Beltway Basketball Bonanza-- Winter Exposure...

You can run but you can't hide who you are-- or how you can be beaten. Mid January in college hoops means one can't hide behind a cupcake filled non-conference schedule; actual road games on enemy campuses have been played... and coaches who recruit and gameplan against your team 12 months a year are preparing to exploit your weaknesses.

Georgetown has won ugly more than once this January-- a 52-50 slugfest against Rutgers will not be used in shooter's camps-- but 6-2 in the Big East is still 6-2 in the Big East. While Jason Clark outside and Henry Sims inside get most of the attention... players like Otto Porter (15 rebounds against DePaul, winning FT's against Rutgers) do the little things to help the Hoyas contend. After seven days to prepare for massive mystery Pitt (from #1 seed last year to 0-7 in the conference?) Coach John Thompson III's team has a tight turnaround to prepare for UConn.

Alma Mater Update-- it had to happen sooner or later... Syracuse took 21 games to stumble for the first time this season (67-58 at Notre Dame) amongst the backdrop of a player leaving (Mookie Jones) and a player with academic issues (Fab Melo). They won't miss Mookie's 27% shooting over 5 minutes a game... but they will miss Fab's 6 rebounds and 3 blocks a contest. And 7-0 in the Big East can become 7-3 in a hurry: Cincinnati and West Virginia look like tournament teams... and SU hasn't even gone through facing Georgetown, UConn and Louisville over a six day span. Look for Sign of the Whale to be ordering extra bleu cheese next month.

Maryland finds itself in a 5-team rugby scrum separated by a half game in the race for 5th place of the ACC. Turnovers and poor free throw shooting doomed the Terps at Florida State (welcome to the grownups' table, FSU, after beating UNC and Duke on consecutive Saturdays) and at non-league foe Temple. Terrell Stoglin has the misfortune of being the best shooter and scorer in an offense that is at its best when there are multiple options. Alex Len's ACC fade (after notching a double-double against NC State, the Ukrainian has scored 8 points over 4 games on 2-8 shooting) was accelerated with an ankle injury against Temple. The University officially renames the court at Comcast after Gary Williams Wednesday-- against a Duke smarting from a tough loss to Florida State. No sweat.

Cruising the Commonwealth-- Virginia had a chance to make Virginia Tech 0-5 in the ACC and came up short. Shooting 1 for 14 from three-point range does that sometimes. The 47-45 loss to the Hokies means that Virginia may be ranked... but the Cavaliers are more pretender than contender right now. The win also keeps coach Seth Greenburg's team from officially being buried-- although they still have a lot of work to do.


George Mason finds itself atop the CAA after eight games at 7-1... and has a chance to get fat with four straight games against schools with non-winning conference records. And the Patriots are more than merely Ryan Pearson-- although the forward leads the team with 17 points and 8 rebounds a game there are more than a few interchangeable parts capable of doing damage. Sherrod Wright scoring 22 points off the bench against Towson just one example. Although his name doesn't sound like a fancy shirt.

George Washington finds itself 3-2 in the Atlantic Ten-- but 8-11 overall. Their ability to continue the current January storm hinges on a two game roadtrip-- while LaSalle and Fordham are gimmes both schools do have losing records in conference play-- because GW faces tough tests in Xavier, Massachusetts and Temple back to back to back.

Maryland Womens' Moment-- the Terps tumbled at #5 Duke Sunday 80-72... despite a career high 29 points for Alyssa Thomas. Unfortunately the team shot 36% after halftime and was outrebounded by ten. Home games against ACC bottomfeeders Virginia Tech and Boston College are next-- followed by a trip to Georgia Tech (the team they rallied from 20 points down to beat January 6th). The question as the team nears the second half of league play-- how deep are they? While Lynetta Kizer and Brene Moseley provide punch off the bench... Kim Rodgers and Whitney Bays have been used sparingly the last few weeks.

American is one of three schools appearing to separate themselves from the rest of the Patriot League. AU's lone league loss is to Lehigh-- and battles Bucknell Wednesday. Gone is the hammer-sickle duo of Vlad & Lumpkin-- instead Charles Hinkle provides the bulk of the scoring while the team is much better shooting from the perimeter (38% from three point range).

Howard had reason for optimism last March-- there appeared to be a young nucleus returning that would only get better. Optimism? No more. The Bison have already clinched a losing regular season-- dropping seven straight games and 11 of 12 after a 3-5 start (in Howard terms, 3-5 is red-hot). The team's had problems offensively-- they're near the bottom of Division I in more than a few categories: 340th in shooting, 338th in assists and 314th in scoring. The only player who averages in double figures shoots less than 30% from the field. But help is on the way: after Savannah State January 28th, the Bison won't face a team currently with a winning record for the rest of the season. Woe are the Bisons and woe is the MEAC.