The mid-November start to the NCAA basketball season tends to get lost in the universe of sports coverage. This is probably due to the staggered opening nights around the country, but can also be attributed to competition with other sports — college football entering its stretch run, the NFL in midseason, even the NBA’s opening weeks garner more attention than college hoops. We’re not about to let this exciting time slip through the cracks. With…

Written by DCist contributor Brett Gellman The Maryland Terrapins (4-2, 1-1) take on the 19th ranked Virginia Cavaliers (6-1, 3-0) in a nationally televised homecoming contest tomorrow night at College Park in what is shaping up to be the best ACC matchup of the entire day, and yes, that includes Miami-FSU. The Terps, who are coming off a much-needed bye week, squeaked out a 28-26 victory against Georgia Tech two weeks ago after Travis Bell’s…

Good morning, Washington. We’ve been hearing some excellent reports from the frontlines of the celebrations in Georgetown last night, after the Hoyas came back from a 10 point deficit to beat the Tar Heels 96-84. Thousands of students filled M Street in their exuberance, chanting “Hoya Saxa” at the top of their lungs. A smaller group apparently ran all the way to the White House, where the Secret Service asked them to keep it down….

Georgetown 61, Pittsburgh 53 The Big East is aptly named. The 16-team behemoth is the largest in Division I and backs up its girth with some of the finest play in the nation. So it’s no small feat that Georgetown has climbed to the top of this daunting hill. Backed by the strong play of juniors Jeff Green, Roy Hibbert, and Jonathan Wallace, the Hoyas gritted their way to a victory over a Pittsburgh…

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…

Hoyas Bully the Irish Georgetown came into Saturday’s contest with Notre Dame after a successful, if underwhelming non-conference season. After starting the year with high hopes and a top ten ranking, three early losses pushed them off the national radar and out of the rankings. ND, however, was so hot they were smokin’, and riding a 12-game winning streak to a #17 ranking. But after a 66-48 thrashing of the Irish at the Verizon Center,…

The D.C. area was well-represented last year in the men’s NCAA basketball tourney, with all three Georges winning at least one game, and of course, George Mason making an improbable run to the Final Four. However, the area women were no slouches either, as Maryland grew into a powerhouse, winning the national title, and perennial tourney team George Washington, who’ve made the tourney in 13 of the last 16 years, reached the second round. This…

The sports pages this week have obviously been dominated by paeans to the little Patriots that could, in all their green and gold glory. Theirs is a worthy story, but it doesn’t constitute the only roundball history being forged by local teams. On Monday, the number 2 seeded Maryland women’s team defeated Utah in overtime to join two other ACC teams (Duke and North Carolina) in the Final Four. This marks the second time in…

So, in case you hadn’t heard, George Mason is in the Final Four. As an 11-seed and member of the Colonial Athletic Assocation, the Patriots are the natural underdogs heading into Indianapolis. But in a tournament full of upsets, with four unlikely combatants — Mason, UCLA, LSU, and Florida — left standing, it’s absurd to heavily favor one team or heavily discount the chances of another. This Final Four is the toughest to handicap in…

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…