Rutgers upset of Seton Hall this afternoon is a problem that does raise the stakes for tonight's game. On the heels of Lunardi saying he believed Marquette was in the tournament due to their four wins of the top 25, Doug Gottlieb today added that he though Marquette was in so far due to being one of the only teams with no "bad losses."
The problem is that MU may have just picked up a bad loss without playing.
Seton Hall's loss could drop them to 106th, which would make MUs finale a bad loss. Don't get me wrong, most teams battling with MU have at least a couple of bad losses and none have four great wins like MU, but if Seton Hall is out of the Top 100 when the final RPI numbers are run and - God forbid - MU loses tonight, then MU could literally go from zero bad losses to two in a matter of hours.
A resume that includes two bad losses, and MU RPI out of the Top 80 and ending the season on a 3-game losing streak starts to get tough.
The four great wins still might pull MU through with the weak bubble and expanded field, and the committee certainly will look at MUs bad loss to a team that was really well within the top 100 with Hazell as not as bad as the losses from other bubble teams, but the Rutgers win today certainly will give tonight's game the feel of a potential play-in to the NCAA.
Tonight just got a lot more exciting, and certainly more scary!
It is also a reminder that upsets do happen come tournament time - as South Florida battles Villanova to a tie late in the first half.
Go Marquette!
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