And so, Big East play has arrived for Marquette.
Honestly, with the way non-conference play went for the Golden Eagles — they’re 4-7 on the year with seven losses to ranked opponents — seeing Big East foes on the schedule is a welcome sight. It is 18 matches against teams and systems that they are familiar with, and given Marquette returns so much of their rotation from last season, the mere knowledge that they went 17-1 against this schedule a year ago should be a big mental boost for Marquette.
With that said, Marquette’s chances at making the NCAA tournament are now effectively completely dependent on making a strong run through conference play.