On Tuesday, January 24th, Marquette knocked off #1 ranked Villanova, 74-72. The first regular season win over a #1 ranked team in 100 years of MU hoops history moved the Golden Eagles to a 14-6 record on the season, a 5-3 mark in Big East play, and gave them one of the best wins of any team in the country for the 2016-17 season.
A week after that, Marquette seemed to be firmly in the NCAA tournament field. All of the notable bracketology experts slotted the Golden Eagles in as either an 8 or a 9 seed in the national championship bracket.