BB&T Classic

Stu and I went to the BB&T Classic at the Verizon Center on Sunday. It was GW against Virginia Commonwealth and Maryland against Notre Dame.

GW didn't do very well against VCU. The final score 75-60 didn't exactly reflect how close the game was. VCU was able to get off too many three point shots. In fact they had more points on 3-point baskets than GW had the whole first half:

“We were supposed to go under screens and we were helping too much,” GW Coach Mike Lonergan said. “We let [Bradford] Burgess get off to a great start, then we tried to change some things and three or four guys may have been on the same page, but a few guys would have a breakdown on every play. . . . We tried to trap a little, but the rotation was a little slow, which gave them more open threes.”

Maryland did better. They won against Norte Dame 78-71.

I forgot to bring my regular camera so these pictures were taken with my iPhone. I think they came out pretty well. As you can see there were not many people there. It did fill in a little for the second game.


















Here's the GW pep band getting ready to play.



















































This young GW fan couldn't stand to watch the game at the end.




















Stu and I mugging for the camera.

Temple Outlasts Maryland

Maryland came out very flat and Temple took full advantage of it. So Maryland:

with no sign of improvement early in the second half, Coach Gary Williams yanked all of his starters but his 6-foot-10 center and put his faith in three freshmen and another sophomore, telling his substitues: "Work hard! We gotta come back!"

Williams got the spark he wanted from a bench that was desperate to prove its worth. But even the most valiant second-half spark wasn't enough to overcome a Temple team that simply battled harder, start to finish.

Maryland got it close or you could say Temple allowed Maryland to get close. But in the end Temple won 64-61.

And that ended our 9 hours of college basketball. It was a great day!

GW Looses to Navy

The Midshipman arrive at Verizon Center.


















The Midshipman try to distract a GW player while he shots free throws.










This sums up the performance of the GW Colonials on Sunday:

Navy defeated George Washington, 64-57, on Sunday evening in the BB&T Classic at Verizon Center, the Midshipmen's first win against the Colonials since Feb. 14, 1980 and only their second win against GW in their last 17 meetings.

And one of the major reasons they lost the game was this:

GW, which went long stretches in this game without a field goal, tried to counter Navy's three-point shooting - the Midshipmen made 11 shots from behind the arc - by attacking the basket and drawing fouls. It was a successful strategy, in part. The Colonials went to the free throw line 28 times in the game. The problem was, they made only 18 foul shots.

If they'd done a little better with their free throws, the outcome of the game might have been very different. Hopefully this will be the last year the GW coach is there.

American Can't Overcome Florida

The GW women's game ended around 2:30 or so. Stu and I got in my car and dashed over to the Verizon Center where the BB&T Classic was underway. We found parking rather quickly and just a block away from the arena

American was playing Florida. We arrived just as half time was starting. American was only down by 9 points 30-21. They ended up loosing 67-48. They kept it close for awhile in the second half but eventually Florida wore American down.

This from the Post:

Jones, though, was in a sour mood after the Eagles' third consecutive loss since their 5-0 start. Although the margin of defeat was respectable for a Patriot League team facing a Southeastern Conference titan, Jones expected a better performance by his veteran squad.

Basketball-athon

Sunday my friend Stu and I took in 9 hours of college basketball. Four games (well actually 3 1/2 since we only saw the second half of one).

It started out at GW where the women played George Mason. We then headed over to the Verizon Center to watch the BB&T Classic. American took on Florida, the GW men played Navy and Maryland played Temple.

I'll have more about this in a post later today.