Dave Preston is an AP Top 25 voter. Read his ballots here.
The road to Selection Sunday began in earnest with the resumption of conference play and the first full week of 2025 has the local schools scattered all over the place trying to build worthy resumes for at large consideration (Maryland is in the mix for a No. 8 to No. 11 seed, depending on which website you check out) while stacking conference wins to get better seeding for their respective league tournaments (or as in the case of the Big Ten and ACC, tournament qualification as only the top 15 teams make the bracket).
And in 2025, the conference road literally leads one all over the map.
Just ask Maryland, who rang in the New Year with a trip to Seattle and fell at Washington last Thursday before slipping Sunday at No. 9 Oregon. One thinks that with 18-to-22-year-olds flying cross-country regularly this winter the home/away disparity may rival the Patriot League (see below).
But for the Terrapins, their winless trip west yields the team a third straight 1-3 start in Big Ten play (for the record, the Terps began 0-4 in the Mark Turgeon/Danny Manning season).
Friday, they host No. 22 UCLA, who’re busy licking their wounds from consecutive losses to Nebraska and Michigan and routed the Terps the last time they set foot inside Xfinity Center two years ago. Welcome home!
For those new this year on the Beltway Basketball Beat, we have a weekly “Starting Five”:
Up Top (Thoughts about this week’s AP Top 25 and my ballot):
Tennessee has been No. 1 for the last month, and I’m one of the 45 voters who had the Volunteers atop their ballot this week. They’ll likely drop after falling at No. 8 Florida 73-43 Tuesday evening (the SEC looks loaded this winter). Auburn and Iowa State, Duke and Alabama will have the chance to take the Vols’ place. My biggest variance? I had Arkansas No. 18 and the Razorbacks are among those receiving votes. Toughest omissions: West Virginia, UCLA and Utah State. Small-school shoutout: St. Bonaventure at 14-1 cracks my ballot and holds the No. 25 spot. Dayton and Drake were on last week’s ballot before both lost league games over the weekend.
Going Inside (The Beltway to focus one of the schools that plays inside Interstate 495):
George Washington (13-3, 2-1 Atlantic 10) posted a wire-to-wire win over the Flyers in Foggy Bottom last weekend, holding the league’s best shooting team to 30% from the field in the first half and then surviving multiple rallies after intermission before finishing the game on an 18-4 run.
“We constantly talk about, ‘Don’t react-respond.’ I thought they did a good job when we were taking those haymakers,” Coach Chris Caputo said. “We played very well against a very very good team, and that’s rare. It’s hard to play as well as we did today against a team that’s that good.”
The Flyers shined in pre-conference play with wins over the likes of ranked foes UConn and Marquette, and GW shocked UD with leading scorer Darren Buchanan Jr. on the bench with an injury. The Revolutionaries were also minus Buchanan for Wednesday’s 65-57 triumph at Rhode Island and have a week off before hosting Duquesne next Wednesday.
On the Perimeter (What’s happening in the Commonwealth? Annapolis?):
George Mason (11-5, 2-1 Atlantic 10) met Richmond (7-9, 2-1) Wednesday night and handed the Spiders their first league loss, using a 13-0 start to the second half to take the lead for good.
“Nothing’s going to come easy in this league,” Coach Tony Skinn said. “There’s a lot of things we need to get better at, but a win at home is a win at home and we live to see another day. I’m proud of the way these guys responded in the second half.”
The Patriots prevailed despite leading scorer Darius Maddox going scoreless for the game’s first 34 minutes, but the senior tallied 10 of the team’s last 15 points.
“He’s a really good player — he’s so quick,” Richmond Coach Chris Mooney said. “He’s unique as a shooter because he’s really quick, especially when he first catches the ball. A really great midrange shooter. We just wanted to make sure we were as attached to him as we could.”
Despite the defeat, Mooney added that he feels much better about his team after three conference games than he did two weeks ago.
Who’s Open (Spotlighting a team/teams/player/matchup/oddity to keep your eye on):
American (7-9, 1-2 Patriot League) fell to Navy (5-11, 2-1) in their Patriot League opener last week as Donovan Draper stole the spotlight from conference Preseason Player of the Year Matt Rogers by posting 17 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists. The junior forward’s averaging 15 points with 10 rebounds and five assists during the Midshipmen’s 2-1 start in conference play while shooting 67% from the field (and 5-9 from three).
And while the Mids came up short at Holy Cross Wednesday, that has been the rule thus far as home teams are 15-0 in conference play this winter. That trend is good news for American who hosts Bucknell Saturday and bad news for the Midshipmen who visit Loyola Maryland.
Last Shot (Game to watch — even if I can’t make it courtside on WTOP):
Georgetown (11-3, 3-1 Big East) had a chance to match its best start in league play since the Sweet Sixteen season of 2000-01 but couldn’t keep No. 7 Marquette in check for 40 minutes, falling 74-66 as the Golden Eagles finished the night on a 10-2 run over the final two minutes of regulation? The Hoyas have another tough test Saturday when two-time defending champ UConn drops by the district. So much for year-after fatigue: The No. 9 Huskies ripped off eight straight wins after losing all three games at the Maui Invitational in November, and they also arrive to D.C. looking to bounce back from Wednesday’s 68-66 loss at Villanova.
It’ll be a nice test for a Hoyas defense that allows the fewest points per game and lowest field goal percentage in the Big East, as the Huskies lead the conference in scoring and shooting. I’ll be providing updates from the arena for the 2 p.m. tipoff.
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