Marquette's Home Winning Streak

Right now, Marquette's home winning streak stands at 21 games, good for 5th longest in the nation. Here is a list of all the teams with streaks currently at 20+ games:

1) Syracuse - 36 games
2) South Dakota State - 28 games
3) Colorado State - 26 games
4) Southern Mississippi - 23 games
5) Marquette - 21 games
6) Iowa State - 20 games

Glancing at that list, I wondered what the odds were Marquette could get that streak to #1. Obviously, it takes more than just Marquette winning, it also takes teams ahead of them losing. For Marquette to get to the end of the season undefeated, they will have to beat Little Sisters of the Poor, who were up all night, Pittsburgh on February 16, Syracuse on February 25, and Notre Dame on March 2. All three will be tough games against likely tournament teams. As far as the rest of the top-5...

Syracuse looks to have two real tests in their final five home games of the season. They face Georgetown on February 23 and Louisville on March 2. One other team that could surprise is St. John's, who already has 3 Big East road wins. Providence and DePaul will also visit the Carrier Dome.

South Dakota State has only two more home games this season and will almost certainly beat woeful IUPUI on Valentine's Day. Their final home game will be against a Western Illinois team that played them even for 30 minutes less than a month ago before letting a shot at a win slip away.

Colorado State's next two home games are against likely tournament teams, San Diego State today and New Mexico on February 23. Both teams beat the Rams earlier this season. Interestingly enough, the last team to beat Colorado State at home was the next team on this list...

...Southern Mississippi, who faces Memphis (8-0 in C-USA play) at home today. If they beat the Tigers, it seems highly likely they'll see out the season unbeaten at home as the Golden Eagles don't face another team in Pomeroy's top-100 at home. Southern Miss beat Memphis at home last year, but including that win they have lost 17 of their last 18 against the Tigers. Before last year, Southern Miss had not defeated Memphis anywhere since Marquette was still in Conference-USA.

What's the consequence of all this? Admittedly, not much, but it's something fun to pay attention to and gives us reason to do a bit of scoreboard watching outside the Big East. Here's hoping that after Marquette gets done exorcising the Blue Demons we can see a couple of those streaks fall over the weekend, starting with Memphis over Southern Miss.