This isn't really a preseason version of the poll, because the season is already underway. And it's not really fair to call it a Week 1 poll, because there hasn't been a full week of games yet for all the teams.

So we're going to call this the Opening Week edition of the Schuylkill 16. The next edition of the rankings will appear here on Wednesday, Nov. 25. We'll call that Week 3, and go from there.

It's not easy to do a ranking at this point in the season because we have so little information to work from. But we have plenty of comments to make up for it.

We also have what I will politely call an outlier in the first-place voting. Make fun of him as you wish.

On a less light note, I've added a new feature this year that I'm calling the Progression. It's a bit math-heavy, but I think it's sort of interesting. It works something like this.

Theoretically, if every voter cast the exact same ballot, the progression of points (thus the title) would be a straight line. Multiply the number of voters times one for the first place team, times two for the second place team, and so forth.

The chart that you'll displays the progression of points from the ballots that were cast compared to that straight line. I think it's got some kind of official name, but I haven't taken a math class in a really long time. If you know, post something in the comments.

Finally, a special thanks to the many new voters out there. Tf you want to join the party, just email me. The more the merrier.

I'll be back at around 6:45 for live coverage of Drexel at St. Joe's from courtside at Hagan Arena. See you then.

1. Villanova, 29 points (26 first-place votes)
- "You can pencil in #1 for 'Nova all season long. There is no team in the area better than the Wildcats." (Mike Birnbaum)
- "Has a lot of pressure on them with the pre-season No. 1 pick in the Big East." (Ryan Wixted)
- "A lot of expectations this year, but they won't need another Final Four run to stay #1 in this poll.  This could be the only team in the S16 to make the tournament." (Nick Catrambone)

Agree or disagree?

- "If Villanova legitimately drops out of the top spot in this poll, I'll jump in the Schuylkill." (Neil Fanaroff)

And there's your pith of the week.

2. Temple, 84 points
- "Really curious to see how they handle the first couple of weeks. Ryan Brooks and Lavoy Allen are going to have to step up the scoring with the loss of Dionte Christmas." (Ryan Wixted)
- "Depending on how well Brooks and Allen take the lead Temple's season could go south. (Max Wheeling)
- "It's going to be fun getting to watch Juan Fernandez for a full season. Might be the most exciting player in the area." (Mike Birnbaum)

Shall we start handicapping the Geasey Award now?

- "Unfortunately for Fran and gang, Christmas only came for 4 years." (Fred David)

3. La Salle, 110 points
- "Aaric Murray could put La Salle back into the post-season this year." (Mike Birnbaum)
- "In my mind, the Explorers have the best shot at finishing second in the S-16 this year." (Josh Wheeling)
- "Dr. John has his best team yet at La Salle.  An at-large bid in the tourney is a stretch but it's a step in the right direction for the program." (Nick Catrambone)
- "Giannini's fingerprints are all over this team and he finally has the right pieces in place to make a run in the A-10." (Ryan Wixted)
- "La Salle will beat Villanova and return to the NCAA tournament." (Charlie Wohlrab)

That would be quite a result, wouldn't it? The teams meet Nov. 28 at the Pavilion.

4. Penn State, 112 points
- "Penn State could be a real sleeper in the Big Ten this year." (Terrence D.)
- "Wins in the Big Ten will be hard to come by this year, so a lot will have to go right for another 10-8 conference record." (Nick Catrambone)

5. Saint Joseph's, 154 points
- "It's going to be a rough year in a tough A-10 for the Hawks.  Govens and Williamson are a nice backcourt, but they'll need others to step up for St. Joe's to have a respectable season." (Nick Catrambone)
- "The loss of Nivins and Carr will lead to a significant drop off for St. Joseph's and lead to a fairly one-sided Holy War." (Max Wheeling)
- " I think they can make a run late and hang in a competitive A-10." (Ryan Wixted)

6. Rutgers, 185 points
- "I think they're trying to hide something from us: 10 straight home games against cupcakes to open the year.  Whatever success they have early will end in January, another year at the bottom of the Big East for the Scarlet Knights." (Nick Catrambone)

7. Drexel, 187 points

8. Penn, 235 points
- "Penn's margin of defeat for their two games this weekend might be 70. Just once I'd like to be the big dog opening the season against a cupcake." (Neil Fanaroff)
- "I can feel it in the air; this is the year for the Quakers!" (Fred David)

In basketball or women's lacrosse?

9. Rider, 248 points
- "I probably have Rider way too high, but I like that first place vote they got in the MAAC preseason poll." (Brian O'Neill)
- "Great non-conference challenges for Rider in November with trips to Mississippi State, Virginia, Kentucky, and Cancun. Talk about scheduling tough. I can't wait to work on my tan in Cancun!" (Steve Rudenstein)

A special welcome to Steve, who is the Broncs' radio broadcaster.

10. Princeton, 276 points

11. Delaware, 297 points

12. Lehigh, 299 points
- "Can someone explain the difference to me between Lehigh and Lafayette?  Is it the same school?  I've always been confused by this." (Terrence D.)

The one hosts Eagles training camp and the other hosts Crayola. Right?

13. Bucknell, 303 points
- "They might be the biggest team in the Patriot League, but I'm not sure if there's enough talent." (Nick Catrambone, who has clearly done his homework)

14. Lafayette, 369 points
- "The biggest question mark in the S16." (Nick Catrambone, again)

15. Monmouth, 389 points

16. Delaware State, 399 points

Returning to college basketball a bit faster than I thought we would...

The Big 5 just announced its 2010 Hall of Fame class, and it's a big one: John Chaney, Rollie Massimino and Speedy Morris.

You knew they'd all be inducted at some point, but to have it happen in the same year is quite something.

The date and location of the ceremony have not yet been announced. Villanova plays La Salle on Nov. 18 at the Pavilion and Temple on Dec. 13 at the Liacouras Center. As far as I know, the dates of the Temple-La Salle games have not been announced yet.

I wonder if they'll do it when Temple plays at Penn, which will be in mid-January from what I've heard. Massimino has at least a marginal connection to Penn, having served as an assistant to Chuck Daly for one season, and Fran Dunphy was an assistant to Morris at La Salle for three seasons.

I also wonder if people will complain about Massimino's induction. I think he deserves it because of the national championship. Or, to put it another way, I don't see how you can't induct him - especially when Harold Jensen, Dwayne McClain and Ed Pinckney are already in. If you're going to have a place to honor the best players and coaches in Big 5 history, then Massimino should be there, even with everything that came afterwards.

What do you think?

Here are the bios for each coach that the Big 5 sent along:

Chaney, 77, spent 10 seasons building Philadelphia's Cheyney State (now Cheyney University) into a Division II power before taking the helm at Temple for the 1982-83 season. In his 24 years with the Owls, Chaney led Temple to 17 NCAA Tournament appearances and five regional finals.

Known as a great educator and a fiery, inspirational leader, Chaney and his teams became regarded for their discipline, teamwork and defense. He finished his college coaching career with 741 wins, including a record of 516-253 at Temple. Chaney twice was national coach of the year and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001.

Massimino, 74, was an assistant to Chuck Daly at Penn in the 1972-73 season before commencing a remarkable 19-season career as Villanova's head coach from 1973-92. As the leader of the Wildcats, Massimino led the program into the new Big East Conference in 1980 and oversaw Villanova's subsequent transformation to a national power.

Villanova made the NCAA Tournament 11 times under Massimino, including the famed 1985 national championship upset of Georgetown as well as four other trips to the elite eight. Overall, Massimino compiled a record of 357-241 (.596) at Villanova.

Morris, 67, was the head coach at La Salle for 15 seasons from 1986-2001. In his first year at La Salle he led the Explorers to a 20-13 record and the NIT final. From there it was more success with MAAC titles and NCAA appearances in each of the next three seasons, culminating with a 30-2 campaign in 1989-90 that produced the national player of the year, Lionel Simmons.

La Salle made the NIT the following season before claiming another MAAC title and NCAA bid in the 1991-92 season, completing a run of six straight postseason berths. In all, Morris would go on to finish with 238 wins at La Salle, the most in school history.

An alert reader sent along a note that Morris began his coaching career with a two-year stint as the Explorers' women's coach, from 1984-86. I asked Mel Greenberg about this and he noted that Morris was one of the first Division I coaches to make the jump from the women's game to the men's game.

One of the nice things about the summer lull in college sports news is that I get to catch up on all the magazines I didn’t have time to read during the spring.

That includes the April issue of Basketball Times, in which Hoop Scoop’s Clark Francis ranked the 50 best head coaches in college basketball. Lists like these are always great for starting conversations, so let’s have at it.

Francis doesn’t say much about his criteria, except that Rick Pitino tops the list “based on the way the Cardinals played this season.” The column was also written before the NCAA Tournament, which might be why Roy Williams came in second.

Mike Krzyzewski is third, Jim Calhoun is fourth and John Calipari is fifth. The top-ranked local coach is Villanova’s Jay Wright, who comes in 22nd. That seems a bit low to me, and I suspect it might to some of you as well.

Coaches also ranked ahead of Wright include Wisconsin’s Bo Ryan, a Chester native, at No. 12, Minnesota’s Tubby Smith at No. 13 and UNLV’s Lon Kruger at No. 18.

The coaches immediately ahead of Wright are Michigan’s John Beilein at No. 19, Gonzaga’s Mark Few at No. 20 and George Mason’s Jim Larranaga at 21. Davidson’s Bob McKillop follows Wright at No. 23, Tennessee’s Bruce Pearl is No. 24 and Georgetown’s John Thompson III at No. 25.

I personally think Kruger, Smith and Larranaga are too high. Kruger has got UNLV back on the winning track, but not anywhere close to where it was under Jerry Tarkanian, and Smith’s greatest successes came when he was at Kentucky. And I like what Larranaga has done a lot, but VCU has been the better team in the CAA since Mason’s Final Four run.

Wright, on the other hand, is ushering Villanova through a sustained period of success, and it looks like that will continue with the incoming recruiting class. I’m sure the rankings would have been different had they been conducted after the NCAA Tournament, but even without that I think Wright deserves more credit than Francis gave him.

Two other local coaches made Francis’ ranking: Temple’s Fran Dunphy at No. 48 and Phil Martelli of St. Joseph’s at No. 50. I think those ratings are fair.

Some other notable names on the list: Maryland’s Gary Williams at No. 26, Notre Dame’s Mike Brey (formerly of Delaware) at No. 36 and Siena’s Fran McCaffery at 46.

I also can’t help noting that now-former USC coach Tim Floyd was ranked No. 29. I think we can safely say that Floyd wouldn’t deserve to be in this list if it was assembled today. We don’t deal with the Pac-10 that much on here, but I think we can agree that we won’t miss him or his recruiting methods all that much.

After ranking the Top 50 coaches, Francis ranked what he called the “Next 50.” He ranked 30 “Coaches in Mid-Career” and 20 “Up-and-Coming Coaches.”

La Salle’s John Giannini made it to No. 25 on the Mid-Career list, and Penn State’s Ed DeChellis was No. 28.

Notable names included Dayton’s Bryan Gregory at No. 5; Rhode Island’s Jim Baron at No. 8; Northwestern’s Bill Carmody (formerly of Princeton) at No. 10; Cincinnati’s Mick Cronin at No. 16; American’s Jeff Jones at No. 19 and Cornell’s Steve Donahue at No. 23.

I’m not sure about Mick Cronin. Maybe he can turn Cincinnati around, but the Bearcats’ 8-10 record in the Big East this season was underwhelming. They also haven’t beaten local rival Xavier since the 2004-05 season.

Anthony Grant, who moved from VCU to Alabama in March, is the at the top of the Up-and-Coming list. Notable names include Marquette’s Buzz Williams at No. 3, Providene’s Keno Davis at No. 5, Oregon State’s Craig Robinson (Barack Obama’s brother-in-law) at No. 11.

Two former St. Joe’s assistants are on that list as well: Mike Rice (now at Robert Morris) at No. 12 and Matt Brady (James Madison) at No. 20.

One name not listed: Drexel's Bruiser Flint. Surprising? I think you can make a case for him to be somewhere in the "Next 50."

But wait, there’s more. Francis also ranked the Top 100 assistant coaches and the Top 50 “Low-to-Mid-Major” assistant coaches.

Notable names on the first list include West Virginia’s Billy Hahn, the former La Salle head coach, at No. 3; now-former Villanova assistant Pat Chambers at No. 31; Rutgers’ Jim Carr at No. 50; Temple’s Dave Duke at No. 60; Penn State’s Kurt Kanaskie at No. 81; Villanova’s Jason Donnelly at No. 83; Geoff Arnold of St. Joe’s at No. 92 and La Salle’s Walt Fuller at No. 96.

Notable names on the second list include Drexel’s Tony Chiles at No. 21; Penn’s John Gallagher at No. 32; Robert Morris’ Andy Toole (who played at Penn) at No. 36; and Delaware’s R.C. Kehoe at No. 37.

Yes, there are a lot of local names on those lists, and we know some better than others.

What do you think of all this, especially the head coach rankings?

We finally have the answer to the season's last big question: Ahmad Nivins of St. Joe's has won the Robert V. Geasey Trophy as the Big 5's Most Outstanding Player.

You could argue for Dionte Christmas, and I would have if asked to vote at the end of the regular season. You could argue for Dante Cunningham, and if ballots were cast this week he'd probably have won it.

But regardless of timing, if you take either of them off their respective teams would it have anywhere near the kind of impact as St. Joe's without Nivins? No.

Having said that, the award is for Most Outstanding Player, not Most Valuable. But Nivins' numbers make one heck of a case: 19.2 points and 11.8 rebounds a game and 61.2% field goal shooting in an average of 39.3 minutes per game.

That last number is really something for a big man.

Cunningham averaged 16.1 points and 7.4 rebounds a game and shot 52.5 percent from the field, by comparison. Christmas averaged a City Series-best 19.5 points per game, but as a guard it's not as easy to make a straight statistical comparison to Nivins.

Who would you have chosen?

All-Big 5 First Team

C Ahmad Nivins (St. Joseph's)
F Dante Cunningham (Villanova)
G Scottie Reynolds (Villanova)
G Dionte Christmas (Temple)
G Rodney Green (La Salle)

All-Big 5 Second Team

F Lavoy Allen (Temple)
F Dwayne Anderson (Villanova)
G/F Reggie Redding (Villanova)
G Corey Fisher (Villanova)
G Tasheed Carr (St. Joseph's)

Temple coach Fran Dunphy (left) and Villanova coach Jay Wright (right) were the centers of attention at the Palestra this morning. (Alejandro A. Alvarez/Staff Photographer)

The morning after Selection Sunday is always one of my favorite times of the college basketball season.

Even though it usually follows a night with far too little sleep, the reward for getting up before sunrise is a trip to the Palestra for the Coaches vs. Cancer March Madness Tip-Off Breakfast.

We talk all the time about the sense of community that exists among the City Six schools, but this day more than any other is when it is made clear to the region and the nation.

The breakfast brings together coaches, administrators and hundreds of fans, and as you walk down the ramp to the arena floor it seems like everyone in the building knows each other by first name.

In addition to a range of fundraising activites for Coaches vs. Cancer, the highlight of the morning is hearing Final Four picks from all six of the region's coaches and a panel of local media members.

This year's media panel included Howard Eskin, Joe Juliano, Dick Jerardi, Mike Kern, Dei Lynam and Harry Donahue.

As happens every year, I tried to record it, and as happens in more years than I would like, my audio recorder bombed during the recording. So I give you some transcribed highlights from what I could recover.

Eskin started by complimenting Fran Dunphy's mother for cheering La salle when the Explorers beat Temple, then picked Alabama State to win the play-in game and Memphis to make the Final Four "because I'm always a John Calipari guy because all the coaches here can't stand him except Bruiser."

"The one thing that I can go against here," Eskin continued, "because Phil [Martelli] thinks North Carolina's going to win the national championship, they're out. Phil never wins these things. Never."

"Why don't you save it 'til this afternoon," Martelli retorted. "Go on this afternoon - you don't know what you're talking about. Do that for four hours. Don't waste these people's times."

Eskin got the last word in, noting that the St. Joe's coach "did it this morning with Angelo, so I'm just following your lead."

The feud between Martelli and Eskin is well known. Yet Eskin said that Martelli's endorsement of Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim was enough to pick the Orange to make the Final Four.

Villanova coach Jay Wright was asked to weigh in on the matter.

"I like when he and Phil go at it - I think that's what everybody comes for," Wright said. What did [Eskin] say about Boeheim? I don't listen to him."

Penn coach Glen Miller admitted that he fell asleep during the six-overtime Syracuse-Connecticut game, but added that he'll be paying plenty of attention to the Huskies for the rest of the month.

"Bruiser's rooting for Memphis for his ticket upgrades, and I'm rooting for Connecticut," said the former assistant to Jim Calhoun, who said he has UConn facing North Carolina in the national championship game.

"No bias there?" emcee Neil Hartman of Comcast SportsNet asked Miller.

"Excuse me?" Miller replied. After a dramatic pause, he admitted to "a little bias."

Donahue, who calls Temple basketball games on the radio, told a story about one difference between working with John Chaney and Fran Dunphy. Apparently Chaney let Donahue and color man John Baum travel on the plane, but after landing they were responsible for their own transportation.

Dunphy allows the radio guys on the team bus, but Donahue said the price of admission is being regularly told "how little I know about the game."

La Salle coach John Giannini picked quite a few upsets: North Dakota State over Kansas, Cornell over Missouri "if they can beat the press" (good luck with that), and Western Kentucky over Illinois.

He also said that American will "go right at Jay's guys" against Villanova, and "make it more difficult on them than some people may realize."

Giannini would know at least something of what he speaks, as the Explorers played the Eagles last season before AU threw a scare into Tennessee in March.

Inquirer college basketball writer Joe Juliano joined the chorus picking a Villanova-Pittsburgh East Regional final, but went for the Panthers over the Wildcats on the theory that DeJuan Blair will have learned his lesson after losing at the Spectrum.

His upset pick was Missouri out of the West region, taking down Memphis and Connecticut on the way.

Then came Bruiser Flint's turn. As Hartman said, the stage was his to explain why Memphis will win the national championship.

"Why should I?" Flint retorted. "I did it last year - I sat behind the bench and watched the game. The guy's won 30 games four years in a row, he's got two guys that aer the all-time winningest seniors in the history of college basketball, they're good. They're good."

He continued, and even without the audio I'm sure you'll be able to hear this part in your minds.

I know Cal gets on you guys' nerves, he thinks all this stuff up, he runs it by me before he gets it... everybody gets upset. But the guy wins basketball games. But the greatest thing - and Glen knows about this - if they play UConn in the final eight, that will be one of the all-time handshakes before a game that you will ever see in history.

Please, people, tell me you're going to show it on camera. Calhoun and Calipari hate each other. No, no, no, I don't think you all understand. These two guys HATE each other. First thing Cal said to me last night: "Ooh, I can't wait until the final eight." I was like, "You're crazy - why don't you get there first?"

Pay attention to it if they make it. That's going to be the greatest handshake of all time when those two guys stand next to each other.

As for his Final Four picks, Flint couldn't quite send Villanova all the way.

"I'm not going to say they're going to go to the Final Four, because you know, those Villanova guys get a little crazy," he said, picking them to lose the regional final to Pittsburgh. "I'm a St. Joe guy - if Villanova goes to the Final Four again, Phil, we might have to go up there and break some windows."

Mike Kern had some of the best - and most honest - quotes of the morning.

"All I do, I root for the local teams to go as far as they can because to me, that's what it's all about," he said. "I root for Dunph to win, Jay to win, Drexel's women, whoever's playing basketball games."

In particular, he'd like to see Villanova play Duke in the Sweet 16.

"I just think it will be one of the great matchups in the tournament," Kern said.

Kern closed his remarks with a paragraph or so about the region's coaches that I thought was especialy profound, and summed up really well why our local college basketball scene is such a special thing.

"We get to deal with these guys all year, and you just have to understand how lucky you are in Philadephia to have a group of guys who not only can coach - because they can do that - but they get it," he said. "We bump heads with them every now again, and sometimes they're even right. But don't take these guys for granted, because I think too often we do, both for what they do with their teams and what they do away from their teams. They may not always be here. So don't take this for granted."

I'll second that.

After the panel session I got interviews with all six of the coaches. Unfortunately, my interview with Fran Dunphy got totally screwed up by my audio recorder, but the other five made it okay.

Technology screwing over a web guy. Who knew?

There's a little bit of news tonight: the NCAA Women's Tournament field has been released, and La Salle guard Darryl Partin is transferring. Philly Hoops Insider has that news, though there's no word on where Partin is headed.

I'll be back tomorrow, and in my next post I'll give you my picks for the Midwest region. Remember to join Philly.com's Hoops Hysteria contest, and in particular to join me and your fellow blog readers in our pool group.

View gallery

ATLANTIC CITY - Let's conclude today by taking a look back at the action and assembling the multimedia all in one place.

The best game of the day was definitely Duquesne's 91-81 win over Massachusetts. The Dukes were up by as many as 19 points during the first half, but the Minutemen stormed back to draw within a point on a floater by Ricky Harris with under two seconds left before halftime.

UMass took a two-point lead a few times, including with 11 minutes left in the game. But after Duquesne forced the eighth tied score of the half two possessions later, the Dukes re-asserted themselves for good and pulled away for the win.

The game was full of interesting statistics, including great efficiency for both sides. UMass averaged 1.10 points per possession and Duquesne averaged 1.223. This despite the fact that the Minutemen missed 43 of the 76 field goal attempts they took, including 26 of 34 missed attempts from three-point range. But they got 19 offensive rebounds and shot a respectable 7-11 from the free throw line (though that isn't too many attempts.)

Duquesne shot 50.9 percent from the field for the game, including 11-for-24 from beyond the arc. They made a total of 28 field goal attempts and recorded assists on 20 of them. Also impressive was the 14 overall fouls committed, with only two players committing three fouls.

The best fans of the day were St. Bonaventure's. Sorry, St. Joe's and La Salle. But it's worth noting that one of the St. Joe's students I know told me she was disappointed with the Hawks fans' turnout.

You wonder whether things would have been different if they'd reversed the order of games and had La Salle and St. Joe's (plus Xavier and Temple in the second round) play at night. Just saying.

We'll close with a noteworthy line from each game and the various multimedia offerings. Tonight you get audio of the La Salle, St. Joe's and Charlotte press conferences, and video highlights of the St. Joe's press conference.

The La Salle audio is a bit choppy because of some glitches with the feed that came into my recorder. I've cleaned it up as best I can, but if you want more, click here for a quote sheet with La Salle and Saint Louis.

I'll talk to you again tomorrow. There's certainly a lot to discuss overnight - including what you think of the fact that Phil Martelli only used seven players in today's win.
   

ATLANTIC CITY - I admit this was supposed to get out before today's games started. But in addition to having my laptop stolen last night, my inbox was overstuffed and I couldn't get the ballot sent until I got to Boardwalk Hall today.

Although La Salle and St. Joe's have already played today, I asked voters to not count those results in their ballots. I'll be back later with thoughts on and multimedia from today's action.

Before we get there, however, breaking news this evening: Penn's student newspaper, The Daily Pennsylvanian, is reporting that Quakers guard Harrison Gaines will transfer.

Gaines' father, Harry, wrote a press release that the paper received, which included Harrison staiting that Penn "wasn't a good fit ... I believe my long-term satisfaction lies in joining another university team."

Gaines also said in the release that he is seeking to join a "fast-paced, inclusive basketball program" and "a school where I have confidence in the basketball team's leaders."

This is obviously a huge blow for Penn and in particular for Quakers coach Glen Miller. I am not very well-versed in the details of what is going on here but Gaines' contributions on the court have been clear for all to see. How Miller replaces Gaines' talents on offense - and how this affects the rest of the program off the court - will be major questions this spring and summer.

Okay, back to the Schuylkill 16, and this is the final ranking of the season. It has been a resounding success, by far the most popular college basketball feature I've done in this blog's three-year existence.

I offer a profound and public thank-you to all of the voters who participated. Some were anonymous and some were not, and you'll hear from many of them one last time here today.

If I'm still doing this next season, I hope the ranking will return. It's been a lot of fun to put together and I hope you've enjoyed reading it. Next week I hope to put together some data with average ranking over the season and also a comparison of where each team started and ended in the ranking.

1. Villanova, 10 points (10 first-place votes)
- "Villanova playing for seeding, and more importantly a trip to the Wachovia Center." (Josh Wheeling)

You wouldn't bet against it right now, would you?   

2. Temple, 24 points
- "Temple rights the ship in time for their trip to Atlantic City, but those losses last week mean Temple's going all-in this week." (Fred David)
- "Will a ranked Xavier team once again fail to win the A-10 tourney? There are a lot of teams that could knock them off - they could face two Big 5 teams in a row." (Josh Wheeling)

3. Penn State, 26 points
- "Penn State, even despite the loss on Saturday, looks like a legitimate tournament team. 3rd in S-16 = trip to NCAA S-16?" (Fred David)
- "Lunardi has PSU as one of his last four in. I still think Temple edges the Lioins for second, though." (Josh Wheeling)
- "The similarities between PSU basketball and football just keep increasing, now that the hoopsters have an upset loss to Iowa when they (probably) controlled their own destiny." (Zach Klitzman)
- '] I swear we've seen this before. Last-second loss to Iowa douses hopes of big game on national stage. As a consolation, maybe the Nits will get to play Southern Cal in the NIT." (Jeff Shafer)

Did I not call this last week?

4. La Salle, 44 points
- "Welcome back to respectability." (Jeff Shafer)
- "I'm going out on a limb and will predict that Friday evening will produce an all-Philly semifinal in the A-10." (Dave C.)

Again, ballots were submitted before today's games. But we can have fun with hindsight.

5. Saint Joseph's, 46 points
- "I can't wait until the Hawks shock everyone to make it to the A10 finals just to blow a halftime lead and lose at the buzzer." (Patrick Carney)

6. Rider, 67 points

7. Rutgers, 74 points
- "Won two of their last 20 games. By my estimation the Knights overachieved." (Jeff Shafer)

8. Drexel, 76 points

9. Delaware, 94 points

10. Princeton, 101 points
- "Princeton could be the only team in the S16 to finish their season with a victory." (Jon Solomon, PrincetonBasketball.com)

A public thanks to Jon for posting about my lost computer bag on his blog.

11. Lehigh, 111 points

12. Penn, 125 points
- "Congratulations to Penn for going 5-2 on the road and 1-6 at home in conference play this season.  Without a doubt, Penn has the worst fans in the Big 5 and despite the lucky win in Manhattan on Saturday, the team earned the coveted 16th spot in my poll." (Fred David)
- "As a Penn student, I'm going to forget everything about this season except for Kevin Egee's buzzer beater against Columbia." (Zach Klitzman)

13. Lafayette, 131 points

14. Bucknell, 135 points

15. Delaware State, 147 points
- "Alas, Delaware State's hopes ended last night to Hampton. But actually winning a game in their conference tourney bumps them all the way up to ninth in my totally objective poll." (Fred David)   

Which is the point, of course.

16. Monmouth, 149 points
- "It's been a fun regular season y'all, looking forward to doing it again next year." (Fred David)

As am I. But the correct word is "youse."

ATLANTIC CITY - Okay, here's the deal. The A-10 is not allowing me to do a full live blog of the game, but I can offer updates at the media timeouts. So that's what I'm going to do. I'll approve your comments as they come in, but you won't hear from me as much as usual.

Also, the Schuylkill 16 has been delayed because of a technical glitch last night. This week really is not going so well for me, is it?

The craziness continues.

First of all, you simply must read Dick Jerardi's column in this morning's Daily News. It is significant enough that they even tried to do a mock bracket. But the truly impressive accomplishment is what Jerardi was able to take what he's learned from Indianapolis in recent years and teach a new group of people how to go through the process.

That is really impressive.

Second, we have a new special section for conference tournament coverage. Click here to get everything you need to know about the A-10, Big East, ACC and all the other leagues.

Now for tonight's action. We've got a trio of great rivalries playing out on the best possible stage: conference tournament finals.

We start with George Mason facing Virginia Commonwealth in the CAA final in Richmond, taking places as I write this post. Then at 9, picture-in-picture will be in order as Niagara meets at-large candidate Siena in the MAAC and St. Mary's squares off once again with Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference.

That Niagara-Siena game is loaded with Philly ties, by the way. Purple Eagles coach Joe Mihalich and players Tyrone Lewis, Bilal Benn, Austin Cooley and Kashief Edwards all hail from our area, while Saints coach Fran McCaffery and guard Ronald Moore are area natives as well.

You could have a heck of a debate about which game has bigger implications for the NCAA Tournament field. Siena is smack on the bubble, while if St. Mary's plays well tonight and loses they could get back in shape with Patty Mills back at full health. Gonzaga probably gets in regardless of result.

I'd be interested to know which one you'll be watching.

Tomorrow, I hit the road (okay, the escalator at 30th Street Station) and head for what should be a great day of blogging in New York. At noon, I'll be at CBS headquarters for a media session with many of the network's NCAA Tournament broadcasters, including Gus Johnson, Bill Raftery, Jim Nantz, Jay Bilas and Ian Eagle.

After that, I'll hop on the subway and head over to Madison Square Garden for Georgetown-St. John's in the Big East Tournament. If I can get away with it, I'll try to open a liveblog and we can talk hoops for a while, but I'm not guaranteeing anything.

As soon as the final horn sounds in that game, I'll get back on the train and return to Philadelphia for Princeton-Penn at 8 p.m. It's the Palestra's last game of the season, which will give us a good opportunity to reflect on the Quakers' troubles and everything else we've seen on 33rd Street this year.

Then it's off to Atlantic City on Wednesday, and we'll be courtside at Boardwalk Hall at noon sharp for the tipoff of Saint Louis-La Salle.

Can you handle it? I think so. In fact, I bet you're still hungry. So fill yourself up with new editions of the City Six rankings table and the Schuylkill 16 RPI teamsheet compilation. The Schuylkill 16 will return Wednesday morning after Princeton-Penn.

Note that Drexel's overall record includes the (bad, to put it nicely) CAA Tournament loss to Towson, but the conference record only includes regular season games.