11. Marquette (15-3)
Considering what we know and what we’ve seen this season, you can absolutely call Marquette the team to beat right now in the Big East. Obviously UConn has won the last two national titles, but these Golden Eagles have looked great already this season, with great wins over Purdue, Georgia, and Wisconsin among others. A perfect start to Big East play certainly helped make that case, though this week didn’t exactly transpire as expected.
The trouble started on Tuesday, as the Golden Eagles needed overtime to survive DePaul 85-83. David Joplin scored 30 points in a sensational effort in a game where the five starters scored every single point. Those and other issues reared an uglier head on Saturday as Xavier upset the Golden Eagles 59-57 in Milwaukee, avenging an earlier Marquette win in December. Joplin was great again with 18 points and 6 rebounds but clearly didn’t get enough help in the loss.
Marquette’s prior losses came in tough road environments at Iowa State and Dayton, but that changed with two lame efforts this week. They managed to survive the Blue Demons, but that type of showing against Xavier isn’t indicative of what this team can be this season. Still, Shaka Smart and this team needs to shake this off quickly; they’re still 6-1 and looking like the class of the Big East. Next Tuesday they’ll be at Seton Hall before an interesting weekend tilt against Villanova.