Results tagged “collegebasketball”

Leaves have fallen and Thanksgiving is right around the corner. You know what that means -- turkey! Also, it's time to get back to the hardwood. Welcome to the first edition of The Hi-Lo, DCist's new roundup of the week that was in DMV college hoops.

by DCist contributor Brett Gellman

How is Jason Woys doing so well in the brackets bash? He's picked all of one single team that's going forward in the Elite Eights. Don't mind me, Woys—I'm only bitter that I picked the wrong upsets in the early rounds (okay, and later rounds), and maybe just a little dubious of anyone who picks only PAC 10 teams to go to the Final Four. Christy McConville foresaw seven of the eight teams that made it to the quarter-final round, and if the Eights go her way, she could emerge as DCist's gnarly bracket-bender. A lot of reader and staff brackets got burned by the surprise Memphis loss to Missouri, but not Travis Behan's—and he's currently in the lead to take his seat as the all-knowing, totally dominant, supreme DCist reader sports elder godlike being. Your DCist Weekend editors are running neck and neck in a (somewhat pathetic) tie for #83 in the standings. And all the other staffers are, ahem, safely behind us. How're your brackets doing (or not)?

Written by DCist contributor Brett Gellman

Maryland couldn't follow up Friday night's big win against Wake Forest with a similar effort against Duke, falling to the Blue Devils last night 67-61. Maryland hung tough for most of the game, but a 12-2 run midway through the second half proved the dagger for Maryland's ACC championship chances. It was arguably going to be rough going for the Terps with star Greivis Vazquez only getting 14 points on 6 of 17 shooting, but a honest night's effort on defense -- Duke only shot 36% from the field -- kept the score close. Maryland has to be glad that they probably won't have to play Duke again this year -- this was the third game this season which the Terps lost to the boys from Durham, who will play Florida State today for the ACC Championship.

2008 was always going to be a tough year to top for Jeff Jones and the American University Eagles men's basketball team. Jones -- previously the head coach at Virginia -- spent last year shaping a beleaguered program without much past success into a historic upset win over Maryland, a Patriot League championship, and a first-ever bid to the NCAA tournament. The Eagles, though they fell to the second-seeded Tennessee Volunteers in the first round, fought valiantly and were very much in the game until the last few minutes.

(Okay, just to get it out of the way: Georgetown plays DePaul today. They should cruise against the hapless Blue Demons -- 0-17 in Big East play -- but it's a near certainty that Georgetown will likely need three or four wins in next week's Big East tournament to get back into the conversation. Sorry, Hoya fans.)

Report by DCist contributor Brett Gellman.

Reading Dan Steinberg's blog the other day, I came upon this post addressing the possibility that zero D.C. teams will earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Yeah, I laughed. (Really, just think about the number of teams that D.C. could feasibly lay a legitimate claim to.) But then I put some more thought into it. Yesterday, Georgetown -- who could easily make the best claim toward an invite within a thirty-mile radius -- helped that thought process and dropped an egg of a second half in Milwaukee against Marquette (an admittedly much better team), their fifth loss in a row. Could the Hoyas somehow miss the Big Dance, even though less than three weeks ago they were a borderline Top 10 team? Here's their resume:

Oh, it's a delicious day for college hoops fans across the country. Today's big game of local intrigue? Georgetown, fresh off Wednesday's huge 88-74 victory over #8 Syracuse which brought them to 3-2 in Big East play, take a trip down Tobacco Road to Cameron Indoor Stadium for a show-down with #3 Duke -- arguably the marquee matchup on a Saturday which features five games between top 20 teams. The Blue Devils (15-1) come into the game boasting an impressive 67-game home winning streak against nonconference opposition, but the Hoyas (12-3) will likely serve as the stiffest test Duke has seen all year. It also serves as a minor barometer for comparison between the Big East and ACC, without question the country's two strongest conferences. The outcome will depend on which Georgetown team shows up in Krzyzewskiville: the tenacious squad who nearly ran the 'Cuse out of the gym and knocked off Connecticut in their house; or the lackluster, frustrated enigma which surfaced in the losses against Pitt and Notre Dame. Tipoff is at 1:30 on CBS -- it should be a dandy.

Written by DCist Contributor Brett Gellman

If you stacked up the area's college basketball teams and picked the ones most likely to make the NCAA Tournament this year, surely you'd start off with Georgetown. They may have slipped lately, but they still look the class of the Big East and are probably a good bet for a top-3 seeding. After that, where would you look next? GW's having a downer of a year, Mason has played well at home but struggled on the road, Maryland's once sunny March forecast has turned gloomy. You might forget to notice that up in Tenleytown, Jeff Jones's American University squad is one win away from a Patriot League regular season title -- and with it, home court advantage throughout the league tournament.

MONDAY What a weekend of basketball! It’s going to be hard to come down from over the next few days, so step off gradually. Go check out Tom Graham and Rachel Graham Cody as they discuss Getting Open: The Unknown Story of Bill Garrett and the Integration of College Basketball. It’ll help to augment your game IQ, which may be feeling a little shattered after all your Big 10 picks got spanked. Barnes & Noble,...