Saturday was a near-perfect day in college basketball... my journey began with #10 Georgetown topping 13th rated Louisville 55-52 thanks to a last-minute three-pointer from Dejuan Summers, continued with watching my Alma mater Syracuse on the big screen beating Marquette to stay in NCAA contention and wrapped up with watching North Carolina rally past Duke for the ACC regular season championship. I say near-perfect because on my way to catch the UNC game I stopped off at a McDonald's only to be denied a Shamrock Shake-- fortunately the McD's at American University's Bender Arena is participating.
Plenty to iron out after a big weekend--
Georgetown's triumph locked up a second straight Big East regular season championship-- an incredible achievement for a senior class that joined a team that was fresh off a 13-15 season and hadn't made the NCAA Tournament since 2001. In a physical "old-school Big East" battle, Roy Hibbert was able to take advantage of the Cardinals stretching zone in the second half, shooting 5 of 7 after intermission. Louisville had more than one decent look to tie the game with a three in the waning seconds--but if the Cardinals had just hit their free throws (10-18 at the charity stripe) it may not have come down to the final possession.
Maryland saw it's tournament hopes take another hit with a 91-76 loss at Virginia-- allowing 55 points on 63 percent shooting in the second half to a school that finished 5-11 in the ACC. Another night to forget for senior James Gist (6 points on 3 for 13 shooting before fouling out)...another night where the Terps ran out of gas late in the second half (outscored 29-12 over the final seven minutes). Over the last month conventional wisdom had the Terps needing 21 wins to get into the NCAA Tournament--ten days ago it seemed a high probability but now they need to reach the ACC Finals in order to meet that number, meaning victories over Boston College, Clemson and probably Duke. If Maryland pulls off that trifecta they should get in; one win probably isn't enough while two triumphs puts them squarely in the Phantom Zone.
Virginia Tech had a chance to make a major statement for their inclusion into the field of 65 (no 10-6 ACC team has ever been left out) but comes up short 70-69 at Clemson. Turnovers tormented the Hokies in defeat (20 miscues after averaging 11.5 over their four game winning streak). A fourth-place conference finish means the Hokies will wait until Friday before facing the winner of Miami and North Carolina State (the last place team shouldn't be overlooked; last year the 12th seeded Hurricanes shocked Maryland) and probably need two wins to make the NCAA's.
George Mason plays for the CAA championship Monday evening; the Patriots held UNC-Wilmington to 28% shooting in their 53-41 semifinal victory. Patriots face a William & Mary team that's won three games in three days by a combined six points-GMU won the lone regular season meeting between the two schools 60-54 on senior night February 27th.
American is also one win away from the NCAA's-- the Eagles held Army to 4 of 23 from three-point range in their 72-60 Patriot League semifinal victory. Garrison Carr shined on both ends of the floor--scoring 23 points while chasing the Black Knight's Jarell Brown (4-17 from the field) all afternoon. AU got a huge boost off the bench from Nick Hendra-- the freshman scored 11 points in 16 minutes after Bryce Simon left with a knee injury and Frank Borden got into foul trouble in the second half.
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