Tribe, by a pug whisker

Things are getting pretty tight all around in the Bog Poll. Might be unfair to drop Georgetown two spots because of a close loss at Villanova, but William and Mary has won four straight and ODU's win at Georgetown still pulls weight. Virginia Tech's resume is beginning to tarnish as losses at UNC and Florida State look worse and wins over Miami and Seton Hall are more meh than yeah. ACC as a whole is looking at a down year.

Richmond is pushing hard, but has to get a little more consistent on the road (4-5) to challenge for the A-10 title and an NCAA at-large bid. Tony Bennett has the Cavaliers bamboozling opponents with his slowdown, defense first style. And I am sure that Terps fans are howling about a #8 ranking but I see them about the same as VCU, struggling for steady play. Big drop to GW at #9, who has to be better than La Salle, even on the road, if they want us to believe their improvement will take them further than a return to just the Atlantic 10 Tournament. Any further slipups by the Colonials or Morgan State will precipitate a reappearance by George Mason or the debut of Radford in the Bog Poll Top 10.

For the record, the pithy comments below are the direct result of spending Monday at Valley Forge. More on this later in the week, perhaps.

1/18/10
1. William and Mary (14-3)
If the Tribe doesn't go down the tubes soon, I expect to hear Pat Robertson predict a typhoon in Williamsburg.
2. Old Dominion (14-5)
Won their fifth straight game, taking down Drexel, the only Division I school that rhymes with Nick Van Exel.
3. Georgetown (13-3)
Austin Freeman, Greg Monroe and Chris Wright possess on-court chemistry not seen in Washington since Warren, Brennan and Frankfurter.
4. Virginia Tech (13-3)
Hokies make an impression with a win over Miami but the impression fades with a loss at Florida State, leading to an unimpressive week.
5. Richmond (14-5)
Spiders beat UMass and La Salle, so why can't I get the Paul Simon lyric "shades of mediocrity" out of my head?
6. Virginia (11-4)
Suddenly Charlottesville is a Top 25 slaughterhouse, the Abattoir of the ACC.
7. VCU (12-4)
Rams win at Hofstra, get another victory by beating the traffic on the Long Island Expressway.
8. Maryland (11-5)
Greivis Vasquez can shimmy all he wants but the Terps can't shake their NIT label.
9. GW (11-5)
Aaron Ware's 16 points against La Salle were no match for the Explorers' Aaric Murray's 21 aas the Colonials fell aapaart aagainst their aadversiaries in aan aagonizing aadventure.
10. Morgan State (11-7)
Just trying to get my head around the fact that the Bears beat a team with a player named Arsenio.