Archive for September, 2009

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Looking Backward And Ahead: All-Time Terps’ Mens’ Basketball Team

Monday, September 28th, 2009

As the football Terrapins find themselves, and enter the heart of the ACC schedule, it’s never too early to anticipate college basketball season. The ACC is arguably, the most historic hoops conference in the land. Imagine the game without contributors such as Coach Everett Case, “Bones” McKinney, Vic Bubas, Coach Frank McGuire, Dean Smith, “Lefty” Driesell, Gene Shue, Billy Cunningham, David Thompson, Ralph Sampson, and Michael Jordan. Maryland basketball is rich with tradition, from its players and coaches, to its former venue, Cole Field House (site of a couple NCAA mens’ championship games). Did you know that Coach Driesell was the first coach to hold a midnight basketball event to kick off a season?

As hopes for 2009-10 shine brightly, we recognize Terrapin greats past, by naming an all-time Maryland University mens’ team. We welcome your objections and comments:

C- Len Elmore

F- Len Bias

F- Adrian Branch

G- Steve Francis

G- John Lucas

F- Tom McMillen

G- Walt Williams

F- Joe Smith

F- Keith Booth

G- Juan Dixon

F- Wil Hetzel

G- Gene Shue

There it is. Leaves plenty of room for debate, and for the oldheads and “M” Club members, stirs fond memories. We’ll be weighing in on prospects for the upcoming season soon, and hope you enjoy our football and basketball Terps on the Raycom network.

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‘Gut Check’ or ‘Whatever’ Game?

Friday, September 25th, 2009

Rutgers comes to College Park this weekend, although you’d be forgiven for not noticing the sudden spike in frosted and spiked tips (heyo New Jersey joke!).  While this might have been a marquee matchup about two or three years ago, both Rutgers and Maryland are programs that are basically in the same place: mired in mediocrity in two conferences that have, by and large, fallen off the radar as far as national contenders go.   That aside, the important question going into Saturday’s game against the Scarlet Knights is whether this game means much of anything to either program.

Both Maryland and Rutgers got demolished in the first week by top 25 opponents, and then faced cupcakes the next two weeks (with Rutgers coming out 2-0 while the Terps only managed 1-1).  Both teams begin serious conference play next weekend.  And there is a serious argument that this game doesn’t matter much to either team.

To wit, Maryland is 1-2 and heads into an ACC schedule that is entirely up for grabs  as far as the Atlantic Division goes, but is clearly nobody’s favorite to win.  Rutgers heads into Big East play chasing a Cincinnati team that has jumped out to be the class of the Big East.  Thus, neither team can be considered a serious contender for their respective conference championships.  However, the fanbase for each cares far more about conference games than non-conference games.  But, both teams could desperately use a win to seriously set themselves up for those conference games.

Long story short, there are a lot of convergent story lines coming into Saturday’s game, and the big question is whether or not the matchup matters very much to either team.  For the Terps, a win would go a long way to salvaging the fanbase’s feelings following a disappointing start, but it won’t affect their conference goals in the slightest.  So, when you’re watching Saturday’s game, you’ll be able to figure out whether this Terps team thinks the game is a gut check game or a whatever game pretty quickly: If they are getting after it, you can start to believe in this team again.  If not, Basketball season is on it’s way.

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Would anything be better without Friedgen?

Friday, September 25th, 2009

The chatter about the future of Ralph Friedgen’s tenure as head coach at the University of Maryland has certainly peaked since the embarrassing loss to Middle Tennessee State last Saturday but would the Terps be any better without the big man?

The grumbling from fans is justified to an extent about the inability of the program to rise above mediocrity since the phenomenal first three seasons under Ralph Friedgen. Friedgen finally has more of the superior athletes he craved and publicly pined for in his early years in College Park, even if they are not as good as the less athletic players he had at playing, you know, football, but the results have gotten worse. Still one has to ask if the alternatives look better at this point.

Offensive coordinator and head-coach-in-waiting James Franklin would appear to be AD Debbie Yow’s choice to replace Friedgen. Franklin will get a $1 million payout if he is not given the position whenever Friedgen departs as head coach.  Given the dire state of the athletic budget there wouldn’t be enough cash to pay off Franklin and get a high profile candidate on the level of Georgia Tech’s Paul Johnson or North Carolina’s Butch Davis. Maryland would likely be stuck with giving Franklin the head coaching job if Friedgen were to leave under duress. Franklin’s time as offensive coordinator has not given Terrapin fans much to be excited about. Last season Maryland ranked 68th in total offense out of 119 FBS programs and 65th in scoring offense with 21.7 points per game. This year, through three games, Maryland is 62nd in the nation in both scoring offense and total offense while ranking 9th in the ACC in scoring offense and 5th in total offense. To be fair to Franklin his 2008 offense did put up better numbers than Friedgen’s 2007 offense but that shouldn’t get you a head coaching job. Franklin has had better receivers and running backs to work with than Friedgen probably has ever had yet he can’t get any consistency from the offense.

Franklin is widely considered a very good recruiter and in that sense he has been successful at getting a higher caliber of player to commit to Maryland. His 2009 recruiting class may well pay great dividends in the future. Perhaps Franklin is one of those coaches that would be better focusing on the macro level decisions and putting good assistants in place while he puts his efforts into recruiting. In 16 games at Maryland his offense still has failed to show imagination or an ability to best utilize the talent on roster.

Fans may be discontented over the state of the football program at the moment but right now the likely alternatives do not guarantee any improvement.

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Can the Terps Turn it Around?

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

If you remember back to last season, the Terps just got by a Delaware team and then lost to a Middle Tennessee State team. The Terps then came back and upset Cal at home before being in the drivers seat for an ACC Atlantic title (although they stumbled down the stretch).

Now look at this season. Although the Terps got blown out by Cal, you have to remember that Cal is a top 10 team. With probably the front runner for this year’s Heisman. Unlike last year, the Terps dominated Middle Tennessee…they just turned the ball over 4 times. If the Terps can actually manage to not cough up the ball, I think they’re a good team. But they need to get their kinks out this weekend against Rutgers before the ACC portion of the Terps schedule kicks in. The good news for the Terps is that despite their early season struggles, what really matters is what they do in the ACC portion of their schedule. And as weird as it sounds, the defense is actually improving as each week progresses. The bad news is, if they can’t resolve these recent turnover problems, it’s going to be a long season.

What do you think? Will the Terps turn it around?

Don’t forget to check out more Terps stories at www.testudotimes.com

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Four and Four

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

I don’t know what it is like in your neck of Terpland, but around here people are all over the place. Needless to say gloom and doom is the most prevalent feeling out there, but I am finding in many cases some interesting roll reversals. Many of my most “The sky is falling” type friends are remaining calm, while some of us from the “In Ralph we Trust” crowd are starting to take longer looks in the mirror.

I’m unfortunately in that last group. I’m pretty down right now. I knew we’d have a bit of a struggle this year, I mean the inexperience of the Offensive and Defensive line didn’t sneak up on us, it’s been a topic conversation since the Humanitarian Bowl clock struck 0:00. But I didn’t think we’d be an OT field goal away from 0-3, not even for a second. Yet here we are.

But we’ve reached a fork in the road. This weekend we welcome Rutgers to College Park to finish out our Home and Home against the Scarlet Knights. We can either roll over and die, or make a stand and try to salvage the season. It’s going to be a good test. So below I’m including four reasons we may mark this Saturday as the turning point in the 2009 Season, and four reasons why this could be another nail in the coffin in a season that won’t end soon enough.

First let me channel my inner optimist.

1. Ralph Friedgen is at his best when his back is against the wall. Let’s face it, in the Friedgen Era, there are almost a seasons worth of games we won that came out of no where. And unfortunately some games that we inexplicably lost. They will even out over the season, and we’ll end up around the 7 win mark, which I think most fans would be happy with, all things considered.

2. We are a very young team who is only going to gel as the season progresses. The team we see now isn’t going to be the team we see in conference play. They will have more reps and be much more comfortable in the new system, specifically the defense.

3. We have a lot of winnable games left on the schedule. Honestly how long have you been looking at your VT friends with jealousy every time they got to play Duke? We’ll now it’s our turn. And no matter how bad things are in College Park, we’re still better off than UVA. We can win both of those, Rutgers this weekend, a weak BC team comes to town to end the season, and I don’t think Wake or NC State are going to be that great. So a bounce back is certainly possible.

4. We have yet to lose a single ACC game. If our goal is to win the Coastal Division, there is nothing that has happened that makes that goal any harder for us. Heck at 0-0 we’re in a better spot than some of the other teams that aren’t panicking.

And now for the pessimist, or as some call it, “the realist”.

1. Stop me if you heard this before but we needed a FG to beat James Madison at home. This wasn’t just any game however, it was a game we absolutely needed in order to install some confidence in a shaken squad coming back from the Cal debacle.

2. 8-3 That is our turnover ratio. When you are young you can’t give your opponents any help, yet time after time the Terps have found ways to give the ball away. And not only that, these turnovers aren’t just ending drives, they are putting points on the wrong side of the scoreboard.

3. Losing Nolan Carroll is a terrible blow. There are plenty of holes to worry about on the Defense, but going into the season I never considered Nolan one of them. Now he is out for the year. His senior year no less. To me it feels all too cruel, yet I also see a little bit of symbolism in his injury. It may very well set the tone for more bad things to come.

4. The original title of this post was 5 and 5. However, I ran out of optimistic points after 4. For the bad points I feel like I’ve just scratched the surface.

So there you have it. Four reasons why all isn’t lost, and four reasons why all may very well be. I’m solidly entrenched in the pessimistic side, but I’ve been wrong before, and quite frankly in this case, would enjoy greatly being wrong again.

Hope to see you at the game Saturday, and please check out our home blog turtledroppings.com, but most importantly of all Go Terps!

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Can You See the Symmetry Between Terps Hoops 08-09 and the 09 Football Team?

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

While there are few outside the Maryland Football program with a positive vibe at the moment, all you have to do is think back to last basketball season if you want to feel like there is some hope the Terps can turn it around on the gridiron.  In fact the date was January 7th, as Maryland lost at home to instate “rival” Morgan State from the MEAC.  Everyone was calling for Gary Williams’ head.  There was a 3 part expose in the Washington Post questioning his commitment to recruiting, and his inability to get the top players.  The Terps were a team that did not have a natural center on its roster.  It converted Dave Neal into a center, and small forward Landon Milbourne moved to the power forward, just so they could get their best players on the court, even if it wasn’t a traditional lineup.  Maryland would also go on and start the ACC season with a  2-4 record including an embarassing loss at Cameron Indoor by the score of  85-44.  If ever there was a time where I could start to see a life of Maryland Basketball without Gary, it was during that stretch.

Next thing you know they knocked off Miami at home, and then came the big one.  They were able to knock off #3 and eventual national champion North Carolina at home.  All of the sudden Gary was a hero again.  He made a nice run in the ACC tournament, and got the Terps back into the big dance.  For his trouble he was rewarded with a one year contract extension that kicked in due to his players performance on the court and in the classroom.

Now here we sit 3 weeks into the Terps football season.  The coach is being questioned about his recruiting.  Namely how the Terps are forced to start two former walk ons, a red shirt freshman and a true freshman on the offensive line.   I think we have heard that story before regarding rosters.  Then we have the loss (at home) to a school from a non BCS AQ, in Middle Tennessee State.  There are articles and comments about  the Maryland program regarding the temperature of Ralph Friedgen’s seat all over the media and fan message boards.   It really is like Deja Vu.

The Terps are down, no questioning that, but they do have some talent on the offensive side of the ball where they can make things happen.  If they wouldn’t have had the four turnovers last week, they most likely would have won that game going away.   They opened the door, and MTSU walked right through it getting a short field on several occasions.

That brings us to week four.   Despite the loss there were some positives last week.  The likely hood the Terps are going to compete for an ACC championship is pretty slim, but on any given week, they do have the talent to pull off some big wins.  With senior Chris Turner under center, an All ACC running back in Da’Rel Scott, and the emergence of Torrey Smith, they have the fire power to play with anyone.  It is going to take a solid game from the defense, and a game where the turnovers and penalties are kept to a minimum, but they could surprise some teams.

Rutgers comes to Byrd Stadium with a 2-1 record.  They lost their opener to Cincinatti, then beat Howard and FIU.  The big advantage for the Terps is, that the Scarlet Knights are making their first road trip.  They also, likely will be starting true Freshman Tom Savage at QB, though he did leave their last game early due to a head injury.  So there some areas the Terps could take advantage.

So if you are looking for a reason to be optimistic going into this game, all you have to do is think of how you felt after the Morgan State game last year.  Then remember the feeling you had after selection Sunday.  I know after the game Saturday, I started to think it was time for Friedgen to hang it up, then I thought about Maryland Football during my time on campus in the late 90’s, and I think the man deserves our support to try and turn this around, this year.  Then I started thinking about the job Gary Williams did and it really hit me that this team can turn it around.

The first opportunity is this weekend against Rutgers.  You kind of get a feeling that a solid performance might be all they need to get  moving in the right direction for the remainder of the season.  So keep your head up and I will see you at Byrd on Saturday, until then if you want to read more about the upcoming Rutgers game, you can follow us at Turtledroppings.  GO TERPS!

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college park is garyland through 2013

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

This year reminds me of when I was at UMD in the late 90’s.  With Maryland Football already circling the toilet in mid-September, my thoughts turn to basketball.

The Maryland Athletic Department released a statement that Gary Williams has received a contract extension through 2013.  I can picture athletic director Debbie Yow’s hands shaking and lips quivering as she “congratulated” Williams on the extension.  I wonder if Williams waived the contract at her and yelled “FAAAAAAAACE.  You lose, I win.”

When combined with Gary’s recent nomination to the school’s board, the extension seems largely symbolic.  It ostensibly makes Gary Coach for Life as he will be 68 years old at the end of his contract.  The ongoing feud between Williams and Yow has been well documented.  This seems less like a vote of confidence and more like a burying of the hatchet.

I am personally biased in favor the idea of making Williams Coach for Life.  He literally resurrected the program from the bottom of the ACC to win a national championship.  He’s coming off completing one of his best coaching years to date after taking an undermanned squad to the NCAA Tournament.  He’s an alumnus.  His players love him, and he gets the most out of them every year.  Gary checks all the boxes in the Coach for Life criteria checklist.  Next step – name the court after him.

-terphed (http://shellgames.wordpress.com/)

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The Terps Need Some Tastier Cupcakes

Monday, September 21st, 2009

As you know, the Terps suffered a humiliating loss last Saturday – at home – to Sun Belt Conference powerhouse Middle Tennessee State, for our second consecutive defeat at the hands of that school. Next up? A 2-1 Rutgers squad. They have a nasty defense, having held Florida International under 100 yards last weekend before a few garbage time scores. And I have no reason to believe we’re much better than Florida International.

And that brings me to my point. The best we can do is split the non-conference schedule. After last year’s non-conference lineup of Delaware, a weaker Cal team, Middle Tennessee State, and Eastern Michigan (which we didn’t exactly cruise through, by the way), there was talk that the Terps needed a stronger non-conference schedule to better prepare them. Yes! Another home run. The team is better prepared now for so many things – somber postgame news conference, job security speculation, losing. Don’t you see? They “know how to lose” now. You just can’t teach that in practice.

Nevertheless, I would like to humbly suggest that we go the other way and find some new cupcakes next year. No more Cal, for Gosh’s sake. And DEFINITELY no more MTSU, which is the Russell to our Chamberlain, the Itchy to our Scratchy, the Tequila to our Merriman. I’m talking about the sweetest, fluffiest, cream-fillingest cupcakes we can possibly find. We need to dive into the deep end of the record-padding pool.
For now, let’s throw out all the FBS schools and focus solely on D-1AA. It makes sense. How about Indiana State, which ranks last in D-1AA in total offense, or Charleston Southern, which ranks last in total defense? Why don’t we get a local rivalry going with Georgetown, who in three games so far this season has possessed the ball for a grand total of twenty-two minutes? See, you gotta do some homework, athletic department. There’s virtually no limit to how low you can set the bar.

Heck, we could even use our political clout to get an exemption to play division II schools. Let me recommend St. Paul’s College, who actually cancelled a game this season due to lack of equipment. Can Maryland beat an equipment-less team? The thinking here is a tentative yes.

Just some food for thought moving forward. Hey, at least we’re playing both of the ACC schools – Duke and Virginia – that might actually be worse than we are. But if we’re gonna continue to be a team in the muck, we might as well surrender to that muck. If you can’t fix your own problems, why not cover them up by running with a similarly deficient crowd? I did it all the time in high school. After all, you know what they say about birds of a feather: they can’t tackle anyone, either.

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Raycom Sports’ “30 Days, 30 Shirts” Original Retro Brand College Comment Contest

Saturday, September 19th, 2009

Original Retro Brand is giving away one college tee (winner’s choice) per day for the next 30 days. September 19th, 2009 – October 18th, 2009.

All you have to do is leave a comment on this blog. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY!

How to enter: Each comment you leave on this blog equals one entry into the contest. These must be genuine comments. By “genuine comment” I mean it must add something to the conversation taking place. For example, a comment that simply says “cool” or “please enter me” will not help you win an awesome shirt from Original Retro Brand. Your fate is in your own hands. The more you comment, the better chance you have at winning. So if you really want a shirt, comment a lot! At the end of each week, 7 winners will be chosen at random from relevant comments left on all Raycom Sports’ blogs. These winners will be contacted by Raycom Sports to let them know how to claim their prize (ie. get their address, team, and shirt size). Please note: All shirts will be shipped within 7 days of the end of the promotion (October 18th).

About Original Retro Brand (www.originalretrobrand.com)…These are the shirts ACC fans (and all other college sports fans) were born to wear. They are the logos you remember in a cool, fitted, fashion-forward tee. Be the envy of all your friends, neighbors, and co-workers. By the way, you don’t have to wait until the contest is over. Buy a shirt today! We don’t just love them because they are our sponsor. We love them because they are AWESOME!

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terrapins saying all the right things about MTSU rematch, but have they learned anything?

Saturday, September 19th, 2009

A little over a year ago, Maryland lost to Middle Tennessee State in Murfreesboro, TN.  It was the worst loss in Ralph Friedgen’s tenure as head coach.  MTSU won that game by spreading the field, and using quick snaps, misdirection, and play action to catch the Terps off guard.

A week ago, DI-AA James Madison took Maryland to overtime.  The Terps barely pulled out a win.  The second half of that game was mostly controlled by JMU.  The Dukes caught the Terps off guard by spreading the field, and using offbeat plays, misdirection, and QB draw plays to catch the Terps off guard.

The Terrapins were unprepared for both games and it showed.  The question is not whether they have learned anything in the year since the loss to MTSU.  Judging by last week’s game, they haven’t.  The question is, have they learned anything since last week?

The AP ran a story that the Terps are not playing the MTSU game fueled on revenge.  That worries me a bit.  Defensive back Anthony Wiseman was quoted in the story as saying, “Now we respect those guys. We know we can’t take anything for granted.”  That sounds like the right thing to say.  However, with regards to avenging last year’s loss head coach Ralph Friedgen was quoted in the Washington Times as saying, “A lot of these kids didn’t even make the trip [to Murfreesboro last year]. I just don’t know how much I can rely on that.”

It’s easy to say you’re not going to overlook MTSU.  It’s another thing to take this game seriously enough that you win.  The Terps demonstrated last year that they can win or lose against any team out there.  Last week was no exception, and neither is this week.  Yet, the intensity clearly wasn’t there last week.  The team looked disorganized, and only seemed to turn it on when they needed it.  MTSU is a better team than JMU.  They have a talented quarterback in Dwight Dasher that can go over the top of this young Maryland defense that ranks 108th or worse out of 120 DI-A teams in four statistical categories.

I’m all for taking it one game at a time, but this team needs to develop a sense of urgency.  They need to get that bad taste in your mouth that makes you want to wake-up on game day and tear your opponent’s head off.  They need to realize that, in college football, every game makes your season.  They need to treat every game like a revenge game.

Maryland should treat this game as a statement game.  The statement should be that the Terrapins don’t care if you’re Middle Tennessee State or Florida State, we will give you four quarters of hell.

-terphed (http://shellgames.wordpress.com/)

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