Threat of second Washington snowstorm pushes back Maryland-Virginia game to Feb. 15

Frank Brewer, the associate vice president for facilities management at the University of Maryland, began sending his workers home Monday so they could begin digging out their own properties. He was relatively optimistic that the school could host another college basketball game at Comcast Center after a weekend in which his staff had worked around the clock to try to clear out the roughly two feet of snow that blanketed the College Park campus.

At that point, there remained a divergence of opinions among weather forecasters as to how heavy the second round of snow -- expected to arrive Tuesday evening -- would be. But as the day progressed, a consensus formed: 12 more inches. Check that -- at least 12 more inches.

"As the forecast solidified, our thinking solidified," Brewer said.

Consequently, officials from Maryland, Virginia and the ACC jointly decided Tuesday morning to postpone Wednesday's game between the Terrapins and Cavaliers until Monday. The unique circumstances brought on by Mother Nature's wrath will leave the squads in trying positions, as both teams now will have to play three games in five days.

Maryland will play at Duke on Saturday, return home to play Virginia on Monday and then trek back to Tobacco Road to face North Carolina State on Wednesday. On those same days, the Cavaliers will play at Virginia Tech and at Maryland before returning home to face Florida State.

"No one likes postponing the game," Maryland Athletic Director Debbie Yow said in an e-mail. "But, the campus has been clear about the extraordinary nature of what we are about to encounter. We would be foolish to ignore their warnings."

Conversations regarding the postponement of Wednesday's game began Monday evening. Yow spoke separately with Maryland Coach Gary Williams; Karl Hicks, the ACC's associate commissioner for men's basketball operations; and Ann Wylie, Maryland's vice president for administrative affairs. Around 6:30 p.m., she e-mailed Virginia Athletic Director Craig Littlepage "about the possibility that this historic back to back storm situation could come close to paralyzing the region."

Wylie provided Yow updates from Brewer and the university's interim chief of police, Mark Sparks, who were assessing whether their respective crews could make the campus safe enough to host a weeknight event by Wednesday night, given the severity of the storm that was expected to hit.

Since Friday night, the Marriott Inn & Conference Center in Hyattsville had set aside 25 rooms for campus police and 65 rooms for campus facilities staffers who were working continuous shifts to clear snow from the university's 23 miles of sidewalk, 12 miles of road and more than 10,000 steps.

Brewer, who has worked at Maryland for 38 years, said he cannot recall another time when this much snow has fallen on campus grounds.

"To be quite honest with you, the snow has just been sort of overwhelming," Sparks said. "We've done what we could and we're pushing snow on top of snow now. We're trying to look for places to put the snow so that we can clear parking spaces, not only to host athletic events but just to get the campus opened."

During breakfast at a Greenbelt hotel Tuesday morning, the Virginia men's basketball team listened as Coach Tony Bennett announced the possibility of a postponement. Meantime, Yow and Williams spoke again with Hicks. Yow also spoke twice more with Littlepage, as well as with campus officials before a final decision was reached.

At 10:53 a.m. Tuesday morning, Virginia guard Sylven Landesberg broke the news to the public with a Facebook status update: "on the way back to cville i guess the games getting rescheduled, really wanted this one."

Rather than hold a team practice at Comcast Center, the Cavaliers packed up and drove back to Charlottesville.

Brian Morrison, the ACC's associate commissioner for media relations, said the game officials had not yet arrived in College Park, which also contributed to the decision. Morrison said Monday was chosen as the makeup date because it was the only date left in which Maryland and Virginia would have an equal number of days off -- one -- in between already scheduled contests.

While there will not be a game Wednesday night at Comcast Center, efforts to cleanse the university will remain in full force.

"We're trying to get the campus to be just pristine in time for the next snow," Brewer said jokingly. "It's a little frustrating, but that's where we are."