Weekend Viewing Guide

 It's okay, Marquette Basketball will be back soon!
Photo by Mark Hoffman | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

It's a basketball weekend without Marquette, but that doesn't mean there aren't game that could impact Marquette's future. Cracked Sidewalks has your look at the most important games of the weekend for the Golden Eagles NCAA odds so you know who to cheer for.

We're looking at three factors when we consider these games. First is seeding and teams directly in competition with Marquette. Second is how their result helps us to a Big East title and the easiest path through MSG. Third is impact on Marquette's resume from a NET perspective. Highlighted games are the ones of greatest import and will get some extra commentary.

Friday, February 4

St. Bonaventure at Richmond, 5:00 pm, ESPN2

Creighton at Seton Hall, 6:00 pm, FS1

The Bonnies getting a road win would likely move them back into Quadrant 2, which would remove Marquette's only current loss outside Quadrants 1+2. Removing this blemish would really help if Marquette wants to get to protected seed territory.

Saturday, February 5

Connecticut at Villanova, 11:00 am, Fox

Illinois at Indiana, 11:00 am, ESPN

Tennessee at South Carolina, 12:00 pm, CBS

Texas Tech at West Virginia, 1:00 pm, ESPN

Iowa State at Texas, 1:00 pm, Longhorn Network

DePaul at Xavier, 1:00 pm, FS1

Mississippi at Florida, 2:30 pm, SEC Network

Michigan State at Rutgers, 3:00 pm, FS1

USC at Arizona, 4:00 pm, Fox

Penn State at UW-Madison, 5:00 pm, Big 10 Network

LSU at Vanderbilt, 5:00 pm, SEC Network

Kentucky at Alabama, 7:00 pm, ESPN

Loyola Marymount at St. Mary's, 9:00 pm, CBSSN

This should keep you occupied on Saturday. Start your day cheering for UConn at Villanova. This one is tough because 'Nova represents two of Marquette's best wins, but it's not impossible for MU to pass them on the S-Curve and a 'Nova loss gets them to 4 losses, improving our Big East title hopes while MU can hand UConn a fourth Big East loss themselves on Tuesday. West Virginia is a double help as they could hurt a team ahead of us while also boosting our resume. Penn State beating UW-Madison would hurt our resume a little, but would also allow MU to creep closer to Bucky on the S-Curve. Besides, isn't it just more natural to root against the Badgers?

Sunday, February 6th

Providence at Georgetown, 11:00 am, FS1

Maryland at Ohio State, 12:00 pm, CBS

Houston at Cincinnati, 5:00 pm, ESPN2

If Marquette has any dreams of a Big East crown, Providence needs to take losses. Villanova has the opportunity to hand them a pair, which would be a big help, but they need at least one more if Marquette wants to pass them (and even then we need to win out) so why not Georgetown? Houston seems unlikely to fall too far, but if they take a couple losses, their resume will start to look very thin in a hurry. The Cougars only have 3 opportunities at Q1 wins and this is one of them. If they were to lose a couple, they could easily tumble down past a (hopefully) surging Marquette.

One more note. Marquette is close enough to the teams in front of them (Providence and Tennessee) that if those two were to lose, Marquette would move up to the 4-line next week. While Cracked Sidewalks isn't quite ready to move Shaka's team to the 4-line, we've seen some other prominent bracketologists have them that high (Delphi and Dave Ommen, among others) so it isn't crazy to start thinking about a protected seed. But for now, on with the S-Curve:

1-Seeds: 1-AUBURN 2-GONZAGA 3-BAYLOR 4-PURDUE

2-Seeds: 8-DUKE 7-Ucla 6-ARIZONA 5-Kansas

3-Seeds: 9-Kentucky 10-VILLANOVA 11-HOUSTON 12-Texas Tech

4-Seeds: 16-Tennessee 15-Illinois 14-Michigan State 13-Wisconsin

5-Seeds: 17-Providence 18-Marquette 19-Alabama 20-Lsu

6-Seeds: 24-Iowa State 23-Ohio State 22-Xavier 21-Connecticut

7-Seeds: 25-Usc 26-St. Mary's 27-Texas 28-Tcu

8-Seeds: 32-Colorado State 31-Indiana 30-BOISE STATE 29-Arkansas

9-Seeds: 33-Wyoming 34-MURRAY STATE 35-Seton Hall 36-San Francisco

10-Seeds: 40-Creighton 39-DAVIDSON 38-Byu 37-LOYOLA CHICAGO

11-Seeds: 41-North Carolina 42-Iowa 43-Miami 44-San Diego State

12-Seeds: 50-IONA 49-UAB 48-Belmont 47-West Virginia 46-Oklahoma 45-Oregon

13-Seeds: 51-CHATTANOOGA 52-NEW MEXICO STATE 53-TOLEDO 54-WAGNER

14-Seeds: 58-TOWSON 57-SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 56-OAKLAND 55-VERMONT

15-Seeds: 59-PRINCETON 60-SOUTH ALABAMA 61-LIBERTY 62-WEBER STATE

16-Seeds: 68-NICHOLLS STATE 67-NORFOLK STATE 66-TEXAS SOUTHERN 65-LONGWOOD 64-NAVY 63-UC IRVINE

 

Last Four Byes: North Carolina, Iowa, Miami, San Diego State

Last Four In: Oregon, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Belmont

First Four Out: Wake Forest, Mississippi State, Notre Dame, Florida

Next Four Out: Michigan, SMU, VCU, Dayton