Top Local Sports Stories of the Week

Matt Trollinger    Articles, Basketball, Football, Redskins     ACC, American University, Basketball, Blake Griffin, Bobby Knight, Brendan Haywood, Caron Butler, Clinton Portis, DeShawn Stevenson, Devin Thomas, Dominic McGuire, Ed Tapscott, Gary Williams, Gilbert Arenas, Injury Problems, JaVale McGee, Javaris Crittenton, LeBron James, Malcolm Kelly, Maryland, NBA, NBA Draft 2009, NCAA Basketball Tournament 2009, NFL 2009 Offseason, Nick Young, Offseason Workouts, Washington Redskins, Washington Wizards, Worst Team in the League

Top 3 Local Sports Stories

Maryland and American University make the NCAA Tourney

This is pretty big for Gary Williams and the Terps. They’ve had a really up and down year and have been considered one of the most undersized teams in the ACC. During midseason many were calling for Gary’s ouster at season’s end. The Washington Post even did a piece on how Gary had missed a ton of local talent.

This was all before the monstrous win over UNC and the solid showing in the ACC Tournament last week where Maryland beat its first two opponents (NC State and ranked Wake Forest) and put up a fight against Duke (a much better one than eventual ACC Champ contender Florida State).
Now it appears that Garyland is alive and well again with the NCAA berth, even as a number 10 seed. It will be a tough road for the Terps however, because they face Cal in the first round and if they win, the very strong Memphis in the next.

American University is the other local team that made the tournament, they are a 14 seed and will be playing Villanova in the first round.

Redskins Begin Off-season Workouts

Update from Redskins.com

Although Portis was not expected to be there for the early off-season workouts, he was!

However, Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly were not! Unfreakingbelievable…

Wizards News

The Wizards are still hurting with injuries and are still awful but not the worst..yet

Butler’s got hamstring problems, Gilbert and Haywood probably won’t play this year and DeShawn is done. That’s four starters folks. Not to mention Etan Thomas, and other players’ health concerns.

Not many teams can compete during the season with such a shakeup of the planned starting lineup. But don’t worry, the Wizards did not rewrite the script and they now have the league’s second worst record with only 16 wins. But hey, we can show the Sacramento Kings (the worst team in the league with 14 w’s) who’s boss.

A lot of fans are calling for the team to give the youngsters (Nick “the young one” Young, Dominic McGuire, JaVale McGee and Javaris Crittenton) more time for the rest of the season. With the injury problems, I don’t think Tapscott has a choice.

On a very much related note, here’s a look at Blake Griffin from Oklahoma through Bobby Knight’s eyes:

Hopefully we get a chance to draft this guy, I think he’s going to be a dynamic player in the NBA. I love the part where Bobby Knight was talking about how Griffin doesn’t complain or whine he gets contact. That’s quite different than another #23 we have all come to know and love!