Yeah, I'm Lazy

Sorry, I got caught taking an extended break AGAIN and let two games get by me without comment. Here's what happened:

1) I was upset about the Duke game. REALLY upset. I was watching the game with some friends, and they were looking at my "Keys to the Game, " (more as a joke, but still). None of it happened.

2) I have another life as a crusader for justice that required my attention. (Read: Job).

So anyway, I WAS watching - don't worry.

Basically, in the Duke game, I felt that they were who we thought they were, and we let them off the hook. The game was narrowed to a 2-point margin, but we failed to capitalize, even during a long stretch of keeping the Blue Devils scoreless. Bottom line was they shot well, we didn't have a defensive answer, and we couldn't build on our momentum to take the lead. It was tough, but Duke showed why they're a tough team to beat. Congrats, BTDub, to Wake Forest for finally taking them down. Dookie fans: Arrogance is your downfall. Write that on a cheer sheet.

Florida State was pretty different. Being there, it was hard to pull out a definitive reason why we won. Greivis Vasquez had a good stretch where he made 3 threes in a row that really launched the Terps in the second half, and Landon Milbourne really helped keep the Seminoles at bay with a late surge of 13 second-half points. Milbourne also contributed this absolutely filthy highlight-reel dunk:



That's how I like it. Dag.

When you look at the stat box, Maryland's big advantage was shooting: The Terps shot over 50% from the field, over 58% from long range, and 82.8% from the line (24-29, which is really significant). Good shooting helped them overcome a torching in the backcourt from Ralph Mims (26 points).

Florida State is pretty bad, but it still felt good to pick up the win after being so out of our element against Duke. It was also nice to see solid minutes from Shane Walker and Adrian Bowie off the bench. Gary played the starters for most of the second half, but they really did well for a long stretch in the first half, keeping the game close while we were behind. Jason McAlpin also saw action, and admirably filled Cliff Tucker's role (he was sick).

Next up: Virginia Tech. I want revenge for our one-point loss, and I'm betting the team does, too. We'll see what happens.

Go Terps.

Why Maryland loses

I've had just about as much as I can take. The bad part is we know it's not even near over.

Maryland continued their losing streak against American University, 67-59.

Inexcusable.

I drove 45 minutes to go to the game today, a game most would consider not even worth their attention. Let me tell you: not worth it. The gameplay itself was not as bad as the Ohio game, and I saw some hustle, but overall just very bad.

Now, what's wrong with this picture? Take a glance at the American roster. Now the Maryland roster. Notice anything? Like we own the biggest height advantage ever? Their starting point guard, Derrick Mercer, played 40 minutes and led his team with 18 points. AND HE'S 5'9!!! Eric Hayes was guarding him for most of the game, and he's a long-armed 6'4. The Eagles' leading rebounder, Jordan Nichols, is 6'5!!! And he was guarded mostly by Boom and Braxton Dupree.

Once again we were outrebounded and generally outplayed by an inferior team. To American's credit, every time we looked like we could come back, they hit a big circus shot, usually a 3-pointer with a hand in the guy's face.

But let's go to the stats. Here's how these "bad" teams are beating us:

- American played a tight zone that took away the inside. Every time a big man got an inside feed, they were immediately triple-teamed. Usually, this led to a turnover. For evidence, see the 8 combined points by Gist, Boom and Dupree compared to their 5 combined turnovers. Ohio did this successfully as well.

- The interior defense kept our guards on the perimeter, forcing them to take outside shots. Besides Greivis Vasquez, who single-handedly made this a game with a whopping 28 points (I'm very right about him), we klunked a lot of shots. Vasquez made 6 shots, and Hayes made 4 from behind the line; everyone else missed.

- We have no midrange game. Jumpers went in and out. We shot 5-for-24 in the first half. Yuck.

- American killed us with their small, quick starting guards, who combined for 26 points. Also, Bryce Simon, one of their wings, sat on the edge and killed us all day because whoever is playing the 3-spot (Tucker, Milbourne) never seems to be where they need to be. Perimeter defense is a big concern - Ohio did the exact same thing.

- Ball control: Both American and Ohio used almost entire shot-clock counts before they tried to score. This kept them fresh and slowed the game down a lot. It also was easier to dictate tempo later in the game with a huge lead.

- In the second half, Gary tried to go big with Dave Neal at the 3-spot. When that didn't work, with about 10 minutes left, Gary tried a 4-guard set, which was somewhat successful and made us faster. But too late - why didn't we do that when we were losing by 5 in the first half? These adjustments have to be made. We can't just "keep playing our game" because we really weren't playing our game anyway, and whatever our game is, it sucks.

We are dead last in the ACC standings and we honestly deserve to be there. This team won a national championship only 5 years ago - name one program that misses as many NCAA tournments as we do that's won a national championship in the last 10 years.

I'm not starting the "fire the coach" chant, but this is very questionable. Our recruiting class from the national championship team never panned out and we are still suffering from it. I think Terp fans should definitely expect more than they are getting from this team, and the finger of blame is slowly drifting upward.

Also, I'm still really upset. So that may have something to do with how angry I am. But you would be too if you made a trip and had to park in College Park (a daunting task) just to watch your team lose a game they should've dominated.

No more excuses.

Photo credits: AP, Washington Post

Total Terp Breakdown

Ok people, the Terps actually caught their first real snag on Monday against the Hampton Pirates. They barely managed to escape with a 70-64 win.

How did this happen? Take a look at the stats.

- TURNOVERS: The Terps lost the turnover battle 22-15 last night. Greivis Vasquez, our top scorer with 21 points, was unfortunately the main culprit of the ball-handling bumbles with an ugly 8 turnovers. This problem was also present on Sunday night, as they gave up 20 turnovers, but it was overshadowed by the fact that North Florida gave up the same amount. Who gave up the rock the most? Greivis? Uh oh...

- BRICKS: When a team shoots 40%, that team usually loses the game. The Terps were aided by fact that they're bigger and Hampton could only shoot 41% around the long-armed Maryland defenders. They have several role players that should be shooting better: Supposed dead-eye marksman Eric Hayes (1-for-7) and Boom "The Postman" Osby (2-for-6, not to mention a Shaq-like 2-for-8 performance at the foul line). I hate to pick on this guy again (especially since he won the game) but a 6-for-15 performance from Greivis isn't going to help the team either.

- FOULS: If you look at the box score, you'll see that Landon Milbourne fouled out with 2:30 to go. He had this problem last year, I recall. As a result, Milbourne was only in the game for 20 minutes and Osby, who had 4 fouls in 28 minutes, was also close to fouling out at the end. James Gist had 3, but in general this can be a weak point for him. Against savvy bigs like Lorenzo Mata, Ben Costner, James Mays or Psycho T, he really has to be careful, especially because the team needs him to wipe the boards (12 rebounds in his first start).

- LOUSY FAN SUPPORT: Ok people, I have a horrible confession. After scanning the ticket for Monday night's game, I left almost immediately. I'M SORRY! I wanted to see the game, I really did! But I had to honor a commitment I had made previously and by the time I remembered the game, I couldn't cancel my ticket! I had no choice and I scanned and left, feeling very much like a rat scurrying away. So imagine the pangs of guilt I felt when I read Comcast was half-empty. Everyone, including myself, should go to the games to watch the games. Hampton is not even an awful team: They routinely earn an NCAA berth by winning the MEAC division. I promise that I will try harder if you will try harder. We can't have anymore games where the Terps are losing to a mid-major and no one is cheering them on. We have responsibilities too, boys and girls.

Go Terps!