"Pretty mediocre teams" don't finish .500 in what might be the best big East conference ever. "Pretty mediocre teams" don't beat Connecticut in New Haven, or blow out Notre Dame, or hold wins over the final four big east tournament teams.
Marquette's problem all year is not having a reliable point guard/leader (although Cadougan is coming on), and not being able to defend the perimiter- although they did tonight.
The Warriors played Xavier on a neutral court last year and blew them away, then played them in Ohio in front of 90% Xavier fans tonight, and blew them away. Lets face it- Xavier is a nice hard working team, but not up to normal Big East standards.
I took, that point, jumped on this game, and cashed with both hands. The better team won, on the road, easily.