Ncaa

Y ou have your NCAA tournament brackets in front of you and a pencil in your stubby little fingers, and now you want to know about Maryland. You want to know how far the Terps can go in the Big Dance. To which I would reply: Why are you asking me? Look, I'm the one who told you the Terps had a great shot to win the ACC tournament because they were hot going in, had senior leadership, the moon was in the Seventh House and Jupiter aligned with Mars, etc. And look what that got you. The Terps were one-and-done in Greensboro and you were left thinking: That fat guy at The Baltimore Sun is killing me. OK, let me try to make it up to you today with a semi-reasoned look at what Maryland has to do to win in Spokane this weekend and advance to the Sweet 16 in St. Louis.

Women's college bowling UMES repeats as NCAA champs UMES became the first school to win back-to-back NCAA women's bowling championships since Nebraska in 2004-2005 with a 4-2 defeat of Fairleigh Dickinson University in the championship finals Saturday night at Freeway Lanes outside Cleveland. T'nia Falbo was named the Most Outstanding Performer of the tournament and an All-Tournament Team selection. "Words cannot describe the feeling of winning, it's the greatest feeling ever," she said.

Asper finishes sixth in NCAA wrestling Maryland junior Josh Asper (Hereford) finished sixth for the second straight season at the NCAA wrestling championships in St. Louis. Asper, the seventh seed, lost a 5-2 decision to Appalachian State's Kyle Blevins in the 165-pound wrestleback semifinal, then lost to sixth-seeded Peter Yates of Virginia Tech in the fifth-place match. Blevins scored an early takedown in the first period, Asper tied the match with two escapes, but a third-period takedown by Blevins sealed the match.

The Maryland men's lacrosse team sent wave after wave against Hofstra, and the Pride finally relented under the pressure. Ten different players scored at least one goal to help the No. 3 Terps outlast No. 19 Hofstra, 11-8, before an announced 1,641 in a first-round NCAA tournament game at Byrd Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The Terps, the No. 3 seed in the tournament, will meet the winner of today's contest between No. 6 seed Princeton (11-4) and Notre Dame (7-6) in the quarterfinal round Saturday at either noon or 2:30 p.m. at Princeton.

Caitlyn McFadden wanted just one thing for her 22nd birthday Friday and she got it — a chance to play for the NCAA Division I women's lacrosse championship. The senior All-American scored four goals, including two in a six-goal finishing run, to lead the top-seeded Terrapins to a 14-5 win over Syracuse in the NCAA semifinals at Towson's Johnny Unitas Stadium. For McFadden, a midfielder who has collected almost every individual accolade including Tewaaraton Trophy finalist and two-time Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year, only the Terps' first national title since 2001 would make it a perfect birthday weekend.

While a good portion of the lacrosse community will pay attention to the No. 1 Loyola-No. 3 Maryland tilt - a rematch of last year's national title game - there will be another NCAA tournament rematch on Saturday's schedule. Washington College will visit Gopher Stadium in Towson to tangle with Goucher. The host Gophers swept the Shoremen twice last season, including a 5-4 decision in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Rookie coach Brian Kelly said he hasn't had to remind the Goucher players of their success against Washington - ranked No. 15 in the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association preseason poll - because they've already been discussing it amongst themselves.

Mark Turgeon had been talking Monday about how he had no true point guard, how his team couldn't finish games, how his center was reluctant to shoot, and how his post players have been maddeningly inconsistent. So when the Maryland coach was asked about the Terps ' chances for an NCAA tournament bid, he seemed headed for a Jim Mora Sr. moment. Mora - the former NFL coach - famously responded "Playoffs? You kidding me? Playoffs? I'm just hoping we can win a game" when asked about the postseason prospects for his 4-6 Indianapolis Colts in 2001.

The UMBC men's soccer team will face Old Dominion on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA tournament. “We are all very excited to see our name on the screen,” UMBC coach Pete Caringi Jr. said in a news release. “This is something that we worked hard all year long for. We have a lot of respect for ODU, but we are going to prepare to go down there and play well.” The Retrievers, whose game against the Monarchs will be played in Norfolk, Va., earned their tournament bid with a win over New Hampshire in the America East championship game Saturday.

Send waves to Alabama Mike Bianchi Orlando Sentinel If I were king of the NCAA, I would not only saturate Alabama with investigators, I would set up a branch office in Tuscaloosa. In Alabama, cheating is as much a part of the football lore as the houndstooth hat worn by Bear Bryant. Alabama has seen it all over the last 20 years. Shady loans. Athletes illicitly accepting cash payments from agents and boosters. Multiple probations. Postseason bans.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The college basketball season that ends Monday night began in November under the cloud of a possible boycott by members of the Black Coaches Association.The BCA was able to make its point regarding minority opportunities to the NCAA in meetings that were mediated by the U.S. Justice Department. The executive secretary of the NCAA isn't making any promises, but the feeling within the BCA and the larger National Association of Basketball Coaches is that the il,7p,14l higher standards for freshman eligibility scheduled for adoption in 1995 will be revised.