MU's Top 10 History - Updated Through Feb 27, 2023

[Not A Serious Person]

Updated as of February 27, 2023

http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/marquette/

In 1977/1978 season MU reached a peak ranking of #1 (AP)
In the 1978/1979 season MU reached a peak ranking of #9 (AP)

Since then, here are all the weeks MU has been ranked #10 (AP) or higher.

2/27/2023 = 6

The last time MU was ranked better than 8th was March 6, 1978, when they were #3 (FYI, February 20, 1978, MU was #1)

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/marquette/men/1978-schedule.html

2/20/2023 = 10
2/6/2023 = 10

2/25/2019 = 10
2/18/2019 = 10
2/11/2019 = 10
2/4/2019 = 10
1/28/2019 = 10   

3/5/2012 = 9
2/27/12 = 8
2/20/12 = 10
12/19/11 = 10

2/23/09 = 10
2/16/09 = 10
2/9/09 = 10
2/2/09 = 8
1/20/09 = 8

12/17/07 = 10
12/10/07 = 10
11/12/07 = 10

11/28/06 = 8

3/18/03 = 9
3/11/03 = 8
3/4/03 = 8
2/25/03 = 10

2/26/02 = 9
2/19/02 = 9


            Highest
Year      AP Rank     Coach
2023      6   (so far) Smart
2022      18             Smart
2021      No             Wojo
2020      18             Wojo
2019      10             Wojo
2018      No             Wojo
2017      No             Wojo
2016      No             Wojo
2016      No             Wojo
2015      No             Wojo
2014      17             Buzz
2013      12             Buzz
2012       8              Buzz
2011       20 (post)   Buzz
2010       No            Buzz
2009       8              Buzz
2008       10            Crean
2007       8              Crean
2006       No            Crean
2005       22            Crean
2004       21            Crean
2003       8              Crean
2002       9              Crean
2001       No            Crean
2000       No            Crean
1999       No            Deane
1998       20            Deane
1997       24            Deane
1996       20            Deane
1995       No            Deane
1994       19            O'Neill
1993       15            O'Neil
-------------------------------
1984 to 1992 = Dark Ages, Never Ranked
Coaches, O'Neill, Dukiet (all years), Majerus (all years)
2015 to 2018 = Mini Dark Ages, Never Ranked (Wojo)

These are the seasons' MU was (AP) ranked #10 or higher since WW2

Year            Peak Rank
1954/1955         4
1967/1968         8
1969/1970         7
1970/1971         1
1971/1972         2
1972/1973         3
1973/1974         3
1974/1975         5
1975/1976         2
1976/1977         2
1977/1978         1
1979/1980         9
2001/2002         9
2002/2003         8
2006/2007         8
2007/2008         10
2008/2009         8
2011/2012         8
2018/2019         10
2022/2023         6

[MU82]

Interesting stuff, Smuggles. Thanks.

Marquette has not been ranked higher than 8th since I showed up for freshman orientation. Two wins this week could change that!

[Galway Eagle]

I'd have waited one more day and then said we haven't been higher than 8 since we lost to Miami (oh)

[Not A Serious Person]

Interesting stuff, Smuggles. Thanks.

Marquette has not been ranked higher than 8th since I showed up for freshman orientation. Two wins this week could change that!

Yes, if MU wins both games this week, they are then like inflation ... highest ranking in 40+ years.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Yes, if MU wins both games this week, they are then like inflation ... highest ranking in 40+ years.

We'd need a lot of help to get to 7 this week. The teams ahead of us are also really good and are heavy favorites to win in each of their remaining games this week. It seems unlikely that 3/5 of the teams we could pass will lose in the rest of the week but certainly possible.

[BLWarrior91]

Great info.  Let's keep winning and move up!

[Dr. Blackheart]

Let's hope we are not referencing the "Heise Jinx" later this evening. This will be a great test tonight and a chance to put a notch on our belts.

[Not A Serious Person]

The post is a copy/paste than an update of one I did in 2013, and again in 2019.

you can look up its track record

[cheebs09]

I feel the most incredible thing was 2019 being at #10 for 5 straight weeks. Figure they'd go up or down a spot in that timeframe. Especially during the conference season.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

I feel the most incredible thing was 2019 being at #10 for 5 straight weeks. Figure they'd go up or down a spot in that timeframe. Especially during the conference season.

It is impressive. Looking at the stretch, we went 5-1. The 1 loss was a bad home loss to St. John's by 1. That was offset by beating Villanova in the same week. The other 4 wins weren't particularly impressive, all bottom half of the conference teams though some were on the road and by double digits. My guess is we didn't get a lot of help from teams above us losing.

[Uncle Rico]

It is impressive. Looking at the stretch, we went 5-1. The 1 loss was a bad home loss to St. John's by 1. That was offset by beating Villanova in the same week. The other 4 wins weren't particularly impressive, all bottom half of the conference teams though some were on the road and by double digits. My guess is we didn't get a lot of help from teams above us losing.

Wojo coached when the sport was harder

[Not A Serious Person]

I feel the most incredible thing was 2019 being at #10 for 5 straight weeks. Figure they'd go up or down a spot in that timeframe. Especially during the conference season.

Recall what happened in 2019 after the 2/25/19 #10 ranking ... MU was leading the Big East. They were playing at Nova. They were leading with 5 minutes to go.

A win would have given them at least a share of the Big East title. They collapsed the rest of the game and lost. Then MU lost the next four remaining conference games. They went 1 and 1 in the BET and lost in the first round of the NCAA.

So, after leading at Nova with 5 to go, they lost that game, beginning a 1 and 6 stretch to end the season.

But it gets worse!

Preseason polls for 2020 had MU as high as #2 the next season. Then the Hausers wrote a letter and transferred.

All told, it was one of the great college basketball program collapses of all time.  Wojo lucked out as the 2020 season was screwed up with the COVID shutdown, and 2021 was played in front of no fans. Without these "distractions," Wojo might have been shown the door 18 months earlier.

[brewcity77]

Recall what happened in 2019 after the 2/25/19 #10 ranking ... MU was leading the Big East. They were playing at Nova. They were leading with 5 minutes to go.

Yeah, but the top-10 ranking had nothing to do with that. The 4 polls prior to that week had Marquette at 10 or 11. We were essentially at the same spot for a month before the bottom fell out.

[Galway Eagle]

Recall what happened in 2019 after the 2/25/19 #10 ranking ... MU was leading the Big East. They were playing at Nova. They were leading with 5 minutes to go.

A win would have given them at least a share of the Big East title. They collapsed the rest of the game and lost. Then MU lost the next four remaining conference games. They went 1 and 1 in the BET and lost in the first round of the NCAA.

So, after leading at Nova with 5 to go, they lost that game, beginning a 1 and 6 stretch to end the season.

But it gets worse!

Preseason polls for 2020 had MU as high as #2 the next season. Then the Hausers wrote a letter and transferred.

All told, it was one of the great college basketball program collapses of all time.  Wojo lucked out as the 2020 season was screwed up with the COVID shutdown, and 2021 was played in front of no fans. Without these "distractions," he might have been shown the door 18 months earlier.

You're saying we would've fired a coach who had just graduated a two time all American and made the ncaa tournament 3/4 years?

He needed to go, in sales terms he was hitting 80% to goal, on most sales floors make that not enough to get fired but you're obviously not performing either and there's a target on your back if you ever have a down month which is exactly what happened when 2021 hit.

[Not A Serious Person]

Yeah, but the top-10 ranking had nothing to do with that. The 4 polls prior to that week had Marquette at 10 or 11. We were essentially at the same spot for a month before the bottom fell out.

Yes, but the #10 ranking on February 25, 2019 signaled how well the Hauser/Howard team was to that point. The epic collapse at Nova, and 1 for 6 run to end the season, after making it to #10 in the nation with a few weeks left in the season, underscores what an utter debacle that was.

[Not A Serious Person]

You're saying we would've fired a coach who had just graduated a two time all American and made the ncaa tournament 3/4 years?

He needed to go, in sales terms he was hitting 80% to goal, on most sales floors make that not enough to get fired but you're obviously not performing either and there's a target on your back if you ever have a down month which is exactly what happened when 2021 hit.

There was no BET or NCAA. So the season ended without a real conclusion. 

I'm assuming it would have been another Wojo debacle to finish that year, too (right before the COVID shutdown, MU looked awful in losing at Depaul badly). But since the season "just stopped," it was easy to rationalize every warning sign away.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

There was no BET or NCAA. So the season ended without a real conclusion. 

I'm assuming it would have been another Wojo debacle to finish that year, too (right before the COVID shutdown, MU looked awful in losing at Depaul badly). But since the season "just stopped," it was easy to rationalize every warning sign away.

But they would have made the NCAA tournament. They could have finished the year 0-2 and they weren't going to fire Wojo.

Anyway, it was perfect the way it worked out. Shaka would not have been available in 2020.

[Galway Eagle]

There was no BET or NCAA. So the season ended without a real conclusion. 

I'm assuming it would have been another Wojo debacle to finish that year, too (right before the COVID shutdown, MU looked awful in losing at Depaul badly). But since the season "just stopped," it was easy to rationalize every warning sign away.

They were in on every published bracketology and the computer metrics had them in. People have run the projections we were in.

You're right it was 100% another classic Wojo debacle to end the year, but like previously it would have been just barely enough to keep him another year. Given the guys popularity in basketball circles and our perceived place in basketball hierarchy there's no time we fire Wojo before we did where we don't end up looking like the pretty boys.

[wadesworld]

Yes, but the #10 ranking on February 25, 2019 signaled how well the Hauser/Howard team was to that point. The epic collapse at Nova, and 1 for 6 run to end the season, after making it to #10 in the nation with a few weeks left in the season, underscores what an utter debacle that was.

Epic collapse at Nova?  Marquette's biggest lead was 5 in that game lol.  Somebody's needing some clickbate shock lately.

[Not A Serious Person]

Epic collapse at Nova?  Marquette's biggest lead was 5 in that game lol.  Somebody's needing some clickbate shock lately.

February 27, 2019, at 5:17 left in the second half at Nova, #10 MU was leading 60-55. So they had their largest lead with 5 minutes to go.

MU scored just one more point the rest of the way and lost the game 67-61. 

This was the beginning of the 1 for 6 to finish the season.

Explain to me why this was not an epic collapse?

[Uncle Rico]

February 27, 2019, at 5:17 left in the second half at Nova, #10 MU was leading 60-55. So they had their largest lead with 5 minutes to go.

MU scored just one more point the rest of the way and lost the game 67-61. 

This was the beginning of the 1 for 6 to finish the season.

Explain to me why this was not an epic collapse?

Words don't have meanings

[willie warrior]

Yes, but the #10 ranking on February 25, 2019 signaled how well the Hauser/Howard team was to that point. The epic collapse at Nova, and 1 for 6 run to end the season, after making it to #10 in the nation with a few weeks left in the season, underscores what an utter debacle that was.

Ah Yes, the Golden days of Wojo.

[Galway Eagle]

February 27, 2019, at 5:17 left in the second half at Nova, #10 MU was leading 60-55. So they had their largest lead with 5 minutes to go.

MU scored just one more point the rest of the way and lost the game 67-61. 

This was the beginning of the 1 for 6 to finish the season.

Explain to me why this was not an epic collapse?

> 1/8 of the game left sounds like a decent amount to me. People equate basketball to marathons and boxing a lot, let's call 1/8 a round and a half, that's a heck of a lot of fight left or for a marathon that's roughly equal to a 5k which a decent amount of race left. Similarly 1/8 of a game is a lot of game left.

[wadesworld]

February 27, 2019, at 5:17 left in the second half at Nova, #10 MU was leading 60-55. So they had their largest lead with 5 minutes to go.

MU scored just one more point the rest of the way and lost the game 67-61. 

This was the beginning of the 1 for 6 to finish the season.

Explain to me why this was not an epic collapse?

Losing a game that you led by 5 with 5:17 left is not an "epic collapse."  Especially on the road at Villanova.

1-6 down the stretch of the season, with a relatively easy schedule, was an epic collapse.

[rocky_warrior]

Losing a game that you led by 5 with 5:17 left is not an "epic collapse."  Especially on the road at Villanova.

Yeah, the win probability chart really says Villanova avoided the epic collapse after leading most of the game:
https://barttorvik.com/box.php?muid=MarquetteVillanova2-27&year=2019