At face value, there’s nothing wrong with losing on the road to Seton Hall like Marquette women’s basketball did this past Sunday.
It stinks because it cost Marquette their first Associated Press top 25 ranking since 2019, but it’s not a bad loss. While the Pirates struggled a little bit to start the season, it’s clear that they’re playing like the team that made a deep WNIT run a year ago and has their eyes on an NCAA berth this season. Dropping a road game to them isn’t a problem for Marquette’s overall season success. It’s really hard to go through conference play without a loss, and with three teams in the top 25 right now and three more (including Marquette) receiving AP votes this week, it’s even more likely to take road losses in that kind of a league.