Beltway Basketball Bonanza-- Mourning Mornings...

It was going to happen sooner or later. We're used to late night tipoffs... especially with Pac Ten and west coast games... but a regular morning basketball window? For the second straight week a ranked team has an 11am tipoff. I'm the first to admit I keep a consistently uneven schedule-- but 11am? On a Saturday? Isn't that when youth leagues hold games and NBC shows really bad live-action programming like "Hang Time"? Once again I'm thinking about the students. My dorm's dining hall didn't open for Saturday and Sunday brunch until 11. I've got to get to the arena at 10:30? On an empty stomach? When the omelet bar is calling? Decidedly not awesome. In other developments, I just ordered my 2012 Girl Scout Cookies-- and have learned they've trimmed their options from 11 to 8. Smart move to get rid of "Shout Outs", "Thanks Alot" and both lemon cookies... although they've added "Savannah Smiles". Dave frowns.


Georgetown coach John Thompson III told me before the Marquette game that the Big East is a very unforgiving league-- and the Hoyas have learned just how rough things can get. In consecutive games Georgetown was tormented by turnovers (a season high 17 against Cincinnati, 10 in the first half against West Virginia) and lost winnable games. Henry Sims had a pair of rough outings (a combined 7 of 19 shooting) as well. But help is on the way-- in the form of a four game stretch against schools currently 5-12 in league play: St. John's, DePaul, Rutgers and Pitt.

Alma Mater Update-- still the #1 team in the nation. Syracuse is doing it with depth so far this winter-- six players average between 8 and 14 points a game and the Orange run ten deep. Four of their five Big East wins have come by double digits (although DePaul and Providence are hardly world-beaters this winter) and the team's win at Villanova was not as close as the score indicated. Today they play Providence for the second time this month-- Exhibit B why I'm okay with SU going to the ACC. Home and home with the Friars and no Georgetown game in DC? At least Sign of the Whale will have a good crowd-- although they've yet to put my suggested "44 Wing Salute" on the menu.

Maryland is 1-1 in the ACC with Georgia Tech coming to Comcast Sunday. One major bright spot in the Terps' 70-64 win over Wake Forest: the play of Ashton Pankey (9 points and 9 rebounds). One area for concern: 34 minutes played by Terrell Stoglin... and no assists for the second straight game. Russian center Alex Len had his roughest outing of the season (1-3, 5 points in 28 minutes)... and the schedule tightens up with 5 of the next 8 away from College Park.

Cruising the Commonwealth-- Virginia led Duke in the second half at Cameron before the Blue Devils went on a 21-12 run... a tough 61-58 loss that will have the Cavaliers stewing over a seven day break. Virginia Tech's 0-2 ACC start doesn't have panic buttons being pressed... but Wake Forest is one year removed from 1-15 in the league. Bring on the Bubblicious.

George Mason came up short at Drexel 60-53 Thursday night-- the lowest point performance for the Patriots this season. The offense appeared to hit the proverbial wall-getting outscored 10-2 in the last 3 and a half minutes of the game. Credit the Dragons with doing a decent job defendign Ryan Pearson-- the senior was held to 1 of 9 shooting in the loss... continuing a CAA trend: Pearson is shooting 11-of-34 in conference play...and has had either three or four personal fouls in every league game. And unfortunately Vertrail Vaughns looked like Denise Huxtable's Gordon Gartrelle shirt (1-7 FG, no rebounds or assists in 27 minutes) against Drexel.

George Washington scheduled more than a few ranked teams during the non-conference season... Cal, Syracuse and ... Harvard? Yes, the Tommy Amaker led Crimson are #25 this week... although only in the coach's rankings. GW is coming off a 69-61 win against Rhode Island (13th in the Atlantic Ten)... and the Rams are the only other A-10 team with a losing non-conference record. So the first winter for Mike Lonergan at the Smith Center may get worse before it gets better-- especially with just one player (Tony Taylor) scoring in double figures.

Maryland Womens Update-- a nail-biter at North Carolina followed by a tough loss at Miami. The #5 Terps finished regulation with a 7-1 run to send their game at Chapel Hill into overtime... and the 78-72 victory sent them to South Beach unbeaten in league play. Unfortunately they committed 19 turnovers and were outrebounded by the Hurricanes by eight. Now they try to bounce back from a 75-63 loss Monday night against Virginia (14-4, 2-2 in the ACC)... a team on the precipice of the rankings.

American tries to right the ship against a Holy Cross team that's won two straight.

Howard has a five game losing streak entering today's contest against North Carolina A&T.