Mar. 3: VA Top Five

Each Monday during basketball season, SLANTblog publishes its up-to-date Virginia Top Five, which takes into account the results of the week's games. Accordingly, it attempts to rank what seems at the moment to be the best five teams from among the 14 Division I men's programs in the Commonwealth.

At this writing, none of the teams on the list below is a lock to receive an at-large invitation to the NCAA's Big Dance. VCU is the most likely, should the Rams falter in the CAA tournament, but since the Colonial is generally seen as weaker this season than last, it's still too soon to say. Tech's RPI doesn't help its case, but if the Hokies finish over .500 in the ACC they could earn a bid yet.

SLANTblog's VA Top Five

1. VCU (23-6, 15-3 in CAA, No. 44 RPI)
2. Va. Tech (17-11, 8-6 in ACC, No. 62 RPI)
3. Mason (20-10, 12-6 in CAA, No. 76 RPI)
4. Richmond (15-12, 8-6 in A-10, No. 121 RPI)
5. ODU (17-14, 11-7 in CAA, No. 122 RPI)

-- RPI numbers from RealTime RPI