Quick question: Which area team has the best chance of making the NCAA Tournament?
Maryland and Georgetown are both under .500 in conference play (although each school has stolen a berth with a conference tournament championship this century). George Washington, American and Howard are under .500 as well … in conference games and overall. Due to the strong fan base in Northern Virginia, we’ll often look to Virginia and Virginia Tech, but this year, the Cavaliers and Hokies are each on the wrong side of the bubble.
George Mason has played well lately (more on the Patriots below) but due to coronavirus pandemic pause has played just a small fraction of its conference slate, and has already shown us this season they’re capable of losing five straight. So do we glance east to Annapolis? Ahoy there? Is that an NCAA-worthy team playing at Alumni Hall?
Navy (14-7, 7-3 Patriot League) is currently tied with Army, percentage points behind yet a half-game ahead of Colgate for the conference lead (due to the Raiders playing three fewer league games). Just like last season, the Mids picked up a Power Six win on the road (and beating Virginia at John Paul Jones Arena is a little bit bigger than topping Georgetown at McDonough Arena these days).
The Patriot League is all about bus rides up and down the Interstate 95 corridor, and solid team defense travels well on cold nights in February if one wants to get to March. That’s exactly where Coach Ed DeChellis’ team is built this winter: the Mids lead the Patriot League in scoring defense, field goal defense, defending the three and rebounding margin (they’re slacking when it comes to turnover margin where they rank second). In their victory over American, the Mids held the Eagles to 1-18 from three-point range. That’s defensive dominance.
But while this team perhaps gives the school its best chance at reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1998, it’s far from a done deal. Just a game-and-a-half separate first from fifth place in the Patriot League, and Navy plays four of its next five on the road (including two games against schools they’ve already lost to at home).
While the defense has been stellar this season, they did let a 40-18 lead at home to Army disintegrate into an overtime loss. They’ll visit West Point next weekend looking for a little payback, and will get two more helpings of revenge (a dish best served cold) when they face Loyola Maryland. The Greyhounds merely eliminated Navy last year in the conference tournament after the Mids captured their first regular season title since 2000. Buckle up for one fun February.
This week’s starting five:
Up top: Auburn stays No. 1 on this week’s ballot, and while the Tigers are atop the AP Top 25, they’re tied for first this week in the Coaches Poll with Gonzaga (after being No. 2 last week). Top Ten teams Arizona, Kansas, Baylor and Michigan State each dropped after losses. Mid-Major shout-outs this week go to Davidson (tough loss at VCU but the Wildcats still lead the A-10), Boise State and Murray State. Difficult omissions include Marquette, Tennessee, Indiana, LSU, St. Mary’s, Loyola-Chicago and Toledo.
Going inside: Maryland (11-11, 3-8 Big Ten) fell behind Michigan State by 15 on Tuesday thanks to one of their patented scoreless stretches (6:26 spanning the end of one half and the start of another) before rallying to knot-up the Spartans on a Fatts Russell three with 2:49 left in regulation. Sadly, that would be their final basket of the night in a 65-63 loss to the Spartans sealed when Malik Hall sunk a layup with 1.9 seconds remaining. “We thought they were going to get into a side-ball screen and it became kind of a roll-and-replace type of action,” Interim Coach Danny Manning said. “Hall made a good read, put his head down, and with his right hand got to the basket and made a tough shot.” Instead of a third win over a ranked foe this winter and a nice shot in the arm to begin February, the Terps find themselves mired in the possibility of playing in the dreaded first round of the Big Ten Tournament (right now, they own the tiebreaker for 11th place with Northwestern). “We can definitely pull a couple of things from this game and use it to continue to build,” Manning said. “What we’re trying to do here is build momentum going into the tail-end of the conference season.” There’s no letup with a trip to No. 16 Ohio State Sunday, televised nationally on CBS.
On the perimeter: George Mason (11-7, 4-1 Atlantic 10) has won four straight after dropping its conference opener at George Washington, a game that still stings head coach Kim English. “That was not our program standard,” English said. “We had to take a hard, humble look at ourselves and get back to who we are as a team-on both sides of the ball.” Since returning to their roots, Mason’s moved up the A-10 standings and currently occupy second place (with the caveat that they’ve played 2-4 fewer league games than anyone else in the conference at this time). “I am pleasantly surprised at how committed our guys are to getting better each day,” English said. “They have a workmanlike approach in our structure and how we practice, how we watch film, and how we develop our guys.” Next up? Saint Louis leads the A-10 in scoring and rebounding margin while boasting the conference’s top scorer in Gibson Jimmerson (18.1 points per game). “He can score on all three levels,” English said. “He does a really good job driving, being strong, getting to the rim.” And Jimmerson has the league’s assists leader Yuri Collins (8.4 per game) setting up him. Eagle Bank Arena should be rocking Wednesday night.
Who’s open: Saturday George Washington hosts Atlantic 10-leading Davidson. The Wildcats fell for the first time in league play last week at home against VCU, and just like the Rams, they’ve enjoyed early success since joining the A-10 last decade with two trips to the NCAA plus three NIT bids in six non-pandemic ended seasons. Coach Bob McKillop has another special team this winter, getting ranked for the first time since the 2014-15 season. The Wildcats lead the conference in shooting, free throws, and three-point shooting. That will be a big test for a Colonials offense that has grinded its gears at times (last in three-point shooting, second to last in scoring and assist-to-turnover ratio). But GW beat Fordham last weekend and as we saw in their comeback against George Mason are capable of beating anyone in the league.
Last shot: Sunday’s Georgetown game against No. 15 Providence will be the 1,500th for longtime radio announcer Rich Chvotkin. He has been the voice of the Hoyas since the 1974-75 season and his only absences behind the mic were during the First Gulf War (the Army veteran was in the Reserve at the time and deployed to Saudi Arabia and worked as a psychotherapist in the combat stress control unit). Rich has seen the program rise from an independent that had one NCAA appearance and two NIT berths in program history to a national brand and force to be reckoned with. His voice has been the soundtrack to the school’s eight Big East Tournament titles (from the first one in 1980 to this past March), four Final Fours and the 1984 National Championship. When I first moved to the area, Rich’s voice reminded me of Larry David as George Steinbrenner on Seinfeld. In a world where there’s often a color analyst/sideline reporter/studio host, Rich handles the entire call himself. For a while he even announced the entire Big East Tournament (thankfully for his sanity he stopped when it became a five-day affair, not because of the overwork but because no nobody should have to announce Rutgers-DePaul). Here’s to hitting 1,500. I’ll be enjoying a calzone.
