Seven Things To Take Away From The Maryland Basketball Season Opener

The Maryland men's basketball team defeated Seattle University Monday, 105-76.

I was at the game and found seven things that should be taken away from this very early season game.

1. Maryland Struggled to Break the Press: Seattle deployed a quick attacking press, but nothing that the Terps should not have been able to handle. Instead, the Terps routinely picked up their dribble, threw the ball away and had big men holding the ball with a panicked look on their face. Second year man James Padgett looked especially afraid to be handling the ball.
2. Maryland Could Not Get The Ball To Jordan Williams: Williams, the player most fans will look to lead the Terps this year, had a solid game scoring 17 and grabbing 15 rebounds; however, the problem was that he could have done a lot more damage if he could have gotten the ball. Seattle did a great job of limiting entry passes to the middle and most of Williams points came off transition or put-backs. Maryland needs to work on their entry passes, as all those put-backs wont be there against UNC or Duke.
3. Rushing Shots Once Breaking The Press: If the Terps were able to break the press, they often seemed to get giddy with excitement and rush shots. Yes, the crowd really gets into the game when you break the press, run down and drain a three, but the Terps rushed a lot and when they missed, Seattle had a fast break going the other way.
4. Lazy Getting Back On Defense In The Press: Maryland's press didn't look bad, it was active and aggressive. But once Seattle beat the press, it was lazy and sluggish. The key to a good press is that if they beat you, you hustle your way back and make them beat you again in the half-court. For Maryland, it seemed that once Seattle beat the press, they would leisurely make their way back and not get to open shooters in time.
5. Bowie Wont Be The PG For Long: Adrian Bowie, the senior starting point guard for the Terps, may not hold that position for long. In the half court, Bowie seemed to struggle to get anything going and had a turnover to assist ratio of 7:2. Meanwhile, a Maryland freshman who really stood out was Terrell Stoglin, who had 15 points and five assists in just 18 minutes.
6. Will Maryland Be Able to Score In The Half-court?: Maryland is a run and gun team full of athletes, but will the Terps be able to score against teams that slow them down? This will be seen soon when the team plays a better defensive squad in Pitt. They seemed to really struggle tonight in getting the ball in the paint.
7. Short Amount of Practice: Maryland had a much shorter amount of time to prepare for this season than they usually do, because they are playing in the 2K sports tournament. It was clear that Gary Williams has not yet had enough time with the team to craft them into what he wants. Maryland still has two more games this week, so Williams is going to have to take advantage of the limited time and iron out these problems.

So there you have it, seven things that I took away from the Maryland vs. Seattle game.

What did you take away?

Follow me on Twitter @cleyden for more Terps basketball news.