Yeah, well, that’s, like, just their opinion, man
Well, the goodwill that Marquette men’s basketball earned by beating Illinois without their best player has finally evaporated.
On Monday, the Associated Press released their new top 25 poll for men’s college hoops, and, yeah, the Golden Eagles dropped out of the ranks of the teams receiving votes from last week. I don’t think that’s 100% surprising, given that I thought MU probably shouldn’t have been getting votes for beating the Illini without Kofi Cockburn, but also don’t think “lost to #23 in #23’s building” is a reason to knock you off the top 25.
Alas.
UCLA is Marquette’s top ranked foe in the poll this week, which is rather convenient. The Bruins, who will be in Fiserv Forum this coming Saturday, moved up one spot in the poll to #4 in the country this week. Villanova is Marquette’s top ranked Big East rival, as the Wildcats stay steady at #6.
Connecticut has risen up two spots from last week to #15, while Wisconsin used their win over Marquette to help them move from #23 to #22 in the new poll. Seton Hall has gone up two spots to #23 to solidify their position as a ranked team.
Xavier leads the group of teams on MU’s schedule in the Receiving Votes department with 78 points this week, a little bit more than half as many points as #25 LSU. Illinois is right behind them at 71 points, and St. Bonaventure continues to fall. They’re down to just 37 points this week, down from 106 a week ago after they needed a rally to hold off Coppin State at home back on Wednesday.
Marquette returns to action on Wednesday night when they visit Kansas State for their end of the Big East/Big 12 Battle. Tipoff is scheduled for 8pm Central on ESPN2.
You can check out the entire top 25 right here.