There are some big names absent from the NCAA tournament. Princeton certainly is one of them.

Georgetown is the other. The Hoyas' 11-year tournament streak is over, as is their six-year run of quarterfinal losses.

Instead, they'll look back at road setbacks against Loyola and Penn State as what kept them at home.

Make no mistake --- the Hoyas are the most talented team sitting on the sideline. And they may well be the best team snubbed since the field expanded to 16 teams.

But, ultimately, it wasn't a surprise.

Georgetown played in an unusually down league this season, with half the eight teams under .500 overall, another team at .500 on the button (Penn State) and a league champion (Loyola) at 7-6.

Saturday's loss was killer. Penn State, to be kind, simply wasn't all that great this season (though the Nittany Lions did manage to scuttle the at-large hopes of both Bucknell and Georgetown down the stretch). Georgetown also led 11-9 entering the final minutes, and would have probably edged into the field had it just managed to hold on.

Not to steal too much thunder from tomorrow's print edition, but here were some of coach Dave Urick's comments to me about 20 minutes after the selection show. The phone was ringing off the hook at his home --- I heard a couple calls coming in during our five-minute conversation --- and I suspect he made a similar case to anyone who would listen:

"Navy is the one we're going to have the toughest time coming to grips with," Urick said. "When you beat a team head to head on their field — and we also had a win over Duke, which no one else had. ...

"When you watch the selection show for basketball, one of the things they point out is how teams finish the season up. If you look at Navy, they lost their last three and four of their last five. I don't know if this committee does [take that into account]."