Dave Preston is an AP Top 25 voter. View his latest ballot here.
Nobody expected Georgetown to win the Big East this season or even be in the upper tier that recently has been reserved for UConn, Creighton and St. John’s.
But after being picked sixth in the preseason, there was confidence that the third season under head coach Ed Cooley would be fruitful. The Hoyas appeared to find their stride after a slew of heartbreaking losses by stringing together their first four-game winning streak in league play since 2015, but thanks to a February fade, it’s going to be another fallow season.
The Hoyas (13-15, 5-12 Big East) have lost five straight to fall from contending for a first-round bye in the conference tournament to a tie for last place with Marquette. Three consecutive four-point losses assured the Hoyas of a sixth straight losing conference season and Tuesday’s loss to Marquette saw the team shoot 1-13 with three turnovers over the final nine minutes.
Unfortunately, offensive misfires have become the rule lately in a winter during which 14 turnovers led to 23 points in a loss to Villanova and the team shot 1-23 in the second half of a loss to DePaul.
Despite the offseason transfer additions of KJ Lewis (Arizona), Vince Iwuchukwu (St. John’s) and Isaiah Abraham (UConn), the Hoyas still ranked ninth in the Big East in scoring, 10th from 3-point range and last in shooting. And the current Georgetown brand of defense and rebounding remains a far cry from the legends of yore.
While they can still fight their way out of last place with winnable games against Xavier and Providence pending, next week’s game at St. John’s will likely shine a spotlight on how far this program still has to go.
Starting five
Up top: Duke’s 68-63 win over top-ranked Michigan in D.C. last weekend catapults the Blue Devils into the No. 1 spot on my ballot, with Michigan No. 2 for me (Arizona is No. 2 overall). Seven of the top nine schools on my ballot suffered defeat last week, including Houston, who has now dropped three in a row.
Biggest discrepancies: I have No. 15 St. John’s ninth and I voted No. 9 Gonzaga 16th. Toughest omissions: Miami (Florida), Saint Mary’s, Wisconsin and NC State. Small school shout-outs: Saint Louis, Miami (Ohio), High Point and Navy.
Going inside: Maryland (11-17, 4-13 Big Ten) honored the 2001 Final Four team during a first-half media timeout, then had other alumni take the floor at halftime. The current Terps honored those that came before by holding Washington to 3-12 shooting over the final 7:41 of regulation in a 64-60 victory over the Huskies. They also won the battle of the boards against the Big Ten’s fifth-best rebounding team.
Freshman Andre Mills went on a late heater to score the team’s final seven points, including the go-ahead free throws with 57 seconds left. But other teams can lock down on defense too, and after trailing by one at No. 12 Nebraska with 8:45 left in regulation, the Terps were held to 3-12 shooting with two turnovers in a 74-61 loss that drops them into a four-way tie for 14th in the Big Ten.
The other three teams currently hold the tiebreakers with Terps, so Maryland will need a win Sunday at home over Rutgers to have any hope of escaping the new, dreaded first round of the Big Ten tournament.
Perimeter pass: George Mason (21-7, 9-6 Atlantic 10) picked a bad time to hit its worst skid of the season, losing four straight to slide down the conference standings and lose hold of the vaunted double bye in the upcoming conference tournament. The offense has run aground during the slump, scoring 63 points per game compared with their season average of 74.
And after roaring to a historic 18-1 start, Mason now seems like more of a pretender than a contender. Mason takes on 13th-place St. Bonaventure in Fairfax on Saturday before wrapping up the regular season against the conference’s top two teams in VCU and Saint Louis.
Who’s open: Two D.C.-area schools find themselves on the wrong side of the NCAA bubble, with VCU (21-7, 12-3 Atlantic 10) and Virginia Tech (18-10, 7-8 ACC) lurking in ESPN’s “Next Four Out.” CBS has the Rams as the first team to miss the field and the Hokies in the “Next Four Out.”
Virginia Tech has a huge chance to improve its profile Saturday night when the Hokies visit No. 18 North Carolina, and they’ll get another one next Saturday when they travel to No. 11 Virginia.
The Rams face a Fordham team that’s won four straight behind the hot shooting of Dejour Reaves, who’s scored 19 points per game during the streak, before meeting George Mason and Dayton next week. Hokie and Ram fans will also be rooting for the likes of TCU, Santa Clara, Missouri, New Mexico, Cal and Auburn to fall on their faces.
Last shot: American (16-14, 9-8 Patriot) wraps up its regular season Saturday by hosting Boston University. The Eagles are fighting for home court advantage in the conference tournament after Wednesday’s 78-73 loss to third-place Lehigh. They beat the Terriers 64-62 in January behind 16 points from Greg Jones. They held the Patriot League’s most prolific 3-point shooter, Michael McNair, to 1-7 from outside the arc. Can they do it again? I’ll see you courtside.
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