Local Hoopsters on the Forefront of March Madness

ALEXANDRIA, VA. - With the NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament about to tip off, one of the few Northern Virginia high school alumni playing in the annual event has suffered an unfortunate injury.

Episcopal High School alumnus Arinze Onuaku who plays the post for national power Syracuse University injured his right thigh last weekend in the Big East Tournament.

On Tuesday, USA Today quotes Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim as saying "Onuaku is at best unlikely to play this weekend [March 18-21]".

Syracuse is the top seed in the West Region and one of the few area players in the Tournament appears likely to be watching the game action from the bench. (top-seeded Syracuse (28-4 overall) is scheduled to meet 16th-seeded Vermont (25-9 overall) on March 19th).

Onuaku graduated from Episcopal in '05 and has been in the "Orange" program for five seasons now and is averaging nearly eight rebounds and nearly seven points per game this season as a starter for Syracuse.

Last year, Marcus Ginyard, who grew up in Alexandria and still attends the University of North Carolina, was injured during the '08/'09 college basketball season.

Consequently due to injury, Ginyard watched the Tarheels convincingly defeat Michigan State from the bench in a suit and tie and the O'Connell '05 alumnus could only wonder what it might have been like to have actually been on the court during the April '09 National Championship Contest.

This year, North Carolina did not qualify for the NCAA Tourney and Ginyard (who has been healthy this entire season) will conclude his collegiate career in the NIT Tournament. (The ACC Tarheels (16-17 overall) were scheduled to host William and Mary of the Colonial Conference (21-10 overall) on March 16th in the National Invitational Tournament - too late for this edition).

Mount Vernon alumnus Marquel DeLancey ('08) is a backup guard for the Old Dominion Monarchs (Norfolk).

Old Dominion defeated William and Mary last week for the Colonial Conference Championship and in the process "punched" their ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

DeLancey is seeing limited minutes this season and is merely averaging three points per contest.
The 11th-seeded Monarchs (26-8 overall) are scheduled to meet the 6th-seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish (23-11 overall) March 18th in the NCAA Tournament.

T.C. Williams alumnus ('08) Anthony Winbush played significant minutes this season at Loyola College (Baltimore). The former Titan, who helped lead T.C. to the '07/'08 Virginia AAA State Title, has two more years of NCAA eligibilty remaining.

The Loyola Greyhounds, coached by Jimmy Patsos, however did not qualify for this seasons NCAA Tournament, nor for any of the other three Tournaments around the country.

Though the University of Richmond does not have any Northern Virginia alumnus on their current squad, the 7th-seeded Spiders are scheduled to meet the 10th-seeded St. Mary's (Calif.) Gaels in this seasons NCAA Tournament scheduled for March 18th [South Region].

Three other Tournaments (as stated above) - are you serious ??

Yes. The NIT Tournament as mentioned above has been a national fixture for over 50 years.

Not only is North Carolina and William & Mary in this year's 32-team field, but so is ACC member Virginia Tech.

The Hokies (23-8 overall) (10-7 all ACC games) were apparently snubbed by the NCAA Selection Committee for apparently playing a "soft" non-conference schedule, which obviously didn't sit well with head coach Seth Greenberg.

Greenberg's squad (according to the prestigious "Sagarin Ratings" in the USA Today Newspaper) rated 34th in the nation (out of 347 teams that play Division One Basketball).

Apparently that wasn't good enough for the selection committee.

In addition to the 65-field NCAA and the 32-field NIT, there is also the 16-team Collegeinsider.com Tournament and the 16-team College Basketball Invitational.

The George Mason University Patriots (17-14 overall) will participate in the former and the George Washington University Colonials (16-14 overall) will participate in the latter.

Neither the Patriots nor the Colonials boast of any players from Northern Virginia.

Forty-eight months ago (March and April '06) is when GMU as an 11th-seed shocked the basketball world by making it to the Final Four in Indianapolis.

The Patriots, coached by Jim Larranaga, defeated (alphabetically): Connecticut, Michigan State, North Carolina and Wichita State enroute to Indianapolis - where they were defeated by Florida in the National Semi-Finals that season.

Perhaps of note, also in this seasons NCAA Tournament - South Region top-seed Duke (29-5 overall) will meet 16th-seeded Winthrop/Arkansas Pine Bluff winner on March 19th.

Fourth-seeded [in the Midwest] Maryland (23-8 overall) will meet 13th-seeded Houston (19-15 overall) on March 19th.

Third-seeded [in the Midwest] Georgetown (23-10 overall) will meet 14th-seeded Ohio (21-14 overall) on March 18th.

Second-seeded [in the East] West Virginia (27-6 overall) will meet 15th-seeded Morgan State (27-9 overall) on March 19th.