Washington Post college basketball gurus today

Princeton, N.J.: George Washington seems to be hitting its stride while Maryland is still up and down and Georgetown is losing to teams they need to beat this time of year (Notre Dame). Are all three in the tourney, or just the Colonials and the Terps?

Matt Rennie: I disagree on Georgetown. Winning AT Notre Dame would have been huge, but that's not a loss that hurts the Hoyas too much. If they can win at st. John's and beat Providence at home, they should get in. I think the Colonials are in a more dicey position, though I agree they are playing better. There's no way you can say they've assured themselves of an at-large bid.

Eric Prisbell: I think Maryland has a great chance to make it; an 8-8 ACC record would clinch it. Georgetown has an excellent chance if it gets 18 overall victories. GW’s RPI has improved to a respectable level (59-ish), but the A-10 is rated the 16th-best conference in the country. A conference that low doesn’t deserve two bids. GW will be an interesting test case for the committee.
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Washington, D.C.: What, realistically, do the Hoyas need to do in their final few games to ensure themselves a spot in the tourney? Also, do you have a sense of how much of their success this year is attributable to JT-III and how much is based on the fact that pundits simply did not appreciate how talented the younger players are?

Eric Prisbell: If Georgetown splits its final four regular season games, it should be enough. The Hoyas have an excellent RPI better than 40. Ten wins in the Big East should be enough. Beat St. John’s and Providence and that’s enough. Short of that, they will be sweating it out unless they win a game or two in the BE tourney. Oh, and credit JTIII with their success because he is a candidate for national coach of the year honors, in my opinion.

Matt Rennie: I agree that a 10-6 record gets Georgetown in (and the Hoyas could beat Villanova at home too, though winning at U-Conn. might be too much to ask). JTIII deserves a lot of credit for getting his team to play hard for 40 minutes a game, but there's no question that Jeff Green has exceeded virtually everyone's expectations.