It's 15 minutes to tipoff here at Comcast Center, Maryland plays Manhattan in its NIT opener, and there's plenty of parking and tickets available. By the way, if you have an urge to make a last-second run to College Park from Baltimore, go some other way than the B-W Parkway, unless you like sitting in traffic waiting for fallen trees to be cleared from the road just past the 197 exit. It's 41 degrees, headed toward the low 50s. Your next traffic and weather together in 10 minutes.

Early indications are that the fans here will be paying attention to a certain NCAA game as closely as they will be the game in front of them. There's tremendous interest in Duke-George Washington in the Atlanta Region second round at Greensboro. It tips off around 1 and will be shown here, so don't be surprised at a mass exodus, even if the NIT game is close. As much talk as there is about the ACC's 4-0 record in the opening round (and glee over pratfalls by the Big Ten, SEC, Big East and Missouri Valley), this clearly is an ACC loss they can stomach.