MARQUETTE AN INTERESTING NCAA SEEDING DILEMMA

March 6, 2009


The Syracuse Post-Standard takes an indepth look at the impact that the Fallen Eagle, Dominic James, will have on the NCAA seeding of Marquette. The Golden Eagles were 23-4 and a top-10 team in the country before losing James for the season with a broken foot. MU has dropped their last three games, albeit against three possible #1 NCAA Tournament seeds in Pitt, UConn and Louisville, but the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee has a very small window to evaluate the James-less Marquette squad.

Still, the season goes on and Marquette will host Syracuse in the Bradley Center in what should be an emotional send-off for seniors Jerel McNeal, Wesley Mathews and Dwight Burke, who will be playing their final home game, as well as for James, who along with McNeal and Mathews is a 1,000-point career scorer in his four year career.

Marquette will have Saturday afternoon and the 2009 Big East Tournament to show the committee what kind of team they are without their senior floor general. Marquette, no matter what happens on Saturday, is locked in to the fifth seed in the Big East Tournament which means they begin action on Wednesday at 2 PM in the 'Garden' against the winner of the 12-13 seed game from Tuesday afternoon. The most likely candidates are St. John's and Seton Hall.