Marquette Inching Forward Towards Rankings

Three straight games, three straight overtime victories, and Marquette may have just punched themselves their ticket into the NCAA tournament. Of course, they still have two big games this week against Louisville and Notre Dame, followed by the Big East tournament, but their play over the last three games has been nothing short of impressive.

Cincinnati, St. John's, and then Seton Hall were all of the teams who fell to Marquette in overtime over the last week. This week is a direct result, you would have to think, of the experience MU has gained this season in close games. Sure, they've had heart breaking losses to teams like West Virginia, Villanova, and even (gulp) DePaul, losses which surely gave them the resolve to win in the fashion they have been.

For their efforts, Marquette is getting a little more love in the recent college basketball rankings. They're still coming in around the 30th ranked team in the country in the Associated Press poll, getting about 20 votes again as they've done for the past few weeks. They did finally get some votes in the USA Today / ESPN poll, something they haven't been able to gather in quite some time. Hopefully they can keep up their momentum and make this tournament after all.

As for the Badgers, they just had one game this week and that was against Indiana, if you want to even call that a game as the Badgers whooped up on the Hoosiers 78-46. They moved up a tad in the rankings, coming in at #15 in the AP, and #17 in the USA Today version. Two games remain for them as well, with Iowa on Wednesday and then a rematch against Illinois this weekend.

And just a reminder, if you weren't already aware - It is March, so let the madness begin. COLLEGE BASKETBALL, HA HA!