The return of the first and second rounds of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament to Verizon Center in 2011 could pave the way for Maryland or George Mason to make another magical run. But it won’t help Georgetown. The Hoyas are hosts so they won’t be featured — like North Carolina seems to every time the tournament goes through Greensboro.
The Patriots benefited from near-homecourt advantage in 2006, upsetting top-seeded Connecticut in overtime, 86-84, to advance to the Final Four, easily the most memorable NCAA game ever played in Washington. The Terps also used the friendly confines for their first two wins at then-MCI Center on the way to the 2002 title. Richmond set the tone in 1998, with a first-round upset as a No. 14 seed over No. 3 South Carolina.
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Our hope two years from now is Verizon doesn’t become Duke central again — that job is better suited for Madison Square Garden — as it was in 2008, when the second-seeded Blue Devils squandered a ten-point second-half lead over 15th-seed Belmont before Gerald Henderson took over and scored the final eight points for a 71-70 first-round squeaker.
