I was driving to class this morning, and once again, there was no music on. I could have - nay, should have - simply plugged in my iPod, but I decided against that route. Instead, I made the sketchy decision to tune into 105.7 to catch some sports talk radio, in this instance Mark Viviano and someone calling himself O-dawg/dog (did not sound like Orland Hudson). Of course they were discussing the Ravens, and the conversation turned to Derrick Mason. At this point, my new pal O-dawg/dog proclaimed his undying love for Mason and said that Mason was one of the top five players in Ravens history.
Whoa.
That can't be right, can it? I love Mason as much as you can love a possession receiver, but he seems more Harold Baines than Jim Palmer. Sure, the Ravens are younger, but really? Clearly the only way to clarify the issue is a LIST of the TOP TEN RAVENS OF ALL TIME. And we're going to START WITH NUMBER 1 HOLY CRAP!!1
1. Ray Lewis - Could it be anyone else. The man has been with the team, and has really been the star of the team, since its first year in Baltimore. He has come to represent his franchise in a way that Cal, Brooks, and Johnny U did in Baltimore years ago, and in a way that few people in modern sports do (think: Jeter, Brady, Manning, Kobe, Pujols...and that's about it). More to the point, the Ravens have always been associated with defense, and probably will be for a long time to come, and Ray has always been the focal point and spiritual leader (if not the best every single year) of that unit. Simply put, Ray Lewis IS Baltimore football in the 21st century.
2. Jonathan Ogden - I have no idea if Ogden was good or not. Literally, no clue. I am man enough to admit that when it comes to offensive lineman, I never even notice them. Sure, Jon Ogden played the role of Mountain of a Man Who Will Maul You Like a Grizzly Bear for a decade, but even Bruce Campbell did that at Maryland sometimes in between not being eligible/hurt. But hey, you don't go to the Pro Bowl eleventy billion times without being pretty good, nor do you get your named tossed around in the GOAT Left Tackle discussions (rare as they are), if you're just some 330 pound floater.
3. Ed Reed - Oh Edgerton. No one takes me from elation to conniption quicker than he does when he hawks the balls, takes it 30 yards downfield, and then tries to make a spectacular lateral because he can't leave well enough alone. Despite any of that nonsense, there's a reason why the re was a Play Like Ed Reed Today sign in 2201E Calvert Hall during the 2007 season - because Ed Reed is fucking awesome. He's the only man besides the top 2 to make the All-Pro team more than once (he's done it 7 times), and like Ray, he's won the DPOY. Who knows if this is the end of the line, but he will be in Canton someday.
4. Matt Stover - Matt Stover was Mr. Reliable. He was the last Cleveland Brown to play for the Ravens, and he last 14 seasons with the team. Then the Ravens let him go because, hey, he's 41, and it's not like the flying Anders(e/o)n brothers played until they were wearing dentures instead of mouthguards. This was, of course, immediately followed by Steve Hauschka, an NC State graduate, blowing every game last season. Matt Stover never did that. Or if he did, I have no recollection of it because there is no concourse level in football.
5. Peter Boulware - Remember this guy? This is the guy. He played for Florida State, back when they were awesome. He was a first round pick in 1997, a year after the Ravens got Ray and JO, cementing Ozzie Newsome's rep as a guy who is going to pwn the draft every year, except when Bizarro Ozzie Newsome kidnaps him pre-draft so as to select Travis Taylor. But I digress. Boulware made four Pro Bowls, back when such a thing meant...well it didn't really mean anything back then, either. But I'm sure Pete loved Hawaii. He also basically only played seven seasons before hanging it up. He's a few months older than Ray, and he was pretty much done by '03. Think about that.
6. Todd Heap - This is probably one of the few Ravens who could be described as "iconic" in the city. Heap has been with team for a decade now, never having played anywhere else. He managed to be the lone bright spot for years in a passing game which featured incompetent QBs and mediocre receivers. Looking over it a bit more, Heap's numbers have, by and large, been a bit less than I remembered. He's had four seasons in his career where he recorded 403 yards or fewer, and that aside, he's never been a great pass blocker. He's also arguably not the best Raven from his school (Arizona State). Which leads us to....
7. Terrell Suggs - TSizzle is, all things considered, not a very good nickname. But at this point, does anyone NOT call him that? There all seems to be some drama following TSizzle. Terrell is holding out. Terrell is giving Tom Brady a cheap shot. Terrell is committing felony assault. Well, you know what, Terrell has 58 career sacks and Terrell is a specimen. Give him another year or two and I'll definitely have him ahead of Heap. He probably should be there already, but give me a break, I didn't actually compile the list before writing the entries, ya dig?
8. Derrick Mason - So he makes the list, I guess. He's actually been here for six years. If this were baseball, and he were, well, let's just say more like David Eckstein, he'd probably be described as gritty. I'm pretty sure he went out there one week with two broken arms, possibly in traction, and hauled in 8 balls just through sheer force of will. Does anyone even remember that he was a Titan? Or that the Titans were probably near as hated around these parts as the Steelers were back then? Now they don't even rate. How soon we forget about that January 2004 playoff game.
9. Jamal Lewis - He had a 2,000 yard season. His legs kept moving. He also went to jail for a criminal fucking conspiracy for helping the New Day Co-Op slang that ye-yo. He kinda didn't do a ton outside of that one season. That's not entirely fair given that he had two more 1300 yard seasons and another over 1,000 in just 12 games. But his career petered out here pretty quickly before he went to Cleveland where he did have a brief rennaissance before playing poorly for the remained of his career. Such is the life of the Modern American Running Back.
10. Chris McAlister - I don't think I've ever made a secret about not really being a huge fan of McAlister's. But he's on here for a few reasons. For one thing, the Ravens D needed at least one more player, and he's one of the few remaining guys who had a long enough tenure here to merit mentioning. For another, he was damned good, even if his occasional boneheaded plays made me angry. Plus I mainly shied away from giving him any props because my dad sang his praises like he was the fucking offspring of Jim Henson and Dick "Night Train" Lane. Yeah, I get it dad, you want to marry him. Chris should probably be ahead of the two guys he's behind if not for that, but hey, them's the breaks. I would give at least three fingernails to see him rather than some of the turds we've trotted out at DB in then recent past.
HONORABLE MENTION: Haloti Ngata, Kelly Gregg, Michael McCrary, Rod Woodson, Adalius Thomas
DISHONORABLE MENTION: Travis Taylor, Mark Clayton, Steve Hauschka, That One Fat White POS Lineman Who I Can't Remember, Mike Carey
AND THERE YOU HAVE IT
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Guess Who's Back
back again? Scrillas back. Tell a friend.
So I was just thinking today that I need to bring this here weblog back into production, and the OWL goes and makes a post. Coincidence or sign from the blog writing gods?
It's been upwards of seven months since last we blogged. A lot has changed since...ah fuck it, nothing has changed. We're all still saying things. Maryland suffered one of the worst things to ever happen of all time in March. I'm pretty sure I promised a blog post about that at some point, but I'm still in no mood to revisit that. Greivis deserved better.
The Terps came back to win the Atlantic Division just one year after going 2-10. Now some of you might say that's a bit presumptuous given that all the Terps have this season is a tight win over Navy and a rout of Morgan State, but it would be tough to argue that the Terps aren't on pace to go 14-0. It's definitely probable that they'll lose once on their way to the ACC Championship Game, but for now, 12-0 is a possibility.
And speaking of championship caliber teams, how bout dem O's? The Buck came aboard and suddenly the Orioles are playing like gangbusters! Or maybe it's ghostbusters. I'm pretty sure a rotation of Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and That Other Guy could have beaten the Diamond Dave Orioles or even the Juan Samuel "Screech" Powers edition. (By the way I almost referred to both Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd as "Tom Hanks". That's about as bad as calling Rob "owl" or referring to a bus as a computer).
But yeah, that's pretty neat. I'm kinda rambling right now because I'm excited to bring this back. I'm going to have a long ass post on the Wire sometime very soon, just because. And partially to bait turd back into posting something on here. Also on the docket is Bob's finished post about whatever the fuck it was that had something to do with Landon Milbourne that was going to be epic before he totally crapped the bed on it. Also maybe Andrew can rewrite his pretzel post to include the crab pretzel.
So I was just thinking today that I need to bring this here weblog back into production, and the OWL goes and makes a post. Coincidence or sign from the blog writing gods?
It's been upwards of seven months since last we blogged. A lot has changed since...ah fuck it, nothing has changed. We're all still saying things. Maryland suffered one of the worst things to ever happen of all time in March. I'm pretty sure I promised a blog post about that at some point, but I'm still in no mood to revisit that. Greivis deserved better.
The Terps came back to win the Atlantic Division just one year after going 2-10. Now some of you might say that's a bit presumptuous given that all the Terps have this season is a tight win over Navy and a rout of Morgan State, but it would be tough to argue that the Terps aren't on pace to go 14-0. It's definitely probable that they'll lose once on their way to the ACC Championship Game, but for now, 12-0 is a possibility.
And speaking of championship caliber teams, how bout dem O's? The Buck came aboard and suddenly the Orioles are playing like gangbusters! Or maybe it's ghostbusters. I'm pretty sure a rotation of Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and That Other Guy could have beaten the Diamond Dave Orioles or even the Juan Samuel "Screech" Powers edition. (By the way I almost referred to both Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd as "Tom Hanks". That's about as bad as calling Rob "owl" or referring to a bus as a computer).
But yeah, that's pretty neat. I'm kinda rambling right now because I'm excited to bring this back. I'm going to have a long ass post on the Wire sometime very soon, just because. And partially to bait turd back into posting something on here. Also on the docket is Bob's finished post about whatever the fuck it was that had something to do with Landon Milbourne that was going to be epic before he totally crapped the bed on it. Also maybe Andrew can rewrite his pretzel post to include the crab pretzel.
Coincidence: Unlikely
Wandering around Borders Books yesterday, I came across this guy...
Now, I'm not saying anything. But all I could think about was this...
and this...
and certainly this...
Now, I know his death is still in fairly recent memory, but, did you SEE the cover and title of that book? Lolz.
Now, I'm not saying anything. But all I could think about was this...
and this...
and certainly this...
Now, I know his death is still in fairly recent memory, but, did you SEE the cover and title of that book? Lolz.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
Losses!
So I got really bored today and counted up all the Terps games I've been to. In my defense, it was a Sunday afternoon, so it's not like I should have been doing something super-productive, but still. Looking at the list I compiled, I realized that I had a pretty distinct memory of every single loss I've seen. So here's a rundown.
sophomore year vs Notre Dame at the BB&T - Turd and I got all amped up for a trip to see a game outside of the Comcast Center. By this point it had already been established that Verizon was a house of horrors for us, but still we went. Well, we went and saw Notre Dame rain threes on us all day. Turd didn't get the food he paid for at McDonald's before the game, and I had to go home and write a final paper for John Newman that was due the next afternoon.
junior year vs Boston College - This would be the game where Jamie Luckey fouled out Greivis on a technical for hitting the basket support after a questionable fourth foul call. That was pretty much all that BC would need to win this game, perhaps the most daggerishly officiated game I've witnessed in person - which is saying something. Zatch and I, as I recall it, walked home cursing the refs and their family before getting CluckU. This was my concourse level debut.
junior year vs Ohio - part deux of the unholy BC/Ohio/American loss troika. Luckily I didn't see the third one. This one was the night before exams started, and we got pwned by Leon Williams, formerly of Cardinal Gibbons. I believe that this was only the third home nonconference loss for Gary since he came to Maryland, after Coppin State way back in 1989 and Florida a few years before this one.
junior year vs Duke - my first Duke game! And we lost. This would be the one where Eric Hayes tried to box out Gerald Henderson to shield him from getting a ball that had rolled into the backcourt instead of, you know, going after this. That would be something of a pattern of behavior for Hayes. Ritchie and I froze our balls off waiting to get into Comcast, and this is how they repaid us.
junior year vs VT - This one was most famous for Turd screaming "FUCK YOU SETH!" at the end of the game, flipping him off, and kicking the seat in front of him at the Comcast Center. I remember this being another dagger game, though I can't say for sure what actually happened other than us blowing a lead. I was more proud of Turd that day than ever before as his tantrum was more like something only Zatchman or I can pull off.
junior year vs Clemson - The worst ever. Nothing will ever top this loss. We blew a TWENTY (20!) point lead in the last ten minutes in a game that would have all but sealed a tournament berth (we didn't make it). I had even sung the "We're going to the lig" song when it looked wrapped up. Honky extraordinare Terrence Oglesby gave the final dagger on a buzzer beating three that we all knew was coming. The five of us walked back separately and didn't speak to one another for several hours thereafter.
senior year vs Morgan State - Just an awful all around game, with Reggie Holmes of Saint Frances pwning us thoroughly. Morgan State was actually decentish, and we made the Lig, so this wasn't as bad as it could have been. Still, another blown lead to one of the Little Sisters of the Poor no less? Ugh.
senior year vs Boston College - Blown lead. I don't remember how much it was, but it was probably the worst one at home other than Clemson the previous year. I think it wasn't quite as bad as the one at Miami a few weeks prior to this, but it was close.
senior year vs Duke - Another game standing out in the cold, another loss. 0-2 in Duke games! The game made Bob too physically ill to stay (or possibly it was something else), but this was another game where questionable foul calls against Greivis kept him out of the game. On the other end of the court, as I recall it, Gerald Henderson was allowed to act like a running back to get into the lane, but Greivis got called for crummy fouls on the other side. Duke ref bias much?
senior year vs Wake Forest - SENIOR NIGHT!!!!!! My last game as a student. Dave Neal did his best, hitting like four pick and pops, almost leading me to having a stroke screaming SENIOR NIGHT!!!!, but it was all for naught as Jeff Teague teabagged him on a dunk and the Terps lost by two, despite an awesome buzzer beating three by Dave Neal that cut the lead that far down. God I miss the cyborg. This game also would have clinched a Lig berth.
this year vs William & Mary - The first loss as a paying customer at the Comcast Center. They pretty much worked us. I wasn't really angry, just thoroughly disheartened because we were barely even competitive against a mid-major team on our own home court. I think this game would be the 73rd time I swore off of Gary Williams "for good". I think this one last ten days, maybe two weeks at the most.
And there you have it.
sophomore year vs Notre Dame at the BB&T - Turd and I got all amped up for a trip to see a game outside of the Comcast Center. By this point it had already been established that Verizon was a house of horrors for us, but still we went. Well, we went and saw Notre Dame rain threes on us all day. Turd didn't get the food he paid for at McDonald's before the game, and I had to go home and write a final paper for John Newman that was due the next afternoon.
junior year vs Boston College - This would be the game where Jamie Luckey fouled out Greivis on a technical for hitting the basket support after a questionable fourth foul call. That was pretty much all that BC would need to win this game, perhaps the most daggerishly officiated game I've witnessed in person - which is saying something. Zatch and I, as I recall it, walked home cursing the refs and their family before getting CluckU. This was my concourse level debut.
junior year vs Ohio - part deux of the unholy BC/Ohio/American loss troika. Luckily I didn't see the third one. This one was the night before exams started, and we got pwned by Leon Williams, formerly of Cardinal Gibbons. I believe that this was only the third home nonconference loss for Gary since he came to Maryland, after Coppin State way back in 1989 and Florida a few years before this one.
junior year vs Duke - my first Duke game! And we lost. This would be the one where Eric Hayes tried to box out Gerald Henderson to shield him from getting a ball that had rolled into the backcourt instead of, you know, going after this. That would be something of a pattern of behavior for Hayes. Ritchie and I froze our balls off waiting to get into Comcast, and this is how they repaid us.
junior year vs VT - This one was most famous for Turd screaming "FUCK YOU SETH!" at the end of the game, flipping him off, and kicking the seat in front of him at the Comcast Center. I remember this being another dagger game, though I can't say for sure what actually happened other than us blowing a lead. I was more proud of Turd that day than ever before as his tantrum was more like something only Zatchman or I can pull off.
junior year vs Clemson - The worst ever. Nothing will ever top this loss. We blew a TWENTY (20!) point lead in the last ten minutes in a game that would have all but sealed a tournament berth (we didn't make it). I had even sung the "We're going to the lig" song when it looked wrapped up. Honky extraordinare Terrence Oglesby gave the final dagger on a buzzer beating three that we all knew was coming. The five of us walked back separately and didn't speak to one another for several hours thereafter.
senior year vs Morgan State - Just an awful all around game, with Reggie Holmes of Saint Frances pwning us thoroughly. Morgan State was actually decentish, and we made the Lig, so this wasn't as bad as it could have been. Still, another blown lead to one of the Little Sisters of the Poor no less? Ugh.
senior year vs Boston College - Blown lead. I don't remember how much it was, but it was probably the worst one at home other than Clemson the previous year. I think it wasn't quite as bad as the one at Miami a few weeks prior to this, but it was close.
senior year vs Duke - Another game standing out in the cold, another loss. 0-2 in Duke games! The game made Bob too physically ill to stay (or possibly it was something else), but this was another game where questionable foul calls against Greivis kept him out of the game. On the other end of the court, as I recall it, Gerald Henderson was allowed to act like a running back to get into the lane, but Greivis got called for crummy fouls on the other side. Duke ref bias much?
senior year vs Wake Forest - SENIOR NIGHT!!!!!! My last game as a student. Dave Neal did his best, hitting like four pick and pops, almost leading me to having a stroke screaming SENIOR NIGHT!!!!, but it was all for naught as Jeff Teague teabagged him on a dunk and the Terps lost by two, despite an awesome buzzer beating three by Dave Neal that cut the lead that far down. God I miss the cyborg. This game also would have clinched a Lig berth.
this year vs William & Mary - The first loss as a paying customer at the Comcast Center. They pretty much worked us. I wasn't really angry, just thoroughly disheartened because we were barely even competitive against a mid-major team on our own home court. I think this game would be the 73rd time I swore off of Gary Williams "for good". I think this one last ten days, maybe two weeks at the most.
And there you have it.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Well Then
Owl: "Why am I the only one that updates the blog anymore?"
Me: "You made a new post? I didn't even realize."
Owl: "Well, it was in October...."
Oh.
But anyway, I'm bored (not unusual), and there's a lot to talk about in the world of the Terps. Needless to say, this has not been a very good week in College Park. Let's start with the news you might not have heard about. And let's be real, you have heard about it because there are four of you that read this blog, and all four of you were told about it by me.
Either way, the Terps took a big hit to their once promising incoming recruiting class when their top recruit decided that he's no longer coming next season. Well, he might be, because Maryland is still "in his top five", but anyone that follows recruiting knows that means nothing.
The recruit in question is SG Terrence Ross, a very talented player out of Montrose Christian (see also: Greivis Vasquez, Kevin Durant, Adrian Bowie, Linas Kleiza, et al.) in Rockville. He was the centerpiece of a recruiting class that had gained some recognition nationally and took the heat of off Gary Williams' poor recruiting performances inthe past. It was clear that things were not all well when he didn't sign with the Terps in November during the early signing period with fellow recruits Mychal Parker, Terrell Stoglin, and Ashton Pankey, despite having been committed for nearly six months. Then the news broke that he "wasn't sure" if he was still committed, followed by an article officially announcing that he wasn't planning on going to Maryland next season, at least not quite yet.
The worst part? The article was on a Duke recruiting site, and the current speculation is that that will be his likely landing spot. Never mind that he would be coming into a program already featuring two fantastic sophomore shooting guards (Andre Dawkins and Seth Curry) - playing time must not be a big concern for Ross.
In any event, the whole thing is turning into a circus with his high school coach, the highly respected Stu Vetter, claiming that he's still likely to end up at Maryland and some vague message board talk about the impact Nike might be having on where he'll end up. (Remember which shoe company sponsored Maryland before they hopped to Under Armour last fall?)
Bottom line: The Terps best recruit for 2010, and possibly the guy who would have been the best recruit maybe as far back as Steve Francis, likely will be suiting up elsewhere next season. Let's just call that New Year's Dagger Number One.
New Year's Dagger Number Two happened on Wednesday when the Terps played William & Mary. The Tribe came in with just two losses, already holding a win at Wake Forest, meaning that they were not likely going to be a pushover. After losses in recent seasons to VCU, Ohio, American, and Morgan State, it should have been clear that this game was nowhere close to a lock.
Any pessimism about the final outcome turned out to be well founded as Maryland lost 83-77, and even then, it was worse than the final score as the Terps never really threatened in the final 30 minutes of the game, trailing the entire way, often by double digits.
It's tough to pinpoint any one reason for the loss. The Terps let someone named Quinn Mcdowell, a W&M sophomore, drop a career high 28 points on them. They forced just nine turnovers (although Maryland actually only had eight themselves), and shot a typically abysmal 4-25 from three point range. The starters, with the possible exception of Eric Hayes, all played reasonably well, but the bench contributed just four points in a combined 44 minutes.
So whatever, that's enough analysis of a loss that I didn't see the final five minutes of. There's no real reason to rant anymore - this is what Maryland basketball has become for now. I had convinced myself that this year was going to be different. The Terps were in more than a few preseason top 25 rankings, and I expected a highly experienced team to build on last season's modest success. So far it just hasn't happened, with the team sitting at 9-4, including losses to each of their four best opponents, all in games that weren't exactly nailbiters in the final minutes.
The future doesn't look too exciting either with three of the team's top four scorers leaving, and its top recruit no longer coming. That's not to say that all is lost this season. The Terps ACC opener next Sunday at home against Florida State is a huge game, one that should be very winnable. The ACC is strong throughout this season, but not unmanageable with Duke and North Carolina leading the way as very good teams, albeit ones not seriously expected to have a claim at being the best in the country as they do most seasons.
So hey, maybe the Terps can go 9-7 and squeak out another 10 seed in the tournament. I'm just not going to expect it.*
*(Although I did proclaim to a coauthor today, in my Greivis-induced euphoria that this team is going to the Lig. So yes, I'm fence sitting, what of it?)
Me: "You made a new post? I didn't even realize."
Owl: "Well, it was in October...."
Oh.
But anyway, I'm bored (not unusual), and there's a lot to talk about in the world of the Terps. Needless to say, this has not been a very good week in College Park. Let's start with the news you might not have heard about. And let's be real, you have heard about it because there are four of you that read this blog, and all four of you were told about it by me.
Either way, the Terps took a big hit to their once promising incoming recruiting class when their top recruit decided that he's no longer coming next season. Well, he might be, because Maryland is still "in his top five", but anyone that follows recruiting knows that means nothing.
The recruit in question is SG Terrence Ross, a very talented player out of Montrose Christian (see also: Greivis Vasquez, Kevin Durant, Adrian Bowie, Linas Kleiza, et al.) in Rockville. He was the centerpiece of a recruiting class that had gained some recognition nationally and took the heat of off Gary Williams' poor recruiting performances inthe past. It was clear that things were not all well when he didn't sign with the Terps in November during the early signing period with fellow recruits Mychal Parker, Terrell Stoglin, and Ashton Pankey, despite having been committed for nearly six months. Then the news broke that he "wasn't sure" if he was still committed, followed by an article officially announcing that he wasn't planning on going to Maryland next season, at least not quite yet.
The worst part? The article was on a Duke recruiting site, and the current speculation is that that will be his likely landing spot. Never mind that he would be coming into a program already featuring two fantastic sophomore shooting guards (Andre Dawkins and Seth Curry) - playing time must not be a big concern for Ross.
In any event, the whole thing is turning into a circus with his high school coach, the highly respected Stu Vetter, claiming that he's still likely to end up at Maryland and some vague message board talk about the impact Nike might be having on where he'll end up. (Remember which shoe company sponsored Maryland before they hopped to Under Armour last fall?)
Bottom line: The Terps best recruit for 2010, and possibly the guy who would have been the best recruit maybe as far back as Steve Francis, likely will be suiting up elsewhere next season. Let's just call that New Year's Dagger Number One.
New Year's Dagger Number Two happened on Wednesday when the Terps played William & Mary. The Tribe came in with just two losses, already holding a win at Wake Forest, meaning that they were not likely going to be a pushover. After losses in recent seasons to VCU, Ohio, American, and Morgan State, it should have been clear that this game was nowhere close to a lock.
Any pessimism about the final outcome turned out to be well founded as Maryland lost 83-77, and even then, it was worse than the final score as the Terps never really threatened in the final 30 minutes of the game, trailing the entire way, often by double digits.
It's tough to pinpoint any one reason for the loss. The Terps let someone named Quinn Mcdowell, a W&M sophomore, drop a career high 28 points on them. They forced just nine turnovers (although Maryland actually only had eight themselves), and shot a typically abysmal 4-25 from three point range. The starters, with the possible exception of Eric Hayes, all played reasonably well, but the bench contributed just four points in a combined 44 minutes.
So whatever, that's enough analysis of a loss that I didn't see the final five minutes of. There's no real reason to rant anymore - this is what Maryland basketball has become for now. I had convinced myself that this year was going to be different. The Terps were in more than a few preseason top 25 rankings, and I expected a highly experienced team to build on last season's modest success. So far it just hasn't happened, with the team sitting at 9-4, including losses to each of their four best opponents, all in games that weren't exactly nailbiters in the final minutes.
The future doesn't look too exciting either with three of the team's top four scorers leaving, and its top recruit no longer coming. That's not to say that all is lost this season. The Terps ACC opener next Sunday at home against Florida State is a huge game, one that should be very winnable. The ACC is strong throughout this season, but not unmanageable with Duke and North Carolina leading the way as very good teams, albeit ones not seriously expected to have a claim at being the best in the country as they do most seasons.
So hey, maybe the Terps can go 9-7 and squeak out another 10 seed in the tournament. I'm just not going to expect it.*
*(Although I did proclaim to a coauthor today, in my Greivis-induced euphoria that this team is going to the Lig. So yes, I'm fence sitting, what of it?)
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
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