March Madness Update

The #6 seeded Duke Men's Basketball team lost to #11 Virginia Commonwealth in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament this year (79-77). Duke had made 9 straight Sweet 16 appearances, and had 10 consecutive first rounds victories. Interestingly, Greg Paulus scored a career-high 25 points, and Josh McRoberts added a career-high 22 points and had 12 rebounds. Major problem: Duke went 20-32 from the foul line. I've archived the game notes for future analysis. Link

The good news is that the Women's Basketball team received the top overall #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. With a loss to NC State in the ACC Semifinals, the team certainly looked back on track last night with a 81-44 win over Holy Cross. The game was memorable for one of the Holy Cross Seniors, Brittany Keil. Entering the game with 993 points, she had scored only 4 minutes in the first 39 minutes of play. Timeout Holy Cross. They inbound the ball, and after a few passes, Keil gets the ball drains the 3 point basket. Granted our defense left her pretty well open, but a 20 foot shot isn't exactly a 'gimmie' (basketball or golf).

Here's what Holy Cross coach Bill Gibbons had to say about Duke and Coach Gail Goestenkors:
"I always have respect for Gail, but today it grew ten-fold. I am rooting for Duke to win it all because of the class they showed."

I concur. This game will fade from our memories, but I thought it was important to document it. Certainly, it was a big day for that senior.

I was a recipient of the Holy Cross Book Award in 2001