8 hours before the Providence game and MU critics have to be getting nervous

It had to be a tough day for the minority on MUScoop who belittle the team and Buzz with non-constructive criticism. If you are one of the ones "embarrassed" by the team, or "on the ledge," or that "don't accept anything but winning" (because somehow that makes the program better) or say "11th place isn't cutting it" in a conference in which the 9th and 10th place teams are both in the national Top 25, or blindly assert things like, "MU obviously doesn't belong in the tournament," or "obviously Buzz is a bad coach," without any backup argument, then hopefully you couldn't get on the computer or watch TV yesterday. If you did, it was probably painful to see:

VCU loses and fails to take away a spot from the 8-team or greater cushion MU has to make the tournament according to Lunardi and www.rpiforecast.com. BTW, I grew up in the shadow of VCU and loved the Rams so much I once left a big win looking for my keys and didn’t find them until I got back to my car. At that point I realized I had been so excited about the game I had left the car running and the doors unlocked for THREE HOURS as I dashed into the Coliseum in downtown Richmond, which had the 2nd highest per capita murder rate in the country behind Detroit! Last night was the first time I have ever rooted against the Rams – so I guess I am 100% Marquette now.

Lunardi says he believes MU is in the tourney even if they lose to Providence, and leaves them as a Number 10-seed. This has to be tough for the critics who thought the Seton Hall loss finally proved they were right and that MU and Buzz were terrible. To not take 11 Big East means you don't believe in Marquette and, I may not have it exactly right, "I believe in Marquette and their four wins against Top 25 teams."

RPI Forecast says that if the committee weights the criteria the same as they have the last 10 years then Lunardi is actually being too tough on MU as MU really calculates as the top 9-seed (and is then moved up to a 7-seed due to matchups).

ZERO bad losses. The game that was actually held up as MUs one "bad loss" on TV a couple of weeks ago, Gonzaga, easily wins the WCC and moves up to now be the 32nd best team in the country. So that means that in addition to being one of only 23 teams with no bad losses (out of top 100) in the country, every MU loss has been to one of the best 32 teams in the country except for the loss at Seton Hall, which has been one of the best 35 teams in the country since their star player came back from injury and beat St. John's by more than they won over Marquette.

Get off the non-constructive critic wagon and enjoy this team!

For the rest of us who are actually enjoying the fact that on Sunday MU may become one of only 10 teams in the country to make the NCAA tournament for the 6th straight season (since Michigan State may not), it's really fun being a Marquette fan! For the critics, I can't imagine how grumpy you would be if you were a fan of one of the 334 teams that has dared to miss the tournament during at least one of the last five years!

But don't worry, there will be a better day for you! Even if MU makes the tournament, there is a 99% chance the season will end with a loss eventually and you will be vindicated!

This is not to criticize the constructive critics who actually point out things like that it hurts our RPI to schedule teams like Centenary, or that the hustle is great but that something is wrong with the defensive rotation, etc.