Bracket Watch

Top Overall Seed

Auburn

First Team Out

Vanderbilt

Last Team In

Texas

The ball seemed to cling to the backboard, and with it, Marquette's magical season was hanging in the balance. A borderline goaltending call sent what would have been a very bad loss to DePaul into overtime, where the Golden Eagles eventually prevailed and remained the class of this season's Big East. For all the talk of SEC, Big Ten and Big 12 dominance, Marquette has put up far and away the best season outside those megaconferences. Not bad for a Sweet 16 team that lost the Big East Player of the Year and was picked just fourth in this season's race. Instead, Shaka Smart's bunch is undefeated in league play and trails only Auburn with nine combined Q1/Q2 wins at the season's halfway mark. What is Marquette's ceiling? The projected 2-seed likely won't post enough Q1 wins to move up to the top line of the bracket, but a third straight No. 2 would be a remarkable feat for a program that has spent its recent years in the shadow of multiple national champions Villanova and Connecticut. With national Player of the Year candidate Kam Jones more than making up for the graduated Tyler Kolek, it might be Marquette's turn to bring an NCAA trophy back to the Big East.