SPORTS INSIDER – What happened to DC-area teams at NCAA Tournament?
March 24, 2014
Ceci Ferrara
Sports Writer
Sports Insider
Last week American University, George Washington, and VCU were all celebrating berths in the men’s NCAA tournament. Now, as the Sweet 16 are preparing to compete at Madison Square Garden later this week, they will all be watching it on TV, wondering what they could have done differently.
Not one of the DC-area schools advanced past the first round, with American getting eliminated on the very first day of competition. As a No. 15 seed, AU faced a tough match-up against the No. 2 Wisconsin Badgers last Thursday. They kept the game relatively close in the first half, trailing by just 10. But in the second half, the Badgers pulled away, outscoring AU 43-13.
American’s 75-35 loss was one of the most lopsided victories in the tournament and a disappointment for the Eagles, who were hoping to pull an upset victory in their first tournament appearance since 2009. Instead, they looked slow and out of place.
“We couldn’t score,” AU coach Mike Brennan said afterwards. “They stopped us stone cold.”
Wisconsin went on to beat No. 7 Oregon in the next round, and will face No. 6 Baylor in the Sweet 16 Thursday night.
The match-up of the No. 9 George Washington Colonials and No. 8 Memphis Tigers was much more balanced, but still saw the DC-based school fall short. Isaiah Armwood scored a season-high 21 points for GW, which kept his team in contention for most of the game; at half-time, they trailed by just five points. Patricio Garino added 10 points for the Colonials, while one of their lead scorers, Maurice Creek, finished with nine.
Trailing 66-69, Creek had an opportunity to tie the game with a 3-pointer in the final seconds, but missed from 25 feet out. “A shot I usually hit,” he said afterward.
With time running out GW fouled the Tigers immediately, which sent Memphis’ Michael Dixon to the line. Dixon made both throws to put the game out of reach, 71-69 and send the Colonials home early. Afterward, GW coach Mike Longergan admitted that the outcome might have been different if Creek had made the 3-pointer.
“I think if we would have tied it, the momentum was sort of shifting, and maybe we would have tied it, had some time outs and things would’ve been different.”
VCU, the highest seeded school, was also the last to get eliminated. The No. 5 Richmond-based Rams were expecting an easy first round against No. 12 Stephen F. Austin. Instead, they ended up with a toe-to-toe match-up which ended in a two-point overtime loss.
Heading into the game, the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks were riding a 28-game winning streak. They proved that wasn’t a fluke by outscoring the Rams 36-30 in the first half. Virginia Commonwealth scored 37 points in the second half, but missed two free throws to give SF Austin back the ball. With less than four seconds left, the Lumberacks scored four points on unbelievable back-to-back plays to tie the game and force overtime.
“I like the way we battled the majority of the second half, but we just didn’t finish the game,” VCU coach Shaka Smart said. “We kind of gave them a glimmer of hope.”
The Lumberjacks parlayed that hope into a 77-75 OT win, sending the Rams packing. Despite the loss, VCU has much to be proud of. They have appeared in the tournament four years in a row, including a Final Four appearance in 2011.
While it wasn’t the outcome these local schools, or their fans, were hoping for, they are not alone in their disappointment. After the first two rounds, several favorites–such as Duke (No. 3) and Wichita State (No. 1)–have been eliminated, while unlikely contenders, such as Tennessee and Dayton (both No. 11), still have a shot at the championship.
