Blast-Off #1

This is the first of a line of sub-blog posts about Maryland basketball called

"Mumpkins' and Ritchie's Blast-Off!"

...where S.Terpleton and I put a few people on blast after the game and also acknowledge those who were good at sports tonight.

On blast:
1. Fans who left early - After Snaer hit a layup to put FSU up 8 with 1:04 to go, about a quarter of the paying fans (not many students) left their seats to make a quick exit to their cars. Have you never seen a college basketball game before? This was a 3-possession game, not a 15 or 20 point blowout. This is a young team that feeds off the energy in the Comcastle (that name still doesn't feel right, so much to the chagrin of my co-author I will not be using it again) and everyone threw in the towel. I was ecstatic to see the Terps keep fighting and make it a game, and yelled various profanities at the fans who left early. S. Terpleton was quick to remind me that they were no longer in the building and couldn't hear me. Womp womp...

2. Coach Turgeon - As much as I have adamantly defended him this year and last, tonight was not his best night as a coach. He was the first to admit such after the game, claiming some responsibility and admitting he panicked just as much as the players. Credit FSU's defense, but the Terps looked complete incompetent throughout much of the second half. Sloppy turnovers and ugly shots kept them scoreless for long periods of time, and none of Turgeon's substitutions seemed to have any effect. Additionally, how is the player who just hit a clutch shot taken out right before you need a big three? Can't understand why Faust wasn't on the floor for the last play. Ultimately, it wouldn't have mattered because Seth forced a contested 3. Which brings us to another question - After the Kentucky fiasco, how do the Terps not have some sort of play drawn up when they need a shot at the end of a game?

3. Dezmine Wells - Everyone has off-nights, so Dez is only quasi-on-blast tonight. 2/9 shooting isn't close to good, but add-in 5 turnovers and the fact that several shots had no chance of going in, and you have a frustrating game by one of your star players...

4. Karl Hess - I absolutely HATE when fans blame the game on the officials, so by no means will I be doing that. Poor execution and too many turnovers were to blame tonight. But Karl and his boys did call a terribly inconsistent game though. At times, touch fouls were whistled, and on one particular play, a Seminole played leap-frog using a Terp big-man, literally pushing off to jump higher, and no whistle was called. I especially dislike when refs who are out of position or simply can't see the play blow their whistles and make calls.


Tonight, Nick Faust gets to ride up front for being good at sports. Nick finished 5-10 from the field including 4/6 from 3 with 14 points. After playing limited minutes on Saturday vs VT because of back spasms, he came up big, especially down the stretch with a rainmaker of a 3 to bring the Terps within 1 with 10 seconds to go. Let's hope this is a sign of things to come for Nick!


Tough lost for the Terps tonight. Definitely some growing pains being worked out. Hope they move on and continue to learn from it. Terps take their talents to South Beach on Sunday at 8. Go Terps! Beat Miami!