March Madness may be over for area fans after the opening weekend.
George Mason will face overall No. 1 seed Ohio State if it survives Villanova on Friday. Georgetown surely will win its opener vs. a play-in game winner, but the Hoyas’ Chris Wright better dominate quickly after returning from an injured hand. Otherwise, Georgetown won’t beat Purdue in the third round on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Verizon Center has some good teams for second- and third-round games on Thursday and Saturday. Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Connecticut are a Big East basketball junkie’s dream.
Maybe there’s nothing left to do but watch others teams and sites after Sunday, but locals at least get four great days of hoops.
It’s enough to make you forget the NFL’s labor problems.
Will the Final Four feature Ohio State-Duke and Kansas-Pittsburgh semifinals? Don’t bet your brackets against three of those teams reaching Houston on April 2.
Meanwhile, George Mason showed it had earned some respect, receiving a No. 8 seed without winning its conference tournament. The Patriots delivered a standout season with 16 straight victories, and everyone (including the selection panel) remembers the 2006 Final Four appearance.
George Mason meets a stumbling Villanova on Friday in Cleveland. The Wildcats have lost five straight and seven of nine. Villanova is nothing like it was in December. But the Wildcats have three starters averaging 14 or 15 points, and they played much tougher competition than George Mason considering the Big East has 11 teams in the NCAA tournament.
It’s no sure thing that George Mason advances, but the reward is a knockout game against Ohio State in front of its home crowd. Actually, this game could be on Alpha Centauri and OSU would win. The Buckeyes may win the national title, so George Mason will be an early casualty. Don’t invoke the Patriots’ 2006 Connecticut victory. “Hoosiers” happens once a generation.
No. 6 Georgetown gets the winner of a first-round game — either Southern Cal or Virginia Commonwealth — in the second round. Those two teams will expend everything in the first game and have nothing left for the rested Hoyas. Wright gets an easy return.
But can Georgetown beat No. 3 Purdue (figuring the Boilermakers first beat No. 14 Saint Peter’s)? Purdue has one of the top players nationally in JaJuan Johnson (20.5 points, 8.2 rebounds.) Still, it all comes down to Wright. Can the Hoyas quickly regain their chemistry with the senior after three weeks apart?
Meanwhile, the four games on Thursday at Verizon are everything fans are looking for. A good 8-9 game between Butler-Old Dominion. A heavyweight in No. 1 Pittsburgh. An interesting team in Cincinnati. And Connecticut returns to the site of the biggest tournament upset ever: No. 11 George Mason’s win over the No. 1 Huskies in the 2006 regional final. Wonder whether that’s on coach Jim Calhoun’s mind?
Strap in — it’s going to be a blur.
Examiner columnist Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more on Twitter @Snide_Remarks or e-mail [email protected].
