Terrapin Basketball Must Play Far and Away

There is optimism in College Park for the 2009-10 installment of Maryland Terrapins basketball. Where the promise of improvement fell flat on the gridiron , the basketball team has a legitimate chance of restoring fans’ faith in their ability to be among the 20 best teams in the nation.

But first, they have to learn how to step on inferior opponents. Overall physical talent accounted for about 10 of the points in the Terps’ 21-point victory over Indiana (Pa.) last night.  This team has to show they can match athleticism with skill and execution if they want to be taken seriously by pollsters and dubious Maryland fans.

If there’s one thing to cheer about their performance last night, it was the offensive balance they showed against an overmatched IUP squad. Sean Mosley and Landon Milbourne were comfortable taking shots and not deferring to Greivis Vasquez when things became hairy in the first half.

If there’s something to jeer, it was the absence of forward Dino Gregory , who violated a team rule and missed this game with his future status in question. You can only hope that this isn’t the latest installment of “Terrapins Gone Stupid;” an episodic comedy of immaturity which starred previous Maryland busts Chris McCray and Travis Garrison .

Gregory is the most experienced option in the post, and will be much needed in ACC competition if the Terps are to keep up with the Duke Blue Devils and North Carolina Tar Heels.

In all, the most balanced commentary you can make on the Terps is that they didn’t blow and didn’t look like they had a chance of blowing it against lower-level competition. That’s an improvement for this squad, and Terrapin Nation should be all too willing to take improvement over implosion from this team.

Technorati Tags: Dino Gregory , Greivis Vasquez , Maryland Terrapins , Sean Mosley