Last night's NCAA men's basketball national championship game was, well, downright terrible – not that it mattered to Erin Murphy. Her bracket – which impressively foresaw Butler's Cinderella run to the Final Four, as well as the Huskies' triumph – came out on top of DCist's fifth annual Reader-Staff Pool. more ›

Let's be honest: unless you're Rachel LaBruyere or hail from Richmond, the men's NCAA Tournament has lost a bit of its luster for D.C. homers. Georgetown and George Mason failed to advance past the tournament's first weekend, and the tournament itself has packed up from the Verizon Center, taking it's insane finishes and Kemba Walker's acrobatics along with it. But though local interest in the men's tournament is waning, the women's competition actually has some regional juice, featuring a matchup between long-dormant rivals Georgetown and Maryland. more ›

Heading to the Verizon Center for tomorrow's all-day NCAA Tournament binge? Well, don't worry about getting home if you're using Metro to get to the arena. WMATA announced this morning that rail service will be extended until 1 a.m. tomorrow night, and additional trains will be deployed after the day's first, third and fourth games to ease congestion. more ›

It's tournament time! And you know what that means -- that's right, it's your chance to challenge your DCist writers, editors and photographers in the annual reader-staff pool. This year, your editor-in-chief will hope to improve on last year's 47th place finish, though I'm sure stiff competition will be provided by the lot of you. more ›

As tonight's men's national championship game approaches, it's fair to look back and conclude that D.C. lost our story lines from March Madness 2010 too quickly. Georgetown's first round ouster to Ohio sent brackets and survivor pools into a tailspin. Maryland's Greivis Vasquez -- recently named the top point guard in college basketball this season -- heroically brought his team back from the brink against Michigan State in the second round, only for Terrapin hearts to be shattered by a buzzer beater. Old Dominion made some waves, but fell to Baylor. Richmond bowed out quietly. With West Virginia the only plausibly "local" team to remain standing, to say it's been a disappointing NCAA tournament -- locally -- would be an understatement. more ›

As the first game of the day gets rolling, how's your bracket doing? Mine's doing okay, but it's not even within spitting range of the entry submitted by the enigmatic Dr. Terp, who leads both DCist staff-reader pools with an unbelievable 30 (!) correct picks in the first round. The esteemed Doc only missed on Georgetown and Marquette during the first two days. Since his/her Ph.D. is obviously in basketball prognostication, I'd like to dig into Dr. Terp's expertise for this hypothetical: if Maryland and the Wizards played each other in a one-off, neutral-site game, who would win? Last night, Maryland scored more points, shot better from the field, and has a freshman who looks like a more well-rounded player than anyone than Flip Saunders can toss out there. Not only that, but the Wizards haven't won a game this month, and obviously can't manage endgame situations -- critical in March -- after losing on a last-second shot to Portland last night in what was probably the most boring NBA game I've ever read about. Of course, for this hypothetical to even make a lick of sense, you'd have to make the leap that the Wizards would possess enough quality to even make the NCAA Tournament. (Good thing for them that the expansion to 96 teams "will happen", I guess.) more ›

Ohio 97, Georgetown 83: Heading into the glorious first day of March Madness, there had been a fair amount of sturm und drang regarding the placement of the Georgetown Hoyas in the same bracket as the Kansas Jayhawks. Pundits claimed that Duke had an easier route to the Final Four and apparently, there was concern that the Jayhawks might struggle against the likes of Chris Wright's Tenacious D and the quiet dominance of Greg Monroe. more ›

It's tournament time! And you know what that means -- that's right, it's your chance to challenge your DCist writers, editors and photographers in the annual reader-staff pool. This year, your sports editor will hope to improve on 2009's 64th place finish, though I'm sure stiff competition will be provided by the whole lot of you. more ›

It's now after Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which means that local college basketball enthusiasts should start stockpiling brownie points with the boss -- all so that when we call out sick on Thursday and Friday, March 18 and 19, it won't look quite so bad. Yes, Selection Sunday is but seven weeks away. That said, where are local teams sitting in terms of their NCAA tournament chances? Leave it to the Hi-Lo to sift through the muck and bring you the straight bracketology dope. more ›

Written by DCist contributor Brett Gellman more ›

It starts at 12:20 p.m. this afternoon. Tip-off. For some, the pinnacle of sports fandom rests in these next few days. They are epic: 12 hour days that capture some of the very reasons why we watch sports. The NCAA Tournament has the most exhaustive field in major U.S. sports, giving 65 teams a shot at glory in the national spotlight. Year after year, the Big Dance provides buzzer beaters, star turns, Cinderella stories and... more ›

Mason's Magic Slips Away For 38 minutes Monday night, the George Mason Patriots did what they needed to do to complete their improbable four-game run through the Colonial Athletic Association and make a return trip to the NCAA Tournament. They lost it all in 14 seconds. That’s how long it took for Virginia Commonwealth’s Eric Maynor to steal the ball from Dre Smith, drive downcourt, hit a layup while getting fouled by Gabe Norwood,... more ›

A weekend full of college basketball saw all four major D.C. area programs hosting games against teams ahead of them in the respective conference standings. Two emerged with convincing wins, while two others suffered disappointing losses. On Saturday, Georgetown leapfrogged No. 11 Marquette into second place in the Big East with a 76-58 victory in front of an announced 17,867 at the Phone Booth. Jeff Green helped break open a close one around the six-minute... more ›

Maryland juniors Ekenna Ibekwe and D.J. Strawberry are reportedly entering the NBA Draft. more ›

Three days ago George Mason was hoping to get their first ever NCAA Tournament victory. Now, after beating the UNC Tarheels 65-60 on Sunday, they are preparing for the Sweet 16 and a matchup with Wichita State. Down by 14 in the first half, Mason used an aggressive defense that forced a young UNC team into repeated turnovers and bad shots while taking advantage on the offensive end. The Patriots rode big men Will... more ›

Owing in large part to a soft schedule, George Washington had earned a reputation as overrated despite a 26-2 record. With just 11 minutes remaining in their first-round NCAA Tournament game against UNC-Wilmington last night, the Colonials appeared posed to prove their critics right. They trailed by 18 points, and had allowed the Seahawks to make 14 of their last 16 shots. The game, which had been tied at halftime, seemed to be slipping away.... more ›

Though ranked sixth in the country, George Washington has been characterized as an overrated team. Given the opportunity to prove that their 26-1 record and 18 game winning streak wasn't just a house of cards, the Colonials instead folded, losing 68-53 to Temple in the first-round of the Atlantic Ten tournament. The loss is not only disappointing and gives fuel to the team's critics, but it likely cost them a couple of seeds in... more ›

Prior to yesterday afternoon, the last time the Georgetown Hoyas took the court they put on an embarrassing performance, losing to South Florida and costing themselves a first-round bye in the Big East conference tournament in the process. In the first half of Wednesday's game against Notre Dame, they extended their streak of mediocre-to-bad play to 60 minutes, missing their first 12 shots and trailing at the break before rallying for a 67-63 win.... more ›

>> Oh those clever Redskins. First they use the NFL labor talks as an opportunity to buy out disgruntled linebacker LaVar Arrington and then while the area media whips itself into a frenzy over the move, the club quietly announces that, much like the Wizards, ticket prices will be going up, up, up next season. Surprising no one, the 'Skins attributed the increases to putting the team more in line with other teams in... more ›

It's a familiar script for the George Washington mens' basketball team. Let an inferior team hang around -- maybe even lead -- until midway through the second half, then go on a devastating run. In the case of last night's 89-78 win at St. Bonaventure, the Colonials trailed by four with under eight minutes left before reeling off 13 straight points to take control. Three Colonials finished in double figures in both points and... more ›

George Washington won its 15th straight game last night, but the bigger news is that star forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu twisted his knee just before halftime and didn't return. Mensah-Bonsu, the team's second-leading scorer and rebounder, will be evaluated today. We (or, more likely, some alert DCist reader) will have an update on his status when it becomes available. Reserve forward Regis Koundjia stepped up in Mensah-Bonsu's absence, chipping in with 13 points, 5 rebounds and... more ›

(Editor's Note: DCist would like to welcome another new member to our Sports staff. Hayden Alfano will be covering the local college hoops beat as well as assisting in our upcoming coverage of the 2005 NBA Draft.) After a grueling season, college basketball coaches have little time to relax. The recruiting trail beckons, and they lay awake at night worrying if any of their players will declare early for the NBA Draft. Local hoops coaches... more ›

George Washington University will make their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 1999 tonight when they take on the Georgia Tech Yellowjackets at 9:40 PM in Nashville TN. Credit head coach Karl Hobbs and his tireless recruiting for getting the Colonials back on the national basketball map. GW was 12-16 in Hobbs first year but has steadily improved since then, including a trip to the NIT last year. Understandably, Hobbs was less than... more ›

>> The nation's capitol is abuzz with all the local teams picked by the NCAA to make it to the Big Dance. Wait, what's that you say? Maryland didn't make it? OK, fine, what about Georgetown then? NIT bound you say? Then how about your Atlantic 10 Champions over at George Washington? You better believe they were packing their bags after winning their first every conference tournament title 76-67 over St. Joeseph's. The win... more ›

>> George Washington moved into sole possession of first place in the West Division of at A10 with an improbable 30 foot buzzer beater by Carl Elliott. "I knew it had the right arc, but I couldn't tell if it was going to go in or not," George Washington Coach Karl Hobbs told the Post. "I looked at the clock and I knew he had gotten it off in plenty of time. I told the... more ›