Marquette earns ranking in last Hoopfeed Weekly Poll of the season
With the NCAA Tournament set to begin at the end of the week, Connecticut sits at a familiar place in the last Hoopfeed Weekly Poll of the season. The top-ranked Huskies began the season at the No. 2 position while Notre Dame was No. 1. UConn took over top spot in the second week of the poll but did not gain unanimous first place votes until the week after they defeated Notre Dame, 72-61, on Dec. 7.
While the Irish finished the season 30-3, UConn went undefeated for the second straight season. Their last loss was an overtime contest at Stanford on Nov. 17, 2014. The Huskies’ winning streak is now at 107.
Notre Dame sits at No. 2 in this week’s poll, followed by South Carolina and Baylor. The top four schools are also the top seeds in the following regions of the NCAA Tournament:
- Bridgeport: UConn
- Lexington: Notre Dame
- Stockton: South Carolina
- Oklahoma City: Baylor
Stanford, Maryland, Mississippi State, Oregon State, Duke and Washington round out the top ten. South Carolina, Baylor and Stanford all moved up a spot at the expense of the Maryland Terrapins who dropped three spots to No. 6. The Terrapins garnered a No. 3 seed in the Bridgeport Region behind UConn and No. 2 seed Duke.
The other teams in the top ten are all No. 2 seeds except for Maryland and Washington, a No. 3 seed in the Oklahoma City Region.
Marquette made its first appearance in the poll, coming in at No. 25. The Golden Eagles are coming off a Big East Tournament championship victory over No. 18 DePaul for an NCAA auto bid. Marquette has a 6-0 record against top 25 teams this season. They begin tournament play as a No. 5 seed, the highest in program history, in the Stockton Region facing No. 12 Quinnipiac on Saturday.
Only one team dropped out of the poll. Previous No. 25 Missouri fell to out of the rankings in the final vote tally. However, the Tigers are in the tournament as a No. 6 seed in the Stockton Region.
Mid-major teams that garnered votes in the poll include Green Bay, Gonzaga and Boise State. All three of those teams won automatic bids to the NCAAs with victories in their conference tournament title games.
- Green Bay (Horizon League) is a No. 8 seed in the Lexington Region and opens play against No. 9 Purdue (the Boilermakers garnered one vote in the poll).
- Gonzaga (West Coast Conference) opens play as a No. 11 seed in the Oklahoma City Region against No. 6 seed Oklahoma.
- Boise State (Mountain West Conference), a No. 13 seed, begins the tournament in Los Angeles facing No. 4 seed UCLA.
Missouri Valley Tournament winner Drake remained in the top 25 sitting at No. 21 this week.
Other teams that received votes but were not in the top 25: Temple, Missouri, Arizona State.
| 2017 Postseason Hoopfeed Poll | |||
| Rank | School | Record | Previous |
| 1 | Connecticut | 32-0 | 1 |
| 2 | Notre Dame | 30-3 | 2 |
| 3 | South Carolina | 27-4 | 4 |
| 4 | Baylor | 30-3 | 5 |
| 5 | Stanford | 28-5 | 6 |
| 6 | Maryland | 30-2 | 3 |
| 7 | Mississippi State | 29-4 | 7 |
| 8 | Oregon State | 29-4 | 8 |
| 9 | Duke | 27-5 | 9 |
| 10 | Washington | 27-5 | 10 |
| 11 | Florida State | 25-6 | 10 |
| 12 | Ohio State | 26-6 | 10 |
| 13 | Louisville | 27-7 | 13 |
| 14 | Texas | 23-8 | 14 |
| 15 | Miami | 23-8 | 16 |
| 16 | UCLA | 23-8 | 15 |
| 17 | NC State | 22-8 | 17 |
| 18 | DePaul | 26-7 | 17 |
| 19 | Kentucky | 21-10 | 19 |
| 20 | Syracuse | 21-10 | 21 |
| 21 | Drake | 28-4 | 20 |
| 22 | Oklahoma | 22-9 | 23 |
| 23 | West Virginia | 23-10 | 22 |
| 24 | Kansas State | 22-10 | 24 |
| 25 | Marquette | 25-7 | NR |
