2008 NCAA TOURNAMENT
First Round, University of Maryland, College Park

Session One, Game One. A matchup between the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Xavier Musketeers. Unfortunately, the Muskateers sleepwalked through the first 37 minutes or so, as the Huskers maintained a comfortable lead. However, with just a few minutes to go, Xavier finally woke up and started to close the gap. They gave the Huskers a scare, but by then it was too late, and the Huskers survived, 61-58. Except for those last few minutes, it wasn't a particularly interesting game. The two team mascots, however, were interesting and did provide a good bit of entertainment for the house filled mostly with Terps fans.

The BasketCases' Mascot of the Day Award without question goes to Xavier's Blue Blob.

Second Place goes to the Cornhuskers' Lil Red, who bears a striking resemblance to Bob's Big Boy. Midwestern cousins, perhaps?

Session One, Game Two. An all local affair, the Terps vs Baltimore's Coppin State. In one of those rubber band games that have become all too familiar for Maryland fans, the Terps raced out to an early lead against a lower-ranked opponent, then put their game into park, as their opponent snapped back to close the gap, or even, as the CSU Eagles did, take the lead. Maryland regained the lead late in the first half and at the break was up by 5. With a little more aggressive play and better defense the Terps stretched the lead to nearly 20 in the second half, winning 80-66.

The win gave Coach B her 200th career victory. In addition, Kristi Tolliver's second (of 7) assists broke the 30-year-old (!!) Maryland and ACC record for most assists in a single season (249) previously held by Tara Heiss. Congratulations to Coach B and Kristi!

Though only 30 miles away in Baltimore, Coppin State did not travel with a mascot. (Do they even have one?) But this Eagles fan (one of many) came dressed for the event and was a one-woman cheering section, despite being surrounded by a sea of red people.

Between the two sessions, the Rebounders fired up the grills beside the parking lot to participate in their second favorite sport -- eating! And the weather more than cooperated . . . it was a beautiful Easter Sunday evening.

Session Two, Game One. A 7 PM match between the Duke Blue Devils and the Murray State Racers. The Maryland fans gave the Blue Devils a warm Comcast Center welcome, as boos rained down on the court when Duke was introduced, each time Dook got a call or no-call, and in the final minutes when Coach P ordered her team to continue pressing an opponent already trailing by 20. The Racers were a feisty bunch of lilliputians mostly short players who gave up miles of height to Duke. Their only weakness, however, was that they could not knock down their shots, whether in the open court or point blank layups. Otherwise, they were great! Duke won, 78-57.

We do have to give a special shout out to Murray State for one thing, however -- faced with a budgetary crisis that might have led to the elimination of a sports team on some campuses, they came up with the innovative solution of merging their cheerleading squad with their Sumo wrestling team. The BasketCases weren't the only Terps fans impressed by the Murray Steak State Sumo Cheerleaders!

And now we have a confession to make: We left before the nightcap game between Temple and Arizona State (it is a school night after all), so that's pretty much it for our first-person report.

But we will return on Tuesday when Maryland meets Nebraska in the second round and Duke plays the winner of tonight's Temple/Arizona State match-up.

Photo Credits: DC BasketCases

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Monday Morning Update: Arizona State beat Temple, so they will face Duke on Tuesday night at 7PM in the first of the two 2nd round games. The Terps' game against the Huskers is scheduled to tip off at 9:30 PM.

And speaking of Dook, Coach Joanne P. McCallie reacted to the boos the Blue Devils received Sunday night at Comcast by saying, "that must be the Turtle IQ." Well, Coach P, if you think the Terps would have been warmly (and politely) received had yesterday’s games been played at Cameron Indoor, we have only one thing to say to you: denial is not a river in Egypt. (Bite me!)