Maryland Beats Duke!!!

On one glorious night, Maryland bid farewell to its three standout seniors, avenged a bitter loss to Duke and moved into a tie with the Blue Devils atop the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Greivis Vasquez scored 20 points, including a clutch basket with 37 seconds left, and 22nd-ranked Maryland beat No. 4 Duke 79-72 Wednesday for its sixth straight win. It was the final home game for Vasquez, who was honored with seniors Landon Milbourne and Eric Hayes before the game.

Afterward, fans stormed the court to celebrate Maryland's first win over Duke in seven tries. "You couldn't really ask for a better script than that," said Hayes, who scored 13 points. "The ACC regular-season title was on the line; it was just a real special night."

Jordan Williams had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Terrapins (22-7, 12-3), who haven't lost since falling to the Blue Devils by 21 on Feb. 13.

Top Albums of 2009

Top 10 Albums 2009

1. The Fame - Lady Gaga

2. Wilco the Album - Wilco

3. Fearless - Taylor Swift

4. Only by the Night - Kings of Leon

5. 21st Century Breakdown - Green Day

6. The Resistance - Muse

7. It's Bliz - Yeah Yeah yeahs

8. Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King - Dave Mathews Band

9. No Line on the Horizon - U2

10. Veckatimest - Grizzly Bear

11. Lungs - Florence and the Machine

12. It's Not Me, It's You - Lily Allen

Washington Sets Record for Snowfall

It's official. This is the snowiest winter on record in Washington, DC, breaking the total snowfall for a winter set in 1888-89

NBC4 chief meteorologist Bob Ryan broke the news at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, February 10, 2010 that the District officially has recorded 54.9 inches of snow this winter -- thanks in part to two blizzards.

The frist blizzard was on December 18, 2009 and gave the area 22 inches of snow. The second blizzard was on February 5, 2010 with another 22 inches of snow followed by a second punch on February 10th with an additional 10(or more) inches of snow.

The old record was set in 1888-89 of 54.4 inches.

1. 2009-10 54.9

2. 1898-99 54.4

3. 1995-96 46.0

4. 1921-22 42.5

5. 1891-92 41.7

6. 1904-05 41.0

7. 1957-58 40.4

The largest snow in Washington was 36 inches in 1772 and was recorded in the diaries of both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. It is still the "unofficial" record for a single snowstorm.

The "official" record is 28 inches on January 28, 1922(the "Knickerbocker" snow). Other large snows were the 20.5 inches on February 14, 1899; the 18.7 inches on February 18-19, 1979; the 17.1 inches on January 7-13, 1996; and the 16.7 inches on February 15-18, 2003.

The two snowstorms this season now rank second and third on the list of snowstorms in Washington, DC.

Washington Caps Streak Ends at 14

Brooks Laich scored with 19 seconds remaining in regulation to rally the Washington Capitals from a three-goal deficit and force the game to overtime Wednesday night.

But, with eight seconds left in the extra session to lift the Montreal Canadiens to a 6-5 win that ended Washington's winning streak at 14 games.

After falling behind 5-2 late in the second period, the Capitals put fans on the edge of their seats with goals from Mike Green, on the power play, and Laich, on an odd man break, that whittled Washington's deficit to a single goal.

Laich then completed his hat trick when he redirected a pass between Carey Price's pads. But the Capitals faltered in the waning seconds of a wide open, four-on-four overtime period, that ended when Montreal scored the winning goal with just 7 seconds left in the OT.

The 14 wins in a row will rank the Capitals with the third longest winning streak in NHL history, which is quite an accomplishment. The Caps record is 41-12-7 and still the best in the NHL.

Like that, a "once in a lifetime" streak was over. "For a lot of us, it's a once in a lifetime thing," Capitals coach Boudreau said. "You think it's going to happen again. But those things don't come back again. But give our players a lot of credit for intestinal fortitude they had to put this thing together. There's a reason only two teams in the history of the National Hockey League have gone longer."

Best Books of 2009

1. The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown

2. The Help - Kathryn Stockett

3. Let the Great World Spin - Colum McCann

4. The Age of Wonder - Richard Holmes

5. The Next 100 Years - George Friedman

6. True Compass - Edward M. Kennedy

7. An Edible History of Humanity - Tom Standage

8. Grace Hopper and the Invention of the Information Age - Kurt W. Beyer

9. A New Literary History of America - Greil Marcus

10. The Brothers Boswell - Phillip Baruth

11. Juliet, Naked A Novel - Nick Hornby

12. The Drawings of Gustave Dore - Gustave Dore

Virginia #1 with Princeton Review

1. University of Virginia (Charlottesville) 2. City University of New York - Hunter College (New York, N.Y.) 3. New College of Florida (Sarasota) 4. Florida State University (Tallahassee) 5. University of Colorado-Boulder 6. State University of New York-Binghamton 7. University of Georgia (Athens) 8. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Blacksburg) 9. Texas A&M University (College Station) 10. University of Oklahoma (Norman)

Virginia and Maryland Colleges Best Value

Virginia has six schools in the top 100--including two in the top 10--and Maryland has five in the top 100, with one in the top 10.

The University of Maryland at College Park jumping from No. 28 in 2008 to No. 8 overall for 2010.

As has been true every year since Kiplinger’s began making these lists in 1998, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill won the top spot. It was followed by the University of Florida, the University of Virginia, the College of William and Mary (Va.), Binghamton University (part of the State University of New York system), the University of Georgia, the University of Washington, the University of Maryland-College Park, SUNY Geneseo and North Carolina State University.

The Virginia schools were: University of Virgina - #3

College of William and Mary - #4 Virginia Polytechnic Institute - #16 James Madison University - #21 University of Mary Washington - #38 George Mason University - #64

Maryland schools were: University of Maryland - #8

St. Mary’s College of Maryland - # 37 Salisbury University - # 59 University of Maryland, Baltimore County- # 93 Towson University - # 97