Snow Day!!

February 7th, 2010 by bobwevodau

As I am typing this, I am contemplating how in the world I am going to get out of my driveway.  I have a long gravel drive that leads about 70 yards to the main road.  Under these conditions you would think that I would have invested in a snow blower or a plow, but the truth be known this really hasn’t been an issue before because the woods next to the driveway have always kept it relatively clear of snow, so in the past all I needed to do was dig the car out to the shallow snow and then drive over it the rest of the way, that includes the huge snow storm we got in December, after that I figured I’d never need a plow or snow-blower.  But in December we had 17″, yesterday we had maybe 22″.  Somewhere in between those measurements is the tipping point, and though the trees did their part, they couldn’t keep all the snow off, and now I’m looking at the distinct possibility of watching the Super Bowl all by myself as my wife and child are out of town this weekend.

But enough of my problems, if Debbie Yow is reading this she could only dream of having my issues.  For one, I think College Park got hit harder than I did on the Mid-Shore (though once you pass 12″ the rest is kind of trivial) for another, I’m not supposed to have 18,000 coming over for the UNC game.  Things are so bad in College Park, that the University is actually asking those who have to drive to the game, to not comeSee Here.  That is right, how often does a school ask people not to come to one of the most anticipated games of the year?  You read that, and your knee jerk reaction is to say “Are they nuts?  We really need to win this game and need as many people in the seats as possible!”.  But truth be told, this is a historic storm and even today travel is going to be extremely difficult and dangerous, and as much as it sucks, the schools is making the right call.

Now there is a solution to this, in fact it’s an idea that isn’t even original.  Let the students and anyone else for that matter who shows up, in without tickets.  The irony is that this actually happened to us in the 1990’s.  I can’t remember the exact year, but we played UNC in a snow storm and no one could come to the Dean Smith Center.  My first reaction to this was “Awesome, there won’t be any fans in the seats!”, however, UNC let in every student that showed up, so not only was the place packed, it was electric!

Turn about is fair play in sports, and now is the time to play that card.  There is absolutely no downside to letting in the students.  It is unfortunate that season ticket holders are going to get screwed out of a UNC game, but I am sure the Athletic Department will do what they can to rectify that situation, but with TV contracts and schedules that are pretty much set in stone, there is little choice but to play today as scheduled.  We might as well make the best of a bad situation and do what we can.  As down as UNC is at this time, I am still not considering this a walk in the park, it is going to be a tough game, and having the place full of students can help give us the edge we need to make it to 6-2 in Conference Play.  And if that’s the ends, I think the means will be justified.

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Getting Back On Track

February 3rd, 2010 by chrisbixler

Sure, there was a buzz building around the Terps hoops team over the past week.  I mean who could blame us.  They had rolled their four previous opponents (3 of them ACC teams).  It has been a while since us Maryland fans were sitting a top the conference standings, even if it was only 4 games in!

Then reality struck in Littlejohn Coliseum.  The Terps played their worst game since, I don’t know when.  I am sure if I dug through some bad memories I could pull a couple games.  You could look at that Clemson games two ways.  One, it was on the road, a game we didn’t really feel was a lock to win.  Two, they played as poorly as they possibly could, and still managed to fight back and take a second half lead.  But, they let a good opportunity to pick up a coveted road win pass them by.

I choose to live with the fact that despite how poorly they played, they were a contested made three pointer by Trevor Booker from possibly walking away with a win.   That shot kind of took the wind out of the sails I think.   When I was a student, and even up until we won the National Championship, I lived and died by every game.  A loss would make those couple days after a little gloomier.  A win, and I had a little extra bounce in my step.  These days, I seem to have allowed other aspects of my life set my mood a little more.All that said, that game hurt, but at the same time I don’t have a doom and gloom feeling.

Back to today’s Terps.  While that was another close loss on the road, they showed me a lot.  They could have packed it in and gotten blown out like last years visit to Clemson.  They hunkered down, forced Clemson into their own turnover problems and showed they were going to make Clemson really earn it.  To their credit, they did.

Moving forward, as fate would have it, Maryland gets another chance to get a nice road win.  We have one in the pocket, but it would be really good to get another one from Florida State on Thursday night.  I expect it to be a little different than the visit to College Park last month.  The key will again be how Jordan Williams (BTW kudos on a well deserved ACC Rookie of the Week), Landon Milbourne and company can contain Solomon Alabi.  He got in to foul trouble early in the last game, and the Terps were able to roll.

You think back to some of the great Terps teams of the past, and you could almost predict the type of performance you would get on a given night.  This team on the other hand, has the talent to make a nice run late into March, but you just never know what you are going to get from one game to another.  They can go a long way in calming me down by playing poised basketball again.  I would like to think that the Clemson game was just one of those nights, where everything went wrong, and we will see more efforts like we did against NCST, BC, and FSU.  So tune in Thursday night, if for no other reason to try and find out what this team is made of and see if they can improve on their weaknesses. They have to protect the ball under pressure, get tougher on the defensive boards, and continue to shoot well.  If they can improve in those areas, they should be able to contend all season long.  For more on the game check us out at Turtledroppings.  GO TERPS!

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Terps Rout Hurricanes, Which Is Who They Played

January 27th, 2010 by bijanbayne

The talented Terps home cooked the Miami Hurricanes 81-59 at the Comcast Center, to take sole possession of the lead in the ACC (who’da thunk it?), and extend their winning string to four games. The contest was never really in question, as the hosts led by 21 shortly before intermission. Greivis Vasquez, who made our All-ACC team, contributed 16, to go with nine assists. Landon Milbourne tossed in 16 on 7-10 shooting. Guard Sean Mosley grabbed seven rebounds in 25 minutes of play. No opponent tallied more than 13.

One might question the strength of the competition, though while the ‘Canes are only 1-5 in the conference, they’re 15-5 overall. The Terps shot 51% (28-55), which speaks to the savvy ball distribution of Vazquez. To their credit, they sank 7 of their 16 efforts from the arc (46.7%). They outrebounded the opposition 35-29. Most importantly, Maryland limited Miami to 38.3% shooting from the floor, and the guests only hit 31% of their 13 three-pointers- the latter a key stat when a team is playing catch up.

Like the recent wins over N.C. State and B.C., this was a rout. Sterner tests will come soon enough. As the team prepares to face formidable Clemson on Sunday in the unfriendly “Pit”, confidence and momentum ride high, and the cushion they have provided themselves in the ACC race will serve them well during lulls. Whatever one thinks of N.C. State, they bounced Duke by 14 last week. For that matter, Miami has beaten Wake. A team can only play who’s in front of them, and recent Terp units have tied their own hands in ACC play by dropping contests to the schools most expected them to defeat. Games against weaker opponents can be as “message” as games vs. stiff comp.

One key to future Terp success is defense, particularly interior defense when they face long opponents UNC and Georgia Tech. If this squad can continue to take well advised shots, and make opponents take poor ones (no mean feat vs. the Heels’ Deon Thompson & Ed Davis, Georgia Tech’s Derrick Favors & Gani Lawal, or the superbly coached Dukies in their motion offense. To compensate, Greivis Vasquez will have to score more than 16 (without trying to do too much, his Achilles’ heels in some of last year’s losses) against those teams. His leadership will receive that first big test at Clemson’s Littlejohn Coliseum.

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Mid-Season ACC All-Star Team

January 26th, 2010 by bijanbayne

Well, we’ve arrived at that time when one likes to assess halfway-point play, from a team and individual standpoint. Terps’ fans, we’ve got one bright light in the mix (three guesses as to whom). Here’s the first in a series regarding my take on the conference pulse right now.

All-ACC Team:

Malcolm Delaney, G, Va. Tech.

Trevor Booker, F. Clemson

Jon Scheyer, F, Duke

Larry Drew, G, UNC

Sylven Landesberg, G, U. Va

Ishmael Smith, G, Wake Forest

Greivis Vasquez, G, Maryland

Nolan Smith, G, Duke

Gani Lawal, F, Ga. Tech.

Al-Farouq Aminu, F, Wake Forest

Tracy Smith, F, N.C. State

Deon Thompson, F, UNC

(Ed Davis and Derrick Favors nearly made the cut, FWIW)

Stay tuned, midseason individual honors, Surprises of the Year (team and individual), Disappointments, etc., are forthcoming this week.

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Week 10 ACC Basketball Power Poll

January 25th, 2010 by dtucker

Greetings Terps/ACC fans! Here is the latest ACC basketball Power Poll results for week 10. For the first time this season, we have a consensus #1 team. That honor goes to the Duke Blue Devils. Boston College was almost the consensus #12, but a few votes for NC State saved BC from that distinction, which only UVA has had the privilege of owning thus far. Of course, after every tallied their votes for this week, NC State solidly defeated Duke and then turned around and got blown out by Maryland. But that sums up the ACC this season – who would have thought Virginia would be tied atop of the conference at this point in the season? I for one did not see that coming. Whether the Cavs can keep it up remains to be seen.
Speaking of Virginia, their amazing climb out of the basement of the power rankings continues this week, as the Cavaliers have climbed all the way to #6 in this week’s ranking! From a consensus #12 up to 6 in 4 weeks is no small feat!
The final rankings are below. I’ve provided a little insight into where I think each team stands at this point. Enjoy and as always, we welcome your comments and input!

Final ranking – Week of Jan 18th (Week 10)
1. Duke – 1.0 – seems to be the crop of this year’s ACC class, but has struggled on the road and showed they were vulnerable after getting handled by NC State this week.
2. Clemson – 2.7 – Clemson will battle with Georgia Tech, FSU, Wake and Maryland for one of the much coveted top four spots in the conference, which affords a team a bye in the first round of the ACC tournament. The Tigers are starting to look like the second or third best team in the conference.
3. Georgia Tech – 3.7 – Tech has talent, but can they maximize it completely? They should finish between second and fifth in the conference. I like their current ranking at number 3.
4. UNC – 5.0 – I said it at the beginning of the year, the Tar Heels have talent, but they haven’t proven anything yet. Why they were ranked in the top 10 pre-season with players that hadn’t really proven anything at the college level yet, I’ll never know. We’ve seen that the Heels can beat good teams, but we’ve also seen them struggle. Until they can consistently prove their abilities, I can’t see them being more than an 8-8 team in conference play this year. I think their current ranking of 4 is still too high and I predict they’ll slowly fall back to earth, settling around 7 or 8.
5. Florida State – 5.1 – Another team with talent. Florida State had a chance to really separate themselves from the pack when they faced Maryland last week, but the Terps look like someone lit a fire under their butt and they took care of FSU. The Seminoles are a team I could see finishing as high as 4th and as low as 8th.
6. UVA – 6.8 – I think most are surprised to see UVA here. Their play recently has been admirable and they look like a different team from earlier in the season, which is credit to their head coach, Tony Bennett. But I don’t think UVA can continue their play and I see them fall and ranked too high at 6. I think they’ll fall and will eventually end up maybe as high as 7 but probably closer to the 9-10 range. Bennett has done a lot, but Rome wasn’t built in a day.
7. Wake – 6.9 – Wake has talent and some early struggles find the Decs in the bottom portion of the ACC ranks. That probably won’t last for long. They have too much talent on this team to struggle consistently. They’ll probably end up around 4-6, but until they can prove they deserve it, I don’t have a problem with them being here, although I think they’re playing better than both UVA and UNC at the moment.
8. Maryland – 7.0 – I know at heart I’m a Terp fan, but even taking off my fan hat for a moment, I don’t get some of the rankings Maryland received this week in the balloting. Some people ranked the Terps 10th or 11th! How can you justify that? The Terps beat a ranked FSU team and solidly beat BC at BC. How can you justify putting them that low? But I digress. I think Maryland could contend for the ACC title this year and I’m fairly confident they’ll end up in the 1-4 area.
9. Virginia Tech – 7.9 – Virginia Tech in ACC basketball has been middle of the road. And I think that’s where you’ll see this team as well. Probably in the 8-10 range.
10. Miami – 9.4 – Many people were high on Miami at the beginning of the season because they won so many games. But those games were against much weaker opponents and the fact that the Hurricanes weren’t challenged early is starting to show now, when they have to face fierce competition every game playing in the ACC. I see the Hurricanes finishing with 6-7 ACC wins. They’ll probably finish about 10th place, but not too much higher.
11. NC State – 10.7 – These wolves have been all over the place. I think they have potential, but until they harvest it, they’re not going to make too much noise this year.
12. Boston College – 11.8 – Maryland ran them out of their own gym. The Eagles don’t look like an Al Skinner coached team, which are normally fundamentally sound and show a lot of effort. Once they start doing those things, they’ll move up, but overall, this will probably continue to be a down year for BC.

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Some Old Feelings

January 25th, 2010 by bobwevodau

It wouldn’t be Maryland Basketball with out having our emotions tossed all over the place.  At the beginning of the year, everyone I knew was pretty confident that we had a top 25 team and would not have to sweat through Selection Sunday, then we do ourselves absolutely no favors in our non-conference schedule, by only beating D II Chaminade in the Maui Invitational, oh and yes that game against William and Mary (which though somewhat acceptable at the time is looking worse and worse every week).  And now here we are.

These last few weeks, including our loss at Wake Forest has seen one of the best stretches of Basketball that I can remember.  Possibly going back to the 2004 ACC Championship (I wonder what the Duke crying kid is up to now days?).  They have been making big shots, limiting the opponents runs, making free throws, and best of all hustling for loose balls.  In the last 4 weeks I could not have been prouder of the effort they have given.  Heck if Mosley makes that shot at the end of regulation in the Wake game, we are 4-0 at the quarter pole of ACC play.

But what is best of all, what encourages me most, what allows me to drop my ”They are going to break my heart” guard, is the fact that this conference is wide open (for more on that visit ACC Up for Grabs).  Show me the game on the schedule where we can’t win.  I’m not saying we run the table by any means, but from here on out I expect the Terps to win every time they step on the court.  There is a joke in the card playing community that if you can’t spot the sucker at the table, the sucker is probably you.  Well in the ACC if you can’t spot the most dangerous team on the schedule, then maybe it’s us!  Now there is a lot of basketball yet to be played in the ACC and I’m sure there will be unforeseen twists and turns, but after 4 games, the only question I have for this team is “Why can’t we win this Conference?”.  And it’s been along time since I’ve seen something from the Terps that made me that optimistic.  Quite frankly, it’s a feeling I’ve really missed.

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Hot shooting carries Terps

January 22nd, 2010 by Matt

One of the themes that Gary Williams raised in many interviews before the season was that even with an identical roster from the year before you never know how a team is going to play in a new season. The Terrapins of last season posted the worst shooting percentage of any squad Gary Williams has had in College Park. This season, with most of the same players, Maryland is shooting as good as any team in the ACC. In league games Maryland is first in 3-point %, first in offensive efficiency, second in field goal % and third in scoring margin. This group has been able to light it up on offense without a doubt. Last season in ACC games the Terps ranked 10th in efficiency, 10th in field goal %, 11th in 3-point % and 10th in points per possession. It is a fairly remarkable turnaround. It would make you wonder if that is sustainable as the grind of conference games continues.

I don’t think that Maryland will continue to shoot 54% from 3-point range but there are a few factors that make me conclude that their excellent shooting isn’t a fluke. Sophomore Sean Mosley is one reason the Terps have improved so much. Last season he endured a horrible shooting slump but has broken out of that in a big way shooting 61% from the floor and 40% from 3-point range. Last season those numbers were 37% and 24% respectively. He has really worked to improve his shooting and his shot selection is probably as good as any player on the team. In addition to Mosley Eric Hayes, Landon Milbourne and Cliff Tucker have also really bumped up their shooting this season. That kind of across the board improvement isn’t based on one player on a hot streak. Excellent ball movement as evidence by the second highest assist % in the ACC and the ability to limit turnovers giving them an assist to turnover ratio that is also second in the conference also contributes to very good offensive production.

The defense this season hasn’t been as stout as it was at times last season so Maryland has needed to shoot the ball well. It will be interesting to see what happens when a team tries to slow it down and grind out a halfcourt game against the Terps. Virginia and Virginia Tech will almost certainly try this tactic. If the Terps are not shooting well that day they will have to find other ways to score such as getting to the freethrow line. The Terps are in a good position to gather some wins before a tough road stretch in February as their next two opponents, N.C. State and Miami match up poorly with Maryland. Whatever will happen this season Gary Williams seems to have been correct in suggesting that just because the same players return doesn’t mean your team won’t change.

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The ACC Is Going To Be Interesting This Year

January 21st, 2010 by chrisbixler

Well, this ACC basketball season is going be different than in years past.  I think anyway.  The perceived favorites (Duke and UNC) of the conference have 5 combined losses already.  The team we all expected to finish in dead last (UVA) is in first place at 3-0.  Sure there is a long way to go, but things are looking like it is going to be a dog fight all season long.

What does this mean for the big picture?  Well for one, the so called experts, were already proclaiming the conference was down.  Who could blame them?  For the first time ever, the Big Ten (11) won the ACC – Big Ten (11) challenge.  Not only that, there were some other non conference losses that hurt.  It just means every game is that much more important.

While all this is going to be great for us fans of the ACC, it is going to make it that much harder to get into the NCAA Tournament.  Every night is essentially going to be a tournament game, and you really better not count a win before the final buzzer. Every game should have a big game feel, because it really is going to be a big game.   The ACC used to be so strong 9 conference wins was a lock, and there were times that an 8-8 record was a golden ticket.  That is not going to be the case this year as many teams look like they could be bunched up in that 9-7 and 7-9 league record area, and most teams did not do themselves any favors over the non-conference season again.

Hold on to your seats.  I have watched quite a few games, and there is no doubt any given night a team can look like a title contender, and the next game look like they have no right to be on the floor with their opponent. Come the last two weeks of the season, you are going to be tuning into every game rooting for one team or another to help out our Terps.

Now that I have talked about the conference as whole, more importantly what does it mean for the Terps?  They are sitting at 12-5 and 2-1 in the conference.  The best win on paper to this point is the home victory over FSU.  Since that win, the Terps have played very well, with the OT loss to Wake Forest, and a very convincing road win over Boston College, who at the time didn’t look like they belonged in the ACC.  Follow that up with a total route of Longwood, and things are looking good at the moment.   I was worried about the Longwood game.  It could be one of those games where everyone knows the Terps should win, and they just go through the motions, but that was not the case as they throttled the over matched Lancers from the beginning.

Looking ahead, NCST now is a very big game.  Sure a few weeks ago, I “penciled” this in as a win.  NC State has won on the road at FSU and last night knocked off Duke in a very well played game.  There is no doubt the Pack is playing their best ball of the year, and in all fairness, so are the Terps. This is no time for the Terps to lay the proverbial egg.  This is a home game and they need to keep winning the home games since they have stolen one on the road.

Enjoy this season, it is going to be exciting, and most likely aggravating.  It is going to keep you on the edge of your seat, and you are going to want to watch every conference game for every team, because you never know what you might see.  Go Terps, and be sure to follow us at Turtledroppings all season long.

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Latest ACC Power Poll

January 20th, 2010 by dtucker

Here is the latest ACC Basketball Power Poll. Duke has a pretty solid hold of the number one spot, with all but one of our voters placing the Blue Devils at #1. Miami continues to be…undecided as to where they should rank. Our pollsters have ranked Miami as high as 4th and as low as 9th. UVA, former consensus pick for 12th in the conference, continues their climb out of the basement with their perfect ACC record. Can the Hoos keep it up? Where do you think teams belong? Be sure to give us your feedback!

1. Duke 1.16
2. UNC  1.83
3. Clemson 3.5
4. Ga. Tech 5.5
5. FSU  5.66
6. MD   5.833
7. Miami  6.5

8. Va. Tech     7

9. Wake 8

10. UVA 10.66
11. BC  10.83
12. NC State    11.5


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Moving Forward with No Regrets

January 18th, 2010 by bobwevodau

I think one of the worst phrases in the English language is “if only”.   It conveys such regret, such loss of opportunity.  Every time you see those words together you can almost imagine the sorrow dripping off of them like an over saturated sponge (is that really my best analogy?).  But in order to keep your sanity you have to learn to let go, move forward and focus not on the “if only’s” of the world, but the success, the accomplishments, and the next opportunity where you can avoid such feelings of regret.

Though I think many of us have our “if only’s” scattered throughout our lives, no where do you come across them more than in sports.  For example, the Terps just played two back to back games where I turned the TV off trying to imagine them playing any harder.  The win Saturday night in Boston for example was one of the most complete efforts I have seen to date.  They came out, established a lead, held off all of BC’s runs and left everyone who was watching with little doubt about who was the better team.  It was a much needed road win that came in a rather easy manner, and those are rare.  And though I did take a few minutes to enjoy the game and what happened, and how nice it was to not have to sweat through an ACC game for the first time in what seems like a long time, it wasn’t long until the “if only’s” crept into my head.

I mean, I’m not sure if Gary Williams was still in the middle of his post game interview when I was already saying to myself, “If only Sean Mosley had made that shot at the end of regulation against Wake.” or  “If only Jordan Williams could have made his free throws in overtime”.  The lists goes on and on.  If you allow me to feed those demons for a few minutes had we pulled out the Wake game we would currently be 3-0 in Conference with 2 road wins under our belt.  We would also be looking at games this week against Longwood (who I’ll assume we can handle even though I know nothing about them), and NC State both in Comcast, both winnable.  Though Longwood wouldn’t do much in terms of our ACC record, any win from January until Selection Sunday is welcome regardless of the opponent.

But our win against Wake Forest did not happen.  The team played great, they battled the entire 40 minutes, and a break here or there and the Terps could have won.  I’m pretty sure Wake Forest realized how lucky there were to win that game.  And maybe that is why I could  never be a closer in Major League Baseball (among about 1,000 other reasons).  At this level you need to move on and not dwell in the past.  Remain focused on the next game and try not to let any other opportunities slip through your fingers.  The Terps did that in Boston College.  They followed a great, heart filled game on little rest in Winston-Salem with a performance that dominated the Eagles on their home court.  It was exactly what they needed to do.  So even though for the week, the Terps only went 1-1, I think the past 7 days could indicate the kind of team we are going to see the rest of the season.  If that is indeed true, it should be a pretty exciting winter, and a pretty anti-climatic selection Sunday, and I don’t think anyone would regret that.

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