Photo by micheal starghill.This is it. The day that all the bracketologists have spent so much time preparing for. The day when we all start frantically printing out our copies of the pairings with pencils at the ready (and pen, for the more daring among us), frantically thinking about what #12 seed will pull the upset this year, which Cinderellas will emerge and whether we stick with our alma maters in the face of all…

Photo by pete van vleet.It’s that time of the year again, when the regular season is winding to a close and conference tournaments are in full swing. Yes, the madness of March is here. It’s about time for us to take a look back at those who’ve earned the right to special recognition before we all descend into a world consumed by brackets, upsets, and that oh-so-hummable theme music that will soon be endlessly pumped…

Photo by Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie. Going into yesterday’s big game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, here were Maryland’s last five results against the Blue Devils spanning the past two years: loss by six, loss by 11, loss by 41, loss by 12, loss by nine. Uh, well, make that oh-for-six. Based on that recent history, we probably shouldn’t be too shocked that Duke came out on fire from behind the arc and buried…

Hoya center Greg Monroe is pleased with his team’s bracketologyoutlook. Photo by michael starghill.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…

Photo by michael starghill. It seems like everywhere you look this week, the number ten was prominently on display. Decade retrospectives, getting in the habit of writing “10” on the end of date abbreviations, and so forth. Why not join the party? As the major power conferences begin their conference schedules, yours truly thought it a good idea to take a look back at the ten most important regional games of the season so far…

Photo by ohad*. It was a light week in college basketball, as most teams shift from the travel-heavy preseason tournament/cash-grab parade to mentally and physically prepare for run up to a grueling conference schedule — not to mention the need to leave time for student athletes to actually take their exams. Of course, that’s not to say that there wasn’t plenty of hoops on the platter. At the top of the list was the…

Georgetown is rolling as the region’s last remainingundefeated college basketball team. Photo by michael starghill. Upon entering the last month of 2009, teams have pretty much shaken off the rust, and are really settling in to their identities. There are always exceptions. For instance, is there a greater college basketball enigma in the region than George Mason? Not that we can tell. Mason has followed an up-and-down (albeit respectable) experience at the Puerto Rico…