Local Poll Week III: This Thing’s Over

(By John Hawkes - Atlantic 11 Media Inc.)

It’s Week III, and the third annual Atlantic 11 champion has already been decided. Barring some major meltdown or an unforeseen late-season game with Liberty, Georgetown will once again finish on top of this thing. Not only that, but my specially chosen voters, in their infinite wisdom, chose to rank putrid bog residue Virginia ahead of Liberty, a team that beat the Cavs on their own court. It’s enough to make a guy wonder why he’s spending his vacation in Miami publishing wry comments about D.C.-area basketball teams. Anyhow, some observations.

1) The above photo was taken by A11 voter John Hawkes during the tip-off of the long-awaited Georgetown-Maryland showdown. Seriously, thanks Gary and Debbie and JTII and JTIII and everyone else. The game tens of thousands of locals have been craving tips off in front of Mr. M.T. Seat and his huge extended family. At least all of you still have your pride.

2) These votes were cast before Virginia Tech lost to Wisconsin, George Mason lost to Liberty and American lost to Mount St. Mary’s. In other words, I’m spending my vacation time publishing a completely outdated poll.

3) Georgetown was unanimous. That’s been the case in probably half of these. “Boring” doesn’t do it justice.

4) Navy? Seriously?

5) Fine by me, because that means this week’s A11 will have seen an absurd eight games between ranked teams in the past two weeks. (UMBC-GW, Maryland-Georgetown, Liberty-Virginia, Liberty-George Mason, Mount St. Mary’s-American, Georgetown-American, Maryland-George Washington and Navy-Virginia Tech.)

6) I appeared on Jeff Jones’s coach’s show this morning to discuss the A11. Yup, Jeff Jones has a coach’s show. You should all listen to it.

Rankings and pith after the jump.

1. Georgetown (4-1) 850 (85)
–Next: Saturday vs. No. 8 American.
–Having vanquished Maryland in Orlando Lake Buena Vista, Fla., Georgetown now plans to travel to Moose Jaw for next year’s tilt with GW. (Laurence Reszetar)

2. Maryland (4-2) 621
–Next: Tomorrow vs. Michigan.
–More up and down than Mike Singletary’s pants. (Jake Leffler)

3. George Mason (5-2) 607
–Next: Saturday at Drexel.
–After many years of trying, a local team finally manages to beat the powerhouse that is Ohio. (Max Wass)

4. Virginia Tech (4-3) 515
–Next: Sunday vs. No. 9 Navy.
–Hokies entered last night 38- for 118 from three-point range this season. Who is their shooting coach, Plaxico Burress? (Bill Fitzgerald)

5. VCU (3-3) 436
–Next: Thursday vs. Western Michigan.
–I have a feeling “Maynor Scores 30, Rams Lose” will be an oft-repeated headline this season. (Matt Bonesteel)

6. Virginia (3-2) 307
–Next: Tonight at Minnesota.
–After the loss to Liberty, the Cavs must steel themselves for non-conference road games against Life and the Pursuit of Happiness. (Tim Lemke)

7. George Washington 303
–Next: Sunday vs. at No. 2 Maryland.
–What does not losing to the likes of West Georgia, Binghamton and Boston University get you? A spot in the Atlantic 11, that’s what. (Jack Lambert)

8. American (4-3) 268
–Next: Saturday at No. 1 Georgetown.
Building upon its goal to be a “green” university, AU is practicing sustainable scheduling, as its next five opponents are Atlantic 11 foes. (Markus Videnieks)

9. Navy (5-1) 174
–Next: Tonight vs. Texas-San Antonio
–As part of the deal for receiving $3.1B in federal bailout money, BB&T will be required to spot Navy 20 points in Sunday’s event. (Jamie Paquette)

10. VMI (4-2) 165
–Next: Tomorrow vs. Winthrop.
–Holding a contest for local sportswriters to create ledes without using the word “key” to describe their fast start. (Jarrett Carter)

11. Liberty (5-1) 136
–Next: Saturday vs. Gardner-Webb.
–If this keeps up, opposing teams might start to consider scheduling death instead of these guys. (Scott Allen)

Also receiving votes: Richmond 61, UMBC 59, James Madison 46, Mount St. Mary’s 43, Old Dominion 25, Hampton 18, Towson 10, Loyola 5, Radford 4, William and & Mary 4, Morgan State 2, Howard 1, Longwood 1.

voices.washingtonpost.com