The Holy Land of Hoops

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities

Georgetown #21 National
Marquette #86 National
DePaul #123 National (tied)
Seton Hall #123 National (tied)
St. Johns #153 National
Villanova #1 Regional (North)
Providence #2 Regional (North)
Creighton #1 Regional (Midwest)
Butler #2 Regional (Midwest)
Xavier #6 Regional (Midwest)

I'm kinda ticked at this. We just unveiled a big plan to move up in the rankings and instead we dropped down...

MUBoxer wrote:I'm kinda ticked at this. We just unveiled a big plan to move up in the rankings and instead we dropped down...

Relax. We've been hanging around 70-85 for a while. When you get this far down in the rankings where 8+ schools say tie for 67, the numbers jump fast but they don't mean we're actually that far from the next bump.

I've noticed that rankings appear to jump/drop around 5 spots each year. If Marquette had a medical school, it would have a huge jump up the list.

My guess is once the research dollars for the new sports science complex start flowing we will jump up a few spots. It would be nice to start a medical school (like Seton Hall is doing) or buy back our old one (like SLU is doing) but the school hasn't given any indication of that coming down the pike.

Creighton is like #1 for 13 years in a row, wish we could move into the national rankings but I guess we dont have enough PhD programs.

I believe Villanova will be a National University next year.

The national category is what it is: the top research oriented schools in the nation. Obviously, an impressive group at the top. However, being "national" doesn't automatically make a school better than the schools in the other categories. If that were the case, I suspect Wellesley would go co-ed, field a football team and crank up a serious R&D budget. Of course, if you're contemplating sitting for a Phd, then you have no choice.

Beyond that, the methodology and data points in these rankings make for some interesting outcomes. Xavier has floated around in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th spots in this publication's approach for its category over the last 10 years. Frankly, and respecting that other schools aren't standing still, Xavier is an order of magnitude better than it was even 10 years ago. You gotta watch those freshmen retention rates, or they'll give you a black eye (an area that X has slipped in actually).

aughnanure wrote:

MUBoxer wrote:I'm kinda ticked at this. We just unveiled a big plan to move up in the rankings and instead we dropped down...

Relax. We've been hanging around 70-85 for a while. When you get this far down in the rankings where 8+ schools say tie for 67, the numbers jump fast but they don't mean we're actually that far from the next bump.

Yes I get that, and I wasn't expecting us to jump 20 spots but come on after that announcement that they made such a big deal about you cant tell me you aren't a bit underwhelmed

MUBoxer wrote:

aughnanure wrote:

MUBoxer wrote:I'm kinda ticked at this. We just unveiled a big plan to move up in the rankings and instead we dropped down...

Relax. We've been hanging around 70-85 for a while. When you get this far down in the rankings where 8+ schools say tie for 67, the numbers jump fast but they don't mean we're actually that far from the next bump.

Yes I get that, and I wasn't expecting us to jump 20 spots but come on after that announcement that they made such a big deal about you cant tell me you aren't a bit underwhelmed

These things take time. I'd give it a few years and then see where we are. If we are still in the 75-85 range, then we have some cause to complain.