The Washington Post - USA (2021-11-11)

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SPORTS

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11 , 2021. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SPORTS M2 D

With the score tied in the final minute and

Dean Smith drawing up a final play for the Tar

Heels, Hall of Fame referee Hank Nichols

walked near the press table, pouring sweat,

and said, “Feels like March.”

The best news Tuesday was that it felt

nothing like the past two Marchs. Two years

ago, just days before Selection Sunday —

college basketball’s version of Christmas — the

world shut down.

To compare not playing basketball games to

the suffering caused by the pandemic — which

continues today — is ludicrous. But there was

a definite hole in the hearts of those who look

forward to March Madness, who found

themselves watching replays of past games or,

in many cases, nothing at all.

SEE FEINSTEIN ON D5

— and I was reminded that there were no pep

bands to be seen or heard last winter. Boy, did

I miss them.

Then VCU and St. Peter’s played a white-

hot, down-to-the-last-second soap opera of a

game. The Peacocks rallied from down 17

points in the first half to lead going into the

final minute before the Rams’ Hason Ward

saved his team with a spectacular, banked

putback from behind his shoulder, allowing

VCU to escape, 57-54. It was the Rams’ first

game since they were knocked out of the

NCAA tournament because of positive tests.

The heat and the intensity in the building

reminded me of another November night

years ago when North Carolina and North

Carolina State played in a packed Greensboro

Coliseum in the old Big Four tournament.

richmond — C ollege

basketball came back Tuesday,

almost all the way back, after a

season of empty arenas,

constant cancellations, a one-

city NCAA tournament and

protocols that ebbed and

flowed — mostly flowed —

from November to April.

The pandemic isn’t over — ask Aaron

Rodgers or the Cal football team, among

others — but it feels as if there is at last light at

the end of the tunnel.

And there is noise in the arenas.

For me, the first chill moment of the new

season came when VCU’s superb band, the

Peppas, played the national anthem Tuesday

night — briskly, as it is supposed to be played

College hoops has pep in its step again

John

Feinstein

it shouldn’t be that way. If they keep winning,

they shouldn’t need any help.”

Aresco continued. “I’m not going to get all

worked up at this point,” he said. He spoke,

uninterrupted, for nine minutes about

Cincinnati’s case.

This is worth getting worked up over. It is

worth getting worked up over Cincinnati in 2021,

just as it was worth getting worked up over UCF

in both 2017 and 2018, about Western Michigan

in 2016, about Houston in 2015.

Wait. Scratch that. It’s not about the merits of

any of those specific teams. It’s about the process.

And college football’s process stinks.

This is not breaking news, but it is news that

SEE SVRLUGA ON D4

There is a path — and a not very

far-fetched one — for unbeaten

Cincinnati to get into the College

Football Playoff. If Oregon loses

one of its remaining three regular

season games or falls in the Pac-12

championship matchup; Ohio

State, Michigan and Michigan

State each suffer another loss; or

Georgia blows out Alabama in the SEC title

game, then...

Hold please. Mike Aresco, commissioner of the

American Athletic Conference, of which

Cincinnati is a member, on Line 1.

“Cincinnati will need some help; that

statement in itself is accurate,” Aresco said. “But

Unjust CFP is worth getting worked up about

Barry

Svrluga

Wizards at Magic

Saturday, 7 p.m., NBCSW

Buccaneers at Washington

Sunday, 1 p.m., Fox

JEFF DEAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Fans of unbeaten Cincinnati m ock a system that seems d esigned to shut out h alf of the FBS teams.

BY AVA WALLACE

cleveland — B radley Beal and

Montrezl Harrell appeared side

by side again for a postgame news

conference, this one after the

Washington Wizards’ 97-94

comeback win over the Cleveland

Cavaliers. Harrell and Beal’s joint

news conferences are generally

raucously funny affairs, with the

teammates playing off each other

and sharing more jokes than actu-

al game insights.

But Wednesday’s availability

took on a different tone. After a

subpar offensive performance in

which Beal, who had 13 points,

was clearly off kilter from the

start of the game, the all-star

guard announced his maternal

grandmother had died. He

learned the news upon landing in

Cleveland on Tuesday afternoon.

Harrell, whose grandmother

died while he was competing in

the NBA bubble in 2020 with the

Lakers, sat by his side.

“This is a tough time for me,

tough time for the team, but our

guys, they won this game,” said

Beal, still puffy-eyed from tears. “I

wasn’t in it mentally, physically,

emotionally, but my teammates

won this game. In every shape

and fashion. They competed start

to finish.”

Beal, who referred to his grand-

mother as his “mom 2.0,” was so

distraught that he openly wept on

the shoulder of Sashia Jones, the

Wizards’ vice president of player

development, during a shoot-

around the morning of the game.

His teammates didn’t know the

SEE WIZARDS ON D5

Wizards

win on

night of

emotion

WIZARDS 97,

CAVALIERS 94

Teammates pick up Beal

after grandmother’s death

The clock is ticking.

“Juan Soto wants to win,” Bo-

ras said when asked whether

there was an offer the Nationals

could make — right now — that

would get the 23-year-old star to

sign a long-term extension. “So

the first thing that’s going to have

to happen is that he knows that

he’s working with an ownership

that’s going to annually try to

compete and win. And then I

think once he knows that, then

he’ll be ready to sit down and talk

whenever they choose to talk.”

Rizzo’s response?

“We’ve made it known that we

want Juan to be a long-term

National,” Rizzo told The Wash-

ington Post at MLB’s general

managers’ meetings. “It’s no se-

cret. We’ve talked to the player

himself; we talked to Scott be-

fore.... As of this point, he and I

haven’t sat down and discussed it

in depth. But we’ve spoken in

SEE SOTO ON D2

BY JESSE DOUGHERTY

carlsbad, calif. — The re-

marks were separated by four

hours and a long toss or three at

the Omni La Costa Resort on

Wednesday. Scott Boras, base-

ball’s most influential agent,

made his while surrounded by

reporters and a fake hedge. Mike

Rizzo, general manager of the

Washington Nationals, made his

in a quiet corner of an outdoor

patio, away from other execu-

tives and the media horde.

Both discussed Juan Soto and

his future in D.C. If Soto doesn’t

sign an extension, he will hit free

agency after the 2024 season.

Boras lays groundwork

for Soto’s contract talks

Young star ‘wants to win’

and Nats must prove

they’re trying, agent says

BY SAM FORTIER

The Washington Football

Team’s offense, which was down

to three healthy starters heading

into its bye week, should get a

boost coming out of the break.

Five key contributors could re-

turn for Sunday’s home game

against the Tampa Bay Bucca-

neers, and while quarterback

Ryan Fitzpatrick won’t be among

them, the talent infusion could

help a unit that was inconsistent

in the first half of the season.

Beyond helping the unit im-

prove its play, particularly in the

red zone, the return of several

starters could be helpful in the

bigger picture. The second half of

the season will be pivotal for

Washington to evaluate its offen-

sive supporting cast ahead of a

likely search for a franchise quar-

terback this offseason.

Coach Ron Rivera expressed

optimism that the offense’s im-

proving health could help unlock

the potential of a unit that ranks

25th in the NFL with 19.5 points

per game and better complement

a defense that showed progress

over its past few games.

“The last couple games... if we

put some points on the board and

we get in the red zone, how does it

impact the defense?” Rivera said,

adding, “Both sides have to play

SEE WASHINGTON ON D4

Healthier

WFT is set

for a boost

on o≠ense

Five key contributors

could return Sunday

against Buccaneers

HOCKEY

The Capitals’ list of injured

players continues to grow

with center Nic Dowd the

latest to be added to IR. D2

PRO FOOTBALL

Cooper Kupp for NFL

MVP? Seems highly

unlikely, but the metrics

make a strong case. D4

COLLECTIBLES

A baseball signed by

Walter Johnson is

shrouded in mystery —

and up for auction. D3

MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Ex-DeMatha star Hunter

Dickinson scores 27 to lift

No. 6 Michigan past

Buffalo in its opener. D5

RYAN M. KELLY/GETTY IMAGES

Navy upset N o. 25 Virginia on college basketball’s opening night Tuesday, when the packed gyms, p ep bands and p assion that were absent a year ago returned.