Bracketology roundup: Marquette still a 3 despite Howard’s heroics
As the college basketball season heats up, FOX Sports Wisconsin will round up what experts are saying about the chances for Marquette to make the NCAA tournament in March. This is the fifth edition of the 2019 bracket roundup.
Another misstep against unranked St. John's did not, ultimately, cost No. 10 Marquette any ground in the AP poll.
The Golden Eagles bounced back with a 66-65 win over Villanova last Saturday, then routed DePaul on the road Tuesday, 92-73.
This is all (mostly) thanks to junior shooting guard Markus Howard, who has 30-plus points in four of his last five games.
He dropped 38 on Villanova and 36 on DePaul, shooting a combined 55.6 from the field and 44.9 percent from deep.
After checking in at No. 10 for the third straight week, Marquette is once again a three seed -- with Kansas, Houston and Purdue -- over on Bracket Matrix, which aggregates the rankings of the bracketology community.
Most of the major outlets agree.
Bleacher Report, for example, has Marquette headed to Hartford, Conn. as a three to take on Vermont.
Joe Lundardi of ESPN is also sending Marquette to Hartford as a three, matched up against Old Dominion.
The Athletic, which Bracket Matrix doesn't yet account for, has the Golden Eagles slotted with the threes as well.
It's a similar story over at CBS: Three seed. Hartford. Hofstra.
None of the 106 outlets currently tracked by Bracket Matrix have the Golden Eagles ranked any higher than a three this week, while one -- "Eye on the Tournament" -- has them down in the sixes with Buffalo, Florida State and Virginia Tech.
There are a few fives in there as well, though one of them hasn't been updated since Feb. 10, the day after Marquette's most-recent win over Villanova.
The Golden Eagles are in action again Wednesday against unranked Butler, which is currently out of the tournament per Bracket Matrix, a game that doesn't present much of an opportunity for them to move up.
Marquette won their last meeting 76-58, but the Bulldogs have been on a roll since that game.
Butler took St. John's -- who the Golden Eagles have had trouble with this season -- to overtime on Tuesday, falling 77-73 after beating Georgetown and Seton Hall convincingly.
