Bilas ranks Marquette as a top 50 team (and ahead of UW)

[skianth16]

Bilas posted a top 68 team run-down this morning, and has us a #48, just one spot ahead of UW. Despite the ugly Thanksgiving tournament, he has Purdue at 10, and he's high on Georgia too, giving them a rank of 28. Vermont even made the cut, but just barely, with a rank of 68.

We knew we had a good SOS this year, but getting the affirmation from a guy who is pretty well respected in the college hoops world always feels good. I'm not sure if he'll update this as the season goes on or not, but the intro kind of makes it sound like he will.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/21664213/bilas-index-volume-1-looks-best-68-teams-college-basketball

[goldeneagle91114]

#fakenews - Bilas obviously has not read scoop. If he did, he would know the season is over and wojo and staff are going to get fired.

[lohaus]

GoldenEagle. . . what?  Wojo hasn't been fired yet?

[tower912]

Throwing his guy Wojo a bone.  Or he rated them prior to Haanif's departure, based on solid play in Maui.

[rocket surgeon]

i believe he's partly basing his #48 on what we could do IF we shoot well and IF harry becomes the man in the middle.  i hope the jayster is wrong and we are a little better than that, but i think #48 is being pretty generous right now.  maybe it's his rowsey-love that's clouding his head

[warriorchick]

It's sad when a journalist likes a team more than its own "fans" do.

[79Warrior]

It's sad when a journalist likes a team more than its own "fans" do.

I like the NY football Giants but the team sucks. What's wrong with that? I like Marquette but the jury is out on the team.

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

Throwing his guy Wojo a bone.  Or he rated them prior to Haanif's departure, based on solid play in Maui.

He literally mentions Haanif's transfer in the write up.

[jesmu84]

i believe he's partly basing his #48 on what we could do IF we shoot well and IF harry becomes the man in the middle.  i hope the jayster is wrong and we are a little better than that, but i think #48 is being pretty generous right now.  maybe it's his rowsey-love that's clouding his head

So you think he's ranking all his teams at their theoretical best? And with a completely and eligible roster?

That would be a strange way to list teams. As opposed to what they've done/showed so far this season

[skianth16]

I wish he had given a little more context to his rankings, but it does seem like he's basing it on what he's seen so far since he mentions HC leaving. Maybe we get a little love because of the Duke ties, but he seemed to really think highly of Howard and Rousey when we were in Maui. I'm guessing he thinks we have enough offense to beat a lot of teams even if the defense is sub-par.

[4everwarriors]

What da fook does any journalist no, hey?

[skianth16]

Just found this quote from Bilas from this past summer being asked about his views on the Maui tournament.

Q: Marquette is coming off a trip to the NCAA Tournament last year, so what do you see for them this season?
A: "Steve Wojciechowski has recruited really well and has done a really good job of building the program back up to where Tom Crean had it. Marquette also has really good returning players and they took a really big step last year by making it into the NCAA tournament. They beat the nation's No. 1 team in Villanova for the first time since 2013, so they are on a real upward swing. This year is going to be the next step. I think Marquette will be a top-20 team all year long and will be a real contender in the Big East. This will be the first of many years under Steve Wojciechowski that will be the case. He's been a winner at every stage of his career – as a player, assistant, head coach, USA Basketball, you name it – and it is not a surprise he's doing the same at Marquette. That upward trend is going to continue.

Looks like he's a big Wojo fan. Maybe a bit overly optimistic.

[4everwarriors]

Dook brothahood is a beautiful thang, hey?

[Class71]

Duke boys stick together.

[connie]

[quote author=skianth16 link=topic=54993.msg967741#msg967741 date=1512509491

Q: Marquette is coming off a trip to the NCAA Tournament last year, so what do you see for them this season?
A: "Steve Wojciechowski has recruited really well and has done a really good job of building the program back up to where Tom Crean had it. Marquette also has really good returning players and they took a really big step last year by making it into the NCAA tournament. They beat the nation's No. 1 team in Villanova for the first time since 2013, so they are on a real upward swing. This year is going to be the next step. I think Marquette will be a top-20 team all year long and will be a real contender in the Big East. This will be the first of many years under Steve Wojciechowski that will be the case. He's been a winner at every stage of his career – as a player, assistant, head coach, USA Basketball, you name it – and it is not a surprise he's doing the same at Marquette. That upward trend is going to continue.
[/quote]So I guess Bilas would say we are underperforming expectations this year.

[cheese ball chaser]

#BilasBias

[Goose]

Is this a bar scoopers want to use to grade the season or is unrealistic?

[Lennys Tap]

It's sad when a journalist likes a team more than its own "fans" do.

It's sad when fans judge how much their fellow fans "like" the team by how high they rank them.