Hockey fans are familiar with the “Gordie Howe Hat Trick:” a goal, an assist and a fight in the same game (for the record the Hall of Famer only posted a pair of those “hat tricks” during a career that spanned five decades).
There’s another achievement that is seemingly possible but somewhat unachievable: something I like to call the “Patrick Stevens Three-Pointer,” named after the longtime Washington Post (previously with the Times) writer and consists of covering three men’s college basketball games at three different arenas on the same day.
But just like the legend of the Howe Hat Trick, the Three Pointer is not exact as it was actually four games Stevens covered one Saturday in January 2016 for the Post. It’s been my white whale since that day, and each year I look at the schedule to see if the perfect storm develops between Georgetown, Maryland, George Washington, American, Howard, George Mason or Navy.
At the start of the season, my master schedule read for Saturday, Feb. 12: Georgetown vs. Creighton at noon, George Mason-VCU at 4 p.m., and Howard-Delaware State at 7:30 p.m. I was all set to go, letting the WTOP web team know that we’d be doing a #SuperSaturdayTripleheader documented by on-site updates, all-day tweeting and videos on multiple social media fronts. The Pequod disguised as a Honda Civic began its pursuit at 10 a.m. with a full tank of gas (I was wearing sunglasses, but it was bright out).
Georgetown-Creighton, noon: The Hoyas began the day 0-11 in the Big East and would drop to 0-12 after getting outscored 80-66 (they’ve since fallen to 0-13). Highlights included a chance to see the Bluejays run their precise offense (26 assists on 30 made baskets) and the game ending before 2 p.m. to give me a good jump on my way to Fairfax (28 minute trip from Capital One Arena on Google Maps). Lowlights included another rough day for the Hoyas defensively and on the glass: They were out-rebounded 22-11 in the first half and surrendered a career high 30 points on eight three’s to former Division II transfer Ryan Hawkins. TNT was also on the Media Room TV, and it was showing one of the “Bridget Jones” movies. I think it was “Beyond Reason”?
George Mason-VCU, 4 p.m.: The Patriots trailed by 10 at intermission before the Rams began the second half with a 21-7 run en route to an 85-70 victory. Highlights included the electric atmosphere at Eagle Bank Arena, inspired play on both sides, and Doc Nix’s Green Machine Band bringing it. The lowlight came at 4:15 p.m. when, after my update from the arena, our sports anchor Thomas Robertson gave the Howard-Delaware State score. Hold on, wasn’t that a 7:30 tipoff? Was he giving a women’s game score instead? No — after further review, the game actually began at 4 and because I did not have access to a DeLorean or plutonium (you just can’t walk into a drugstore and get plutonium, even in 2022) the heavily hyped #SuperSaturdayTripleheader became just a doubleheader. Turnover, Preston.
And just like that, the dream was denied. The three-pointer fell short … but at least it wasn’t an air ball (that would be having my car towed before leaving for the noon Georgetown game). Or maybe it was a dream deferred? Perhaps this Saturday I should try to get courtside for Navy-Holy Cross at noon, Howard-Morgan State at four, and George Washington-Rhode Island at seven? Perhaps I should double-check each school’s schedule …
(After further review, Navy does play Holy Cross at noon. But Howard-Morgan State is at 2 p.m., and George Washington-Rhode Island is at 6 p.m. Perhaps I should stay inside the arc and focus on two-pointers.)
This week’s Starting Five
Up Top: Auburn’s overtime loss at Arkansas allows Gonzaga to move back atop this week’s AP Top 25. I’ve got the Bulldogs-Tigers-Kentucky-Arizona-Duke as my top five. Every week collegepolltracker.com publishes the 61 ballots and it’s interesting to see what the other writers and broadcasters have. When one of your selections is 5+ spots off the actual ranking the site refers to it as “an extreme pick”. So according to the norm I had USC (who beat UCLA Saturday night) and Michigan State a little higher while I undervalued Illinois according to the consensus. Mid-major shout-outs this week go to Wyoming, Murray State, SMU and Toledo. Difficult omissions: Arkansas, Alabama, UConn, Texas, Marquette, Xavier, Colorado St., St. Mary’s, and Virginia.
Going Inside: Howard (13-10, 6-3 MEAC) has won five straight to move into third place of the conference with five games remaining in the regular season. The backcourt has been coming up big: Graduate guard Kyle Foster captured his second straight MEAC Player of the Week award while freshman point guard Elijah Hawkins was named Rookie of the Week for the seventh time this season. The Bison lead the conference in scoring and three-point shooting as well as assist-to-turnover ratio. And they play their next four at home. Despite having some pretty good players on the court over the years at Burr Gymnasium, Howard hasn’t finished with a winning record since 2001-02. They’ve got a golden opportunity to finish above .500 this winter.
On the Perimeter: The two hottest teams in the ACC met Monday night, and while we sang the praises of Virginia (16-10, 10-6) last week, it was their Commonwealth counterpart who came up big against the Cavaliers in Blacksburg. Virginia Tech (16-10, 8-7) has now won six in a row, and the Hokies’ 62-53 victory saw equal parts offensive efficiency (12 assists on 20 made baskets with only 6 turnovers) and stingy defense (VT held UVA to 0-9 from three-point range and 40% shooting overall). Keva Aluma (24 points with 8 rebounds) led the team in scoring for the ninth time in 13 games since New Year’s Day. Coach Mike Young’s team reached the NCAA Tournament a year ahead of schedule last March and it looked as though they’d taken a step back this winter by starting 2-7 in the conference. And while they’ve not yet reached the underbelly of the NCAA Tournament Bubble, three of their last five regular season games are against schools that are below .500 in the ACC. A 20-win season entering the Conference Tournament is not out of the question.
Who’s Open: Maryland (11-14, 3-11 Big Ten) may already be assured of a losing conference record, but they can still avoid playing in the dreaded First Round of the upcoming Big Ten Tournament with four of their next five games coming against schools under .500 in league play. They’ve got to finish strong: Maryland is 0-5 in Big Ten games decided by fewer than seven points (their OT win at Northwestern was by seven). And even in their best days under former coach Mark Turgeon, they’d always have that “sleepwalking into ambush” late-season loss against Nebraska, Penn State, or Minnesota. They get all three schools in short order, with the Cornhuskers (7-18, 1-13) Friday’s foe. Coach Fred Hoiberg’s team ranks last in the Big Ten in points allowed, shooting the three and rebounding margin. They do lead the conference with 360 steals, and Maryland just happens to rank last in assist-to-turnover ratio.
Last Shot: You just never know who’ll be dropping by the District on a February Saturday — remember the Mitchell twins who transferred out of Maryland after one semester, forcing Jalen Smith to play center instead of forward during the Big Ten Championship season of 2019-20? The duo are back in D.C. Saturday when Rhode Island (13-11, 4-8 Atlantic 10) visits George Washington (9-14, 5-6). Instead of being a part of what turned out to be Mark Turgeon’s best team (and the classic “What if?” of DMV hoops) while honing their skills with assistant Bino Ranson (who helped Smith and Bruno Fernando elevate their games in each player’s second season with the Terps), Makhel (11 points with 6 rebounds per game this winter) and Makhi (10 & 7) find themselves two years later getting major minutes for an A-10 team fighting to stay out of their dreaded First Round. What is the phrase … straying to greener pastures but finding spinach?
