Mayo's return eclipses Monarch's departure; prepares MU to take on 3 top 25 RPI opponents early

After 1,467 self-reported secondary violations in the Big Ten from 2006-2011, critics were quick to  jump on Marquette having a rare one.  Buying a piece of merchandise and giving a ride to a recruit is certainly a clear violation in the almost 500-page and growing NCAA rule book. It is a shame that Scott Monarch is no longer an assistant coach at Marquette due to reportedly being untruthful over what would otherwise be one of thousands of secondary violations.

We certainly do not want to kick Coach Monarch while he is down, but assistant coaches move on frequently and his departure is eclipsed by the reports that one of Marquette's four top 500 players - Todd Mayo - is now back in class.  Based on http://www.valueaddbasketball.com/ Todd Mayo is MUs 4th best player and Marquette is the 25th best team in the land, while without him MU would drop to the 41st best team and a bubble team.  Here is how Marquette's top 3 players and 25th best Value Add stacks up against the non-conference foes.

Date	Opponent / Event	Rnk	Rank, Player, Height	2nd Best	3rd Best
10/12/2012	Marquette Madness	25	158 Gardner 6-8	317 J. Wilson 6-7	327 Blue 6-4
11/9/2012	vs. Ohio State (Carrier Cl, Charleston SC)	9	8 Craft 6-2	12 Thomas 6-7	219 Smith 6-4
11/11/2012	vs. Colgate TV	318	2321 McMullen 6-6	2383 Roh 6-4	2688 Moore 6-5
11/13/2012	vs. Southeastern Louisiana	250	760 Johnson 6-6	1665 Populist 5-10	1688 Petovcic 6-8
11/19/2012	EA SPORTS Maui Invitational	Rnk	Best Value Add	2nd Best	3rd Best
	vs. vs. Butler TV	85	209 Clarke 6-0	373 Smith 6-11	464 Marshall 6-6
11/20/2012	EA SPORTS 2nd Round	Rnk	Best Value Add	2nd Best	3rd Best
	vs. North Carolina-2nd round? TV	31	176 McAdoo 6-9	206 Bullock 6-7	223 Hairston 6-6
	vs. Mississippi St.-2nd round?	135	506 Steele 6-3	748 Sword 6-3	819 Ware 6-8
11/21/2012	EA Sports 3rd Round (unless Chaminade)	Rnk	Best Value Add	2nd Best	3rd Best
	vs. Illinois-Final Round?	107	586 Paul 6-4	596 Abrams 6-1	598 Shaw 6-6
	vs. Texas-Final Round?	10	34 McClellan 6-4	98 Holmes 6-7	156 Kabongo 6-1
	vs. Southern Cal-Final Round?	74	226 Terrell 6-3	465 Jones 5-7	525 Dedmon 525
	Final Non-Conference	Rnk	Best Value Add	2nd Best	3rd Best
11/26/2012	vs. MD Baltimore Co.	320	2125 Basalyga 6-9	2223 Getz 6-0	2289 Lane 5-11
11/29/2012	at Florida (SEC/BE Challenge) TV	15	29 Boynton 6-2	96 Young 6-9	277 Murphy 6-10
12/8/2012	vs. Wisconsin TV	23	90 Gasser 6-3	128 Berggren 6-10	162 Evans 6-6
12/15/2012	vs. Savannah State	150	622 Louis 6-7	839 Rudolph 5-11	874 Smith 6-8
12/19/2012	at Green Bay	113	174 Brown 7-1	232 Cerroni 6-2	340 Sykes 5-10
12/22/2012	vs. LSU	77	155 Hickey 5-10	503 O'Bryant 6-9	532 Carmouche 6-2
12/29/2012	vs. North Carolina Central	218	896 Chapman 6-1	947 Willis 6-6	1584 Ingram 6-3

If opponents' RPIs play out like their preseason Value Adds, Marquette could face 3 non-conference top 25 RPI teams and 4 in the top 50.  As you can see, Ohio State has two of the top 12 players in the country while Colgate does not have any of the top 2300 players in the country.

13 Non-Conf	2012	2011	2010
RPI Top 25	3	2	2
Top 50	4	0	3
Top 100	6	5	6
Top 200	9	9	7
Not Top 200	4	4	6

The 6th top 100 opponent could be LSU, which stunned then No. 8 Marquette last year but did not appear to be a Top 100 team until Memphis graduate Charles Carmouche signed to play this year with LSU.  It looks like Mayo's return means Marquette will be ready for an improved non-conference schedule.