John Wall continued his hot-shooting ways tonight, scoring a season-high 29 points, dishing 9 assists and leading the Washington Wizards to a 96-87 win at home over the New Orleans Hortnets. The win is Washington's fourth straight at home and improves the team record 22-42, 17-17 at home. The Wizards are now 17-14 with John Wall in the lineup. 

Wall started early, hitting a three-pointer early, one of three that he would attempt and hit during the game. Nevertheless, it was the Hornets who held a 30-26 lead after one quarter thanks to a hot start by rookie Anthony Davis, like Wall, a first overall pick in the NBA Draft. Davis played well whenever he was on the court, but foul trouble limited him to 16 minutes. In that time he scored 16 points and grabbed 7 rebounds.

Guards Eric Gordon and hometown hero Greivis Vasquez helped keep the Hornets in the game, with Gordon scoring 20 points on 8-17 shooting and Vasquez putting in 18 on 9-18 shooting. Vasquez also flirted with a triple-double, handing out 9 assists and pulling down 8 rebounds.  

The Wizards got little from their starting big men, with Emeka Okafor and Nene combining for only 13 points and 4 rebounds. Fortunately, Kevin Seraphin got out of Head Coach Randy Wittman's dog house and into the game for 18 minutes of quality play. Seraphin blocked 3 shots and scored 10 points on 4-6 shooting. He only grabbed one rebound, but it was progress for Seraphin.

Cartier Martin also helped off the bench, putting up 10 points and 3 rebounds in only 11 minutes. It was good to see Martin, who has been on the injury shelf pretty much the entire season, back out on the floor and stroking the bucket from deep. Martin hit both 3-pointers he took and made up for a very poor shooting night by Trevor Ariza [2-10 from the floor] against his old team, the Hornets. The Wizards will have a good chance to post a good record in the final 18 games of the regular season if Martin stays healthy and has his old touch from the outside. 

Joining John Wall as starters who got it done for the Wizards tonight were Martell Webster and Garrett Temple. Webster hit 4 3-pointers, becoming the first player in franchise history to hit 4 or more in 4 straight games. Webster scored 18 points on 14 shots and grabbed 4 rebounds. Temple, starting again in place of the injured Bradley Beal, played a game-high 45 minutes, filling in at both guard positions. Temple scored 10 points on 4 of 5 shooting and also dished 5 assists. 

The key tonight, though was Wall. The Wizards held a 50-47 lead before Eric Gordon hit a 3-pointer to send the game into halftime tied at 50. John Wall took over in the third quarter, scoring 14 of  his 29 points in those twelve minutes. What impressed me the most was the confidence Wall shot with, particularly from the outside. “I was feeling pretty good, able to knock down my shot and playing at a different pace to where the coaches want our team to play at,” Wall said. “If you play with a lot of confidence, you play at a high level.” However, he did not neglect his traditional offensive game, pushing the ball up the court at breakneck speed as often as possible, in keeping with Coach Wittman's edict to play an up tempo game whenever possible. 

Ryan Anderson got into the act in the third quarter, keeping the Hornets close with his shooting, but Trevor Booker chased him around the court and harassed him into 1-10 shooting on 3-pointers, a major factor in Washington's victory. 

Guards Bradley Beal and AJ Price sat out again due to injury. It was the 6th straight game missed for Beal and second straight for Price. Forwards Jan Vesely and Chris Singleton continued to get inconsistent playing time, which amounted to none at all tonight. 

The Wizards are playing surprisingly well without Bradley Beal, the team's best shooter, and the reason is that John Wall has upped his game, shooting better than ever before, without giving up on his essential nature of attacking the basket. 

“These last few games are as good as he’s done in terms of keeping us in a pace that we have to play at,” said Coach Wittman. “With these last few games, I told him, ‘Take these home and study these.’ This is a way, from a pace standpoint that we have to play on offense.’ I thought he’s played with great confidence.”

A huge win for the Terps at the ACC tournament last night in Greensboro, knocking off heavily favored Duke 83-74. The win moves Maryland into the semifinals against North Carolina. Sophomore Dez Wells scoring a season high 30 points to lead the Terrapins.

The win keeps Maryland's March Madness hopes alive, although they need to at least one more victory to have a shot when the field is announced on Sunday. Duke coach Mike Kyzyzewski knows teams are potentially most dangerous when their backs are against the wall.

"They're trying to survive, and they played like it, a lot of teams in that position sometimes get nervous or they make a lot of mistakes. Instead, Maryland rose to the occasion.

The Tar Heels were easy 83-62 winners over Florida State, but may have lost star P.J. Hairston to a hand injury in the process. Today's first semifinal matches top seed and ACC regular season champion Miami taking on North Carolina State.

ACC Semifinal: Maryland vs North Carolina

Saturday 3pm on WDCA-20 and/or ESPN

A fair number of sports fans in the Washington, D.C. area do not care for Post sports columnist Mike Wise. They didn't like his short-lived and now-defunct radio show and they don't like his columns. When they really want to twist the knife, Wise's detractors point to his Twitter-hoax -- posting an intentionally false report about Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger on the social media site -- that earned him a suspension from the Post. I don't really have strong opinions about Wise. I ignored his radio show and find his columnis predictably inconsistent -- basically average for a big city sports columnist in the United States. I'd like to see the Post hire a better columnist than Wise, but understand they're just as likely to hire someone worse, so I don't have a problem with him in his current position. 

But Mike Wise is seriously out of his depth with today's column in the Post, in which he declares the Redskins are to blame for the salary cap penalty of $36 million imposed by the NFL a year ago -- the penalty that cost the team the chance to upgrade the secondary last year and probably this year, too, as well as leading to the loss of LB Lorenzo Alexander and perhaps Fred Davis, as well. 

Let's review the facts. The NFL had an uncapped year in 2010, the final  year of the previous collective bargaining agreement. The league asserts that there was an unwritten rule among the teams that no team would "take advantage" of the uncapped year to improve their salary cap situation in 2011 and beyond. The Redskins and Cowboys decided to "take advantage" of the uncapped year by dumping money into 2010, thus freeing up more cap space in the following years. They did this on the contracts of DL Albert Haynesworth and CB DeAngelo Hall. The Cowboys also did it, to a lesser extent, particularly with the contract for WR Miles Austin. 

However, because there is nothing in writing about that we have to take them at their word. The league asserts that teams were warned of future punishment if they "took advantage" of the uncapped year, but, again, there is nothing in writing about this so you have to take the league's word for it. 

[Are you one of those persons who believes it's a good idea to take 32 millionaires/billionaires at their word. If you are, good for you! What a sweetie-pie you must be.]

That's essentially what Mike Wise does in this column -- well, he takes 30 of them at their word,  not Redskins owner Dan Snyder or Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. But Wise goes further than that. Earlier this week Redskins GM Bruce Allen called a press conference to announce that the Redskins would not be suing the NFL over the salary cap penalty and to denounce, in fairly harsh terms, the league for the penalty and the NFL Player's Association for not preventing the penalty from happening. Wise says the Redskins are entirely at fault for the penalty because they were too arrogant and tricky for their own good, attempting to destroy the league's competitive balance.

Three years ago NFL owners agreed that teams would not be allowed to exploit the uncapped year to gain a competitive advantage. There was not a written edict violated or a binding contract broken. There were simply a few teams who made a mockery of a negotiated solution to preserve competitive NFL balance, and the most conniving and manipulative among those teams, the Redskins and the Cowboys (who suffered lesser penalties), basically got voted off the island by their peer group.

First of all, if the NFL owners argreed that teams would not be allowed to exploit the uncapped year to gain a competitive advantage, why isn't that agreement in writing? If this is so important that the NFL owners went out of their way to create a policy about it, why is it relegated to the status of a "gentleman's agreement." 

The reason, of course, is that such a "gentleman's agreement" is almost certainly illegal. As ESPN NFC East blogger Dan Graziano wrote a year ago: 

NFL owners agreed, in secret, to limit spending in 2010 even though there was no cap — to continue to structure contracts as though there were a cap, because the lockout they were about to impose was basically a thinly veiled attempt at union-busting.

So, let's say the NFL told the 32 owners not to exceed the previous year's salary cap [that would be the 2009 cap] in 2010 and warned of punishment if they did. Snyder and Jones [and to a far lesser extent, the Saints and Raiders] did not do as they were told. They used the uncapped year to improve their salary cap situation and, in so doing, clearly exceeded the 2009 cap. However, it's important to point out: They broke no rules.

Let's re-state that: The Redskins and Cowboys broke no rules when they exceeded the 2009 salary cap in 2010 because 2010 was an uncapped year and THERE WERE NO RULES about the salary cap! That's the point of an uncapped season! 

Remember: the Redskins and Cowboys were penalized for "overspending" on player contracts in a year in which no salary cap existed. The NFL is punishing the two teams for exceeding a salary cap THAT DID NOT EXIST.

It's important to remember that all NFL contracts have to be approved by the NFL before they become official. The NFL approved all the contracts that later became the source of the penalties imposed on the Redskins and Cowboys. A sensible person might wonder why contracts that were deemed perfectly acceptable in 2010 became unacceptable in March 2012. What changed between those two years? 

The answer is obvious -- a collective bargaining agreement. The league could not dismiss the contracts in 2010 because they were perfectly correct under the league rules at that time because [say it with me] THERE WAS NO SALARY CAP. If the contracts had not been approved by the NFL in 2010 the Redskins, Cowboys and NFL Players Association would have demanded an explanation. The only correct explanation the NFL could give -- that they had unspoken "gentleman's agreement" forcing every team to abide by a rule that did not exist and had not been collectively bargained for -- would open them up to an immediate lawsuit for antitrust violations. So the league said nothing. The league approved the contracts and waited for a new CBA, in which they would bargain with the hapless and clueless union for the right to impose these penalties after the fact -- thus getting union approval -- after the fact -- for actions clearly against the best interests of, not only the Redskins and Cowboys, but also against the players -- the very people the union is supposed to protect. 

There is a second point that Wise raises and that the NFL used to justify this chicanery -- competitive balance. To the league "competitive balance" is a holy talisman and they wield it like a weapon and a shield depending on their needs at that moment. The NFL is famously concerned  with maintaining fan interest by making it possible for the fans of almost every team to imagine their favorite club making a run at the Super Bowl in the immediate or near future. This competitive balance is regarded by many as the key to the success of the league and thus the league believes anything it does to preserve that balance is justifiable. 

But that's a bunch of nonsense in this case. The Redskins and Cowboys were punished for exceeding a non-existing salary cap and thereby damaging the league's "competitive balance." However, other teams -- the Cincinnati Bengals and Buffalo Bills, for example -- cut spending sharply in the uncapped year, falling below the minimum spending requirements in the previous year's salary cap. If "overspending" affects the league's competitive balance, surely "underspending" does, as well. But if you're about to start searching Google for some record of league penalties imposed on the Bengals and Bills, don't bother. There were no penalties. Apparently, "overspending" was a sin, "underspending" was not. 

And this lays bare the lie at the heart of this entire sorry affair -- the lie that a credulous Mike Wise swallows in its entirety. These penalties had nothing to do with "competitive balance." The league wanted to control salary costs in a year in which they did not have the right to do so. The league did not mind if some teams drove down salary costs by spending far less than they had in the past. They only cared that a couple of teams drove costs up by ignoring the league's collusion scheme and operating according to the letter of the law and NFL rules. 

Mr Wise's final point -- that the Redskins and Cowboys "exceeded" an non-existent salary cap in order to gain competitive advantage is irrelevant. Of course they did. Isn't that what teams are supposed to do? What is the point of hiring good coaches, training players, researching college stars, signing free agents, etc -- EVERYTHING AN NFL TEAM DOES -- if not to gain a competitive advantage. Gaining a competitive advantage is the central goal of everyone involved in sports. That's how you win -- by gaining a competitive advantage. Of course, we want everyone to gain a competitive advantage by playing by the rules. And since no rules existed to prevent the Redskins and Cowboys from gaining a competitive advantage in this way, that point is, as I wrote above, irrelevant. 

How any intelligent person can fail to understand all of this is almost literally incomprehensible. Some might suggest that Mr Wise, who has a beef with the team over the Redskins name [an issue on which I agree with Mr Wise], has had one too many run-ins with the club and is now trying to stick it to them any way he can. Even if he has to embarrass himself and damage his own reputation -- such as it is -- in the process. 

Perhaps that is so, but I prefer to go with the simplest explanation for Mr Wise's ridiculous column -- he simply has no idea what he's writing about. 

Duke is unbeaten with a healthy Ryan Kelly in the lineup and the 6'11" senior forward adds an extra dimension to the Blue Devils attack. The Terrapins beat Duke 83-81 in College Park just last month, but Kelly was still sidelined due to injury.

"Ryan changes the dynamic of the team," said Dez Wells, who scored 21 in the Terps tournament opening win last night. "We're going to be ready for him and the rest of the players. Coach K is a great coach but I believe in my defense and my team and my coaches."

Alex Len will be the key for Maryland tonight, not just offensively, but defending the paint and on the boards. Maryland beat Wake Forest last night 75-62 in a game that was much closer than the score. A Terps victory will go a long way towards keeping an NCAA berth alive, but Maryland would probably need to win the tournaments to ensure selection. Probable opponents would be North Carolina in the semifinals and Miami on Sunday.

Maryland vs Duke, ACC Tournament quarterfinal play... Tip off is 7pm tonight, with the game carried LIVE on WDCA-20.

The pitcher turned position player is having a pretty decent spring for the Washington Nationals.  For the first six years of his major league career, Micah Owings was a starting pitcher.  He was a starting pitcher who always possessed a good bat.  In 205 at bats in his career, Owings has contributed 14 doubles, 2 triples, and 9 home runs. 

Owings brought that power to the Nats yesterday, blasting a grand slam home run to lift the Nationals to a 6-3 win over the Astros.  Owings hit the slam while pinch hitting for Bryce Harper.  For the spring, Owings is batting .368, collecting 7 hits in 19 at bats, including 3 doubles and 2 home runs.  Overall, the Nats offense collected 13 hits off the Astros. 

Jayson Werth hit his first home run of the spring and Ryan Zimmerman collected two more hits to push his spring batting average to an impressive .500 (11 for 22).  Werth was also 2 for 3 on the day.  Steve Lombardozzi had two hits as well. 

Chris Young made the start on the mound and threw 4 innings and allowed 1 run on 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 2.  Zach Duke, the only apparent lefty option in the pen, through 2 scoreless innings.  Tyler Clippard threw a scoreless ninth and picked up the save.  Rafael Soriano allowed his first run of spring, throwing 1 inning and allowing 2 runs on 2 hits. 

Current Spring Leaders:

Doubles:  Anthony Rendon, Carlos Rivera, 4

Triples:  Bryce Harper, Corey Brown, 1

Homers:  Anthony Rendon, 4

Runs:  Anthony Rendon, Bryce Harper, Chirs Marrero, 7

RBI:  Anthony Rendon, 11

SB:  Will Rhymes, 3

Avg:  Ryan Zimmerman, .500, Bryce Harper, .436

Slg:  Anthony Rendon, .875

Wins:  Fernando Abad, Gio Gonzalez, 2

Innings: Stephen Strasburg, 14

Strike Outs: Stephen Strasburg, 18

ERA:  Zack Duke, 2.25

Games:  Cole Kimball, 7

Alex Ovechkin reached yet another milestone in an illustrious North American pro career Thursday night, as the Washington Capitals captain recorded his 700th and 701st career NHL points with a goal and an assist in a 3-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena.

The milestone was reached just over a minute into the third-period, as the Russian forward converted a lucky bounce in the slot on the powerplay to tie the game at two. He added one more point to his tally 2:16 from time, as Mike Ribeiro converted a rebound after Ovechkin's breakaway effort ended up on the goal-line to make it 3-2.

It took Ovechkin 579 games to reach the 700 mark, and he does it with 349 goals and 351 (now 352) assists to his name. Here's hoping there are many, many more points to come for the Great 8 during his time in Washington.

Adam Shefter reports the Cleveland Browns are on the look out for a tight end and have their sights set on Fred Davis as the solution to their problem. 

One league source familiar with thinking of Washington free-agent TE Fred Davis said Redskins and Browns "are serious about signing him."

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 14, 2013

The Browns have a young team and entered free agency with a lot of cap space and have already spent a fair chunk of it on linebackers Paul Kruger and Quentin Groves and defensive lineman Desmond Bryant. The Browns also signed TE Gary Barnidge, but he is correctly viewed as a backup and would not deter the Browns from pursuing Davis. 

Davis, a 2008 2nd round draft pick by the Redskins, has caught 155 passes for 1973 yards [12.7] and 12 TD over the course of his 5-year career. Last year he led the Redskins with 24 catches for 325 yards before he tore his Achilles Tendon on October 21 in the first half of a week 7 game in New Jersey against the Giants. 

In addition to last season's serious injury, Davis does come with some baggag, having been suspended for the final four games of the 2011 season for repeatedly testing positive for a banned substance, though to be marijuana. However, Davis is very productive, averaging 1.96 yards per route run in 2012, near the top of all tight ends in the NFL. 

Davis is from Ohio -- Toledo, actually -- and told 92.3 FM, a local radio station, that going back to Ohio would be his preference if he does not return to Washington. 

"A place like Cleveland, that would be awesome, too, to represent your home state," said Davis.

It is not clear how much money the Redskins plan to spend on Davis, but the team will have to be creative to re-sign him and still have enough money left over to find a cornerback in free agency. 

If the Redskins do lose Davis they would still have Logan Paulsen -- recently re-signed -- who became the starting tight end the final nine games of the 2012 season after Davis' injury. In addition, the team moved Niles Paul from wideout to tight end in 2012, but his first season at the new position was rocky and it isn't clear how much the Redskins want to depend on Paul at tight end. 

The Washington Redskins were active today on the third day of free agency, signing RT Jeremy Trueblood, a 6'8" and 320 right tackle who was benched and then injured in 2012 in Tampa Bay, where he finished the season on injured reserve. 

The Redskins also re-signed backup LB Bryan Kehl, a move that became necessary when the team lost LB Lorenzo Alexander to the Arizona Cardinals yesterday. The signing was first announced by AM 980, the radio station owned by Redskins owner Dan Snyder. 

Kehl can back up at multiple linebacker positions, like Alexander, and will almost certainly be asked to make up for some, though not all, of the special teams contributions lost when Alexander signed elsewhere. 

Trueblood is a huge man whose strength is run-blocking, but he started only one game in 2012 before being benched and later went on injured reserve. His last full season, in 2011, was a poor one and he did not play well in 2010 either. In fact, I haven't seen Trueblood play well since 2008-9, which is ages ago by NFL standards. 

In other words, Trueblood would have to turn his career around to get back up to starting-caliber playing status, but considering the salary cap situation the Redskins are in and the moves they hope to make at cornerback and, hopefully, retain TE Fred Davis, Trueblook was probably the best they could afford. 

I was a guest on NewsTalk with Bruce DePuyt on News Channel 8 today to discuss the Washington Redskins, NFL free agency and the struggles of the Washington Capitals as the NHL season enters its home stretch. Note that I mentioned the Redskins would be trying out free agent RT Jeremy Trueblood at Redskins Park today. They did that and earlier today he signed a contract to play in Washington. 

Watch and enjoy.

The Washington Capitals front office was busy today, consummating two trades that will likely benefit the AHL Hershey Bears, but do little to help the struggling Washington Capitals.

Washington acquired D Chay Genoway from Minnesota for a conditional seventh round pick in the 2014 NHL Draft.  Genoway has played in 53 games this season at AHL Houston and has recorded 19 points, including 4 goals.  He also is a +11.  The left-handed defenseman will help bolster Hershey's blue line after losing Steve Oleksy, Cam Shilling, and Tomas Kundratek, all promoted to Washington.  The knock on Genoway is his 5'9" size.  

The Caps also dealt Kevin Marshall to Toronto in exchange for Nicolas Dechamps. The left winger has recorded 16 points this season, inclduing 7 goals, for Toronto in the AHL. Last season he played in all 17 Calder Cup playoff games for Toronto, recording 12 points (three goals, nine assists). He also appeared in 40 regular season games registering 30 points (seven goals, 23 assists) and 14 penalty minutes. The strength of Descamps is his speed, the knock on him can be lack of grittiness.