And Now, A Pre-National Marquette Day Look At The Bracketology World

Feb 4, 2023 - 2:15 PM

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It’s early February, so it’s a good time to check in with all the bracketology geniuses around the internet to see what they’re saying about Shaka Smart and Marquette men’s basketball right now. Before we get into that, let’s drop in a little bit of Marquette’s current NCAA tournament profile as of Friday morning.

Record: 18-5, 10-2 in the Big East
NET Ranking: #12
Vs Quadrant 1 Opponents: 4-4
Vs Quadrant 2: 4-1
Vs Quadrant 3: 4-0
Vs Quadrant 4: 6-0

Games Remaining

Vs Quadrant 1: Three
Vs Quadrant 2: One
Vs Quadrant 3: Two, including Saturday’s National Marquette Day contest
Vs Quadrant 4: Two

Onwards to the Brackets!

SB Nation (1/31): Look, it’s neat to see Marquette’s logo in the graphic at the top of the page. The Golden Eagles are a #4 seed here, and the #15 overall seed in the field. This puts them into the West Region with their first round game in Albany. They’re paired off with #13 seed Utah Valley, which is currently the autobid spot from the WAC. Their potential second round game would either be #5 Saint Mary’s or #12 Oral Roberts. There are four other Big East teams here, and that’s going to be pretty standard, but not universal: Xavier (#3), Connecticut (#4), Providence (#5), and Creighton (#8).

ESPN (2/3): Joe Lunardi likes Marquette a little bit more, installing the Golden Eagles as a #3 seed in the South Region. That sends them to Columbus for the first round with a game against #14 seed Princeton, getting the automatic bid spot out of the Ivy League. The second round would be either #6 Duke or the winner of a #11 seed First Four game between Nevada and Oklahoma State. There are four more Big East teams here: Xavier (#4), Connecticut (#5), Providence (#6), and Creighton (#7). Seton Hall earns Next Four Out status.

CBS Sports (2/3): Jerry Palm also has Marquette as a #3 seed in his bracket. Because he’s figuring out the autobids in a different fashion, MU’s #14 seed foe is still out of the Ivy League, but here it’s Cornell. The potential second round game in Albany as part of the Midwest Region is still #6 Duke vs a #11 First Four game, but Palm doesn’t stick one of the games in. There are four more Big East teams here: Xavier (#3), Connecticut (#5), Providence (#7), and Creighton (#9).

The Athletic (2/3) ($): Back down to the #4 seed line we go, as that’s where Brian Bennett has the Golden Eagles as of Friday. That’s in the East Region with a first round game in Albany, and it’s a very tasty Narrative game: #13 seed VCU, picking up the autobid out of the Atlantic 10. Can you even imagine the idea of Shaka Smart facing his old team? The potential second round game would be either #5 Rutgers or Liberty. Go Knights, obviously. There are four more Big East teams here: Xavier (#3), Connecticut (#5), Providence (#5), and Creighton (#7). Seton Hall earns Next Four Out status.

Fox Sports (2/3): As always, details are scant about how Mike DeCourcy assembles his brackets because it’s just a tweet on the Fox College Basketball account, but we can see that Marquette is a #4 seed in the East Region. That gives them a first round game against #13 seed Louisiana, and a potential second round game against either #5 Illinois or — hey, look at this — #12 VCU. There are four more Big East teams here: Xavier (#3), Connecticut (#5), Providence (#6), and Creighton (#9). Seton Hall earns First Four Out status here.

Cracked Sidewalks (2/3): Noted Marquette guy Alan Bykowski has the Golden Eagles as a #3 seed in the East Region. That sends them to Columbus for the first round against — hey, look at this — #14 seed Bradley. Go hassle Alan to ask if he set MU up against Brian Wardle on purpose. The theoretical matchup here in the second round is either #6 Duke or #11 Northwestern. There are four more Big East teams here: Xavier (#4), Connecticut (#4), Providence (#7), and Creighton (#7). Seton Hall earns First Four Out status here.

Haslametrics (2/4): As always, this is an algorithm putting teams in order, so keep that in mind here. Marquette is a #3 seed in the order, alongside Virginia, Xavier, and Baylor. A #3 seed would mean a first round game against a #14 seed, and those are Kent State, Cornell, Furman, and Colgate right now. There are four more Big East teams here: Xavier (#3), Connecticut (#4), Creighton (#6), and Providence (#8). Seton Hall earns First Four Out status here.

T-Rank (2/4): Same as Haslametrics, this is just the computer spitting out “this is the bracket if today was Selection Sunday.” With that in mind, Marquette is a #4 seed, alongside Gonzaga, Iowa State, and TCU. That means a first round game against a #13 seed, and those line up as — once again — VCU, Drake, Kent State, and Liberty. Again, a big no thank you to a game against Liberty. There are five more Big East teams here: Connecticut (#3), Xavier (#5), Providence (#6), Creighton (#7), and Seton Hall (#11).

Bracket Matrix (2/3): The thing to remember about the Matrix is that while the update is from February 3, that means that all of the brackets listed had to be published before the Matrix was updated. Marquette averages out as a #4 seed here while being listed on all 90 brackets involved, and they are listed alongside Xavier, Iowa State, and TCU. The #13 seeds, aka the potential first round matchups, are Southern Miss, Utah Valley, UC Santa Barbara, and Liberty. Again, if we could not get stuck sharing a court and television screen with Liberty, that would be fantastic. There are four more Big East teams here: Xavier (#4), Connecticut (#5), Providence (#6), and Creighton (#8). Seton Hall appears on just one bracket in the Matrix.