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.