Marquette: Final Four Bound?

Marquette got an advantageous spot in the NCAA tourney. As the #7 seed in the Oakland bracket, Marquette has the following "powerhouses" blocking their path to the Final Four: Indiana, Pittsburgh, Kansas, Gonzaga, UCLA, and Memphis.

Personally, Indiana should not have made the tourney. They were horrid during the regular season, and only turned it on at the end. Pittsburgh and Kansas are solid teams, but not anymore than Marquette. Kansas, in particular, is very streaky, as was most of the Big 12 this season. UCLA played in a very, very weak Pac-10 this year. They had a good season, but they are probably the second most suspect #2 seed in the tourney (with Tennessee being the most).

Memphis is by far the worst #1 seed in this tourney. I can think of 4 teams that deserved it much more than Memphis: Texas, Ohio State, Boston College, Florida. Memphis played in the highly suspect Conference USA. UAB, a bubble team, was their biggest conference match-up. Memphis played 3 tough, physical games against UAB, whom kept them close and even pulled off a victory. UAB is not really a power house. They lost to Minnesota this year.

Finally, there is Gonzaga. Gonazaga University is probably located in the ugliest part of the entire country: Eastern Washington. They played no one this year - NO ONE - yet get so much love from the national media. Their last 3 games - versus USF, San Diego, Loyola-Marrymount - were won by a combined 7 points. There are also not big time programs. They do have 2 great offensive scorers - Adam Morrison, whom some have likened to Larry Bird, and J.P. Batista. However, those people forget that Bird played D - no one is going to mistaken Adam Morrison for Bird in that regard. Steve Novak will be a tough, tough match-up for Morrison, as he has the ability to match him basket for basket on the outstide, and post him up effectively on the inside.

When you think about it, this seed should have been Wisconsin's. They beat Marquette early in the year, and are much better than the #9 seed they received (remember when they were 14-2 and ESPN Bracketology had UW as a #2 seed in January?). Instead they hit a slump, lost their bench, and finished the season 5-9. 5-9 with losses against the likes of North Dakota State, Purdue, Northwestern, Michigan, and Indiana (which got a 6 seed!). And their reward: 2nd round probable match-up and loss against Villanova.