Navy on the bubble for a berth

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Navy coach Richie Meade is not sure his Midshipmen will be invited to the NCAA tournament when the 16-team field is announced, not with a resume likely to require some help this weekend to keep the team's season alive.

Even with the uncertainty, he still will have a close eye on Sunday night's selection show.

"It's my professional responsibility," Meade said. "I don't want to get calls from all you guys saying 'Congratulations' and having to say 'What are you talking about? I have SpongeBob on here.' "

Indeed, Meade will possess the remote control rather than one of his three young daughters when Navy (9-5) discovers whether its solid RPI (15), decent strength of schedule and victories over Maryland and Ohio State will merit a fifth consecutive tournament appearance.

Results-driven performance accounts for 50 percent of the selection's committee criteria, with RPI (30 percent) and strength of schedule (20 percent) also considered.

Unlike the last four years, when the Mids possessed the Patriot League's automatic berth, there is uncertainty about the immediate future. Navy, which ended the regular season with a 12-9 loss to Colgate in last week's Patriot semifinals, plans to send coaches to scout games this weekend just in case of an invitation.

There are seven automatic qualifiers, and seven of the nine at-large berths — Cornell, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Maryland, North Carolina, Syracuse and Virginia — seem safely accounted for entering the final weekend.

Georgetown (9-3) can probably be penciled into an at-large slot with a victory at Penn State (6-7) tomorrow. The Hoyas possess a lower than usual strength of schedule but also enjoy a sound RPI (eight) and own this season's holy grail — a victory over Duke — as part of their solid resume.

"I just tell our guys you can't worry about things you don't have control over," Georgetown coach Dave Urick said. "Right now what we have control over is how well we prepare and hopefully how well we can perform against Penn State."

That potentially leaves one berth open for losers in the Great Western (two of Denver, Notre Dame and Ohio State) and Patriot (Army and Navy) leagues. A second slot would be in play if Ivy League leader Princeton loses to Brown to hand Cornell the conference title, though the Tigers also would merit consideration for an at-large spot.

That leaves the Mids watching scoreboards all weekend. A Princeton loss would help, as would an Army loss at Penn. A Black Knights setback could be particularly helpful since both academies have identical records and similar schedule strengths. Army owns a slight edge in RPI (12) and a head-to-head victory over the Mids last month.

That started a three-game losing streak for Navy, which has not won since collecting a signature victory at Maryland on April 4.

"The bottom line is we had everything in front us and we let it get away," Meade said. "If we're not chosen, we have nobody to blame but ourselves."

An anxious wait isn't unprecedented for Meade, whose team beat Georgetown and lost to Maryland to land on the edge of tournament inclusion in 1999. Since the Terps also were bubble-bound, the situation didn't look good.

So Meade attended a junior college title game at Anne Arundel Community College the day of the selection announcement, then went home and turned the TV on.

"I said, 'I might as well. I'll be interested to see who plays who,' " Meade said. "The first bracket is Navy is playing Hofstra, and it's like 'Oh, my God.' And then the phone started ringing. It would be nice to have that happen again."