Another Cameron Ass-Whooping

If indeed this was Maryland's last game at Cameron Indoor Stadium for a while, it was a fitting one.  The Terps lost their sixth straight there, failing to keep the score to single digits for the fifth time in that span.  For the second straight weekend, a good, but not great, wing from the research triangle lit the Terps up.  This time it was Duke frosh Rasheed Sulaimon who tallied 25 points, including 6 three pointers.  After weeks of offensive struggles where the Terps were able to fall back on their excellent defense, the bottom fell out.  Not only did the Blue Devils put together a scintillating 61.1 eFG% on the day, but the Terps forced an abysmal - even by their low standards - 4 turnovers on the day, including none in the entire second half where Duke's lead ballooned from 8 at the half to north of 20.

For the Terps part, they were right at the point per possession mark, so despite this being a Duke team that was scorched for 90 two nights ago, that qualifies as a success.  The bigs led the way with 25 points on 10-18 shooting, plus eight offensive boards (six by Charles Mitchell), but once again the guards were ice cold from inside the arc and outside the arc, garnishing their missed shots with plenty of turnovers.

I talked about the potential to win the game at the 4, but it didn't turn out like that at all.  Amile Jefferson, once a key Maryland target for the class of 2012, had perhaps his best game of the season with 11 points (9 FTA), 9 boards and 3 blocked shots.

Duke continued to go with a short bench, as expected, playing a seven man rotation except for three minutes by de facto fourth big men Marshall Plumlee and Alex Murphy, two men not nearly as good as their older brothers.  Quinn Cook played all 40 minutes, dishing 9 assists and providing a stark contrast to Maryland's lack of quality point guard play, and Mason Plumlee saw the bench for only three minutes despite vague foul trouble.

Speaking of point guard play, it's getting worse, not better for Maryland.  Nick Faust is not the answer.  His performance last year should have been enough to prove that, but tonight's game was particularly bad.  Faust had a 3-12 night from the field, making two threes but taking several other ill-advised attempts, and turned the ball over four times.  Not that he was alone.  Pe'Shon Howard played 21 minutes with almost nothing positive to show for it, but plenty of lazy passes and WTF moments to make up for it. 

More disappointingly, Seth Allen sat the first half for "disciplinary reasons".  That's now three of the four freshman who have sat extended periods within a game for off the court issues, first with Jake Layman sitting a half for academics and then Charles Mitchell checking in after Spencer Barks at Miami due to "immaturity".  Not a promising sign.

Mitchell was great today, the second straight week he's been a lone beacon in a crappy road loss, going for 13 and 7 in only 12 minutes.  It begs the question of why he'd only play 12 minutes, particularly with Shaq Cleare in foul trouble early, but it seems clear at this point that for whatever reasons, Turgeon doesn't trust Mitchell as a consistent 20+ minute per night player.  No doubt he's one of many on the team that needs to value the ball better, but he's without question the team's strongest rebounder, even over Alex Len, and he shows promising, if not completely refined, offensive skills for a freshman.

And oh yeah, Alex Len did this:

Good times.

Shot breakdown below.  As always, layups/dunks, short shots/jumpers, mid-range jumpers, threes:


Logan Aronhalt: 2-4 (0-1, 0-0, 1-1, 1-2)
Seth Allen: 1-2 (1-1, 0-0, 0-0, 0-1)
Shaq Cleare: 1-2 (0-0, 1-2, 0-0, 0-0)
Nick Faust: 3-12 (1-4, 0-2, 0-1, 2-5)
Pe'Shon Howard: 2-5 (2-2, 0-2, 0-0, 0-1)
Jake Layman: 2-6 (0-0, 1-1, 0-0, 1-5)
Alex Len: 3-6 (3-4, 0-1, 0-1, 0-0)
Charles Mitchell: 5-8 (5-7, 0-1. 0-0, 0-0)
James Padgett: 1-2 (1-2, 0-0, 0-0, 0-0)
Dez Wells: 5-13 (4-7, 0-1, 0-1, 1-4)

I Don't Know, Man

Like, I just don't know.

It should be easy to be optimistic about the Terps even with a rough season. A new coach means that hope springs eternal and that the GOLDEN AGE of Terrapins' hoops is upon us with the impending commitment of the Harrison twins followed by God Knows Who Else. But here we are at 16-12, coming off a terrible loss, probably headed for 16-14 and no postseason once again, and it sucks.

Should I be so tired of this season? My expectations weren't high. I expected about 17 regular season wins, and there's still a substantially non-zero chance that happens. The team, while far from terrible as far as the talent on the roster goes, isn't nearly great enough to overcome the lack of depth that has hit it over the past few months.

But still how many games can this team play poorly in the second half? How many times can the head coach take a public swipe at his best player? How can you handle a team that has played so well at times losing to the worst team it has lost to since Gary lost to Coppin State way back in his first season here?

I counted myself an early believe in Mark Turgeon, and I don't rescind that at all. Not yet at least. I know that it's mostly frustration, but the first year could have gone better. Most folks have nothing but praise for the new guy, but me? Not so much.

More to the point, the recruiting trail has been ablaze for the Terps in the last year. Yes, there have been some nice commitments, but the program isn't really much past where it was last spring. Alex Len and Shaq Cleare were big gets, but the groundwork had been laid before Gary retired. Jake Layman was a huge win and a great scouting job by the staff, but in reality he only just replaced Justin Anderson who left for douchier pastures in Charlottesville. Seth Allen might be good but he's an unrated combo guard with injury issues - is he that much better than Sterling Gibbs would have been? And let's not get started with the latest commit. Welcome to the family, Damonte, but let's be real, if Gary had signed such an, er, under the radar prospect, people would have screamed bloody murder. No matter how good the Turge thinks he was when he saw him work out, the kid doesn't get an offer if the staff doesn't miss on Mitch McGary, Robert Upshaw, Amile Jefferson, Robert Carter, et al. It's really not a good start to have put together this recruiting class, with just one highly touted big man and no point guards (unless you think Allen is), given the team's needs and the six scholarships to play with.

Either way, it should be interesting in the coming months. Any underclassman on the roster with the exception of Padgett and Faust have to be considered as possibly not on the team for next season for whatever reasons. I still have plenty of faith that Turgeon is the guy, and I realize that I'm just being a whiny little bitch. Let's just hope that year 2 is better than this one.

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.

Luck, #340 Maryland, -0.131

So it goes that despite being number 1 in the country in defensive efficiency, Maryland is just 11-6 with a one point win over College of Charleston being by far the best accomplishment of the not-so-young season. Either that or a 23 point rout of Penn State on the road. I'm really not sure which of those is more depressing to have as a signature win.

To be sure, luck only accounts for some of the team's struggles. It's going to be hard to convince anyone that missing free throw after free throw has anything to do with luck, and aside from that, the team's five backcourt regulars all seemingly range from average (on a good day) to downright bad as long distance shooters. Eric Hayes, they are not.

The latest loss was the toughest, and there doesn't need to be much said about it at this point other than that the Terps blew a 12 point lead on the road because they allowed a staggering 19-0 run. After playing so well for the first 30 minutes - hitting jumpers, getting the ball to Jordan Williams, playing outstanding man to man and pressure defense - the team absolutely crumbled in the final minutes, not for the first time in recent years. It wasn't quite the collapse that we saw against Clemson in 2008, but it wasn't that far off either.

The team's outlook is grim, but with a an All-American in the middle and a suffocating defense most nights combined with a soft league schedule and three extra tournament berths available, the team should still expect to be in the position to have its name called by Greg Gumbel on Selection Sunday.

Perhaps my optimism is misplaced. After all, Midseason Wooden Award Candidate Jordan Fucking Williams is only one man, even if he is an 18-12 kind of man. Up next for the Terps leading into the rematch with Duke (and their only other chance this season for a marquee win) will be home games against Virginia Tech and Clemson followed next week by road dates with Georgia Tech and Virginia. The Terps, even despite their struggles, ought to be favored in each game. If they could manage to hold serve, it would give them quite a bit of breathing room and potential to make noise in the ACC race, one which Duke still controls but not nearly as handily as if Kyrie Irving were still healthy.

The most interesting thing in the past month has been the what is happening in the frontcourt. Dino Gregory has stepped up huge this season. Given his increased propensity to knock down the open mid-range jumper he might be called a poor man's Landon Milbourne. Never having had a ton of love for Landon's game, I'd disagree and go as far as saying that he's about as good as Milbourne. Not as reliable on the offensive end, perhaps, but probably much better on the defensive side. Dino blocks shots, takes charges, and generally doesn't allow many big games for the guy he is assigned to guard.

The backup spot is increasingly going to Hawk Palsson. In the first three conference games plus the Nova game, the Hawk has logged 47 minutes compared to just 19 for Inspector Padgett (who got his first DNP of the season on Saturday). The Flying Dutchman Berend Weijs also didn't see minutes against Villanova and played just five combined in three conference games. As big as the rotation seemed a few weeks back, it looks like Gary is paring it back to his traditional eight man core plus optional ninth man (in this case Padgett).

Of course the game tonight against Virginia Tech is huge. A loss, at home, against a team thought to be about as good as Maryland means it's almost officially time to think about the NIT. Given that the ACC will probably get three or four at-large/non-Duke bids, it's imperative to win games like the next two at home against fellow contenders VT and Clemson. Plus who wouldn't love to see us beat that loud mouthed, whiny POS Seth Greenberg again after losing to him all too often when the Hokies first joined the league. Plus it would also be nice to send out one of Bmore's finest, Malcolm Delaney, with a loss in his last game at the Comcast Center. Hopefully we can make them pay for talking shit about our fans leading up to the game.