Fifteen Disastrous Minutes

In the past three games, Marquette has suffered massive collapses in the final five minutes of each game. The collective scoring difference in the final five minutes of those three games is 46-9 in favor of the bad guys, with Marquette giving up the lead in each game. That is highlighted by a 30% turnover rate, a number that is far worse than Marquette's already below average season turnover rate of 19.9% & would be the worst turnover rate in the country if it held up for the entire season. So how bad has MU been in that span? I'll let the numbers below speak for themselves:

	MU Off PPP	MU Def PPP	MU Off eFG	MU Def eFG	Margin
Nova 0-35	1.071	0.982	67.1%	43.9%	60-55
Nova 36-40	0.083	1.500	0.00%	33.3%	1-12
Creighton 0-35	0.931	0.862	54.9%	43.8%	54-50
Creighton 36-40	0.500	1.333	50.0%	60.0%	6-16
Seton Hall 0-35	1.016	0.902	53.9%	40.0%	62-55
Seton Hall 36-40	0.200	1.800	9.1%	120.0%	2-18

On the plus side, there's enough difference between Marquette & the teams below them that they didn't fall on the S-Curve, though with Kansas & Purdue losing, they squandered a great chance to move back to the 3-line last night & might even be a 2-seed if not for this three game slide. Here's the entire S-Curve:

1-Seeds: 1-VIRGINIA, 2-GONZAGA, 3-Duke, 4-Tennessee
2-Seeds: 8-MICHIGAN STATE, 7-Michigan, 6-Kentucky, 5-North Carolina
3-Seeds: 9-Texas Tech, 10-LSU, 11-HOUSTON, 12-Purdue
4-Seeds: 16-Wisconsin, 15-Florida State, 14-Marquette, 13-Kansas
5-Seeds: 17-Virginia Tech, 18-KANSAS STATE, 19-VILLANOVA, 20-Maryland
6-Seeds: 24-BUFFALO, 23-Mississippi State, 22-Iowa State, 21-WOFFORD
7-Seeds: 25-NEVADA, 26-Cincinnati, 27-Iowa, 28-Louisville
8-Seeds: 32-WASHINGTON, 31-VCU, 30-UTAH STATE, 29-Auburn
9-Seeds: 33-BELMONT, 34-Baylor, 35-Mississippi, 36-Syracuse
10-Seeds: 40-Ucf, 39-Oklahoma, 38-Texas, 37-Florida
11-Seeds: 41-LIPSCOMB, 42-Ohio State, 43-St. John's, 44-Minnesota
12-Seeds: 50-Clemson/49-Tcu, 48-Unc Greensboro/47-Nc State, 46-Temple, 45-Seton Hall
13-Seeds: 51-NEW MEXICO STATE, 52-HOFSTRA, 53-OLD DOMINION, 54-UC IRVINE
14-Seeds: 58-GEORGIA STATE, 57-HARVARD, 56-SOUTH DAKOTA STATE, 55-VERMONT
15-Seeds: 59-MONTANA, 60-LOYOLA CHICAGO, 61-COLGATE, 62-WRIGHT STATE
16-Seeds: 68-IONA/67-ST FRANCIS (PA), 66-NORFOLK STATE/65-SAM HOUSTON STATE, 64-PRAIRIE VIEW A&M, 63-CAMPBELL

Last Four Byes: St. John's, Minnesota, Seton Hall, Temple
Last Four In: NC State, UNC Greensboro, TCU, Clemson
First Four Out: Indiana, Furman, Alabama, Arizona State
Next Four Out: Creighton, Murray State, St. Mary's, Butler