Let the madness begin.

 

Sunday marked the release of the NCAA Tournament selection committee’s Division I National Championship Tournament brackets, and the DMV is represented strongly by two of the most storied programs in the area.

Both Georgetown (23-10) and Maryland (23-8) appear in the tournament’s Midwest bracket and both earned top five seeds, numbers three and four respectively, in a bracket stocked with some of Division I’s heaviest hitters, including the number one overall seed, Kansas.

Georgetown, after falling just short in the championship round of the Big East Tournament, will open in Providence against the fourteen seed, Ohio Bobcats (21-14).  The Bobcats appear primed to slip into Cinderella’s glass slipper and could present a test for the Hoyas in the opening round.  Ohio enters the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five years and fresh off of a Mid-American Conference championship.  Led by guard Armon Bassett, who averaged 29 points per game in the MAC Tournament and earned MVP honors for his play, the Bobcat hang their hats on their athleticism and the influence of a stable presence in the middle, senior center Kenneth van Kempen, the school’s career leader in games played.

The MAC isn’t exactly a power basketball conference however, and the Bobcats’ schedule featured just common opponent all season long - they were dismantled by Pitt, 74-49, in late December.

Despite their Cinderella hopes, Ohio likely isn’t going to be much of a deterrent from the Hoyas’ championship aspirations.  Georgetown’s attack features arguably the most versatile big man in the college game, and a duo of capable scorers in Chris Wright and Austin Freeman and the trio should give the Bobcats fits.  This is March though and stranger things have happened - just ask any George Mason fan you know.

Should the Hoyas advance past Ohio, they will face the winner of the 6/11 matchup between Tennessee and San Diego State in the second round of play.

Maryland may find stiffer competition in their opening round matchup.  The Terps finished the regular season tied for the ACC regular season title with arch-nemesis Duke (who in the ACC doesn’t consider Duke their arch-nemesis?), but were booted from the conference tournament before getting a shot to prove who the true number one team in the league was.

Maryland boasts the conference player of the year in senior guard Greivis Vasquez, coach of the year Gary Williams, and a supporting cast that has gelled just in time to be playing their best basketball just when they’ll need to be playing their best basketball.

The Terps will open play against the newly crowned conference USA champion Houston Cougars.  Perhaps you haven't heard of Aubrey Coleman, but you will.  Coleman is the nation’s leading scorer at 26.1 points per contest and is a tough one-on-one matchup for most teams because he can score from anywhere on the floor.

Houston took the tough road to the tourney, winning four straight games in consecutive days to earn the championship and the conferences’ automatic berth - if they hadn’t they’d be appearing on NIT brackets, not the Big Dance lineup.  At 19-15 the selection committee likely wouldn’t have even given them any consideration.

The Cougars are in the tourney however, and they are dangerous.  Head coach Tom Penders has led five different teams to the NCAA tournament and this incarnation is the nation leader in turnover margin and second in the nation in committing the fewest turnovers.

Maryland would play the winner of the 5/12 Michigan State and New Mexico State matchup should they move past Houston into the second round.

Dreaming of a Georgetown/Maryland matchup in a battle for DMV bragging rights?  Could happen in the Elite Eight round, but the road would be tough, particularly for the Terps who’d likely have to go through the number one overall seeded Jayhawks to reach the Elite Eight.

The Hoyas wouldn’t exactly cruise either.  Ohio State and the consensus best player in the nation, Evan Turner, would present a tough roadblock should the two meet in the Sweet 16.

Both teams should make a run at least to the Sweet 16, but I’d fill out my bracket in pencil if I were you just in case because anything can happen in March.

They do call it “Madness” for a reason after all.