starting point guard is true frosh Abdul Gaddy. Scout.com rated him the #2 prospect behind...yep, John Wall. He won't wow you, but he has shown improvement lately.
Now back to watching old MU games on ESPN360. :)