The Road to the NIT

Hey friends. Long time no see. Welcome back to our blog, now subtitled "The Road to the NIT" to chronicle the 2009-2009 Maryland Terps' oddessy that will end with the team going for its fourth NIT appearance in five seasons.

You remember that Gus Gilchrist fella that transferred from Maryland earlier this month? As it turns out, he'll be going to the University of South Florida.

The decision to end up at South Florida over Kentucky and West Virginia, as well as previous destinations Maryland and Virginia Tech, plus Georgetown, which had heavily recruited him last fall, is mind boggling. South Florida has failed to make the post season 4 out of the past 5 years. And we're not talking about the NCAA or even the NIT. The Bulls haven't even made their Conference Tournament in those four seasons.

The ostensible reason for the change of heart was for Gus to go somewhere where he'll have four years of eligibility. As you'll certainly remember, the ACC screwed Maryland ove- er, decided to enforce a rule which essentially stripped Gilchrist of 3 semesters of eligibility as a penalty for reneging on his Letter of Intent to Virginia Tech only to later sign with another conference affiliate.

Of course, Gilchrist was a member of the Terps' team last season, meaning that his eligibility clock is ticking. He will now have sit out next season as a transfer before having three years of eligibility left starting with the 2009-2010 season. That's only about 10 games more than he'd play here at Maryland, not to mention that he has to go another season without playing.

He will seek a waiver that allows him to play next season without the standard year on the bench, but that will be a long shot. There might be a very, very slim chance of Gilchrist coming back if he doesn't get that waiver, but don't be on it.

In the end, it works out worse for both parties. Maryland's frontcourt is decimated with the loss of its best post player while Gilchrist will have gone about 30 months between competitive games when he debuts with South Florida in November 2009. Not a wise choice for Gilchrist unless he get his waiver.

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Sean Mosley still has not qualified academically next season. Or perhaps he has, and we haven't heard anything about it. This is a very important recruit, in case anyone didn't know, and losing him would be just another epic dagger - an excalibur sword, as if Gilchrist transferring wasn't enough. If he does qualify, he should be good enough to step right in and split time at the shooting guard spot with Adrian Bowie. That's my plan at least. Coach Williams' plan may be for Eric Hayes to start at the 2 again which would be an interesting tactic by the future Hall of Fame coach.

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James Gist got drafted! Finally, some good news. It looked shaky for awhile before the Spurs took him with the 58th overall pick.

Gist is undersized for an NBA Power Forward, and he doesn't yet possess the skills to play the Small Forward in the NBA, either. He is a good (not great) shooter for his size with tremendous athleticism. He will be able to run the floor and throw down some dunks in transition at the pro level. He can play facing the basket to an extent which will help him compensate for his lack of size. He is also an excellent shot blocker and rebounded well on the defensive end last season.

There is little doubt that the Spurs put as much or more emphasis on defense as any team in the NBA, so if Gist wants to stick with San Antonio, he'll have to be a solid defender. Gist is a great leaper and shot blocker, but his position defense has not been especially noteworthy at the collegiate level due in part to his lack of upper body strength. In addition, Gist will likely be called on to guard players on the perimeter more frequently which will test his lateral quickness.

Gist will need to improve to stick in the NBA, but he has improved substantially throughout his Maryland career. He should continue to do so enough to carve out at least a respectable career coming off the bench in the NBA.

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And now back to your regularly scheduled bad news. Greivis Vasquez had ankle surgery and will not be able to play until the fall. At this point, he's expected to be back well advance of the

start of practice which qualifies as good news in Maryland Basketball these days. Hopefully there will be no lasting effects that cause the General to start a step slow next season.

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And in another piece of good news, football season is only two months away. Any Terps' football fan should check out Terrapins Rising on CSN (Mon, 9 PM) to get a look at what the team went through during spring practice. James Franklin (Terps' new Offensive Coordinator) is a baller.

Dammit all!

This certainly sucks

Greetings from the Florida!

Hello all! It's been quite a tumultuous few days weeks months for me here at the Says Things blog. Due to contract holdouts, I haven't been able to blog regularly about things and such. Of course, in that time the blog has fallen off precipitously. Also, I amaze myself that I just spelled "precipitously" correct in one try.

As I'm sure you've already heard by now by the collective screams coming out of College Park, Augustus P. Gilchrist has reneged on his commitment. If you're keeping count here, that's two in the past month. That's not so bad though. Recruits make commitments and break them all the time. That's why they're selfish assholes who I hate/adore. Of course, most of the time that's a verbal commitment that's broken.

And it's not in May/July when seniors have already graduated.

And have selected schools.

And aren't in high school anymore.

And when it's easier to find another recruit

DAMMIT!

For what it's worth, here's the Terps' roster for next year, broken down by class:

Seniors: One. David "El Tiempo de Dave" Neal
Juniors: Three. Eric "Professional Sex Machine" Hayes, Landon "Not Dining Hall" Milbourne, and Greivis "¡Arriba!" Vasquez.
RS Sophmore: One. Jerome "Fills the Cup" Burney
Sophomores: Five. Adrian "From Greenbelt Not From" Bowie, Braxton "Manatee" Dupree, Dino "In the Doghouse" Gregory, Clifton "P" Tucker, David "Walk-on" Pearman.
Freshman: Null Set

Yes, that's right ladies and folks. Your Maryland Terrapin's current roster for the 2008-2009 basketball season features four (4) less players than when the season ended in March. We have ten men on our team. A five man bench. Let that wash over for you for a little bit. Have you let it sink in yet? Good. Shocking, isn't it? Sucks, don't it?

Yup, that's the Maryland Men's Basketball team. True, we could always find a random JuCo transfer before August. Or we could find some scrap heap player who just graduated. Or we could have a team with four walk on players. I mean, last year UNC had no scholarship freshman, and they went to the Final Four. So it's possible, right?

To think that I wanted to come back to school so I could have another season of free basketball tickets.

And there was weeping and gnashing of teeth...

Who's up for transferring to UCLA? Cute girls, dry warm climate, good sports, not annoying...

Terps Wild R

Another big change occurred this week in Maryland's 2008 recruiting class with the news that Junior College Shooting Guard prospect Tyree Evans (Motlow CC) will receive a release from his Letter of Intent, signed just over a month ago, and will seek an opportunity to play elsewhere next season. This comes amid controversy about Evans' checkered past and questions of whether he would even be admitted to Maryland.

This continues what has been a wacky year of recruiting for the Terps that reflects the hard times that have fallen on the program. The Terps began this recruiting season with at least three scholarships to offer to members of the class of 2008. Local prospects like SG Sean Mosley of Saint Frances, a star since his freshman season of high school, as well as C Henry Sims of Mount Saint Joseph, emerged as the top priorities for Maryland, alongside other recruits such as PA SG Brian Walsh and NJ PF Quintrell Thomas.

As of August of last year, the Terps had no committments from the senior class of high school players. Sims committed to Georgetown, and Walsh chose Xavier after the Terps were not ready to accept his committment, still holding out hope for Mosley, a consensus top 50 recruit. Thomas, once seen as the top frontcourt recruiting priority for the Terps for most of the summer, dropped off the Maryland radar as interest faded (he would eventually choose Kansas over hometown Rutgers).

It seemed that NC SG Chris Turner would be a viable option, but business picked up in August when Mosley committed to the Terps over Virginia Tech, Florida State, Clemson, and Syracuse. Long one of the team's recruiting priorities, Mosley's committment was one of the biggest to the program in some time, a local player who had dominated the high school scene for years. In addition, nomadic C Terrence Jennings, an explosive athlete and top 20 prospect out of NC, committed to the Terps as well, helping to form what looked to be one of the great recruiting classes in Terrapin history.

But that didn't last. The nomadic Jennings, who had attended almost countless different schools, withdrew his verbal committme in early October before signing a Letter of Intent with Louisville. That stung, but the Terps got another unexpected surprise when local PF Gus Gilchrist, originally an '07 recruit before withdrawing his committment from Virginia Tech late in the process, decided to join the Terps, once again giving the team a strong one-two punch. The Terps also received a verbal committment from South Korean SF Jin Soo Kim, an '09 prospect whose size and outside shooting ability has led me to crown him the Korean Durant. There were even rumors that the Terps would finish up their class by adding PF/C Ater Majok of the Sudan, a one-time Baylor committment, to the mix.

The Terps followed those commitments up by giving their last vacant scholarship offer to PG Bobby Maze, a Junior College player originally from Prince George's county, whose addition signaled a much need injection of speed and ballhandling to next year's team. And then, even with no scholarships apparently remaining, the Terps took a committment from Maze's teammate Ken Bowman, a PF from California, after it became clear that Majok would not be coming to Maryland (he eventually signed with UConn).

But this momentum only meant that bad news was coming. And it did in the form of the news that Gilchrist, due to having signed a letter of intent to play at Virginia Tech, would be considered a transfer by ACC rules and would be forced to lose a year of eligibility at Maryland. As he had not enrolled until the Spring Semester, such a ruling meant he would be ineligible until the end of the Fall '08 Semester, thus in effect leaving him with just 2.5 years of eligibility remaining.

That's when things got out of control. Soon news came that Bowman would not make it to College Park. And then the Terps, still without a fourth scholarship open, signed SG Tyree Evans to a letter of intent, apparently leaving Maze out in the cold without a scholarship. While Shane Walker would soon leave the program and open up the needed scholarship, Maze's interest faded and he would eventually sign with Tennessee.

Maze's past was somewhat checkered, due to having bounced around to a number of schools, including transferring from Oklahoma after his freshman season after a mutual decision to do so with coach Jeff Capel. There were also rumored to be some academic issues which may have factored into the Terps taking Evans over Maze. But Evans also had a past of his own, which included jail time for a drug possession charge, as well as an indictment on statutory rape charges, a dismissal from his first Junior College team, and - apparently at least - more arrests.

Soon the media firestorm over a usually clean program like Maryland taking Evans ensued on Sports Illustrated's web site and in the Baltimore Sun. Was this a sign of desperation from Gary Williams? Was this the right move, taking a kid that such esteemed programs as Cincinnatti and Kansas State passed on? The articles seemed to point to a rift in the Athletic Department, as Athletic Director Deborah Yow claimed not to know of Evans' past (although even I knew).

And now with Evans admission in question, he will no longer be a Terp, by his own choice, at least from published reports. And not only that, but the Diamondback reported last week that Sean Mosley had yet to receive an SAT score high enough to allow him to play next season.

So as of right now, the Terps will have no new players suiting up for them when the season tips off in November. Gilchrist, barring the ACC's prior ruling on his eligibility being overruled, will not play until the end of exams for the fall semester. And Mosley will not be able to play unless he receives the requisite scores on his placement tests. It's a great time to be a Maryland fan.

From hell's doorstep.

I have to write this blog so that Steve will stop shouting at me...
Pray for me.

- Martin Sheen.

Key Moves

Another guest blog by Josh. This one explains some key moves that our readers will need to take note of.

Key Moves

Warning: Do not attempt any of these Moves as they may lead to physical harm, legal action and/or social ostracism. We are trained professionals who don’t have any friends anyway.

1. When an elevator gets stuck, it is extremely key to climb on top of the elevator using the hatch in the ceiling. Once on top of the elevator, you can then await rescue, awaiting rescue while in the elevator is exactly what they would expect…

2. When in public places, it is key to call people who are across the room so that you aren’t forced to yell and/or get up.

3. Probably the most key thing ever is using the word sector to describe distinct areas, for example, if one of the bedrooms in your suite has the door closed, you would say “that sector is all sealed off.”

4. Purchasing solid-state-hard-drives for one’s computational-device is a key move when attempting to ‘pwn the n00bs.’

5. Walking around the campus at 11:00 pm WHILE handing out flyers for a ‘2 v. 2 Breakdance event for $200’ WHILE smoking a pipe is DEFINITELY a key move.

6. Doing experiments in order to earn the revenues is a key move.

7. Hanging enormous pictures of Llama’s in order to decorate the STAMP Student Union is a key move in the field of ‘Feng Shui’ particularly when none of the other pictures or really anything else in STAMP has anything to do with Llamas.

8. When in the course of human events it becomes necessary to demonstrate manhood or resolve a conflict, Cage-fighting is an extremely key move.

9. An especially key move, specifically for the men, is eating MORE foodstuffs.

10. When one is attempting to win respect, pretty much the most key move ever is turning a person (generally someone whom you don’t like) into a pillar of salt. Being turned into a pillar of salt is a major lose though.

11. When speaking to people across the interwebs, it is a key move to go ahead and hit the ol’ caps lock and force peoples to pay attention to your unnecessarily capitalized words.