The weekly rankings are below, and you can do with them what you will.
But this entry is about sizing up seeding for conference tournaments.
SEE RELATED:
A bunch of leagues will be held back for next week, simplky because there’s still another three or four games left in the season. Those include the ACC, Atlantic 10, Big East and MEAC, which along with an independent account for 14 teams out of 29.
But that still leaves 15 more schools over plenty of leagues to look at, which means this post will still be plenty long:
AMERICA EAST: Defending champ UMBC can still rise as high as a No. 4 seed and as low as a No. 7. The Retrievers must visit co-leader Binghamton this week, but Randy Monroe‘s team toppled the Bearcats earlier this season at the RAC.
BIG SOUTH: The Big South semifinals (and possibly title game) are locked into Radford‘s Dedmon Center. The Highlanders clinched the regular-season title with a victory against VMI, giving them 13 wins in the last 14 games. It’s tough to figure how good Radford is; it has won eight of those games either in overtime or by 10 points or less. But the Highlanders have still won.
The winner of Tuesday’s VMI-Liberty game in Lynchburg gets the No. 2 seed. The loser will wind up third or fourth.
CAA: Oh, boy. I promise to run this league down again Thursday once the penultimate cycle of games is played. There’s just too many scenarios to run through, although Delaware, Towson and William & Mary will all definitely play in the opening round.
MAAC: It would appear Loyola will probably need two victories this week (Rider and Iona) to avoid the opening round in Albany. Jimmy Patsos‘ team has been up and down, but there’s reason to believe next season will be more promising than a second-division finish.
NORTHEAST: Mount St. Mary’s earns the No. 2 seed with a victory over league leader Robert Morris. The Mountaineers aren’t likely to share the league title; Robert Morris still has a date with league doormat St. Francis (Pa.).
PATRIOT: American is a win away from clinching the No. 1 seed. Navy needs one more win to sew up the No. 3 seed. They meet Wednesday at Bender Arena.
Onto this week’s rundown:
1. Maryland (17-9)
2. VCU (19-9)
3. American (19-7)
4. George Mason (18-9)
5. Georgetown (14-11)
6. Virginia Tech (16-10)
7. Old Dominion (18-9)
8. Morgan State (18-10)
9. Navy (18-9)
10. James Madison (18-11)
11. Radford (17-10)
12. Virginia (9-14)
13. VMI (20-7)
14. Liberty (20-9)
15. Mount St. Mary’s (17-11)
16. Richmond (14-13)
17. Longwood (15-12)
18. Coppin State (11-16)
19. UMBC (12-15)
20. Delaware (12-17)
21. William & Mary (9-18)
22. Loyola (11-18)
23. Hampton (12-14)
24. George Washington (8-16)
25. Norfolk State (9-16)
26. Towson (9-20)
27. Howard (7-19)
28. Delaware State (7-21)
29. Howard (7-19)
—- Patrick Stevens
