Awards Season, Part One

It's that time of the year. As the college basketball regular season has ended and the postseason is gearing up, the individual hardaware is being handed out. All-Conference selections have been made, and national awards like the Wooden and the Naismith are still pending. Here at the Says Things blog, we're starting our own tradition by handing out some alternative awards to honor those who may have been overlooked by the various media and coaches that dole out the usual honors.

Bob Wade Achivements in Coaching Award - Sidney Lowe, NCSU

In the end it was a tough choice between Lowe and Jeff Bzdzelik of Wake Forest. Lowe gets the nod because whereas Wake Forest was historically terrible, at least they were expected to be awful having lost so much from last year's tournament team. This - in year 5 of the Sidney Lowe era - was supposed to be the turning point, fueled by a great recruiting class. Despite that, it ended in just another 5-11 season. [Ed. Note: Sidney Lowe has since resigned as NCSU head coach]

Exree Hipp Senior of the Year Award - Cliff Tucker, Maryland

Named in honor of the Maryland wing (Hipp's scoring average dropped from 13.6 to a four year low of 6.8 in his senior year), this award honors another Maryland player. Tucker averaged 11.7 points a night over the team's first twenty games, but finished out the season scoring just 5.4 over the final 11 as as the team lost 6 of those games.

John Calipari Award for Audacious Cheating - Bruce Pearl, Tennessee

It's bad enough to cheat. It's even worse when you cheat despite having gained notoriety in the basketball world as a snitch (whistleblower if you so choose). It takes things to another level when you cheat AGAIN four days after giving a tearful apology in re: your prior transgression. Even Cal shakes his greasy head at the balls on his cheating SEC East brother.

John Goldsberry Random Turd Award - Rion Brown, Miami

You may remember Goldsberry from the Terps' first round victory over UNC-Wilmington in 2003 a.k.a The Drew Nicholas Shot Game. Goldsberry sank 8 of 8 threes despite averaging just 5 points a night that season. Brown came into the Canes game with the Terps averaging less than 4 per game having not scored in double figures since a November tilt against McNeese State. Naturally, Brown would score 19 on 6-7 shooting from deep on a night where Gary Williams inexplicably zoned Miami well past the point of futility.

Jim Valvano Never Give Up Award - Wake Forest Basketball

It's one thing to be bad, but this bad? Wake Forest lost 15 times in an ACC that was realtively weak by its own standards, and as if that weren't bad enough, it lost 14 of those games by 14 points or more. The season was punctuated by going 0-4 with an average margin of defeat of 26.8 ppg against the next two worst teams in the conference (Georgia Tech and NC State).

AC Green Abstinence Award - Brigham Young University

I suppose I can respect sticking to your principles. On the other hand, as a sports fan, it's insane to suspend your third leading scorer for having some consensual extracurriculars with a coed, particularly when you're a mid-major with the best player in the country and a legit shot at a Final Four or more. Tough lost, mormons.

Schadenfraude Award - Korie Lucious, Michigan State

Korie you really screwed me over good with that fucking buzzer beater. But now that you've found yourself charged with a DUI, kicked off the Michigan State team, and transferring to Iowa State, I can't help but smile even though that makes me an abysmal, soulless person. Godspeed playing in the cornfields.

Tyler Hansbrough "Player of the Year Award" - Ben Hansbrough, Notre Dame

Remember back in 2008 when PSYCHO T won the Wooden Award (among several other national POY honors) over Kevin Love and Michael Beasley, despite either of the two being clearly better by most metrics? Somehow his brother may have one-upped him this year by winning the Big East Player of the Year Award. Not only did the younger Hansbrough beat out Marshon Brooks (24.6 ppg, second nationally) of Providence, he beat clear favorite Kemba Walker of UConn (8 games of 30+ points). Seriously? That's worse awards voting than when the Big East decided to name a ten man "All Conference" team because of the outlandish size of the conference.

Please stay tuned for the Postseason Awards, coming to this blog early next month!

ORLY

Things I did tonight:

a) watched an NIT Selection Show on ESPNU

b) sat in disbelief as I realized that Maryland was not even good enough to make the NIT.

17 straight years of postseason play. With 100 teams making the NIT or NCAA Tournament, Maryland was not one of them. Thankfully I just turned to CBS College Sports just in time for a Seth Greenberg interview.

Are the Doilies Even Coming in the Mail?

I'm seriously sitting here on Selection Sunday pondering the somewhat legitimate chance that we don't make the NIT field. As in, not even invited. As in "sorry, your team isn't good enough to make this tournament that fans use only to derisively taunt less fortunate opponents." What. The. Fuck.

Seeing Triple

His Name is Frank Haith: Pt. II

Or maybe taking a massive BM?

His Name is Frank Haith

Last night was a tough lost. Of course, nearly every time Maryland basketball loses I'm inclined to describe it as such. I care too much. With Terps football, I expect it to be second fiddle on campus and can subsequently live with the expectations of 4 or 5 losses in a normal year. My beloved Orioles have lost 90 games a season since I was in elementary school (note: I am now a grad student (allegedly)), and I simply don't care enough about the NFL to have that kind of emotional attachment to the Ravens outside of big conference and playoff games. Certainly not on the day to day.

There's actually a very specific set of criterion for a Maryland loss that won't cause me to - at very least - stare at the wall in shock (possibly after punching it):

a) It has to be early in the season. Nothing that could come close to irreparably damaging our tournament seeding, conference finish, or bubble status. I need to be able to rationalize how we can reel off 7 of our next 8 and be in great shape.

b) It has to be against a good team (likely top 10), but that team cannot be Duke. Any loss to Duke ipso facto (!) a painful loss.

c) It has to be close, but not too close. Certainly no buzzer beater daggers or anything close enough that I can point to a play or two that turned the tide and lost us the game.

d) Similarly, there can't be one glaring weakness. If we lose by 7 to a top 10 team in December, that's cool, but if we shoot 14-27 from the line, I'm going to be up in arms.

This really has nothing to do with the main point of this post. I'm really just justifying the way I am to myself because I am whatever you say I am otherwise. I just felt that it would be instructive to look back at the last few years of losses to ACC newcomer/bottom feeder Miami. It's damn sure more exciting than watching Wake get blown out at home by a 3-11 Georgia Tech team.

3/2/11 - Miami 80, Maryland 66. Nothing to really say here given that this just happened, other than to say that I just realized the Terps shot 12-44 from inside the three point line last night. So yeah, that doesn't help.

1/14/09 - Miami 62, Maryland 60. This was a game that the Terps led 52-35 with 12 and a half minutes left. Surely we would cruise to victory and get to 2-0 in the conference to take the sting off the loss at home to Morgan State the week before. It was not to be. The Canes hit 7 threes from that point on including one by Jack McClinton with 0:24 that would be the decisive shot. Maryland wasted a career-high 23 points by Anthony Bowie (I believe this was his debut), and as was frequently a theme, got just 5 bench points on the night.

2/23/08 - Miami 78, Maryland 63. This was not unlike last night's game in that it was a complete blowout to shut the door on our tournament hopes*. I remember this as being the first time that I realized that Gary was completely owned by Frank F Haith, and please say the Motherfucking. The game was close at halftime (Canes by 3), but was less so after the intermission. I am pretty sure there was a thunderous putback dunk by Jerome Burney during this game as he had a career night (4/5 in 12 minutes).

*not exactly true but we are NOT discussing Senior Night vs Clemson.

3/8/07 - Miami 67, Maryland 62. Oh yeah, this was a game. The Terrapins were FLYING HIGH, winners of seven straight to take a share of third place in the conference. They had beaten Duke and a top 5 North Carolina team (in one of the best games ever played at Comcast) during that stretch. They were a threat to win the whole tournament in a strong, but wide open ACC. They were a dark horse Final Four contender. They were a kenpom log5 darling! Bad news #1 was that we lost the tiebreakers to VT and BC (because, you know, there's no chance we could actually beat those either) so we got the 5 seed and the misfortune of playing a first round game rather than a bye. Bad news #2 was that we again played like steaming, smouldering shit, this time going down by 13 at the half en route to another sub 40% shooting night. Miami was 3-12 against the rest of the ACC, but they cleaned up against us this season.

1/10/07 - Miami 63, Maryland 58. It's nights like this that I need a support group. First of all, this one was actually a home game. Maryland shot 13-58 (!!!) that night, a sizzling 22.4%. From INSIDE the arc, we were just 7-35, good for 20%. That's hardly believable. If we had shot just 40% on two pointers - which is still fairly wretched - we win by close to double digits. Of course that was not to be, as the team was "led" by a particularly bad (1-11) night by Greivis which I didn't remember until looking at the box score. And,oh yeah, I punched a hole in a wall because of this game.

1/7/06 - Miami 74, Maryland 60. This game was in the interregnum between the time of "Chris McCray decides to skip a fucking final despite being a senior" and "Chris McCray gets kicked off the team for being a dumbass and failing his class because he skipped a fucking final" when we still had a chance to be a decent team. I seemed to recall this being at the height of the Terps never, ever defending the three point line. Indeed we were 270th in the country (note: lower numbers are better) that season and let Miami shoot 12-19 from range. This was even pre-Jack McClinton daggering his home team on the regular, as Miami was led by Guillermo Diaz, Robert Hite, and some clown named Anthony King. Seriously, I follow ACC basketball as much as anyone, and remember the first two vividly, but there's no chance 22 points wasn't a career high for Anthony King. I mean, come on, Anthony King!?

2/5/05 - Miami 75, Maryland 73 OT. Wow, now we're going back to when I was in high school. A time when the Terps were ranked. A time when the Terps hadn't missed a tournament in since 1993. This was the same week as loss #1/3 to Clemson. While I do remember a Clemson loss or two, I would be lying if I claimed to remember this one. But yeah, this would be one of the reasons we were in the NIT Final Four that year. At least it went to OT.

And there you have it. Each of these... 7....losses has taken a little piece of my soul. I suppose this means that if some upstart young wizard tries to kill me I will only be an undead spirit rather than a corpse. I will now light myself on fire for rehashing these losses and capping this post with that reference. Yup, these are my losses.

Same Old Story, Same Old Song and Dance

NOTE: This is a draft of a post I started writing 2-3 years ago. It was meant to be a sweet awesome compilation, but I got lazy and never finished. I feel like sharing this with you because I know I'll never finish it :( Here goes...

As a student at the University of Maryland, I've had the opportunity to get tickets to hundreds of Division 1A sporting events where I've been able to watch some of the best amateur athletes in the world. No offense to the Wrestling, Golf, Women's Tennis, or any of the 24 other sports of the "27 Sports, 1 Team" of Maryland athletics, but other than a few soccer games. one lacrosse game, and one baseball game, I've only ever gotten tickets to Men's Basketball and Football games. It's definitely not a stretch to say that these 2 teams are the most popular on campus, as well as in the minds and hearts of fans and alumni across the country.

I've witnessed 5 and a half combined seasons of Terps football and basketball since enrolling in Fall 2006. I've seen home games in person at Byrd and Comcast, and I've watched road games on ESPN, ABC, and the Raycom/Lincoln Financial and Raycom/Jefferson Pilot Splits. After tonight's Boston College meltdown, I've realized this can't be a simple case of deja vu. Too many times I've asked anyone who'd listen, "Haven't we seen this before?" Too many times I've turned to Steve right before a crucial play and predicted it perfectly (See my psychic abilities here).

So I've come to the conclusion that Terps athletes are simply paid actors acting out the same script over and over again, with the gridiron or the hardwood as their stage. This basketball season has followed the script to the T, and given me everything I've come to expect in an up-and-down Maryland sports season:

ACT I: The game we had no business winning on paper, but somehow pulled out

(This act is pretty much self explanatory. Going up against a seemingly better, more talented team, the Terps find a way to win. "That's why they play the games." This win always brings a sense of false hope to a young or seemingly hopeless season. Note: Apparently beating superior competition is as simple as knowing who you're going up against, and not letting them off the hook. Thank you, Dennis Green.)

2008-09 Basketball: 11/27/08 vs (6) Michigan State at the Old Spice Classic

Gary led his (3-0) Terps into this Thanksgiving Weekend tournament after a shaky performance at home against an inferior Vermont team that was saved only by a buzzer-beater three from the general at the end of regulation. Expected to compete for a while, but ultimately fall to the top-ten team due to a lack of an inside game, the Terps recieved a gift when the Spartans' best post player, Goran Suton, was sidelined with an injury. Dave Neal stepped up and took advantage in a HUGE breakout game, using what Gary called "YMCA moves" to torch the Michigan State D for 17 PTS on only 10 FGA, including a perfect 3-3 3FG, and 5 REB in only 17 minutes. Greivis also had a solid all-around night with 17PTS 4REB 6AST, while Hayes added 13PTS 6REB 5AST and Big Sexy chipped in 13PTS 2REB 2AST. It was a great team performance and at that point, seemed to answer some questions regarding the Terps' ability to play in big games.

Final Score: Terps 80, (6) Michigan State 62

2007-08 Basketball: 1/19/08 at (1) North Carolina

Last year, the Terps headed down to Chapel Hill for their matchup with the undefeated and top-ranked Tar Heels with a sloppy 11-7 record, which included unexpected home losses to Ohio and American (see ACT II), and a neutral court loss to VCU in the BB&T Classic. With such inconsistent play, the Terps left many fans wondering if they could even keep the game close. The first half went back and forth, with each team leading at times, but Maryland went into the locker room up by 6 thanks to James Gist who had a monster half with 13PTs 9REB, and Greivis who dished out 7AST. James and Boom ultimately were the key to containing All-American forward Tyler Hansbrough. Although he finished with 17PTS 14REB, the duo of Osby (12PTS 5REB) and Gist (22PTS 13REB) kept him below his season scoring average. General Greivis also ran the offense efficiently, as the Terps posted 82PTS on only 64FGA, and he finished with 12PTS 6REB 11AST. Thanks to a late game bucket that was ALMOST a travel by everyone's favorite Terp, Maryland left the Dean Dome with a W.

Final Score: Terps 82, (1) UNC 80

2007 Football: 11/10/07 vs (8) Boston College

There are very few games after which I save my computer-printed student ticket stub, but this is one of them. It was by far the most memorable game I've ever seen at Byrd Stadium. It was late in the season, it was cold, and apparently the game wasn't important enough for Andrew and Rob. Nevertheless, Steve, Zach, and I braved the low temperatures to sit through a seemingly inevitable loss at the hands of a more talented and successful team led by a Top-5 NFL Draft Pick. What we got was one of the best games in recent UMD Football history.

Final Score: Terps 42, (8) BC 35

2006-07 Basketball: 2/25/07 vs (5) North Carolina

My freshman year, despite attending almost every home game, I was unable to get a ticket to the Duke game, so the most memorable game I saw at Comcast was against the fifth-ranked Tar Heels. After a 4-point home loss to UVA 3 weeks earlier, the Terps managed to string together 4 consecutive wins vs Duke, at NC State, at Clemson, and vs Florida State. All three starting seniors, Ibekwe, DJ, and Mike Jones (WHO?), continued their hot play, and ultimately won the game for the good guys. UNC came roaring out of the gate, winning the tipoff and getting an easy layup for their star, the aforementioned Hansbrough, to go up by two just 24 seconds into the game. The lead was stretched to 13 on two seperate occasions, but by halftime it had been cut to 3 behind 10PTS from DJ Strawberry and 8PTS from Gist. Maryland was able to keep the game close for the first 10 minutes of the second half, staying within single digits until the 10:21 mark, when Ty Lawson hit a 3 to put UNC up 69-59. The defecit was 12 with 7:13 remaining. From that point, Mike Jones (WHO?) and DJ just took over.

Final Score: Terps 89, (5) UNC 87

ACT II: The game that we, NO MATTER WHAT, should not have lost, but somehow didn't win

(I hope you enjoyed ACT I, because from here on out, this script is a tragedy. There are some games under which no circumstances is a loss expected, or acceptable. These are the cupcake games, the gimmes, the final scores that are so lopsided they make you say, "Wow, did I read that box score right?" Unfortunately, they DID force you to ask yourself that question, but not because of the margin of victory, but because the Terps didn't end up on the winning side. These games also help destroy that sense of hope instilled in ACT I.)

2008-09 Basketball: 1/7/09 vs Morgan State

After terrible home losses during winter break the year before to Ohio and American (see below), it appeared the Terps had navigated the potentially dangerous waters of the non-conference schedule with only (10) Gonzaga and (16) Georgetown as blemishes on their 11-2 record (for more on the Georgetown game, see ACT IV below). Of all the non-conference teams we were scheduled to play this year, Morgan State seemed to be the biggest cupcake of them all. We had survived Vermont, and logged solid wins against Charlotte, American, and even a solid Michigan team at home already. What did we have to fear against Morgan State and Todd Bozeman? The answer was a 6'4" junior guard from Baltimore who played HS ball with Bonecrusher. Reggie Holmes exploded for 25PTS 8REB on 10-22FG including 5-11 3FG. Sadly, this game could also be considered an ACT III performance. With a 11:39 remaining, the Terps enjoyed a healthy 14 point lead. Holmes simply took over the game. From that point, he scored 16PTS on 6-8FG 4-6 3FG while adding 5REB and 1STL. No play was bigger than the offensive rebound/tip-in with 1:30 remaining to put the Bears up 63-61... except for the dagger 3 he hit to put Morgan State up 66-63 with 0:49 left after Dave Neal had hit 2FT to tie the game at 63. It's amazing how a player shooting that well was able to get that many open looks. Oh wait, he probably was being guarded by Eric Hayes.

Final Score: Terps 65, Morgan State 66

2008 Football: at Middle Tennessee State

Final Score:

2007-08 Basketball: vs ohio, vs american

Final Score:

ACT III: The Epic Fail

(In this act, no matter whether we were underdogs, favorites, or evenly matched, we found a way to accrue a faily large lead late in the game, but managed to blow it. These games are the epitome of choke. They also could easily appear on FAIL BLOG. If ACT II didn't destroy your hope for the season, this will certainly do the trick.)

2008-09 Basketball: 1/14/09 at Miami
The first ACC road game of the season turned out to be a memorable one for most Terp fans. Sure, the game was close and there was a slight chance Greivis's 27 foot heave from the top of the key at the buzzer could have fallen, giving the Terps a great W. But we never should have let McClinton shoot the 'Canes back into the game. With 12:32 remaining in the game, Dino (he went to my high school) hit a layup off a pass from Greivis, and we went up 52-35. So how in the world do we end up with the L? From that point on, the Terps scored on only 8 points on 16 possessions, including shooting 3-15 FG, 0-5 3FG, grabbing only 4 OREB, and committing 4 TO. As much as I love me some Adrian Bowie and his 23PTS 5REB 3AST 2STL, he turned the ball over on 3 consecutive possessions with under 2 minutes to play, and those 3 TO led to 5 Miami points. Good teams don't blow 17-point second-half leads. Sadly, though, this isn't anywhere NEAR the worst ACT III performances.
Final Score: Terps 60, Miami 62

2007-08 Basketball: 3/2/08 vs (22) Clemson

There already exists an entire post of my thoughts and feelings which was written hours after the game, which can be seen here, but I will attempt to take a more statistical analysis regarding the game in this post. Despite some early season losses, the Terps managed to turn the season around by upsetting (1) UNC on the road and continued their hot play throught much of the conference season. Realistically needing to win out to get an NCAA Tournament bid, the Terps welcomed the 22nd ranked Tigers and their 20-7 record to the Comcast Center for an expectedly close ACC conference game. What they got was a jarring, confidence-shaking loss that further exaggerated the Terps inability to close out games. Simply put, this was the most frustrating, demoralizing game I've ever seen in person. To this day, all other losses are measured relative to the Oglesby game. With 11:21 remaining, Greivis scored a putback off a missed layup by Cliff Tucker, putting the Terps up 20, 59-39, forcing Oliver Purnell to call a timeout. Purnell's speech during that timeout must have been damn good, as the Tigers outscored the Terps 34-11 to finish the game. Let me repeat that. 34-11. That is inexcusable. Offense should never simply shut down that badly, and defense should never allow an opponent to score almost as many points in the last 1/4 of the game as they have total through the first 3/4 of the game. The lead was still 13, 68-55, with 4:48 left. Yet in the final 4:48, the Terps managed just 2 points on 8 possessions, shooting 1-6 FG including 0-3 3PTFG and 0-1 FT with 3TO. When your opponent is putting together a solid run to claw back into the game and you can't stop them on D, you have to find a way to keep pace. Sadly, the Terps were just out of steam. After a dunk by James Mays tied the game at 70 with 0:45 remaining, a missed jumper by Greivis and a defensive rebound by Sam Perry allowed Clemson to take a timeout and set up a play. "Oglesby for three?" I remember asking Steve. Sure enough, OGLESBY! Dagger three, and we lose 73-70. Each of us walked back to our dorm separately, not saying a word. After looking at the box score, even though it seemed Oglesby was the reason we lost, it was James Mays who came up biggest down the stretch, recording 9PTS 2REB 1STL on 4-4 FG and 1-1 FT in the last 4:09. A few statistical bright spots for the Terps included Bowie shooting a perfect 6-6 FG for 12PTS, James Gist leading Maryland scorers with 15PTS 8REB 2AST 3BLK, and a solid all-around game from Greivis with 13PTS 8REB 7AST. Along with those 7AST came 7 of the Terps' 21TO. After this deflating loss, the Terps went on to lose at Virginia and in the first round of the ACC Tournament against BC. Less than three weeks after being NCAA Tournament hopefuls, we were off on our third trip to the NIT in four years thanks to Terrence Oglesby and his dagger three.

Final Score: Terps 70, (22) Clemson 73

2007 Football: 9/22/07 at Wake Forest
Although the basketball team has mastered the art of the late game collapse, Ralph and the football team have choked here and there too. None was more deflating than the loss at Wake Forest early in the 2007 season.
Final Score: Terps 24, Wake Forest 31 (OT)

ACT IV: The Game that Could Have Been

(In this act, Maryland entered a game with significant pre-game buzz surrounding either a huge upset, or a possible postseason berth, but came away with neither. Not only did we lose, we lost BIG. These losses are embarassing, although not quite as crushing as the ACT III flops, in which we managed to accumulate a lead only to lose. These make you scratch your head and wonder if the team was ever mentally ready to play in the first place.)

2008-09 Basketball: 1/24/09 at (2) Duke

It's really hard for me to put into words how bad we looked this past Saturday.

Final Score: Terps 44, (2) Duke 85

2008-09 Basketball: 11/30/08 vs (16) Georgetown at the Old Spice Classic

Coming off of that huge win against (6) Michigan State in Orlando, the Terps ran into a hot Gonzaga team the next night and were demolished 59-81. After a day of rest, and a day for the media to go crazy with the prospect of the two powerhouse programs in the DC-metro area going head to head for only the third time since 1980, and the first meeting since the 2001 NCAA Tournament, where the Terps defeated the Hoyas 76-66 en route to their first ever Final Four. The press was blowing up the game in terms of historical and regional significance, and local bragging (and definitely some recuiting) rights were on the line as well. Expectations were high, but the Terps' FG% was not.
Final Score: Terps 48, (16) Georgetown 75

2008 Football: 11/22/08 vs Florida State

Despite insufficient funding in the Athletic Department, which prevented free t-shirts from being passed out, Byrd was officially blacked out for the last home game of the year, senior night. It was freezing, but Terps fans came out to cheer on their team with a shot at the ACC title on the line. Had Wake lost earlier that night, the Terps could have punched their ticket to the Dr. Pepper ACC Championship game with a win over the Noles. Wake won on a drive late in the fourth quarter, so the Terps needed to win at home vs FSU and on the road the following week at BC to keep their hopes alive. In the words of my esteemed colleague Turd, [Fuck you Bob] Maryland shat the bed. After a scoreless first quarter, FSU posted 21 in the second quarter thanks to a 22YD fumble recovery taken to the house. After a third quarter which featured 1FG by each team, the Noles completely slammed the door on the Terps' ACC title hopes with a 13-point fourth. We were outrushed 172-103. Turner was sacked 6 times and picked twice. Terps fans left Byrd cold, disappointed, and looking to next season.

Final Score: (22) Terps 3, Florida State 37

2007 Football: 9/13/07 vs West Virginia

After being destroyed on the road against WVU the year before (see below), the Terps hosted the Mountaineers for a Thursday night blackout game. The ESPN crew was there, the Army sent paratroopers, and the fans were loud and looking for their Terps to move to 3-0. Quite frankly, the team just forgot to show up.

Final Score: Terps 14, WVU 31

2006 Football: 9/14/06 at West Virginia

I remember this game mainly because I only watched about 5 minutes of it. As a freshman taking HONR100, I was forced to attend a dance performance this particular Thursday night at CSPAC. I can't remember a damn thing about the dance, but I can tell you when I got out, ran across the street to Denton and up 5 flights of stairs to turn on the TV in my room, the score was already 31-7 and it wasn't even worth watching. I only include it on this list because the 'rivalry' with the Mountaineers was supposed to be a good one. This game was not. Steve Slaton ran for 195YDS on 21CAR including 2TD. Pat White ran for 85YDS on 12CAR and 1TD, and added another TD through the air. Terps QB Sam Hollenbach racked up 211YDS 2TD 2INT, but most of the yards came after the game had already been decided.

Final Score: Terps 24, WVU 45

________________________________________

By the end of these performances, it's easy to see that we are never as good of a team as we could be. We choke, we can't string wins together, and ultimately, we fall short of our goal. The Championship run was only seven years ago, but it, as well as the exciting turn of the millennium seem like forever ago. Gone are the days when we can be considered "elite" by any standards, especially Nike's, who's other Nike Elite schools include programs that are actually GOOD, like Kansas, Syracuse, Arizona, Ohio State, Florida, and Duke. That's perfectly okay, though, because we no longer wear Nike Elite uniforms. Now we're OWNED by Under Armour. WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE...unless we feel like giving the game away to the likes of Reggie Holmes or Oglesby.

Another NIT

I really hope that Gary Williams is planning his retirement.

Now longtime readers and friends of the blog will know that I've said things like that before. Most of them, however, have been in the heat of battle when I'm prone to hyperbole. Few things cause me to get madder than a bad Maryland loss (as if there is any other kind) so I'll often vent my frustrations to avoid a stroke. But this isn't the same. I'm not mad, nor was I mad after the UNC embarrassment. I'm indifferent. Considering that I've been a "watch every game" type of fan since I was about six, that's not good.

At this point it's tiresome to constantly hope that we don't get relegated to the NIT (this will be 4 times in 7 years, for those counting, with one of the other three seasons having us sweating until Selection Sunday). We can talk about the recruiting missteps, as there are and continue to be plenty, but even worse are the coaching gaffes and lack of player development from a coach that has been so good at those things in the past.

The amount of zone defense played tonight was outright laughable. Zone works well if you're Syracuse and drill it into your kids' heads from the time they step onto the campus. It works as a change of pace to confuse poorly coached teams. It works when you have key guys out of the game and need to work around matchup problems. Here's when it doesn't work. It doesn't work when you play 90% man-to-man defense ordinarily and then decide to throw a zone at a team that both makes and shoots a large, large number of three point shots. It's beyond baffling that this simple fact wasn't figured out by our HOF coach until Miami had rained in a dozen threes on just over 20 attempts. That certainly wasn't our only reason for losing (Stoglin had even less help than usual on offfense tonight), but it's frustrating when the coach can't see what the fans at home can see.

As for player development, the upperclassmen in the backcourt have all regressed. Sean Mosley was a much, much better player (a very good starter) at the end of his freshman year and into his sophomore year. Now he's a poor decision maker who rarely seems to score outside of five feet. Cliff Tucker was once an enigmatic scorer who could do a lot of different things off the bench. After a great start to his senior season, he seems completely disinterested and unable to do much of anything besides make mistakes. Even Adrian Bowie who started for most of the season two years ago, is at best inconsistent and certainly no better than he was during the past two years. Sure, Dino Gregory has developed, and Jordan Williams has been fantastic in his two years here, but the success ratio is well down from what Gary did with Juan Dixon or even Obinna Ekezie.

So now Maryland is 7-8 in a weak ACC, despite having a sophomore averaging 17 and 12 and a freshman who will have a legitimate shot to break the school's all-time scoring record. Perhaps the most frustrating part in re: recruiting is that we HAVE recruited some high level players over the past half dozens season (Vasquez, Stoglin, Williams), but simply haven't been able to put together any kind of a solid supporting cast. That should be the easy part, but when the head coach puts so little effort into recruiting and doesn't regularly go to scout players during the season, it's hard to put together a strong roster.

It's depressing to think that less than ten years after scoring a national title, back-to-back final fours, and building a beautiful new arena, we're going to be relegated to a postseason that will start with a showdown against Drexel before 4,000 fans at the Comcast Center.

I can only hope that Gary will begin to reevaluate his future in coaching. I would never, ever seriously want him to be fired. He means far too much not only to the basketball program but to the school at home to be treated with anything other than respect. Be that as it may, the basketball program is not reaching its full potential, and loyalty to the university eventually trumps loyalty to the coach. We are capable of much, much better, and I simply cannot imagine that Gary, who will turn 66 on Friday, is the man to provide it.

0-5 at Miami's arena?

Apparently it's not that hard to out-coach Gary these days. I have been quick to reprimand S.Terpleton in his displeasure for Gary recently, but after tonight's game, there is simply no other excuse. Here's why Gary needs to reconsider things:

Yes, the refs didn't help and missed SEVERAL calls in tonight's game. But Gary didn't switch into a man-to-man until there were 5 minutes left and Miami had just hit back-to-back threes to go up 15. That's too late. In the Duke game, Singler hit shots over his man on three straight possessions late in the second half, and even then, Gary still wouldn't change things up with a 3-2 zone. Hint: It would've been too late anyways. Sticking to things that don't work doesn't make you stoic, Coach. It makes you look stupid and embarrasses your team's fans. Perimeter defense has been one of the four major things plaguing the Terps all year (see also: FT shooting, defensive rebounding, and shot selection). To combat that, you have to change up defenses and not collapse on every player that drive into the paint. I hope this isn't news to a future HOF coach, but if it is, I apologize I waited until now to post it.

Every backup guard cannot have a career game against your team if you consider yourself an NCAA Tournament team. You can't go through 7 minute stretches where you don't make a FG (not really an issue tonight, but has been a huge problem in the past), and you have to have senior leadership. The senior guards have proven to be nothing but glorified role players who coasted for the past three years while Greivis and Hayes did all the work. Dino has pleasantly surprised in most games, but also has a knack for not being able to pull down rebounds when they matter most. Forgetting to recruit 3 and 4 years ago is coming back to bite Gary this year.

NIT here we come! I just hope we don't end up facing Michigan State again...

In Stoglin and Williams we trust!