March Madness has arrived in the nation’s capital.
If you’ve scored tickets for the East Regional of the men’s NCAA Tournament at Capital One Arena this weekend, congratulations. You are the owner of the hottest ticket in town and you’re surely going to make your friends and colleagues envious. And just wait until you post those I’m-here-and-you’re-not pictures on social media.
Three games (two Friday, one Sunday) at Capital One Arena, home of the Caps and Wizards, promise to provide a lot of buzz, atmosphere and great basketball. The place will be rocking. It will feel like the Final Four, even though it’s not.
Here are some things you need to know.
The games
Friday: Top-seeded Duke (34-2) takes on fifth-seeded St. John’s (30-6) at 7:10 p.m., and third-seeded Michigan State (27-7) tips off against second-seeded UConn (31-5) at 9:45 p.m.
Sunday: The Duke/St. John’s winner will play the Michigan State/UConn winner Sunday at a time yet to be determined. The winner of this game gets to cut down the nets and go to the Final Four in Indianapolis next week.
Of the four regionals, D.C. definitely got the sexiest match-ups. The four schools playing here have won a combined 13 national championships: UConn (6), Duke (5) and Michigan State (2). At least two sure-fire future hall-of-fame coaches, Tom Izzo (Michigan State) and Rick Pitino (St. John’s), will be stalking the sidelines. And the other two coaches aren’t too shabby either; UConn’s Danny Hurley won back-to-back national championships in 2023 and 2024 and Duke’s Jon Scheyer, who succeed the legendary Mike Krzyzewski, is on the brink of leading top-seeded Duke to its second straight Final Four.
Duke freshman forward Cameron Boozer is a national player of the year candidate. He is a one-and-done player who is expected to be a top three pick in the 2026 NBA Draft later this year. He could conceivably be drafted by the Washington Wizards. Cameron’s twin brother, Cayden, also plays for Duke. Their dad, Carlos Boozer, played for Duke and is former NBA All-Star.
Local players to watch
The four teams have an inordinate number of players — 10 to be exact — who played their high school ball in the D.C. region:
Duke (4): Patrick Ngongba II (Paul VI), Darren Harris (Paul VI), Maliq Brown (Culpeper, Virginia) and Brock Davis (Georgetown Day)
UConn (4): Solo Ball (Leesburg, Virginia), Eric Reibe (Bullis) and brothers Jayden and Jacob Ross (Bristow, Virginia)
Michigan State (2): Cam Ward (Largo High School) and Jordan Scott (South Lakes High School). Fun fact: Scott’s mom is college basketball TV analyst Christy Winters Scott who starred at South Lakes High School, the University of Maryland and in the WNBA. Winters Scott told WTOP, “It’s been a dream. I pinch myself so many times just trying to figure out if this is real. Just to see him thriving, not just being on a team but coach Izzo trusting him at critical moments in games.”
St John’s (none).
Getting there
There are several garages at or near Capital One Arena, but they are all expected to fill up quickly and they’ll be expensive.
If you want to avoid the expense and hassle of getting in and out of those garages, taking Metro is the way to go. The Gallery Place stop on the Green, Yellow and Red lines take you right to the arena.
No matter how you are getting there, allow for at least an extra hour. Ongoing exterior renovations at Capital One Arena will undoubtedly create delays getting in.
The second game Friday will end around midnight, but don’t fret about getting back home — Metro runs trains until 2 a.m. Friday nights.
Whether you’re there in person or watching from your couch or a sports bar, enjoy the Madness.
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