It’s the 32nd consecutive ranking for the Golden Eagles, the longest such stretch in a loooooooong time.
A big signpost on the way to the start of the college basketball season hit on Monday, as the Associated Press released their preseason top 25 rankings for men’s basketball. We’d talk about this one way or another no matter what, but YOUR Marquette Golden Eagles are starting off the season at #18!
This is the 32nd consecutive week that Marquette has been in the AP top 25 after appearing in all 21 polls a year ago. We have not seen a run like this in the Associated Press poll since the 1970s, and hooooooooboy, we’re in for a treat if Shaka Smart gets to this mark. This is the longest AP run since MU appeared in every ranking from December 29, 1969 through December 3, 1979. Nearly 10 full years! 166 consecutive polls! Al McGuire was good at his job.
Marquette earned 484 points in the polling here in October 2024, which is not that far from the 492 points earned by #17 Indiana. It is also very far from the 332 points earned by #19 Texas, so it’s nice to see that the Golden Eagles didn’t just barely edge someone out for their spot.
With that said, not everyone is on board with the idea that Marquette is a top 25 team. That’s not surprising to me, as I was surprised to see MU nearly universally acclaimed on the Way Too Early lists back in April. Noted Providence Guy Kevin McNamara has Marquette ranked the highest of anyone at #12, and they also got one vote each at #13 and #14. Multiple people started showing up at #15. At least four voters put MU at each spot from #15 through #19, and there’s at least two from #15 down to #23, and Brian Holland rounds out the voting public at #24. Three voters — Scott Richey, Mike Hlas, and Stephen Thompson — chose to not rank Marquette at all. For the record, they have Texas Tech, High Point, and Providence as their #25 ranked team respectively.
Let’s move along to the ranked teams that Marquette will see this season. That list gets started with Connecticut at #3, although they did earn 11 first place votes. Coming in at #5 is Iowa State as the only other preseason top 10 team on the schedule. We have to go down to #14 for the next one up, and that’s Purdue, and they’re followed immediately by Creighton at #15.
The Receiving Votes area is deep as you’d expect for the preseason top 25 poll. St. John’s (91 points) and Xavier (73) are just barely outside the rankings at the unofficial #27 and #28 spots. Providence (9), Wisconsin (5), and Maryland (1) all turn up in there as well. Will any of these teams be ranked by the time MU plays them? That’s up to them, I suppose.
You can check out the entire top 25 right here and see how everyone voted for Marquette right here.