With their 3 seed, Marquette is in the West Bracket and their opening round opponent is slightly more difficult, as their getting the winner of the play-in game, meaning they have to do twice the scouting.
Marquette's portion of the bracket does seem a little light on name schools - but they are matched with #2 Mizzou - Big 12 Champions
If they get through their portion of the bracket, they're looking at meeting back up with Louisville or Wisconsin nemesis Michigan State.
Wisconsin will be playing Montana, winners of the Big Sky tournament.
Unfortunately for Wisconsin basketball fans, the two teams will play at virtually the same time on Thursday afternoon, with Wisconsin tipping off around 1:10 locally and Marquette following at 1:45. It's been quite a few years where the two didn't play on opposite days of each other.
Should Wisconsin win, they're looking at a likely matchup with SEC Tournament Champions Vanderbilt, who beat #1 seed Kentucky to win the title. If they get past that tough test, they'd like meet up with #1 seed Syracuse.
Neither team has an easy path to New Orleans, but Marquette probably has a better shot. Syracuse has been tough and Wisconsin keeps stumbling against better opponents.
It could be Marquette's year to be a team of destiny again and their last Final Four run happened in New Orleans.
