SOFA Wows Parade Watchers w/Girls HS Basketball & HOTPO 15 Updates
SOFA Wows Parade Crowd
The local civic group SOFA (Slightly Overweight Fathers of Alexandria) thrilled parade watchers at the Ballyshaners 42nd Alexandria St. Patrick's Day Parade, March 1. The group returned for a second year of participation with their signature orange Jeep pulling a "float" with this year's fantasy football champions. SOFA members passed out candy and bead necklaces while fielding membership requests from fathers of questionable BMI along the parade route.
Old Town Alexandria restaurant King & Rye hosted a post-parade event that included traditional Irish fare, Port City Brewing Company beverages and live music. The King & Rye social was an excellent way for portly and paternal parade participants to replenish depleted carbohydrates. It truly was a great day of festivities to kick off the Old Town Alexandria St. Patrick's "season."
West Potomac High School Girls Advance to VHSL Class 6 Semifinals
The West Potomac High Schools girls' basketball team (#20 Washington Post rankings) defeated Langley (#16) Tuesday night, 48-37, at Wakefield High School in Arlington.
Langley led 28-13 at the half and it looked like the Wolverines season would be over after 16 more minutes of play. Coming out of the locker room, the Wolverines applied full court pressure, got key Langley players into foul trouble and finally got hot on offense. It was one of the most shocking comebacks the HOTPO has ever covered and was a tremendous display of grit by the ladies from West Potomac.
West Potomac plays Osbourn Park at Osbourn Park High School in Manassas, Friday at 6pm. Good luck, Wolverines.
HOTPO 15 Update
When we started tracking the HOTPO 15, there were seven teams that were maintaining Top 20 KenPom rankings in both offense and defense – a key indicator of a championship caliber team. We are now down to four (Auburn, Duke, Houston and Florida, all projected as #1 seeds currently). Teams have one more regular season game this weekend and then we are into the conference tournaments, which will shake things up a little bit.
Isaac Trotter of CBS Sports wrote a great piece on how the conference tournaments could produce a few “bid-thieves” that would push some blue blood bubble teams off the big dance invite list (Indiana is on the bubble). He sees Bradley, Baylor and Xavier as teams, among others, that are not currently seen as tourney teams, but have the potential to earn a slot with a conference tournament title. Trotter also thinks the Atlantic 10 and Big West conferences are very competitive and should result in high drama in their conference tournaments.
The top ten below are all locks for high seeds in the NCAA tournament. Dayton and George Mason need to win the Atlantic 10 tourney to get in, and VCU and Indiana need at least a good showing in their respective conference tournaments to garner an invite. Georgetown needs to win the Big East tournament to earn a selection, but that is highly unlikely.
AP ranking as Mar. 3, KenPom rankings as of Mar. 6.
|
School |
Last
Game |
AP Rank |
KenPom
aO |
KenPom
aD |
|
Auburn |
L @ TAMU,
83-72 |
1 |
1 (130.8) |
14 (94.3) |
|
Florida |
W @
Bama, 99-94 |
5 |
4 (127.2) |
10 (92.9) |
|
Duke |
W vs
Wake, 93-60 |
2 |
2 (129.1) |
4 (89.8) |
|
Alabama |
L vs Florida,
99-94 |
7 |
3 (127.4) |
39 (98.2) |
|
Houston |
W vs
Kansas, 65-59 |
3 |
10 (124.3) |
3 (89.3) |
|
Tennessee |
L @ Ole
Miss, 78-76 |
4 |
21 (119.3) |
1 (88.2) |
|
Iowa
State |
L vs
BYU, 88-85 |
10 |
27 (118.8) |
7 (92.8) |
|
Michigan |
L vs
Maryland, 71-65 |
17 |
49 (116.5) |
18 (95.5) |
|
Arizona |
W vs ASU,
113-100 |
24 |
15 (121.7) |
25 (96.5) |
|
Maryland |
W @
Michigan, 71-65 |
13 |
32 (118.2) |
8 (92.9) |
|
George
Mason |
W vs LaSalle,
69-62 |
NA |
216 (105.2) |
22 (96.0) |
|
VCU |
W @ Duquesne,
71-62 |
NA |
41 (116.9) |
19 (95.7) |
|
Dayton |
W vs St.
Louis, 75-67 |
NA |
54 (116.2) |
139 (105.8) |
|
Indiana |
L @
Oregon, 73-64 |
NA |
61 (115.1) |
46 (98.7) |
|
Georgetown |
W vs Villanova,
75-73 |
NA |
144
(108.8) |
48 (99.2) |
HOTPO 15 Team Updates (Joe Lunardi Bracketology estimate, as of Mar. 7)
Auburn: a win (#17 Kentucky) and a loss (#22 Texas A&M), vs ranked teams, hosting #7 Alabama Saturday (1 South, vs 16 Southern/Bucknell winner)
Florida: BIG WEEK – wins over two ranked teams (#12 Texas A&M, #7 Alabama), versus Ole Miss Saturday (1 West, vs 15 Norfolk State)
Duke: two blowout wins (FSU, Wake Forest), at UNC Saturday (1 East, vs 16 Quinnipiac/SE Missouri State winner)
Alabama: TOUGH WEEK – losses to two ranked teams (#4 Tennessee, #5 Florida), at #1 Auburn Saturday (2 East, vs 15 S. Alabama)
Houston: two wins (Cincy, Kansas), at Baylor Saturday (1 Midwest, vs 16 Omaha)
Tennessee: big win (#7 Alabama) and an unsightly loss (Ole Miss), hosting S. Carolina Saturday (2 Midwest vs 15 Central Connecticut)
Iowa State: a win (#22 Arizona) and a loss (#23 BYU), at Kansas State Saturday (3 East vs Northern Colorado)
Michigan: BAD WEEK – two home losses (Illinois, #13 Maryland), at #8 Michigan State Sunday (5 West, vs 12 McNeese)
Arizona: a loss (#9 Iowa St.) and a win (Arizona St.), at Kansas Saturday (4 South, vs 13 Lipscomb)
Maryland: GOOD WEEK – two wins (Penn State, #17 Michigan), versus Northwestern Saturday (4 East, vs 13 Liberty)
George Mason: a loss (Duquesne) and a win (LaSalle), at Richmond Saturday (Out)
VCU: two wins (Davidson, Duquesne), hosting Dayton Friday (11 Midwest, vs 6 Marquette)
Dayton: two wins (Richmond, St. Louis), at VCU Friday (Out)
Indiana: a win (Washington) and a loss (Oregon), versus Ohio State Saturday (11 South, vs 11 San Diego State - Play-In Game, Last Four In)
Georgetown: a loss (Marquette) and a win (Villanova), at DePaul Saturday (Out)
Comments
Post a Comment