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…

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…

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…