The imperfect five vying for the perfect 10: The Sequel

Those of us who remember Stephanie Seymour's debut in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue know that a.) that was no swimsuit and b.) her career did not peak with her turn as Axl Rose's doomed lover in the "November Rain" video.

Been a hectic day here, so just a quick look at the schedule tonight for the potential 10 and two seeds before I borrow a page from Litos’ book and link you to really good stuff other people wrote.

First the 10 seeds, because we want to stay on the good side of basketball karma and not look too far ahead (who the hell am I kidding, I’m trying to figure out how the wife and I can be in Richmond 12 days from now for the championship game). My guess is eight through 12 will look exactly the same in the morning as it does tonight, but here’s the rundown for those of you who are crazy like me and hoping to spend all night hitting refresh on the CAA scoreboard.

8.) Georgia State (5-12): OFF

9.) UNC Wilmington (4-12): @Drexel. UNCW beat reporter Brian Mull reports Chad Tomko, John Fields and Montez Downey won’t be available tonight against the Dragons, so if you are reasonably athletic, still possessing some collegiate eligibility, can swing 12 credits at UNCW and are in the Philadelphia area, get to the DAC now, poor interim coach Brooks Lee can use you.

10.) Towson (4-12): @W&M. Two schools nursing wounds from a Bracket Buster MAAC attack. Can’t see William & Mary, with a legit shot at the two seed (more on that in a moment), letting this one slip away.

11.) James Madison (4-12): @VCU. Root for the Rams, James Madison is the scariest of the potential 10s (he says, thereby giving everyone else bulletin board fodder).

12.) Delaware (3-13): GMU. Root for the Blue Hens just for the hell of it. Hi Mason Nation!

As for the race for the top two seeds, the Flying Dutchmen really helped out William & Mary as well as Old Dominion last night. ODU, obviously, is the one seed if the Monarchs beat visiting VCU Saturday or if Northeastern loses at George Mason earlier in the day.

And William & Mary’s path to the two seed opened up last night as well. The Tribe, with the easiest remaining schedule of the three teams contending for the two, will be the second seed if it sweeps Towson and UNC Wilmington and Northeastern loses. William & Mary wins the tiebreaker via its one-point head-to-head win over the Huskies. As for Mason, the Patriots can’t finish any higher than third because they lose the tiebreaker to Northeastern at 13-5 (Northeastern went 1-0 against Old Dominion while Mason went 1-1).

***

Some good stuff for you to read while surfing for scores tonight:

—Litos has a tremendous piece at College Chalktalk about Bill Coen’s remarkable rebuilding job at Northeastern. Some great quotes and some great color about a bunch of overlooked players coming together and gelling under a guy who used to write software for strategic missile defense systems. Nobody’s lacking for proper perspective at Matthews Arena.

Said it on Twitter last night and I’ll say it again: Northeastern is incredibly easy to root for and there’s a pretty big part of me that feels bad Matt Janning and Co. lost on their Senior Night. I hope Hofstra doesn’t see those guys again until the title game (damnit, there I go again, looking ahead).

—Meant to post this Monday but forgot to do so: Jack Styczynski, the original Hofstra blogger, put the world’s most indestructible tape recorder to good use Saturday in profiling Charles Jenkins and Rider star Ryan Thompson for the New York Times’ “Quad Blog.” Thanks to Jack for linking to my preseason feature on Jenkins, and while it was good to finally meet him Saturday, I may kick him in the shins if he tempts fate by showing up to the Georgia State game or in Richmond (inside joke, I’m not really going to kick the guy).

—Mull wonders if there will be a better seventh seed in any mid-major conference tournament than the Dutchmen. Forget what others say about you, Brian, you’ll always be OK by me!

—Finally, Patrick Stevens, who was among those who lost their jobs when the Washington Times made the AWESOME decision to kill its sports section, has been all over the mid-Atlantic college sports scene since his layoff (note to Patrick: If you say anything bad about George Mason, the knuckle-dragging faction of Mason Nation will declare you deserve to be out of work). He has five thoughts on the CAA today, the second of which is that nobody should want to play the Flying Dutchmen in the tournament next weekend. You’ll always be OK by me, Patrick! Check him out at Twitter at @D1scourse.

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.