MILWAUKEE — The Marquette University men's basketball team just became outright conference champions for the first time in 20 years.
That's right, of the 11 teams in the Big East conference, Marquette is the best with a 16-3 conference record, with one game remaining in the regular season. That makes them the outright champs.
Marquette earned the title after defeating Butler in Indianapolis Tuesday night.
The last time Marquette won its conference outright was during the 2003 season when Dwyane Wade was on the roster.
That season, Marquette finished with a 14-2 conference record and made it all the way to the Final Four.
Marquette did share a Big East conference championship in 2012-13, but it was split between three teams. Marquette also TECHNICALLY won the Big East during the 2011-12 but only after Syracuse, who finished 14-1, was penalized by the NCAA.
This season was already record-breaking for the Marquette men's basketball team. On Monday, the Associated Press released its latest college basketball top 25 and Marquette was ranked No. 6.
It's the first time since 1978 that Marquette was a top-seven team in the country. The last time was one year after Marquette won the NCAA tournament.
Marquette will wrap up its regular season with a game against St. John's at Fiserv Forum, and then take the No. 1 seed in the Big East tournament.
