We may take an extended lunch today in the office with four people in Auburn gear, one in Alabama gear, and then me in the Jae Crowder Marquette jersey. The Auburn and Marquette interests are aligned today, as Auburn can hurt the chances of their rival Alabama and in turn help Marquette.
Tipoff is in half an hour and my preseason selection of Auburn as the No. 11 team in the country (while another sports writer picked them to go 4-14) won reviews from local press. However, the 23-3 team I predicted could go as far as the Final Four then lost one of their only players with height, Anfernee McLemore, and is 2-3 since. They are still a 6-point favorite.
If you average the subjective brackets of CBS Sports' Jerry Palm, ESPN's Joe Lunardi, the composite Bracket Matrix, and the two most accurate Mathematical predictors (ESPN's Strength of Record, and Dance Card) Marquette averages as next to last team in the tournament and Alabama as the next to last, so a win from Alabama may push Marquette down another spot:
(updates new Friday Bracket Matrix - Alabama moved up 4 spots to 5, UCLA up 2 spots to 1, MU drops 2 spots to 12 and MTSU drops 4 spots to 8). On the overall average of these 5, that leaves Marquette within one point of MTSU 6.0, Lville 6.2, Alabama 6.4, MU 6.9 prior to the Auburn game)
| up to 7 bids of 13 | Palm | Lunardi | Matrix | SOR | Dance | Ave. | Today |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 10 | 5 | 5 | 11 | 1 | 6.4 | Auburn Noon +6 |
| Arizona State | 9 | 10 | 7 | 13 | 11 | 9.8 | Done |
| Baylor | 12 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 10 | 9.4 | Done |
| Louisville | 5 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 6.2 | Done |
| Marquette | 3 | 12 | 12 | 2 | 5 | 6.8 | Done |
| MTSU | 8 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 6.0 | Done |
| Notre Dame | 11 | 9 | 13 | 10 | 13 | 11.2 | Done |
| Oklahoma | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2.6 | Done |
| Oklahoma State | 13 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 12 | 9.8 | Done |
| Saint Mary's | 2 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 5 | Done |
| Syracuse | 7 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 4 | 8.6 | Done |
| USC | 6 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 6 | 5.4 | Oregon 10:30 pm -3 |
| UCLA | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 3.8 | Arizona 8 pm +3 |
However, while averages are nice, the fact that Marquette ranks everywhere from 2nd to 12th in trying to claim seven spots shows that we do not know - Alabama could be easily ahead of Marquette already or could be far enough behind that even another win does not get them past Marquette.
Tonight's games for USC and UCLA could also be important. Most have them both ahead of Marquette, but not all. Even Lunardi, the least favorable for Marquette, stated at the beginning of the conference tournament that either team could be eliminated if they lose in the semifinals.
Marquette fans should root for Auburn, Oregon, and Arizona tonight, and would then want Arizona to win the Pac-12 title over Oregon to avoid have the Ducks take a spot and only allow six of the 13 above make it.
Six other games cold matter today, as they three conferences that would "steal" a bid with a surprise champion are the Mountain West, Atlantic 10, and American Athletic. The nightmare scenario would be Oregon winning the Pac-12, someone besides Nevada winning the MW, someone besides St. Bonaventure or Rhode Island winning the A10, and someone besides Cincinnati, Wichita State or Houston winning the AAC. If all four of those things happened, then only three of the 13 teams above would logically make the tournament.
All the teams we are rooting for are favored from between 4 and 9 points today.
| Need to win | Conf | Today |
|---|---|---|
| Nevada | MW | SD St 8 pm -4 |
| Rhode Island | A10 | VCU 11 am -8 |
| St. Bonaventure | A10 | Rich 5 p.m. -9 |
| Cincinnati | AAC | SMU 11 am -8 |
| Wichita State | AAC | Temple 6 pm -9 |
| Houston | AAC | UCF 8 pm -8 |
http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2018/03/waiting-in-auburn-in-mu-jersey-for-noon.html
updated Saturday after the relief over Rhode Island and Cincy rallying to stop spoilers - only one spoiler (New Mexico or San Diego State with Nevada out) and only one possible additional - Davidson if they beat both St. B's and Rhode Island.
Nothing is set in stone, the Selection Committee could have some other team in or out, but it looks like these 12 are competing with Marquette. Thanks TAMU Eagle and wisblue for your posts on MUScoop to help me narrow this down.
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