Commonwealth Power Rankings, December 31st

In many ways, this week was a quiet one in Virginia basketball, but next week will be the best week of the season thus far as many teams enter conference play.

December 31, 2012; 10:51 AM • by RVANews staff

The week between Christmas and New Years is always a mixed bag. Each team handles the holidays differently both with their scheduling and their level of play. Some teams, like JMU and VMI, remained totally inactive. Others, like Liberty and Radford, played such weak opponents outside of Division 1 that it was the same as having the week off. VCU hosted and annihilated a cupcake team in preparation for one of the toughest conference schedules in the Commonwealth. Finally, Richmond, George Mason, Virginia Tech, and William and Mary all scheduled competitive opponents and all four lost.

In many ways, this week was quiet, but next week will be the best week of the season thus far as many teams enter conference play and VCU hosts the leading scorer in the nation CJ McCollum.

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1	VCU 10-3	All 10 of VCU’s victories are by double digits and an average margin of 24.8 points. Their three losses (Wichita State, Duke, Missouri) are to teams with a combined record of 34-3.
⬆2	Virginia 10-3	UVA has held 12 of their opponents to under 60 points and three of their opponents to under 40 points, but they are still the 2nd best defensive team in Virginia.
⬆3	George Mason 7-5	The Patriots are 7-5, but haven’t been blown out and began the season with a win over the Wahoos.
⬆4	William & Mary 7-4	Call me crazy, but the Tribe is in first place in the CAA and until someone knocks them off the mountain, they’ll remain my (Gary Cope) second place team.
5⬇	Virginia Tech 9-4	The Hokies are who we thought they were: a young team with only seven scholarship players. First-year head coach James Johnson lacks depth and right now, his team is lacking confidence, having lost three of its last four games. The last two have been embarrassing blowouts.
6⬇	Richmond 9-5	The Spiders are winning the games they’re supposed to win and are losing the games they’re supposed to lose.
7⬇	JMU 6-6	Winners of five of their last six, the Dukes were off all week, and enter CAA play Wednesday against Old Dominion.
8	Norfolk State 6-9	NSU just played four of their five most difficult opponents in a row and lost all four. Things are about to get a whole lot easier.
9	Old Dominion 2-11	At this point, the Monarchs are playing for nothing but pride. Can they right the ship during conference play?
⬆10	Radford 6-7	Despite being 6-7, Radford is capable of winning the Big South. The race starts Saturday against Charleston Southern.
11⬇	VMI 4-7	VMI is competing with Longwood for the title of being the worst defensive team in the Commonwealth.
12	Hampton 2-9	Hampton’s anemic offense scored a season low 43 points against Winthrop on Sunday.
13	Longwood 3-10	It is impossible to capture with how excited Coach Gillian is for Longwood’s inaugural season in the Big South. Things get started January 5th against Coastal Carolina.
14	Liberty 3-10	Not playing would have been more impressive than beating Union College.

Contributors: Aaron Williams (VCU; RVANews), Mark Selig (JMU; DukesOfJMU.com), Gary Cope (VT; TechHoops.com)

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Related

• Previous rankings; RVANews

December 31, 2012 10:51 AM 2