Photo by michael starghill
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:
W-L: 12-8 (1-5 in non-neutral road games)
Conference W-L: 3-6
RPI (as of 1/31): 19
Strength of Schedule: 1
Last 10 Games: 3-7
Good Wins: Syracuse, Memphis, @Connecticut
Bad Losses: @Seton Hall
Looking at it this second, Georgetown is in, thanks in no small part to those big wins and the garish computer numbers. But it’s tenuous. If DeJuan Summers and crew can’t find a victory soon — their current five-game slide is their worst stretch since John Thompson III’s first year at the helm — that RPI will start to drop, and things like that awful road record and a sub-.500 conference record will seem more and more prominent. One could make the argument that Tuesday’s home game against Big East cellar-dweller Rutgers is, shockingly, a must-win game.
But it hasn’t just been a bad week for the roundballers representing the C&O Canal; witness within:
Maryland
report by Brett Gellman
What a tumultuous week in College Park. It’s not often that, within in the span of seven days: a) the coach and the athletic department publicly spar in the press; b) a player becomes academically ineligible, only to be reinstated a couple days later; and c) one of the top prospects in the country attends your game.
Yet all these events occurred in what has been an interesting period of time in Garyland. Oh, and some basketball was played too.
Following last weekend’s drubbing at the hands of Duke — the worst loss of Gary Williams’ long tenure — the Terps (14-7, 3-4 ACC) fell to Boston College last Tuesday after surrendering a 16 point lead, something which has been a recurring problem for the team lately.
The team (and its venerable coach) managed to get it together amidst all the recent turmoil, defeating the Miami Hurricanes (14-7, 3-5 ACC) last night at the Comcast Center, 73-68, in what was a must-win just in order to stay in the middle of the pack of the ACC. Junior guard Greivis Vasquez was an assist shy of a triple double while junior forward Landon Milbourne led the team with 17 points.
The road for the Terrapins only gets harder as they head to Chapel Hill, North Carolina to take on the Tar Heels Tuesday night. Amazingly, the Terps have won the last two meetings against North Carolina — but with the lack of a legitimate big man this season, the chances of a third consecutive victory seem rather slim.
