March Madness in the DMV
By: Ian Greco
March Madness starts with 68 hopeful teams, all of them dreaming of being the one to raise the ever elusive NABC National Championship Trophy. While Texas and North Carolina have seven and five teams respectively that made the biggest college tournament of the year, the DMV area (DC, Maryland, Virginia) managed to qualify four different teams in VCU, Howard, UMBC and UVA. In this article we’ll briefly dive into the general overview of all four teams and how they’ve performed in the tournament thus far.
In the case of Virginia’s state capital Richmond, their hometown team VCU entered the tournament this year as an 11th seed, the same seeding they received on their schools run to the Final Four in 2011. This team was projected by many analysts to be on upset alert against their first round matchup of North Carolina a team that has had an underwhelming season this year in regards to their program’s standards. Luckily for the Rams the analysts were right, as they won their first round matchup 82-78 to send the Tarheels packing. Their run would come to an end just two days later against Illinois, losing by a score of 76-55. VCU
Despite their size, Maryland’s UMBC Retrievers are not new to the big dance of March. The school famously entered the tournament as the 16th seed in 2018 where they dismantled one seeded UVA 74-54, becoming the first 16th seed to beat a #1 seed in March Madness history. They lost in the next round though, and that has been indicative of their success since. The Retrievers have not touched the tournament again until this year, and even so they had to scratch and fight to even play in the next round by beating Howard University for their 16th seed in the “First Four”. To do so, UMBC would need to utilize their elite defense which ranks 11th in the country in defensive assist rate. The Retrievers lost a nailbiter against Howard 86-83, ending their season and hopes of another miracle.
The D in DMV stands for DC, and there’s not a more significant university in all of DC than the one and only Howard. As previously mentioned, the Bison beat UMBC in the “First Four’ to make it to the round of 64 as a 16 seed. They did so on the backs of their full-court press defense, causing numerous turnovers and defensive pressure against their opponents all season. This led to the round of 64 where they faced #1 seed Michigan and were dealt a 101-80 loss. Howard still proved resilient to even make it to the round of 64, that being said, underdog lovers everywhere probably hope to see the Bison back soon.
The University of Virginia is the heavyweight challenger in comparison to their fellow DMV counterparts, as a #3 seed their title hopes were more realistic than others. UVA is not new to this competition, as they have garnered more than most in the past decade. Since 2014, the Cavaliers have made nine appearances (their most recent being 2024), making it to the sweet 16 three times, the elite eight twice, and winning it all in 2019 with a team featuring six future NBA players. Since that championship, UVA hasn’t made it out of the first round. The Cavaliers have come back to their elite winning ways this past season under head coach Ryan Odom. Odom’s system is dependent on their two seven-footers Johann Grünloh and Ugonna Onyenso. They both rank top 10 in the country for block percentage and have forced opposing teams to just 55.7% at the rim, both indicative of their elite rim-protecting reputations. Their immense height would prove to be key in their victory against 14th seed Wright State, winning 82-73. They then faced #6 seeded Tennessee, a team that was touted as a potential dark horse in this year’s tournament. Unfortunately for UVA, that dark horse narrative came to a halt in a close 79-72 loss.
Although none of the DMV teams made a run past the second round of this year’s March Madness, the fact the four teams made the big dance is still an achievement in itself.
