The Vegas College Basketball Top 25

To prime the pump of excitement leading up to this afternoon's announcement of the one-day-late Local Top 11, here's the Las Vegas Sports Consultants' National Top 25. Three Local teams in the mix: Georgetown, on the strength of two narrow losses, goes from 28th to 15th (gotta love Vegas, you win by losing); Maryland, by losing to dregs and beating a fair vintage, drops from 11th to 16th; and Virginia Tech (which, you'll recall, has losses to Marshall, GW and Western Michigan) spikes from unranked to 23rd.

Personally, I'm anxious to see how the local voters deal with all this. Virginia Tech has far and away the best wins of any local team, but also has those nasty losses. Maryland and Georgetown will likely still lay claim to some top votes, because otherwise Maryland and Georgetown fans will get mad. VCU is perhaps the hottest local team but doesn't have any monumental wins. GW is rebuilding, overachieving beyond any rational belief, winning despite a starting lineup of three pixies and a couple of fourth graders, and is therefore deserving of all our amazement and respect. Hard to figure it all out.

According to the AP voters, this would be the Top Five:

Virginia Tech, Maryland, Georgetown, VCU, Old Dominion

According to the Coaches, it would be this:

Maryland, Virginia Tech, Georgetown, VCU, xxx

According to the RPI, it would be this:

Maryland, Virginia Tech, Georgetown, ODU, VCU

But Vegas is not alone in having Georgetown first; here's KenPom's ratings:

Georgetown, Maryland, Virginia Tech, ODU, VCU

Anyhow, here's Vegas's rankings:

1. Florida
2. North Carolina
3. UCLA
4. Kansas
5. Wisconsin
6. Pittsburgh
7. Ohio State
8. Texas A&M
9. Arizona
10. Memphis
11. Air Force
12. Clemson
13. Alabama
14. Kentucky
15. Georgetown
16. Maryland
17. Duke
18. LSU
19. Georgia Tech
20. Oregon
21. Notre Dame
22. Indiana
23. Virginia Tech
23. Boston College
25. Nevada