March Madness will be in full swing, albeit on a smaller scale, Friday night at Johns Hopkins Goldfarb Gym.
There, host-Hopkins will battle cross-town rival Villa Julie College at 8 p.m. in a first round NCAA Division III men?s basketball tournament game. The winner will play Saturday at Hopkins against the winner of Manhattenville (N.Y.) and Guilford (N.C.).
Hopkins (23-4) returns to the tournament for the first time since 1999 after beating Haverford in the Centennial Conference finals, 68-61, on Sunday.
The Blue Jays get most of their scoring from a trio of seniors in forwards Matt Griffin (17 points per game), guard T.J. Valerio (12.6) and forward Danny Nawrocki (12.3), who also averages a team-high 10.8 rebounds a game. However, Hopkins coach Bill Nelson said the play of his young guards ? sophomore Colin Kamm and freshman Patrick O?Connell ? is just as important for his team this year.
“We got spoiled in the 1990s when we made the tournament seven times,” Nelson said. “Then, you wonder if you?re ever going to get back. But, the seniors worked extremely hard this year with the thought of winning the conference?s regular season title so we could get home-court advantage and have the best shot to get back into the tournament. ”
For Villa Julie (20-7), this is its second straight trip to the NCAA tournament after it defeated Chestnut Hill College, 94-92, in overtime Saturday in the North Eastern Athletic Conference tournament finals. This marked the first automatic berth for the Mustangs ? who have won 15 straight games ? after advancing to the second round of the tournament in 2006 as an at-large bid.
Senior center Steven Seagars is Villa Julie?s leading scorer and rebounder at 16.3 points and 9.7 rebounds per game. Senior forward Cilk McSweeney contributes 15.7 points and 6.3 rebounds while guard Jason Lambert pitches in 9.7 points a contest for the Mustangs, who returned six of their top eight players from last year.
D3 NOTES
» Johns Hopkins coach Bill Nelson is 348-201 in his 21 seasons with the Blue Jays.
» Villa Julie?s top player from last year, Anthony Fitzgerald, is in his first season as an assistant with the Mustangs.
» There are 59 teams in the NCAA Division III tournament this year, with the national finals taking place March 17 in Salem, Va.
