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Forgive me if Conference Tournament Week makes me rather fried by Friday. But we get to the weekend with most of the locals (even using the extremely extended net) moving on from dreaming about reaching the NCAA Tournament.
Thursday’s action began with morning basketball (with the exception of the NBC show “Hang Time,” we should never have hoops before noon) in Brooklyn that saw the top four seeds in the Atlantic 10 go down in defeat (including likely at-large Dayton), continued with a mugging in Minneapolis (Terps season of discontent finally ends), and wrapped up with a pair of thrillers in D.C. that included an overtime affair as well as a mad dash to the Metro after midnight.
Let’s get this weekend underway, already.
Maryland (16-17) attempted to ride the momentum of its double-digit win over Rutgers into the second round of the Big Ten Tournament, and things looked encouraging when Jamie Kaiser Jr. hit a three to give the Terps a 3-2 lead with 18:53 left in the first half. That would be their last lead of the season as Wisconsin dominated the rest of the day in an 87-56 rout. How dominating? The Badgers hit 16-25 from three-point range and at one point scored 21 straight points against one of the more highly regarded defenses in the conference.
Jahmir Young scored 18 points in his final game with the school while Donta Scott was limited to four after netting 16 the day before. And for a team that made its mark with top-flight defense, its last three losses of the season saw the Terps fail to contain transition (Indiana), get pounded in the paint (Penn State) and finally get smoked on the perimeter.
One bright spot was the play of DeShawn Harris-Smith (16 points, two rebounds and three assists) and one hopes he’ll be able to make the leap from contributing freshman to sophomore catalyst. Let’s see what moves Coach Kevin Willard makes in the transfer portal to supplement one of the better gets in program history (Baltimore big man Derik Queen).
Richmond (23-9) saw a rather shortened stay in Brooklyn, dropping its quarterfinal to St. Joseph’s 66-61. The game began somewhat sluggishly (as most 11:30 a.m. tipoffs should), with both teams taking a while to find their respective grooves (the Hawks missed 11 of their first 13 shots).
The Spiders would see a double-digit second half lead dissolve as St. Joes would score 31 points in the final 12 minutes of regulation. UR was already on the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble before this game, and one wonders with the new rules if they’ll find their way into the NIT. How to view this season? Coach Chris Mooney’s team massively exceeded expectations after being picked 11th in the preseason poll, only to underperform their seed in Brooklyn.
Depending on what happens in the transfer portal (Jordan King was a major find last offseason), it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Spiders enjoying at least a double-bye in D.C. next March when the Atlantic 10 Tournament returns to Capital One Arena (where Richmond triumphed in 2022).
VCU (21-12) didn’t get a double-bye this March thanks to three straight losses at the end of the regular season, but the Rams have played their way into the weekend with a 70-59 quarterfinal triumph over UMass. Coach Ryan Odom’s team took a while to get going, going without a basket for the first 3:54. But once they did, the Rams maintained their shooting stroke (hitting 50% on the day) and took a 17-point lead into halftime. And even when the Hawks rallied to pull within six, VCU shut the door by holding its opponent scoreless for the final 4:24 of regulation.
Joe Bamisile netted 18 points off the bench while Zeb Jackson added 17. Next up? The league takes a gap day and rests up for the Saturday semifinals, with VCU playing St. Joseph’s (the Rams beat the Hawks 73-69 at the Siegel Center on Feb. 25).
Howard (16-16) also advanced, beating Morgan State in the MEAC Quarterfinals, taking control of the game in the second half when they held the Bears scoreless for a 5:55 stretch. They limited MSU to 1-8 from three-point range while winning the battle of the boards 38-28. Bryce Moore led the attack with 28 points and nine rebounds, setting up a showdown with top seed Norfolk State.
Virginia (23-9), as the No. 3 seed, was the last team to play a game in the ACC Tournament, and with the expanded format, eight schools had left Capital One Arena for good when the Cavaliers stepped on the court (and that’s not including Duke taking showers and changing after losing the 7 p.m. game).
U.Va. battled upstart Boston College and fell behind by 10 early before turning things around.
“Felt a little off for us, they got some transition buckets and some offensive rebounds,” Coach Tony Bennett said. “I just thought they hit us in the mouth first but we stayed the course, got some stops and then got to it. But we were just not quite ready to start.”
The D would go on to earn an A, holding BC to one basket over the final five minutes of regulation. And even after that buzzer-beating jumper by Mason Madsen sent the game into overtime, the Cavaliers held the Eagles to 1-6 shooting with three turnovers in OT as U.Va. avoided upset by beating Boston College 66-60.
“One thing that kind of never changed was our defense. I thought guys were really gritty,” forward Jacob Groves (team-high 15 points with 11 rebounds) said. “I know we didn’t clean up that one rebound but coming back into the huddle we were optimistic about overtime.”
The victory keeps the Cavaliers on the favorable side of the NCAA Tournament bubble, for now.
Friday’s games of note
MEAC Semifinals, Howard (16-16) vs. Norfolk State (22-10), 6 p.m., ESPN+
The Bison beat the Spartans last March to punch their first NCAA Ticket in 31 years, but this winter it’s been a different story with NSU sweeping the regular season series, winning by four in D.C. and 19 in Virginia.
The Spartans can beat you multiple ways: while the Bison were tormented by 18 turnovers in the loss at home, Norfolk State shot 53% and 7-14 from three in the season finale. And while they aren’t playing in their home gym, the Joseph G. Echols Hall sits 2.2 miles (an eight-minute drive) away from Norfolk Scope Arena.
Spartan to watch: MEAC Player of the Year Jamarii Thomas averaged a team-high 15 points with five rebounds and four assists in the regular season meetings.
ACC Semifinals, Virginia (23-9) vs. NC State (20-14), 9:30 p.m. (or so), ESPN
Last night, I went from looking back at the Cavaliers loss at Duke to scrapping this entry completely to looking things up on my phone on the Metro home (love the late-night service). The Wolfpack have won three games in three nights after winning four games over Coach Kevin Keatts’ first six years at the helm and are playing in a semifinal for the first time since 2014.
The two teams split their regular season series, with the Wolfpack winning Jan. 6 in Raleigh 76-60 (all nine of UVa’s losses this year have come by double digits) while the Cavaliers won on their home floor 59-53 in overtime (UVa is 9-0 in games decided by six points or fewer) Jan. 24. There are those who will say Duke lost the quarterfinal more than State won it (the Blue Devils missed six of 14 free throws and 15 of 20 three-pointers), but there are also those who recall miracle Wolfpack runs through the bracket to the championship game in 2007, 1997 and even 1987 (the school’s last of 10 ACC Tournament championships won in Landover, Maryland, at the Cap Centre).
Wolf to watch: Fort Washington, Maryland, native and St. John’s College High School graduate Casey Morsell was a rotation player for seasons at Virginia (averaging 19 minutes per game while making 16 starts in 53 games) before transferring to NC State, where he became a three-year starter (averaging 31 minutes while making 78 starts in 98 games). He’s averaging 14 points per game this week.
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