Final 4 Madness Takes a Firm Hold

Photo by FLICKR/57855892@N00/2036556094/ Davidson's Stephen Curry (30) fights with North Carolina's Quentin Thomas (11) and Tyler Hansbrough, left, for a rebound during the first half of a basketball game in Charlotte, N.C.. Davidson's Andrew Lovedale (41) looks on.

ALEXANDRIA, VA. - Not only were there not a whole lot of Alexandria-area alumni playing in the Mens NCAA Basketball Tournament this year, there were relatively few from the entire Northern Virginia area playing in the Tournament.

T.C. Williams alumnus ('08) Anthony Wimbush and the Loyola Greyhounds did not qualify for the Tournament.

Wimbush, a guard/forward, helped lead T.C. to the Virginia AAA State Championship in February 2008 - the Titans second-ever State Title. At T.C., Wimbush was coached by Ivan Thomas.

Mount Vernon alumnus ('08) Marquel De Lancey and the Old Dominion Monarchs did qualify. In round one, the Monarchs defeated Notre Dame 51-50, without De Lancey scoring.

In round two however, Old Dominion dropped a 76-68 decision to Baylor and consequently their season concluded this past weekend. While at Mount Vernon, DeLancey, a shooting guard, was coached by Alfonso Smith.

Episcopal alumnus Arinze Onuaku ('05) and the Syracuse Orangemen are shaping up to be one of the favorites in the Tournament.

Onuaku, however, has unfortunately had a leg injury which has kept him out of Syracuse's first two victories - a round one 79-56 victory versus Vermont and a round two 87-65 victory versus Gonzaga.

The 6'9" - 270 pound Onuaku is optimistically expected to play in the "Sweet 16" later this week. The regular season starting post player and the "Orange" will square off with Butler in the March 25th contest. The Orange are the top-seeded team in the West Region whereas Butler is the fifth-seeded team in the West Region. Onuaku played at Episcopal for former head coach Tim Jaeger.

Arlington native Jason Clark (O'Connell '08) and Georgetown University was bounced from the Tournament in round one by Ohio University of the Mid-American Conference by the startling score of 97-83. Clark, a guard, played for Joe Wootten in high school in West Arlington.

Herndon native Scottie Reynolds (Herndon '06) and the Villanova Wildcats eeked out an opening round 73-70 overtime victory versus Robert Morris.

The narrow victory of the Eastern Pennsylvania school versus the Western Pennsylvania school, propelled the Wildcats to the second round where they dropped a 75-68 contest to St. Mary's (California).

The Wildcats, which reached the Final Four in 2009, witnessed their season end approximately two weeks earlier this season than last season. Reynolds, a senior guard and second-leading scorer in Wildcat history, played for Gary Hall at Herndon.

The University of Maryland and senior Eric Hayes (Potomac '06/Dumfries, Va.) were narrowly bounced from the Tournament in the second round by Michigan State 85-83.

In round one, Maryland defeated Houston 89-77. Hayes finished his Terp career as the most accurate free throw shooter in school history - 87% from the line.

At high school, in Eastern Prince William County, Hayes was coached by his father Kendall for four years on the varsity roster.

Thus, in terms of the NCAA Round of 16/"Sweet 16", only Arinze Onuaku and Syracuse remains alive from the immediate area.

(East Region semi-finals: top-seeded Kentucky vs. 12th-seeded Cornell and second-seeded West Virginia vs. 11th-seeded Washington). (South Region semi-finals: top-seeded Duke vs. fourth-seeded Purdue and third-seeded Baylor vs. 10th-seeded St. Mary's). (Midwest Region semi-finals: second-seeded Ohio State vs. sixth-seeded Tennessee and fifth-seeded Michigan State vs. ninth-seeded Northern Iowa). (West Region semi-finals: top-seeded Syracuse vs. fifth-seeded Butler and second-seeded Kansas State vs. sixth-seeded Xavier).

In terms of the NIT, O'Connell grad Marcus Ginyard ('05) and the North Carolina Tarheels will meet the University of Alabama Birmingham on March 24th in the quarter-finals. The winner of that contest will advance to New York City's Madison Square Gardens for the semi-finals.

Should the NCAA expand to 96 teams next season as may indeed happen, this seasons NIT may very well prove to be the final "marquee" NIT in the long history of the Tournament.

Ginyard was injured during the Tarheels '08/'09 National Championship run in which they defeated Michigan State for all of the marbles last season. In those six post-season games a year ago, Ginyard - a guard, watched them all from the Carolina bench dressed in a three-piece suit.

Also in the NIT, Virginia Tech will host the Rhode Island Rams on March 24th in the quarter-final round. The winner will also advance to New York City for the semi-final round. Backup shooting guard Eric Green (Paul VI '09) will conceivably see limited time for the Hokies in that affair from Cassell Coliseum. Green played for Glenn Farello at Paul VI (Fairfax).

That is essentially the status of the two top tournaments (in terms of Northern Virginia players).

Regarding the two other tournaments, George Washington University was bounced last week in round one of the College Basketball Invitational by Virginia Commonwealth University 79-73.

VCU (Richmond) subsequently won their second round contest versus the College of Charleston (South Carolina) 93-86. The Rams subsequently will play in the 16-team "CBI" semi-finals on March 24th. Unfortunately, there are no Northern Virginia players suiting up for the Rams.

In the other 16-team tournament, the College Insider.com Tournament, the George Mason University Patriots were bounced in round one by Fairfield (Connecticut) 101-96 [OT] to conclude the season for the Fairfax, Va. program, which made it to the Final Four in 2006.

Thus, out of 347 programs that play Division One Basketball, 129 earned post-season slots this season (65 in the NCAA, 32 in the NIT, 16 in the College Basketball Invitational and 16 in the College Insider.com Tournament).

The spring sports are beginning to explode on the high school scene. Other than baseball, softball, boys lacrosse, girls lacrosse, track and field, boys soccer, girls soccer, crew, tennis and golf action - things are relatively quiet.

Some of the top baseball and softball talent in the Greater Alexandria area include: outfielder Matt Kilby and second baseman Adam Forrer (both of T.C. Williams), outfielder Josh Eldridge (of Hayfield), infielder Andrew Sable and pitcher/outfielder Mike Murdock (both of Mount Vernon); outfielder Hannah Williams (of Hayfield) and infielder Kelly John and outfielder/catcher Kimmi Oldham (both of Yorktown).
The spring break for the Northern Region will take place March 29th - April 2nd.

In terms of the pro sports, the Washington Capitals currently sit in first place in the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League with an overall mark of 48 wins/14 losses - good for 106 points.

In the entire 30-team league, only three other teams are at 96 points or greater (Phoenix and Chicago - both 97 and San Jose 96).

The Caps near term future schedule is as follows: March 24 - host Pittsburgh, March 25 - visit Carolina, March 28 - host Calgary and March 30 - host Ottawa.

In terms of the NBA, the Washington Wizards are mired in 14th-place in the 15-team Eastern Conference with an overall record of 21-47 (slightly ahead of last seasons 19-game win season).

The Wiz near term future schedule is as follows: March 23 - host Charlotte, March 24 - visit Indiana, March 26 - visit Charlotte, March 27 - host Utah, March 30 - visit Houston and March 31 - visit New Orleans.

The Washington Nationals and the Major League Baseball Season will commence in the not-too-distant future.

The Nats early season schedule is as follows: April 5, 7, 8 - host Philadelphia, April 9, 10, 11 - visit New York Mets, April 12, 14, 15 - visit Philadelphia and April 16, 17, 18 - host Milwaukee.