FanHouse GaryWilliams

At 6:30 this morning, Tony Romo, inexplicably at Tiger Woods' invitation, joined the world's best player in the AT&T National pro-am at Congressional Country Club, some 20 miles west of FedEx Field, home of the Washington Redskins.

On Tuesday, Tiger said that, "...It's just going to be a fun round," before adding, "...but also an interesting one. Granted, he's used to getting booed, and it is what it is. It comes with being, I guess team sport, away from home."

And University of Maryland basketball coach Gary Williams did his part to make sure that's exactly what happened.

In an effort to talk about something college basketball-related other than scandals in the summer, let's talk best current coaches. We'll attempt to order the top 25 current coaches in the nation. This is about the present and the future, not the distant past. What a guy did in the mid-90s doesn't matter near as much as the direction his program is currently headed. Past pedigree also matters, to an extent. For the perfect mix of past accomplishments with present achievement and a paved road for future success, look no further than the man atop the list.

The NCAA tournament is just one day away, so FanHouse writers and editors got together to talk over each region. The Midwest Region got the ball rolling, followed by the East. The South looks like it could go to the top seeds, but what about the West? Here is the last installment of our NCAA FanHouse Roundtables.

Chris Burke: Unlike the other three regions, where it's the top seeds' bracket to lose, UConn may not have the same stranglehold over things due to Jerome Dyson's injury. The Huskies have lost two straight and are just 4-3 since Dyson hurt his knee, so they look, to me, like the most vulnerable of all the No. 1 seeds. It doesn't help that, after the first round, they may not have another easy game. The other six teams in the top-half of this bracket can be considered threats, from Washington right on down to Mississippi State and Northern Iowa.

The Maryland Terrapins broke out the Ronald McDonald, french-fry yellow unis for Saturday afternoon's game against the third-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels, and for 30 minutes they played like a bunch of players destined for careers in the fast-food industry, or at least a profession that doesn't involve dribbling basketballs.

Junior guard -- and on-court cheerleader -- Greivis Vasquez scored the Terps' first 16 points to keep the game close, and then he didn't make another basket until 21 game minutes later. By that time, Maryland trailed by 16 and their already slim chances of backing into the NCAAs seemed pretty much gone.

The Maryland Terrapins haven't lost to the North Carolina Tar Heels since 2005-06. Seems pretty crazy, no? Of course, regardless of that run, you would think Maryland's players would have snuck into tonight's game against Carolina somewhat humbly, having already run their mouths before getting embarrassed by Duke this year.

They did not though. At least Landon Milbourne didn't, anyway. He made sure to point out the streak to the Diamondback, Maryland's student newspaper.

Debbie Yow, Maryland's athletic director, has had a pretty tough few weeks. First, her sister, Kay Yow, passed. Meanwhile, the men's basketball program continued in a total freefall as Gary Williams started spewing public vitriol in the direction of her assistant.

So forgive Yow for not being incredibly visible about the whole thing. However, today, she convened the media to announce that Williams' job security is just fine.

Onion Peels is a recap of last night's action and an unofficial Bill Raftery blog.

Wake Forest 70, Duke 68
Two things stand out about Wake Forest from this game. First, Dino Gaudio has done a tremendous job turning the Deacons into a team that can actually play defense (Holloman noted this a while back, actually), and second, can this Wake team close? I know they actually won, so that seems like a silly question, but after seeing the Virginia Tech debacle and then seeing them play down the stretch against Duke, it wouldn't be fair not to question their throat-stomping ability

With the fall beginning and college basketball just around the corner, it's time to look back at what our favorite teams did during their summer vacations. Some did some good things; some had a bad time. So let's look back at who did what in our How I Spent My Summer Vacation series.

Today's look is the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Roy Williams Hits Jackpot When All His Guys Return

The Tar Heels were at quite the crossroads. After a great season ended with a disappointing loss to Kansas, Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green all decided to take a look at the NBA Draft. Hansbrough decided to come back, but the other three entered the draft with the opportunity to come back to school if they didn't like their draft status.

If any or all left, the Heels were facing some uncertainty heading into the season. Yes, they'd still be a good team but they'd have a few holes.

In a somewhat surprising move, all three Heels decided to come back for one last hurrah. That means Ol' Roy gets everyone back from that Final Four team (sans a transferred Alex Stepheson and a graduating Quentin Thomas -- both role players). They also bring in three McDonald's All Americans.

We've all been a bit rough on the Maryland Terrapins basketball program of late. Whether it is someone transferring or someone wanting to be released from their committment or another just can't qualify to attend the school ... something is very broke in College Park.

Well, there is some good news! They've finally found someone who did qualify academically to be on the team: Sean Mosely.

Kathleen Worthington, Maryland's senior associate athletic director, said yesterday that she has seen Mosley's recent SAT and ACT scores and believes the 6-foot-4 guard from St. Frances will be approved by the NCAA Clearinghouse this summer.

"From the information that we received, we feel confident that he is going to qualify," Worthington said.

It's the first piece of good news recently for Maryland coach Gary Williams, who in the past six weeks has seen two potential starters, center Gus Gilchrist and guard Tyree Evans, ask to be released from their scholarship commitments.

That's pretty sad when you are celebrate finding someone who can actually be a student-athlete at your school. Maryland is a great school ... so it isn't like anyone can get in. However, you'd figure that the same regime that has been there for years would know what kind of kids they should go after.