Bowie has Several Ties to March Madness Hoops

Bigger is not always better. Dalonte Hill, who grew up in Landover and played high school basketball at Laurel Baptist Academy (now closed), began his college hoop career with Division I Charlotte in North Carolina.

But Hill transferred from Charlotte to Bowie State, a Division II program in the CIAA. Hill is now back at the Division I level as the associate head coach at Kansas State, which beat Utah State in the NCAA tournament but fell short of a trip to the Sweet 16 with a loss to Wisconsin this past weekend.

It was Hill who helped recruit Michael Beasley, who grew up in Prince George's County, to Kansas State a few years ago. After one year in college at Kansas State, Beasley headed to the NBA.

Bowie had several ties to March Madness this year. At the Division II level, the Bulldogs of Bowie State advanced to the national tourney .

At the Division I level Jerian Grant (DeMatha) of Bowie was a freshman this season for Notre Dame, which lost to Florida State, 71-57, to end its season. Another freshman this season for the Irish was point guard Eric Atkins, who is from Columbia and played at Mount St. Joseph's in high school in Baltimore.

Atkins told Patch in an interview last month that he plans to be a roommate next season with Grant, who is the son of former NBA player Harvey Grant. Freshmen basketball players at Notre Dame normally are roommates with non-basketball players. Grant and Atkins were two of three freshmen on the team this season.

Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey, the Big East coach of the year, and assistant Rod Balanis are also products of DeMatha.

Bowie resident Bakari Taylor () played in six games off the bench and averaged 2.8 minutes per game for Hampton, which won the MEAC title. Hampton lost on Friday to Duke in the NCAA tourney. The Hampton roster also featured Kwame Morgan II (Largo High), Chris Tolson (), Milade Lola-Charles (Laurel High) and Danny Agbelese (DuVal).

This past weekend was a busy one for the family of Harvey Grant, who was an assistant with Hampton while two of his sons were in the Big Dance as well. In addition to Jerian, his son Jerai (DeMatha) . The Tigers were knocked out of the tourney by West Virginia, a team that features Billy Hahn, a former assistant at the University of Maryland, on its coaching staff.

Chris Wright of Bowie returned to the lineup for the Hoyas of Georgetown, but the local team was eliminated from the tourney by upstart VCU of Richmond on Friday. The Rams advanced to the Sweet 16 on Sunday with a win over Purdue. The other teams from the CAA to make the tourney were George Mason, which made the Final Four in 2006, and ODU.

At the women's Division I level, the Terps of Maryland will host Georgetown on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the second round of the tourney in College Park. Maryland won on Sunday at home against St. Francis (PA).

Brenda Frese, the Maryland head coach, told Patch in an exclusive intervew on Friday that this is the first college team she has ever had with no seniors. "I feel they have gone above and beyond expectations," Frese said of her team. "People don't realize how young we are." Tianna Hawkins (Riverdale Baptist) of Clinton is one of the top players for Maryland. Monica McNutt (Holy Cross) of Suitland is a senior guard for the Hoyas.