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Your live blogger for this game will be Janna Smith from SpaceCowgirl.net, and the only woman in our lineup. No, we did not simply stick her in right field. More »
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East Region: No. 6 UCLA (25-8) vs. No. 11 Virginia Commonwealth (24-9)
When: Thursday, 9:50 p.m., EDT
Where: Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

UCLA BRUINS

1) Sometimes when lose, you actually win. Disappointed with losing to Memphis and failing to bring home a 12th banner to UCLA, Darren Collison decided to put his NBA dreams on hold and returned for his senior season. Josh Shipp lost some of his explosiveness after suffering hip injuries in consecutive seasons, but now finds himself the quiet leader of this team. The loss of Kevin Love thrust Alfred Aboya into the starting role at center and was a compelling factor in Aboya's decision to come back to UCLA for one more year (he has already received his bachelor's degree). As a result, despite not winning a championship, the three players now comprise the winningest senior class in UCLA's storied history. Three consecutive Final Fours will do that. So will playing in an era of 33 game regular seasons, expanded tournaments, and freshman eligibility. More »
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1. The Straw(s) That Stir(s) The Drink. Everyone learned in short order who Eric Maynor was last year when he took over the CAA championship game against George Mason, hit the jump shot with 1.8 seconds left to beat Duke in the opening round of NCAA tournament and then led a 19-point comeback in the 2nd round against 12th-ranked Pitt that forced overtime before succumbing. He's continued the Superman act this year, winning the CAA Player of the Year award, maintaining the 13th-best assist rate in the nation and hitting over 40 percent of his 3s. But his biggest impact may be on the defensive end, where VCUs pressure defense has put up the best 3-point field goal defense in the nation at under 27 percent while rating in the top 30 of blocks, steals and overall defensive efficiency, according to the data at kenpom.com. They went 14-0 when scoring 70 or more points, but lost three conference games by a total of four points (and another by 12 to George Mason) when their offense was scuffling. Meanwhile, second year coach Anthony Grant should be a hot property to fill some potentially large vacancies that open up this spring. He was already within a hair of Billy Donovan's crewcut to being this year's Florida coach after he spent over a decade as a Gators' assistant, and he has been rumored to be in the running for the top job at South Carolina and LSU. His reputation in Florida is obvious when you notice that 6 of the 7 freshmen on the team are from that state. If he gets a bigger-time job it will be interesting to see how quickly he can make inroads into other, less swampy and soulless parts of the country. More »
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We don't mean to imply that Virginia Commonwealth — the school where the band G.W.A.R. was founded, by the way — is extremely popular this morning, but The Truth About Duke Web site has VCU's logo as its background and we received six emails overnight simply with the phrase "GO RAMS!" in the subject line. More »
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You know, it already just doesn't feel right without Duke in the NCAA tournament. It's just wrong. Wrong! More »
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Duke Blue Devils (22-10) vs. Virginia Commonwealth Rams (27-6) More »
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1. Like Father, Like Duke. Gerald Henderson Jr., he of the face-breaking adamantium elbows, is the son of VCU alum Gerald Henderson (fancy that!), the best NBA player to come out of the Commonwealth. We can only presume the elder Henderson acquired the How To Land Your Ulna Bone On The Bridge Of An Opponent's Nose With Devastating Results style guide while winning an NBA Championship with the 1990 Bad Boy Pistons and subsequently passed them down to his eager protege/son, not yet even three years old at the time. Speaking of Duke — and since we put our headline-eggs in the Duke basket — this all comes semi-circle in noting that Duke alum Jeff Capel(the III) coached VCU for four years prior to current head coach Anthony Grant, never winning fewer than 18 games. Last year Capel left VCU for a coaching job at Oklahoma one month after signing a six-year contract. What does it all mean? Never trust a Blue Devil. More »
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