Marquette basketball March Madness predictions: Projecting where Golden Eagles could land

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The Marquette men’s basketball team got a much-needed dominant victory over Providence on Tuesday at Fiserv Forum.

The Golden Eagles (21-7, 12-5 Big East) will take it after a tough start to February, but a Quad 3 home win won’t do much for their NCAA Tournament profile.

Here is where we think MU will land on Selection Sunday on March 16:

Likely scenario for Marquette: No. 5 seed

MU has a tough close to the season, with a road games at Georgetown (83rd in NET; Quad 2 opportunity) and Connecticut (38th in NET; Quad 1 opportunity) before the regular-season finale against St. John’s at home (18th in NET; Quad 1 opportunity).

The Red Storm likely will wrap up the Big East regular-season title this week, so head coach Rick Pitino might be resting banged-up players in the final game.

If MU goes 2-1 to close regular-season, then wins at least one game in the Big East tournament, the Golden Eagles likely would be hovering around a No. 5 or 6 seed.

Best-case scenario for Marquette: No. 4 seed

If MU finishes 3-0 and then wins the conference tournament, that should give the Golden Eagles enough Quad 1 victories to be firmly in the mix for a No. 4 seed.

Worst-case scenario for Marquette: No. 7 seed

Should the Golden Eagles stumble down the stretch and lose the three remaining games, then drop their first game at Madison Square Garden in New York, MU probably would fall to a No. 7 seed.

Marquette’s best win

Take your pick of a non-conference victory over a Big Ten foe.

MU fans likely will savor a victory over state rival UW, which has risen to 11th in the NET and seventh at KenPom.com.

But don’t forget about a road victory at Maryland, which has kept improving to 13th in the NET and 15th at KenPom.

Marquette’s worst loss

Dayton (75th in NET, 83rd in KenPom) has stumbled in the Atlantic 10 since beating MU in December, but the Flyers’ home venue is one of the toughest in college basketball.

This might be recency bias, but MU’s poor performance in a loss at Villanova (50th in NET, 55th in Ken Pom) last…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/marquette-basketball-march-madness-predictions-152103706.html

Author : Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Publish date : 2025-02-26 15:21:00

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