Hoya center Greg Monroe is pleased with his team’s bracketologyIt’s now after Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which means that local college basketball enthusiasts should start stockpiling brownie points with the boss — all so that when we call out sick on Thursday and Friday, March 18 and 19, it won’t look quite so bad. Yes, Selection Sunday is but seven weeks away. That said, where are local teams sitting in terms of their NCAA tournament chances? Leave it to the Hi-Lo to sift through the muck and bring you the straight bracketology dope.
Keep Those Dancing Shoes In The Closet: Barring a miracle conference tournament run, American, Coppin State, Hampton, James Madison, Longwood, Loyola (Md.), UMBC, Maryland-Eastern Shore, Mount St. Mary’s, Norfolk State, Towson, and VMI will be watching the Big Dance just like the rest of us. Sorry, guys.
Don’t Get Too Excited, But It Could Happen: They’ll all still need to win their conference tournaments, but Morgan State (leading the MEAC), Navy (sitting third in the Patriot League), Radford (second in the Big South), Liberty (tied for third in the Big South) and even Howard (amazingly, third in the MEAC!) at least have somewhat legitimate chances of pulling it off.
Now to those who will be watching on March 14th with a real vested interest:
Georgetown
Status: In pristine health.
RealTime RPI / SOS / The Bracket Project’s Average Seed: 5 / 7 / 3
Good Wins: at Pittsburgh, Temple, v. Butler, v. Washington, Connecticut
Bad Losses: None
What’s Left To Do: Keep on, keepin’ on. More wins like last Wednesday’s at Pitt — starting with tomorrow night’s huge tilt against #5 Syracuse — could position the Hoyas into play for a number one seed.
George Mason
Status: Barely breathing.
RealTime RPI / SOS / The Bracket Project’s Average Seed: 104 / 160 / N/A
Good Wins: Old Dominion
Bad Losses: at Tulane, at Radford
What’s Left To Do: Absolutely must get quality wins, and avoid any more losses. Mason’s final five games include four against teams in the top 53 of the RPI — winning three or all four would certainly beef up their currently poor resume in a hurry.
