Overall, I was much more impressed with Maryland last year than this year. I'm positive everyone in the nation agrees with me.
Let's face it: it's a hell of a lot easier to win ball games when you have seven seniors on your team, regardless of playing ability. Last year, Maryland was stacked with D.J. Strawberry, the up and down 6'5" guard, Mike Jones, the premier 3-point shooter and Ekene Ibekwe, the defensive dozer who blocked everything in his path, even if it led him to foul trouble.
Their 2006-2007 season was amazing. They beat ranked Duke twice and ranked North Carolina, something that I have been waiting to see for some time now. They made it into the tournament easily as a well-deserving No. 5 seed. They managed to beat out Davidson in the first round, but fell short against Butler and their 3-point shooting mad-men team.
This year has been very disappointing to me. Go ahead and argue with me. Sure Maryland beat out North Carolina at the Dean Dome when the Tar Heels were ranked No. 1, but what else have the Terrapins accomplished?
I don't understand why the Maryland basketball team had to complement the Maryland football team with the same exact faults. What was the football team's problem this year? Finishing! Ralph Friegden stressed extensively that everyone needs to finish in order to win the game.
Even worse, the basketball team has been suffering from the same illness. They gave up a 20-point lead to Clemson with about five minutes left. How does that happen?!
At one point in the game, Gary Williams put in senior Jason McAlpin to finish off his basketball career with a win at home. What a stupid mistake! Gary Williams is an amazing coach, and I respect him with great intensity, but there was no need to put in McAlpin with plenty of time for the Tigers to catch up. And guess what happened?!
It just pisses me off to the point where I want to throw my remote and break it in numerous pieces. I absolutely hate it when coaches make stupid mistakes with heavy costs. I'm not blaming it all on Coach Williams. The players were to blame, also.
Another problem Maryland has had all year is ball control. When teams begin their comeback, Maryland has a tendency to turn the ball over with regularity. Hell, they do that in the first half anyway. If they are going to make any sort of impact in the NCAA Tournament, they need to take the time to fix it now.
That's right, I said NCAA Tournament. Maryland will appear there, and I'll tell you why.
My prediction is that Maryland will, in fact, beat Virginia. Everyone had Virginia atop the ACC this year in the beginning of the season. However, because of the ACC being one of the toughest conferences and their incapability to play in it, they're last in the ACC. In their first match-up, Maryland took down the Cavs 85-75, a game that didn't end in the tragedy of a last second shot. I expect no different in this game.
After the Terps take down Virgina, it's off to the ACC Tournament, in which they must and will win their first game. Twenty, in my opinion, is the magic number. If they can get to that, look for Maryland to be dancing in one of the regionals as a middle to lower seed. I predict somewhere from 7 to 12.
If Maryland does not achieve this 20-win feat, I am not so sure. Although they did beat the Tar Heels, they had terrible losses at home to Ohio University and American University in games that I would very much like to forget even existed.
On the plus side, Maryland's strength of schedule was ranked in the top 50 and they're 7-5 in their last 12 games, something that the voters are paying close attention to.
My prediction is, that is if all the players graduate, Maryland will be one of the nation's best teams in 2009-2010. As of right now, they have three seniors and one junior. The rest are composed of outstanding freshman and a few sophomores that have already taken control of the reins.
The only position they might lack in that year is the power forward and center position, something that the Terps have managed to keep strong for a long time. If you're a Terrapin fan like myself, just hang in there and wait a couple years for our team to take home a national title.
Until then, wait out another soon-to-be disappointing end to a mediocre season.
comments (12) write a comment »
write a new comment
7 months ago
You need an editor:
"... as a well deserving No. 5 seed "
should be "as a well-deserving No. 5 seed" or even better "as a deserving No. 5 seed."
"What was the football teams problem ..."
should be "What was the football team's problem ..."
"... throw my remote and brake it in numerous pieces."
should be "... throw my remote and break it into numerous pieces."
"My preference is that Maryland will, in fact, beat Virginia."
should be "My prediction is that Maryland will, in fact, beat Virginia."
"... just hang in their ..."
should be "... just hang in there ..."
from 7 months ago
listen, if you're going to comment on my articles, could you please stress your opinion on my idea and not on the grammer factor.
7 months ago
You need an editor:
"... as a well deserving No. 5 seed "
should be "as a well-deserving No. 5 seed" or even better "as a deserving No. 5 seed."
"What was the football teams problem ..."
should be "What was the football team's problem ..."
"... throw my remote and brake it in numerous pieces."
should be "... throw my remote and break it into numerous pieces."
"My preference is that Maryland will, in fact, beat Virginia."
should be "My prediction is that Maryland will, in fact, beat Virginia."
"... just hang in their ..."
should be "... just hang in there ..."
7 months ago
You need an editor:
"... as a well deserving No. 5 seed "
should be "as a well-deserving No. 5 seed" or even better "as a deserving No. 5 seed."
"What was the football teams problem ..."
should be "What was the football team's problem ..."
"... throw my remote and brake it in numerous pieces."
should be "... throw my remote and break it into numerous pieces."
"My preference is that Maryland will, in fact, beat Virginia."
should be "My prediction is that Maryland will, in fact, beat Virginia."
"... just hang in their ..."
should be "... just hang in there ..."
7 months ago
You said it yourself. They lost to American University.
Other than that, the 20 point collapse at home late in the season against Clemson looks extremely bad.
The Terps need to hope that Miami doesn't win their final 2. They also need VaTech to lose against Clemson.
VaTech has won 4 straight and Miami has won 5 of 6.
Maryland also needs to win at least one in the conference tournament, like you said. And they need those other teams to lose.
That would make it a lot more comfortable sitting on the bubble.
We'll see, though. You can never really tell what the committee is thinking.
from 7 months ago
I agree with you, they really need some losses from Miami and VA Tech...
7 months ago
I'm not nearly as confident as you are that the Terps will make the tournament or even beat those pesky Wahoos in cville (kenpom.com currently has the probability of md beating uva is currently at a confidence boosting 50%).
They need someone other than Vasquez and Gist to show up - if that happens then they have no problems winning, but those two guys can't do it all....
from 7 months ago
what are you talking about? yeah, maybe in some games vasquez and gist aren't enough, but look at their stats when the recently played Wake Forest.
from 7 months ago
even so, doesn't every team need their bench and co-starters to produce every game? Unless you have a one-hit freshman wonder...
from 7 months ago
Amazing how we can both feel that the WF game proves our points, yours is that Vasquez and Gist are enough to win games, my point is Gist and Vasquez aren't enough to win enough games to get in the tournament.
I agree with you, Vaquez and Gist were superlative against WF. Gist hit his jumpers. When MD ran that iso play for Vasquez down low, it was a bucket every time - Teague was too short and too weak to deal with Vasquez in the post. The problem was that MD needed 55 points from those two just to squeak by a clearly outmatched WF team. It's rather disconcerting. Don't you think? I'm not looking to dump on the terps - certainly, the more ACC teams go dancing, the better, in my opinion. I just hate the way Maryland coasts sometimes. It cost them dearly versus Clemson.
Finally, I concur with the gentleman below. No one had UVa at the top of their ACC list. The wahoos were picked 4th or something.
from 7 months ago
4th is still at the top of the ACC, is it not?
I agree with you, Clemson did cost them dearly and they need to coast less frequently. They just need to start being consistent in a possitive manner. But they have shown signs of playing exceptionally better on the road which leads me to believe they will beat UVA and possible due slightly above mediocre in the ACC tournament.
7 months ago
Um, who had Virginia at the top? I believe people had NC State way up there at #2, but definitely not Virginia. And Maryland had the 20 point lead (59-39) with 11 minutes left, not 5.
write a new comment