My God, was that ugly. I waited all night to watch the game uninterrupted on TiVo, and I see that abomination of a 15-point loss at home to Carolina.
What can this team do well? Well, Caner-Medley gives a whole lot of effort, especially on the offensive end. Strawberry reminds me of Dixon, a little bit.
But overall, this team is not a team. No defensive team play. Too many gaps in the lane and allowing too many drives by UNC. Offensively, it's the same old Williams-coached team - too careless with the ball. I'm not impressed with UNC at all - contain Tyler in the middle and then you just let Noel have his points, so this was a very winnable game that was lost in the 2nd half.
Can you say that the Terps belong in the top 30 in the nation right now? I can't. Top 40? Close - which makes them a pure bubble team.
Eric's picture on the tournament right now:
Definite "in"s at the moment:
Am East (1)
ACC (3: Duke, BC, NC St)
A-10 (1) GW
Atl Sun (1)
Big East (5: UConn, WV, Vill, PItt, G'town)
Big 10 (7; all 7 are locks at this point. Mich, Mich St, Ohio St, Ill, Iowa, Wisc, Ind)
Big 12 (3; Tex, Col, Ok)
Big West (1) UC-I
Big South (1)
Big Sky (1) Montana could pull an upset as a #13
Colonial (1) Watch this conference. We could have 2 here.
C-USA (1) Memphis
Horizon (1) UW-M could be an at-large, but tonight's loss hurts.
Ivy (1)
MAC (1) I love the MAC, but only one is definite right now.
MAAC (1)
MEAC (1)
MVC (all 4 are locks now; UNI, Wichita, Crieghton, and S Ill)
MWC (1) SD St
Mid-Con (1)
NEC (1)
OVC (1)
Patriot (1) Bucknell is almost a lock for an at-large if they lose in the Pat tournament.
Pac-10 (3: UCLA, Az, Washington)
SEC (4: Fla, Ky, Tenn, LSU)
Southern (1)
SWAC (1)
Southland (1) Northwestern St is another team to watch - another upset in the making as a 12/13.
Sun Belt (1)
WAC (1- La Tech; Nevada has really slipped)
WCC (1; Gonzaga).
That's a total of 53 teams. So - 12 more spots for teams like:
Md, NC, Mia-FL, Clem, Xavier, St Joseph's, Temple, Marquette, Seton Hall, Syracuse, Louisville, Cincy, Kansas, Ks St, Iowa St, Neb, 2nd Colonial (GMason/UNCW loser), UAB, 2nd MAC (Miami-OH? Akron? Kent?) , Missouri St, Bradley, Air Force, California, Vanderbilt, Arkansas, Nevada
That's a pool of 26 teams for 12 spots. Is Maryland in the top half of that group? We will watch this over the next few weeks.
Lamest UMD Player Ever???
ReplyDeleteRight now, I give it to McCray. Bar brawl early in summer causing the new Gary Rule of no bars for any players during season.
Then he is deemed a witness to Garrison's sex offense and assault at a bar???? (after the Gary Rule was in place).
Then he gets academically ineligible in his senior season. Good Captain.
At least Caner-Medley tries.
I love the terps, but this is just hard to watch. No go to offense threat. Gist could be a monster in the paint if our other players knew how to make an entry pass. For every good game Mike Jones has, he usually has 2 duds. DJ Strawberry is a better small forward than PG, but he is a better slasher then anything else we got. Ledbetter and Garrison are useless. Parrish Brown is too short for ACC competition. Ebekwe gets pushed around like a twig and Bowers, although seems a bit comfortable around the hoop right now, still is too timid to make any impact on offense.
Unfortunately, I also have noticed that nobody on our teams has earned the respect of any referees. I am not complaining about calls, but we just don't get them. We get at least 2-3 travel calls inside on our big men a game on moves that look exactly the same as moves that are being performed against us. Garrison, truly has no respect from the refs. He received a foul in less than 1 second of play against NC State.
This team has been dreadful this year, and I hope that I don't have to wait until next year to see Gary Williams' 349th win.