With a delicious glass of A&W Root Beer in one hand and a list of the women’s Associated Press rankings in the other, I was a happy man Monday night. The 25th-ranked Colonials are looking really good and should GW beat UMass and then defeat Xavier at the Smith Center this Sunday. After those two wins, your nationally ranked team will be well on its way to an Atlantic 10 West Division title and a few NCAA home games.

Confident about the team’s chances of making a name for itself come mid-March, I put down the women’s rankings and proceeded to take a look at the men’s AP top 25. And no, GW wasn’t there. And no, they won’t be there. They also won’t be in the NCAAs. As for the NIT, I’d suggest the team start beating the La Salles of the world when on a five-game winning streak. But at 11-12 with Xavier and Temple coming up and GW without my favorite team manager, Jason Coburn, the NIT seems improbable.

I am an optimist, and I would love to think the Colonials could somehow win the Atlantic 10 Tournament and get a shot to face a top team in the NCAAs. Of course, it’s not happening, and GW won’t get a shot at Cincinnati or Duke or Syracuse. But wait, GW fans, you need not fear. I can prove that your Colonials can beat any one of the current top 25 AP teams in America. Let’s begin with No. 25 Seton Hall. Well, that’s easy, we beat them in December. Don’t forget No. 22 Maryland fell to the Colonials a day later. To finish the top 25 list, we need to look at a few other teams GW beat this season. They include: Xavier, Dayton, St. Bonaventure, South Florida and Indiana State.

OK, ready!?!?

No. 24 Vanderbilt lost to Florida State in December; FSU lost to Temple, Temple lost to St. Bonnie’s. No. 23 LSU lost to Kentucky and Kentucky lost to Dayton. No. 21 Kansas lost to Illinois, who lost to Maryland at the BB&T Classic. Isn’t this fun?!?!

No. 20 Utah also lost to Kentucky and as we all know, UK lost to UD. No. 19 is Oklahoma, and GW did have its own chance of beating last year’s Sweet 16: Cinderella. The Sooners lost to Cincy, who lost to Xavier. No. 18 UConn lost twice to Notre Dame; the Irish lost to Maryland. No. 17 Iowa State lost to Drake University; Drake lost to Indiana State. No. 16 Kentucky has been mentioned enough. No. 15 Temple is coming to the Smith Center soon, so maybe we won’t need any help. But should we need some on March 5, just know that St. Bonaventure beat the Owls.

No. 14 Texas is a tough one, but for Tom Penders’ sake, I figured it all out. The Longhorns lost to Wisconsin who lost to South Florida. It’s true. No. 13 Tulsa lost to Oral Roberts (sounds like some Midwestern dentist) who lost to Nebraska; the Cornhuskers lost to Rutgers who lost to Seton Hall. No. 12 Florida lost to DePaul who lost to Cincinnati. You take it from there. No. 11 Auburn lost to LSU. Again, you can take it. No. 10 Indiana lost to Indiana State. Thanks to those Sycamores, the Colonials got their revenge from last season’s NCAA debacle.

Ready for the top 10!!!

No. 9 Oklahoma State lost to Texas A&M; the Aggies lost to Dayton. No. 8 Syracuse lost to Seton Hall last week. No. 7 Ohio State lost to Iowa; the Hawkeyes lost to Maryland. No. 6 Tennessee and No. 5 Michigan State both lost to Kentucky. No. 4 Arizona lost to Southern California; USC lost to St. Bonaventure.

No. 3 Duke lost to Maryland. No. 2 Stanford lost to Arizona. No. 1 Cincinnati lost to Xavier.

Well, for whatever the last few paragraphs are worth, it was fun to recognize that any team can beat any other team on any given day. But as the last few paragraphs have also shown you, GW hasn’t been the team to do it for itself.

With that, my advice is to just focus on the Colonial women, because they’ve taken a much more direct route to the top 25. See you on Sunday at the Smith Center. It should be a great one.