It's funny how things work out sometimes. Back in those halcyon days of October, I thought the Terps would finish 3rd or 4th in the ACC - either right ahead of Clemson or right behind them. Now in March the Terps' regular season is over, and it resulted in a tie for 5th place. Not terrible compared to expectations, right?
Not so much. The Terps finished up with an unsightly 13 losses, including losses to the likes of Boston College, Virginia, Ohio, American, and Missouri, none of whom are even close to NCAA Tournament at-large caliber teams. Even more disturbing, only one of those losses - the most recent against Virginia - came in a true road game. Net that against just one win against an at-large caliber team all season (the big one - @North Carolina) along with a maddening inability to slam the door on opponents late in the game plus a weakish ACC, and you have a rather empty fifth place finish.
A disasterous 2-5 finish to the regular season now means that any thoughts about the Terps making the Big Dance can go on hold at least until and unless the team beats Clemson on Friday night, and possibly until an unlikely win over Duke in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament. After the Clemson loss it was always going to be an uphill battle, but a stupifying 15 point loss to Virginia makes it all the more harder.
And what can be said about that game? It was more of the same. Porous perimeter defense, namely by Eric Hayes and Landon Milbourne. Stupifying substitution patterns - did I really see Dave Neal on the court for nearly a dozen minutes? Lethargic play by supposed leaders like Hayes and James Gist.
I said in the preview for the game that the Terps could let Sean Singletary (27 pts, 8-15 FG) get his, but that they must stop the other Cavalier perimeter players. And boy did they not do that.
Adrian Joseph (13 points, 4-9 FG) busted out of his slump early due to the lax defense of Milbourne on his way to his most points in over a month. Mamadi Diane (12 points) and walk on Calvin Baker (11 points) once again put up nice scoring numbers while Lars Mikalauskas even managed to score 11 points down low for his fourth straight game in double figures. The only positive was former Terp commit Jeff Jones finishing up a flop of a freshman season with only a missed shot and a turnover to show for his 10 minutes of play.
In the end the Virginia game was more disgusting than infuriating, unlike the Clemson game which was a nice mix of the two. The Terps will head to Charlotte starting on Thursday for one last chance to dance. Can they do it? They've surprised me before, many times, this season. Hopefully they can do it again.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Friday, March 7, 2008
Looking Forward
So almost a week has passed since the Clemson debacle. Any true Maryland fan probably still feels their stomach drop when they think about it, but by this point some of that has subsided. The team can't look back so neither should the fans. The focus is now on winning some upcoming games in order for the Terps to get back to the NCAA Tournament rather than facing the prospect of a third NIT in four seasons.
It starts on Sunday with a game at Virginia that Maryland simply must win. The winning must continue on Thursday the 13th when the Terps tip off the ACC Tournament as either the 5th or 6th seed. And then the next day the Terps will face off in a rematch against either Clemson, Miami, or Virginia Tech, three teams that Maryland went winless (0-4) against in the regular season. Even with a weak field of bubble contenders, Gary & Co. will likely need to win that game to secure an at-large bid to the Big Dance.
But for now, the focus must be on Virginia. The Cavaliers are currently in a three way-tie for 10th (or last, depending on how you look at it) at 4-11 in the ACC. Depending on the results this weekend, UVA could finish anywhere from 10th to 12th in the regular season.
What seems clear is that the Cavs are the best of those three teams, having swept three games against the Wolfpack and the Eagles. Boston College started the year 3-0, but have now lost 11 of their past 12. The Wolfpack started slowly before righting the ship at 4-4; now they have lost 7 in a row. Virginia started out with a ghastly 1-9 record before winning 3 of its past 5. Granted, two of those wins are against the aforementioned 4-11 squads, but improvement is improvement.
The only distinguishing characteristic about the Cavaliers is Sean Singletary. He isn't just the heart and soul of this Virginia team. He's the whole damn body and clothing, too. Singletary will take the lion's share of his team's shots - 27.4% while on the court this season. The next highest such percentage for a regular on the team is Adrian Joseph's 22.7% mark, good for 26th in the ACC.
But yet stopping Singletary has not been the key to beating Virginia this season. When Singletary, who averages 19.6 points per game, scores 20 or more points in a game, Virginia is just 6-7. When he doesn't, Virginia is actually 8-7. I don't think anyone would argue that UVA is better when their star doesn't have a prolific scoring night, but it does illustrate the point that shutting down the team's secondary players might be just as important as shutting down Singletary. He will get his points, win or lose, so shutting down secondary players like Calvin Baker, Adrian Joseph, and Mamadi Diane is just as important. If one of those players scores 16-20 points in addition to Singletary, it will be a long night for the Terps.
It starts on Sunday with a game at Virginia that Maryland simply must win. The winning must continue on Thursday the 13th when the Terps tip off the ACC Tournament as either the 5th or 6th seed. And then the next day the Terps will face off in a rematch against either Clemson, Miami, or Virginia Tech, three teams that Maryland went winless (0-4) against in the regular season. Even with a weak field of bubble contenders, Gary & Co. will likely need to win that game to secure an at-large bid to the Big Dance.
But for now, the focus must be on Virginia. The Cavaliers are currently in a three way-tie for 10th (or last, depending on how you look at it) at 4-11 in the ACC. Depending on the results this weekend, UVA could finish anywhere from 10th to 12th in the regular season.
What seems clear is that the Cavs are the best of those three teams, having swept three games against the Wolfpack and the Eagles. Boston College started the year 3-0, but have now lost 11 of their past 12. The Wolfpack started slowly before righting the ship at 4-4; now they have lost 7 in a row. Virginia started out with a ghastly 1-9 record before winning 3 of its past 5. Granted, two of those wins are against the aforementioned 4-11 squads, but improvement is improvement.
The only distinguishing characteristic about the Cavaliers is Sean Singletary. He isn't just the heart and soul of this Virginia team. He's the whole damn body and clothing, too. Singletary will take the lion's share of his team's shots - 27.4% while on the court this season. The next highest such percentage for a regular on the team is Adrian Joseph's 22.7% mark, good for 26th in the ACC.
But yet stopping Singletary has not been the key to beating Virginia this season. When Singletary, who averages 19.6 points per game, scores 20 or more points in a game, Virginia is just 6-7. When he doesn't, Virginia is actually 8-7. I don't think anyone would argue that UVA is better when their star doesn't have a prolific scoring night, but it does illustrate the point that shutting down the team's secondary players might be just as important as shutting down Singletary. He will get his points, win or lose, so shutting down secondary players like Calvin Baker, Adrian Joseph, and Mamadi Diane is just as important. If one of those players scores 16-20 points in addition to Singletary, it will be a long night for the Terps.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Oh My God
I have no idea what to say. I was going to write a long analysis of what went wrong last night and this season as a whole, but who cares? That has been and will be covered in great detail elsewhere so there's no sense in even wasting the bandwidth.
It's unbelievable to think that the game last night actually happened. Gary Williams led an epic collapse, one rivaled in Maryland history only by the infamous ten point lead that evaporated against Duke in 0:54 at Cole Field House in 2001. But even that team got a chance to redeem itself, and did just that by going to the Final Four. There will be no such redemption for this team whose attention now turns to somehow squeaking out victories in its next two or three games just to make the tournament.
It's times like these that make you wonder why you bother even following sports. Andrew's post after the Virginia Tech loss covered this in detail, but the question still remains. Sure, the highs are euphoric, but how much joy can you really derive from living vicariously through others' successes?
So it is what it is. I still can't believe that it happened. I can't believe that Gary Williams allowed it to happen. As much as a fan of his I might be, he blew it in a big way last night. We will see if the team can recover, but at this point, does anyone really care?
It's unbelievable to think that the game last night actually happened. Gary Williams led an epic collapse, one rivaled in Maryland history only by the infamous ten point lead that evaporated against Duke in 0:54 at Cole Field House in 2001. But even that team got a chance to redeem itself, and did just that by going to the Final Four. There will be no such redemption for this team whose attention now turns to somehow squeaking out victories in its next two or three games just to make the tournament.
It's times like these that make you wonder why you bother even following sports. Andrew's post after the Virginia Tech loss covered this in detail, but the question still remains. Sure, the highs are euphoric, but how much joy can you really derive from living vicariously through others' successes?
So it is what it is. I still can't believe that it happened. I can't believe that Gary Williams allowed it to happen. As much as a fan of his I might be, he blew it in a big way last night. We will see if the team can recover, but at this point, does anyone really care?
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Depressed.
I haven't spoken a word since there were about 17 seconds left in the game.
"What do you think? Oglesby for three. Or maybe Mays inside for a cheap foul, which the refs will definitely give them."
Steve just shook his head and stared blankly onto the floor. As I saw who was in the game for Clemson out of the timeout, I confirmed my gut instinct.
"Yup. Oglesby for three."
It wasn't a difficult call. He was one of their best outside shooters, yet somehow Maryland defenders found a way to lose track of him several times during the game. And that was enough for him to tally nine points.
As the clock started to wind down, I saw it unfold before me just as I had predicted. Oglesby hit a three with 2.8 seconds left and a hand in his face, and Clemson won 73-70. It was the most deflating loss I have witnessed in Comcast. Sure the loss to American earlier this year stung. But we had this game in the bag. A 20-point lead with about 12 minutes to go on Senior Night, on your home floor, with great crowd support, with momentum. You can't ask for much more than that. But tonight, the Terps had all that, with an NCAA Tournament Bid practically riding on the line, and let it slip away.
The only positive I take away from this game can be summed up in one word: bench. This was the best game of Jerome Burney's career, and one of the best of Adrian Bowie's. That is all.
Despite earlier losses to Ohio and American, I haven't once this season seriously questioned Gary's coaching. At this level, a coach's job is to recruit the best possible players to come to his or her school, to train current players in practice to help them improve, and to put together the best strategy to help his or her team win games.
This strategy includes putting the best available team on the floor. Foul trouble, fatigue, and injury/illness obviously prevent the best 5 players from playing a full 40 minutes. But with the game on the line, with a Tournament bid riding on the line, why was Dave Neal in the game, and where was Adrian Bowie? I realize Bowie for Neal is not a straight substitution that can be made due to matchups, but Bowie was playing a much better game than Landon Milbourne. Sure, Boom had 4 fouls, but Burney was having the best game of his young career, so why go to Dave Neal instead? I just don't get it. Gary just didn't do his job very well tonight.
On a side note, I seem to have several late game strategies that differ with most college coaches. I scream at my television for late game fouling usually a full possession or two before the team actually 'hears me.' And in situations like the one tonight, I prefer to foul with a tie game. I have a feeling that if a poll was conducted asking the 5 members of this suite if my strategy makes sense, I would lose 4-1. But hear me out.
I understand defense is half of the game, but when I play defense in a game, or when I'm watching the Terps on defense, I'm always hoping for an empty possession by the other team. I don't hope for a block or steal or that a player draws a charge. Sure those are great, but I simply hope that they score no points, that the score remains the same until we get the ball back. It's this mentality that makes me want to foul in situations like tonight. Logically, my strategy makes NO sense. The game is tied. With an empty possession, the game goes to overtime. For some reason, I would rather foul, make Clemson (a notoriously bad FT-shooting team even though they hit a better percentage than we did tonight) hit the front-end of a 1-and-1, and then get the ball back with enough time to run a good play. Sure, if we end up with an empty possession, we lose. But I would rather have the ball on offense with a chance to make something happen, as opposed to playing defense while the other team can win with any made basket, or a crappy call by the refs.
Then again, that's why I'm just a fan and not a coach.
"What do you think? Oglesby for three. Or maybe Mays inside for a cheap foul, which the refs will definitely give them."
Steve just shook his head and stared blankly onto the floor. As I saw who was in the game for Clemson out of the timeout, I confirmed my gut instinct.
"Yup. Oglesby for three."
It wasn't a difficult call. He was one of their best outside shooters, yet somehow Maryland defenders found a way to lose track of him several times during the game. And that was enough for him to tally nine points.
As the clock started to wind down, I saw it unfold before me just as I had predicted. Oglesby hit a three with 2.8 seconds left and a hand in his face, and Clemson won 73-70. It was the most deflating loss I have witnessed in Comcast. Sure the loss to American earlier this year stung. But we had this game in the bag. A 20-point lead with about 12 minutes to go on Senior Night, on your home floor, with great crowd support, with momentum. You can't ask for much more than that. But tonight, the Terps had all that, with an NCAA Tournament Bid practically riding on the line, and let it slip away.
The only positive I take away from this game can be summed up in one word: bench. This was the best game of Jerome Burney's career, and one of the best of Adrian Bowie's. That is all.
Despite earlier losses to Ohio and American, I haven't once this season seriously questioned Gary's coaching. At this level, a coach's job is to recruit the best possible players to come to his or her school, to train current players in practice to help them improve, and to put together the best strategy to help his or her team win games.
This strategy includes putting the best available team on the floor. Foul trouble, fatigue, and injury/illness obviously prevent the best 5 players from playing a full 40 minutes. But with the game on the line, with a Tournament bid riding on the line, why was Dave Neal in the game, and where was Adrian Bowie? I realize Bowie for Neal is not a straight substitution that can be made due to matchups, but Bowie was playing a much better game than Landon Milbourne. Sure, Boom had 4 fouls, but Burney was having the best game of his young career, so why go to Dave Neal instead? I just don't get it. Gary just didn't do his job very well tonight.
On a side note, I seem to have several late game strategies that differ with most college coaches. I scream at my television for late game fouling usually a full possession or two before the team actually 'hears me.' And in situations like the one tonight, I prefer to foul with a tie game. I have a feeling that if a poll was conducted asking the 5 members of this suite if my strategy makes sense, I would lose 4-1. But hear me out.
I understand defense is half of the game, but when I play defense in a game, or when I'm watching the Terps on defense, I'm always hoping for an empty possession by the other team. I don't hope for a block or steal or that a player draws a charge. Sure those are great, but I simply hope that they score no points, that the score remains the same until we get the ball back. It's this mentality that makes me want to foul in situations like tonight. Logically, my strategy makes NO sense. The game is tied. With an empty possession, the game goes to overtime. For some reason, I would rather foul, make Clemson (a notoriously bad FT-shooting team even though they hit a better percentage than we did tonight) hit the front-end of a 1-and-1, and then get the ball back with enough time to run a good play. Sure, if we end up with an empty possession, we lose. But I would rather have the ball on offense with a chance to make something happen, as opposed to playing defense while the other team can win with any made basket, or a crappy call by the refs.
Then again, that's why I'm just a fan and not a coach.
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