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.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
In all likelihood, the BETTER military bowl...
Saturday, December 18, 2010
The Title of this is NOT "Unplugging the Fridge"
It's been a big week in Maryland football. By the looks of it, the biggest in at least a decade. Yesterday OC James Franklin, the teams contractual Head Coach in Waiting, left the program to become the Head Coach at Vanderbilt. While it had looked very unlikely that he would actually succeed Ralph Friedgen ever since Kevin Anderson became the school's new AD, he was still the man who the coaching staff could point to for continuity given that the Fridge's coaching days were coming to a close irrespective of his success.
Apparently that was just the tip of the iceberg as I came home today to the news that not only was Franklin officially gone after a week of back and forth, but it looked like the team would have a new head coach as well in the coming weeks. Apparently Franklin's departure, along with the pending departure of several assistant coaches who would go with Franklin, as well as Fridge's lack of contract past next season, has set off a chain of events where the ten year coach is going to be bought out by the school in the coming weeks.
Needless to say, this is shocking, intriguing stuff, especially on the heels of Anderson giving the Big Man an explicit vote of confidence assuring his return next season. It isn't official (although Chick Hernandez has reported it as fact and ESPN has picked up on it as well), but the fallout here will be amazing.
Clearly with Fridge enjoying a resurgence and winning the ACC Coach of the Year award, and a young team that will likely start next season inside the top 20 as possible Atlantic Division favorites, Anderson and, let's face it, Kevin Plank, need to have a plan. Early indications are that former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach may go from message board fantasy and blog banter to reality in the coming weeks. Leach and Maryland are a match that has made sense given Plank (and TT's) Under Armour ties (not of the neckwear kind), but we will know for sure. For now there are two emotional sides to this: the Fridge side and the Leach side.
Say what you want about Fridge, but the man ressurrected football at this school. The team finished above .500 just once in the 15 years before Fridge, and even that was a 6-5-1 season that ended in an Independence Bowl tie. Fridge one from day one, and while he would never match the success of his first three seasons that included 31 wins, a National Coach of the Year award, and an ACC title, the team won much more than it had in its recent past. His current record is 74-40, and he's an alumni coming off a season where the team nearly stole a share of the Atlantic Division. It simply doesn't feel right for him to be forced out, at least not now. Not this year.
On the other hand, there is more than a little bit of excitement in a possible move. It's certainly clear even to the those with the most severe cases of Fridge Fever that the program had plateaued (at best). Football will always likely be second best at Maryland, but there is no reason that the program should have as little buzz as it does right now. Hiring Leach, a guy who has succeeded in the Big XII and excited fans with his preposterous Air Raid Offense, signals not only a commitment to winning by the school, but perhaps more importanly by Kevin Plank. We got that UA money now, bitches. Oregon and their second rate sweatshop using clothier can GTFOOH.
But of course there's some apprehension. Kevin Anderson, by making a move, damn well had better do it right. Anything less than Mike Leach as the replacement, if it happens this month, is an utter failure. Other names being bandied about (Ty Willingham and Mike Locksley) are probably just idle speculation, but they are scary idle speculation. Even Leach is far from teflon as a candidate. He won 10 games just once at Texas Tech and went a combined 5-15 against Texas and Oklahoma during his tenure there. Tech was good, but they were clearly second tier in their conference. And, oh yeah, he got fired for unapologetically locking the concussive son of Craig James is a dark shed after a practice. Not that I particularly care about players getting locked in sheds as long as he wins 9 games a year here, but it probably warrants mentioning.
So stay tuned. This is bittersweet. Farewell Fridge...maybe.
Apparently that was just the tip of the iceberg as I came home today to the news that not only was Franklin officially gone after a week of back and forth, but it looked like the team would have a new head coach as well in the coming weeks. Apparently Franklin's departure, along with the pending departure of several assistant coaches who would go with Franklin, as well as Fridge's lack of contract past next season, has set off a chain of events where the ten year coach is going to be bought out by the school in the coming weeks.
Needless to say, this is shocking, intriguing stuff, especially on the heels of Anderson giving the Big Man an explicit vote of confidence assuring his return next season. It isn't official (although Chick Hernandez has reported it as fact and ESPN has picked up on it as well), but the fallout here will be amazing.
Clearly with Fridge enjoying a resurgence and winning the ACC Coach of the Year award, and a young team that will likely start next season inside the top 20 as possible Atlantic Division favorites, Anderson and, let's face it, Kevin Plank, need to have a plan. Early indications are that former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach may go from message board fantasy and blog banter to reality in the coming weeks. Leach and Maryland are a match that has made sense given Plank (and TT's) Under Armour ties (not of the neckwear kind), but we will know for sure. For now there are two emotional sides to this: the Fridge side and the Leach side.
Say what you want about Fridge, but the man ressurrected football at this school. The team finished above .500 just once in the 15 years before Fridge, and even that was a 6-5-1 season that ended in an Independence Bowl tie. Fridge one from day one, and while he would never match the success of his first three seasons that included 31 wins, a National Coach of the Year award, and an ACC title, the team won much more than it had in its recent past. His current record is 74-40, and he's an alumni coming off a season where the team nearly stole a share of the Atlantic Division. It simply doesn't feel right for him to be forced out, at least not now. Not this year.
On the other hand, there is more than a little bit of excitement in a possible move. It's certainly clear even to the those with the most severe cases of Fridge Fever that the program had plateaued (at best). Football will always likely be second best at Maryland, but there is no reason that the program should have as little buzz as it does right now. Hiring Leach, a guy who has succeeded in the Big XII and excited fans with his preposterous Air Raid Offense, signals not only a commitment to winning by the school, but perhaps more importanly by Kevin Plank. We got that UA money now, bitches. Oregon and their second rate sweatshop using clothier can GTFOOH.
But of course there's some apprehension. Kevin Anderson, by making a move, damn well had better do it right. Anything less than Mike Leach as the replacement, if it happens this month, is an utter failure. Other names being bandied about (Ty Willingham and Mike Locksley) are probably just idle speculation, but they are scary idle speculation. Even Leach is far from teflon as a candidate. He won 10 games just once at Texas Tech and went a combined 5-15 against Texas and Oklahoma during his tenure there. Tech was good, but they were clearly second tier in their conference. And, oh yeah, he got fired for unapologetically locking the concussive son of Craig James is a dark shed after a practice. Not that I particularly care about players getting locked in sheds as long as he wins 9 games a year here, but it probably warrants mentioning.
So stay tuned. This is bittersweet. Farewell Fridge...maybe.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Beating Mumpkins to a Fridge Post
Luckily, I'm just Owl, the art director for this here web-log.
(Click photo for full image.)
I mean, I'm excited, but altogether shocked. I guess that's what we get for turning a two win season (lest we forget) into this year.
Congrats Fridge. Kudos Danny.
(Click photo for full image.)
Congrats Fridge. Kudos Danny.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
The Fridge
The Terps now hold the Coach of the Year award in both major sports with the Fridge being announced as this year's football winner today. Things are darkest before the dawn, or so they say, and it couldn't get much worse than last year. The team went just 2-10, with a 24-21 win at home against eventual Atlantic Division champ Clemson being the only win in 11 tries against I-A opponents.
Things changed quite a bit this year. After squeaking by Navy in a thriller for the second time in the renewed series, the team did something different in absolutely demolishing Morgan State 62-3. Granted that Morgan is a bad, I-AA football team (they finished 4-7), but the Terps had rarely blown out even bad teams over the past few years. That game was also the dawn of the Danny O'Brien era. After playing one snap (and losing a fumble) in Week 1 against the Mids, O'Brien tossed 10 passes on the day in a backup role, with three of them going for scores.
After getting handled in Morgantown against rival West Virginia, things looked like they were headed south again. The next week saw a two TD win over eventual Sun Belt champ Florida International, a deceptively tough team that had given Texas A&M and Rutgers tough games (losing by a total of 12 points) in its first two contests.
Duke came to town for the first time in years the next week. After an epic tailgate, I can't really break down the game itself, but a late defensive stop sealed it, and at 4-1, many finally began to think the Terps might be bowl bound. A disheartening 31-7 loss to Clemson after a bye week showed the team wasn't quite as good as its early record, but they came back strong to win at Boston College which snapped a ten game losing streak on the road.
Danny O'Brien was officially on his way to a nice season. He threw for three scores again at BC which followed up a turnover marred 300 yard day against Clemson. The next game against Wake was the best yet, a 62-14 homecoming win which sealed the team's bowl eligibility and established themselves as a divisional contender going into the season's last month. O'Brien had four scores and the Terps tied the school record for most points in an ACC game, scoring 60+ in a game for just the fifth time since joining the league.
A late loss to a freshman-QB led Miami team was disappointing though promising considering how highly the Canes were thought of and the fact that it was a road game. After three quarters of a back and forth game in Charlottesville, the Terps scored three late touchdowns to win going away and position themselves for a chance to win the ACC Atlantic with a win in each of its final two weeks.
That was not to be with a loss to Florida State in a game where the team was driving with less than a minute to go before a pick deep in the drive sealed their fate. Even without a chance to win the division, the team bounced back strong behind 400 plus yards from DOB in the team's final home game.
The team is now 8-4 with its first winning conference record since 2006. After an offseason of what seemed like the entire fanbase wanting the Fridge (and James Franklin) tarred and feathered, he showed the fans he still had something left in the tank. I can't say that I would have been especially broken up to see Fridge voluntarily retire last year, but the way the fans turned on an alum just a year removed from back to back bowls was pretty disheartening. He may or may not have deserved to keep his job, but he at least deserved some respect.
His job is no longer in jeopardy, of course. Kevin Anderson announced several weeks ago that he would be back, and now with an 8 win season and a possible national ranking pending a bowl win, the only question is how long he's guaranteed to be here for after this season. The most exciting thing is the youth of the team with DOB, unsurprisingly, being named the league's ROY. He threw for 21 touchdowns despite starting just nine games on the season. Given that pace and given that he is, of course, a freshman, he's well on his way to owning every single school record. The only real question is where he ends up in the conference record book. Phillip Rivers is the freshman (25) and all-time (95) TD leader. The first mark probably won't be eclipsed by O'Brien while the latter could certainly fall.
Vets Torrey Smith, Kenny Tate, Alex Wujciak and Tony Logan made the All-ACC first team. Joe Vellano made the second team, and Paul Pinegar made the honorable mention list. Smith in particular had a monster game against NC State with over 200 yards receiving and may have played his last game at Byrd Stadium. As much hype as DHB got during his time here, his actual production pales in comparison to what Torrey has done the past couple of seasons.
Now it's time for the bowl. Unfortunately, the destination sucks. The team gets rewarded for its 8-4 season by going to the Military Bowl, the destination for the league's eighth pick. The opponent is even worse, 6-6 East Carolina from Conference USA, a decidedly not-at-all-sexy opponent. So for improving by six wins and finishing over .500, the team gets to go five miles down the road to play in freezing weather against a team that may be one of the worst three or four teams to make a bowl this season.
Of course Virginia Tech is going to the Orange Bowl, and naturally the Peach Bowl selected Florida State, a team that finished as the conference's runner-up and which probably has the most passionate fanbase in the country. After that, things got weird. The Champs Sports Bowl took NC State despite its late loss to Maryland to wrap the season up. The Terps were then passed over for the Sun Bowl for 7-5 Miami to set up a "dream" match between the Canes and Notre Dame, despite Miami struggling to end the season and firing its coach. Scandal ridden North Carolina got taken by the Music City Bowl to face Tennessee and 6-6 Clemson, another team that finished weakly, got selected to play in Charlotte and 6-6 Georgia Tech went to the Independence Bowl as the seventh selection, one that the Terps apparently had little interest in.
It really sucks that the team might finished ranked but got no respect in the bowl selections, but either way, it shouldn't diminish an awesome turnaround season. With almost all the key players returning next year (pending early departures by Smith and/or Tate), a big win and a top 25 ranking would go a long way to building momentum and fan interest (which was sorely lacking this season) for 2011.
Things changed quite a bit this year. After squeaking by Navy in a thriller for the second time in the renewed series, the team did something different in absolutely demolishing Morgan State 62-3. Granted that Morgan is a bad, I-AA football team (they finished 4-7), but the Terps had rarely blown out even bad teams over the past few years. That game was also the dawn of the Danny O'Brien era. After playing one snap (and losing a fumble) in Week 1 against the Mids, O'Brien tossed 10 passes on the day in a backup role, with three of them going for scores.
After getting handled in Morgantown against rival West Virginia, things looked like they were headed south again. The next week saw a two TD win over eventual Sun Belt champ Florida International, a deceptively tough team that had given Texas A&M and Rutgers tough games (losing by a total of 12 points) in its first two contests.
Duke came to town for the first time in years the next week. After an epic tailgate, I can't really break down the game itself, but a late defensive stop sealed it, and at 4-1, many finally began to think the Terps might be bowl bound. A disheartening 31-7 loss to Clemson after a bye week showed the team wasn't quite as good as its early record, but they came back strong to win at Boston College which snapped a ten game losing streak on the road.
Danny O'Brien was officially on his way to a nice season. He threw for three scores again at BC which followed up a turnover marred 300 yard day against Clemson. The next game against Wake was the best yet, a 62-14 homecoming win which sealed the team's bowl eligibility and established themselves as a divisional contender going into the season's last month. O'Brien had four scores and the Terps tied the school record for most points in an ACC game, scoring 60+ in a game for just the fifth time since joining the league.
A late loss to a freshman-QB led Miami team was disappointing though promising considering how highly the Canes were thought of and the fact that it was a road game. After three quarters of a back and forth game in Charlottesville, the Terps scored three late touchdowns to win going away and position themselves for a chance to win the ACC Atlantic with a win in each of its final two weeks.
That was not to be with a loss to Florida State in a game where the team was driving with less than a minute to go before a pick deep in the drive sealed their fate. Even without a chance to win the division, the team bounced back strong behind 400 plus yards from DOB in the team's final home game.
The team is now 8-4 with its first winning conference record since 2006. After an offseason of what seemed like the entire fanbase wanting the Fridge (and James Franklin) tarred and feathered, he showed the fans he still had something left in the tank. I can't say that I would have been especially broken up to see Fridge voluntarily retire last year, but the way the fans turned on an alum just a year removed from back to back bowls was pretty disheartening. He may or may not have deserved to keep his job, but he at least deserved some respect.
His job is no longer in jeopardy, of course. Kevin Anderson announced several weeks ago that he would be back, and now with an 8 win season and a possible national ranking pending a bowl win, the only question is how long he's guaranteed to be here for after this season. The most exciting thing is the youth of the team with DOB, unsurprisingly, being named the league's ROY. He threw for 21 touchdowns despite starting just nine games on the season. Given that pace and given that he is, of course, a freshman, he's well on his way to owning every single school record. The only real question is where he ends up in the conference record book. Phillip Rivers is the freshman (25) and all-time (95) TD leader. The first mark probably won't be eclipsed by O'Brien while the latter could certainly fall.
Vets Torrey Smith, Kenny Tate, Alex Wujciak and Tony Logan made the All-ACC first team. Joe Vellano made the second team, and Paul Pinegar made the honorable mention list. Smith in particular had a monster game against NC State with over 200 yards receiving and may have played his last game at Byrd Stadium. As much hype as DHB got during his time here, his actual production pales in comparison to what Torrey has done the past couple of seasons.
Now it's time for the bowl. Unfortunately, the destination sucks. The team gets rewarded for its 8-4 season by going to the Military Bowl, the destination for the league's eighth pick. The opponent is even worse, 6-6 East Carolina from Conference USA, a decidedly not-at-all-sexy opponent. So for improving by six wins and finishing over .500, the team gets to go five miles down the road to play in freezing weather against a team that may be one of the worst three or four teams to make a bowl this season.
Of course Virginia Tech is going to the Orange Bowl, and naturally the Peach Bowl selected Florida State, a team that finished as the conference's runner-up and which probably has the most passionate fanbase in the country. After that, things got weird. The Champs Sports Bowl took NC State despite its late loss to Maryland to wrap the season up. The Terps were then passed over for the Sun Bowl for 7-5 Miami to set up a "dream" match between the Canes and Notre Dame, despite Miami struggling to end the season and firing its coach. Scandal ridden North Carolina got taken by the Music City Bowl to face Tennessee and 6-6 Clemson, another team that finished weakly, got selected to play in Charlotte and 6-6 Georgia Tech went to the Independence Bowl as the seventh selection, one that the Terps apparently had little interest in.
It really sucks that the team might finished ranked but got no respect in the bowl selections, but either way, it shouldn't diminish an awesome turnaround season. With almost all the key players returning next year (pending early departures by Smith and/or Tate), a big win and a top 25 ranking would go a long way to building momentum and fan interest (which was sorely lacking this season) for 2011.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
College Basketball Boxer Report 11/24
This is the PREMIERE EDITION of the College Basketball Boxer Report! Why is it called that, you ask? Because it's being written as I sit here in my boxers having just watched the Terps beat Delaware State. Pants are far too formal for this blog post!
Anyway, the Terps are 4-2, having lost the games you'd expect them to lose while winning the others (though not without some hariy moments against the College of Charleston). Now that we're about 1/5 of the way through the season, let's look at the players - who is playing well and who is pissing me off enough to want to launch my cell phone through the TV.
So far Cliff Tucker has been excellent. He's winning acclaim for his defense and has scored in double figures every game. His outside shooting looks solid and his midrange game looks Dixonian when the Flex offense gets going. It's still too early to say he's headed for an All-ACC season (he doghoused himself late against Illinois), but he has been as good as could be hoped for. Jordan has also been spectacular, but that goes without saying. Even though he started slow in the Coaches vs Cancer games in MSG, he still managed a double double on both nights due to his second half performances.
The other starters have been up and down. Bonecrusher has outright sucked for most of the season aside from the Seattle game. He looks slow and lethargic which is the most disappointing part. Bowie has been more Adrian than Anthony this season, scoring in double figures just once while carrying an unacceptable A/TO ratio. Dino Gregory started off slow but has put together back to back outstanding games (10/10 against Illinois and 14/8 against Delaware State) while averaging 2 blocks a game.
The freshman have, of course, been up and down. Stoglin looks like a gunner - but mostly in a good way. I'm sold on him as a future big time scorer because with some guys you can just see they have the skill and the lack of conscience needed to put points on the board. Pe'shon Howard had that game winner in his second game, and while he hasn't exactly followed it up, he's been fine for a guy six games into his career. Hawk Palsson has no position but looks like he has a high basketball IQ. Berend Weijs has played pretty well for a stick figure and might be taking some of Padgett's minutes if the Inspector doesn't turn it on. It's not that Padge has been bad, it's just...he hasn't been particularly good either. I'm perfectly indifferent to all aspects of his performance aside from his odd gait which makes him look about 90 years old. That I do hate.
So all that being said, it's easy to be optimistic. That's because the ACC absolutely sucks. It's putrid. It might be the worst thing ever, and even then it may not even qualify as a thing. Is AIDS a thing? I don't know.
Duke is going to be awesome and give Dickie V many, many orgasms this season, but after that, it's questionable at best. UNC, for all their undue preseason hype, lost two games in Puerto Rico to Vandy and Minnesota. Both are solid teams, but if North Carolina wants to live up to the ranking and the name on the jersey, they absolutely have to win one of those. Virginia Tech, another presumed top three team, got handled pretty well by Kansas State. NC State's freshmen look good, but they also lost by a fairly comfortable margin to Georgetown in their tournament this weekend. Virginia lost by over 40 to Washington in Maui last night. Wake Forest has already lost to Stetson, VCU, and Winthrop. Boston College lost to Yale. Georgia Tech got handled by double digits at Kennesaw State. Rutgers crushed Miami. Like I said, it's ugly, and even with two losses in NYC, the Terps have passed the Look Test better than most of the teams besides Duke and perhaps FSU, which hasn't been tested yet against weak competition.
Something I realized last night is that I love John Cal. Sports is theater, and it's fun to have a bad guy to root against. As far as villains go, John Cal is somewhere between The Joker and Hans Gruber. It's one thing that he's a cheating scumbag. There are plenty of those, from Jim Calhoun to Bruce Pearl, and I hate them. On the other hand, John Calipari is so blatant and over the top with it that you can't help but respect it. The NCAA pretty clearly won't do anything but "strip" him of his Final Fours and wins, so why not just do whatever you have to do to win? I bring this all up because Kentucky just beat Washington behind 16/17 from freshman Terrance Jones, a guy that Cal pretty much stole right out from under Washington after Jones had committed there. Gotta love it.
Kemba Walker is much the best player I've seen so far this season. Granted that he's only been in four games so far, but he's averaging over 30 a night for UConn. That will come down, but it's pretty crazy. He scored over 40 once already and had an insane game yesterday where he almost singlehandedly led UConn over Wichita State.
There were only 64 undefeated teams coming into tonight according to kenpom. God I love kenpom. And speaking of kenpom. his rankings (which also factor in a preseason forecast) have the Terps at 31st in the nation. Not too shabby. He's also giving Duke a 1-in-20 shot at going undefeated through the end of the regular season.
How is Kansas State a top 5 team? They just got beaten easily by Duke and struggled with Presbyterian - the mighty BLUE HOSE. Frank Martin pretty much strikes me as a guy whose greatest talent in life is getting perilously close to an anuerysm and/or killing a player over every minor infraction, plus losing Denis Clemente has to hurt them. Sure, they beat VT, and sure, the top tier is wide open behind Duke especially with Robbie Hummell's knee being died again, but it doesn't seem like they're going to repeat last year's success. At least I hope not with three of their key players coming from DC (what up Dalonte Hill?!)
And that's that.
Anyway, the Terps are 4-2, having lost the games you'd expect them to lose while winning the others (though not without some hariy moments against the College of Charleston). Now that we're about 1/5 of the way through the season, let's look at the players - who is playing well and who is pissing me off enough to want to launch my cell phone through the TV.
So far Cliff Tucker has been excellent. He's winning acclaim for his defense and has scored in double figures every game. His outside shooting looks solid and his midrange game looks Dixonian when the Flex offense gets going. It's still too early to say he's headed for an All-ACC season (he doghoused himself late against Illinois), but he has been as good as could be hoped for. Jordan has also been spectacular, but that goes without saying. Even though he started slow in the Coaches vs Cancer games in MSG, he still managed a double double on both nights due to his second half performances.
The other starters have been up and down. Bonecrusher has outright sucked for most of the season aside from the Seattle game. He looks slow and lethargic which is the most disappointing part. Bowie has been more Adrian than Anthony this season, scoring in double figures just once while carrying an unacceptable A/TO ratio. Dino Gregory started off slow but has put together back to back outstanding games (10/10 against Illinois and 14/8 against Delaware State) while averaging 2 blocks a game.
The freshman have, of course, been up and down. Stoglin looks like a gunner - but mostly in a good way. I'm sold on him as a future big time scorer because with some guys you can just see they have the skill and the lack of conscience needed to put points on the board. Pe'shon Howard had that game winner in his second game, and while he hasn't exactly followed it up, he's been fine for a guy six games into his career. Hawk Palsson has no position but looks like he has a high basketball IQ. Berend Weijs has played pretty well for a stick figure and might be taking some of Padgett's minutes if the Inspector doesn't turn it on. It's not that Padge has been bad, it's just...he hasn't been particularly good either. I'm perfectly indifferent to all aspects of his performance aside from his odd gait which makes him look about 90 years old. That I do hate.
So all that being said, it's easy to be optimistic. That's because the ACC absolutely sucks. It's putrid. It might be the worst thing ever, and even then it may not even qualify as a thing. Is AIDS a thing? I don't know.
Duke is going to be awesome and give Dickie V many, many orgasms this season, but after that, it's questionable at best. UNC, for all their undue preseason hype, lost two games in Puerto Rico to Vandy and Minnesota. Both are solid teams, but if North Carolina wants to live up to the ranking and the name on the jersey, they absolutely have to win one of those. Virginia Tech, another presumed top three team, got handled pretty well by Kansas State. NC State's freshmen look good, but they also lost by a fairly comfortable margin to Georgetown in their tournament this weekend. Virginia lost by over 40 to Washington in Maui last night. Wake Forest has already lost to Stetson, VCU, and Winthrop. Boston College lost to Yale. Georgia Tech got handled by double digits at Kennesaw State. Rutgers crushed Miami. Like I said, it's ugly, and even with two losses in NYC, the Terps have passed the Look Test better than most of the teams besides Duke and perhaps FSU, which hasn't been tested yet against weak competition.
Something I realized last night is that I love John Cal. Sports is theater, and it's fun to have a bad guy to root against. As far as villains go, John Cal is somewhere between The Joker and Hans Gruber. It's one thing that he's a cheating scumbag. There are plenty of those, from Jim Calhoun to Bruce Pearl, and I hate them. On the other hand, John Calipari is so blatant and over the top with it that you can't help but respect it. The NCAA pretty clearly won't do anything but "strip" him of his Final Fours and wins, so why not just do whatever you have to do to win? I bring this all up because Kentucky just beat Washington behind 16/17 from freshman Terrance Jones, a guy that Cal pretty much stole right out from under Washington after Jones had committed there. Gotta love it.
Kemba Walker is much the best player I've seen so far this season. Granted that he's only been in four games so far, but he's averaging over 30 a night for UConn. That will come down, but it's pretty crazy. He scored over 40 once already and had an insane game yesterday where he almost singlehandedly led UConn over Wichita State.
There were only 64 undefeated teams coming into tonight according to kenpom. God I love kenpom. And speaking of kenpom. his rankings (which also factor in a preseason forecast) have the Terps at 31st in the nation. Not too shabby. He's also giving Duke a 1-in-20 shot at going undefeated through the end of the regular season.
How is Kansas State a top 5 team? They just got beaten easily by Duke and struggled with Presbyterian - the mighty BLUE HOSE. Frank Martin pretty much strikes me as a guy whose greatest talent in life is getting perilously close to an anuerysm and/or killing a player over every minor infraction, plus losing Denis Clemente has to hurt them. Sure, they beat VT, and sure, the top tier is wide open behind Duke especially with Robbie Hummell's knee being died again, but it doesn't seem like they're going to repeat last year's success. At least I hope not with three of their key players coming from DC (what up Dalonte Hill?!)
And that's that.
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