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.
