Maryland Basketball: What's the Use? Terps Just Going To Miss The Tourney Anyway

Maryland is 16-9 overall and 5-5 in the conference.   If the projections are true and the ACC is looking at a five-team tournament field, that means the Terps have six games to crack the ACC's top five (they're currently sixth). 

If you squint hard enough, that makes Maryland a bubble team at the moment.  And, to be sure, there are a lot of squinting Terps fans out there right about now.  Maybe that's why tonight's game against Virginia Tech has a lot of hype behind it in Terp Nation.

I guess I'm not among this contingent.  I don't think Maryland is a tournament team, and nothing short of winning the ACC tournament is certain to change that. Speculation is useless. Hope is illusory.  Maybe that's why my February depression beard is extra long this winter.

I hate to be the negative Nelly here. But actually, you know what? I kind of like being the negative Nelly.  And it's not even so much that I'm negative.  It's that I'm honest.  I'm real!

And Maryland fans could use a healthy dose of what I'm spooning out.  Enough talk about how wins over the Hokies and Tar Heels could get the Terps in. Just stop it. OK? Take the blinders off, man.  Seriously, give me the blinders. Nice and slow.

Maryland can beat Wake Forest like the Deacons owe them money, but it's not going to turn back the hands of time and give them another shot at Duke or Villanova.   Do you believe it will turn back the hands of time?  Because I do not believe it will turn back the hands of time. 

So just take a moment. Let it wash over you.  Resign to the resignation.  That's it.  Thaaaaat's it.

Oh, wait, did you want some evidence first?  Want me to "break it down" for you? Well, you asked for it. 

Tonight's rematch against Virginia Tech is, for all intents and purposes, a must-win game. Maryland needs a big victory, as they are 0-8 against teams currently ranked in the top 50 RPI.   But see, here’s the thing: Virginia Tech is ranked 66th.  So even if Maryland wins, it doesn’t help much. 

In fact, if Maryland wins out, they’ll finish 11-5 in the ACC, but just 2-8 against the RPI top 50, thanks to this year's subterranean ACC. Do you really think this gets them in?  Virginia Tech got 23 wins last year but missed the tourney, because of that same lack of big wins.  And that was in an ACC that was markedly better than this year's version.

But back to the present, as wider speculation is moot if the Terps can't upend the Hokies in that cage they call a gym out in Blacksburg.  This is the same Virginia Tech that is also fighting for its own tournament life at 6-4 in the ACC.  The same Virginia Tech that beat Maryland by 17 in College Park and now hosts the Terps at one of the loudest venues in the conference.  The same Virginia Tech that features Malcolm Delaney, a dynamic shooting guard who is averaging 22 points per game in his last four contests, and dropped 33 on Georgia Tech in his previous game. 

This is a Terps team that isn't overly sound against dynamic shooting guards of late, what with them giving up 31 to Reggie Jackson last game and 43 combined to Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith almost two weeks ago. 

On defense, the Hokies pack it in tight, often with a zone.  So you can shoot over them, but you can’t really go through them.  Unfortunate, then, that Maryland can’t really hit threes.  Or free throws, for that matter, since some of the Hokies–especially Jeff Allen and swingman Terrell Bell–can be a little foul-prone. 

So it’s a broken record for the Terps.  If they can get their shooting going, that could open up the middle for Jordan Williams and the slashers.  That, in turn, could help them set up the press.  That, in turn, could help them get going in transition.  And that, in turn, could lead to Maryland running Virginia Tech off the floor, seeing as how the Hokies are basically playing a six-man rotation with Dorenzo Hudson out for the season. 

It can happen.  Will it?  No, Terps fans.  No.  It won't.  And even if it does, it's not the resume win many are rationalizing it into being. 

Just abandon your hope, I say.  Stop calling Maryland a bubble team.  Yeah, I know they're at their best when everyone counts them out, but even if they can string some wins together, they have precious few opportunities left, and even those are decidedly semi-precious. 

So be happy about their dominant win over Longwood if you must, and feel free to talk yourself into the Hokies game being a big one, but leave me out of it.  I'm content to wallow in my pessimism or, rather, my realism.  Thanks and have a super day.

(For this and other realistic and ostensibly humorous commentary on Maryland basketball and all other things Terps, pay us a visit over at Shell Games or follow us on Twitter @Terpsblog.)