Big East Basketball: 2017-18 conference power rankings (version 8)

2385. Marquette had to face the gauntlet this past week. The team was stuck with back-to-back games against Xavier and Villanova, dropping both of them. Of course, dropping games to two top-10 teams in the country is far from a disaster but they were major missed opportunities. If the team had just won one of those games, they would be in a much better position in regards to reaching the NCAA Tournament. Having lost both, the team is sitting squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble. <p>There are plenty of offensive superstars on this roster but they are atrocious defensively. Excluding games against the bottom three of the conference, the Golden Eagles have given up 80+ points in six of their seven games. Of these six games, the team only won the shootout once (at Providence).</p> <p>Looking forward on Marquette’s schedule, it does get slightly easier this week. For starters, both of their games come at home. Even though the team is just 9-4 in front of their crowd, it is always nice to have some backing. The only issue is that they have two very difficult opponents coming in. Both Butler and Providence will pose a threat to the Golden Eagles and going at least 1-1 is almost mandatory for the team.</p>. 13-8 (4-5). Previous: . marquette golden eagles. 7. team