Shell Games

maryland fans, greivis needs your love

On February 5, 2010, In Maryland sports, By Ian

Florida State fan holds Deport Vasquez sign.

Greivis faces real, actual hate on the road. The hometown fans ought to get behind the guy.

I know it’s fun for some of you to hate on Greivis, but for you it’s hateratin’. It’s more like play hate. I understand that. I don’t buy it, but I understand it.

According to the D.C. Sports Bog, Vasquez was facing a more real kind of hate in Tallahassee last night:

“The fans here were crazy, the craziest I’ve ever had since N.C. State,” Greivis Vasquez said, via D1scourse. “They were being racist, they were talking about deporting me and sending me back home, calling me Mexican when I’m Venezuelan. It was pretty bad, so they deserved to lose. That’s why they lost. I showed up like I showed up, like I’m the best player on the court and they have to take it like that.”

-Greivis Vasquez in a post-game interview after the win at Florida State

I am not trying to get into some big debate over the virtues of his game or style. I am not saying that you have to love the guy. I’m certainly not equating Maryland fans to Florida State fans, because Maryland fans are obviously far superior in every aspect.

I’m just saying that, like it or not, Greivis Vasquez in the best player on the Terrapins this year. The team cannot win without him. He tries as hard as he can every night, and that’s really all you can ask of the kid. He faces enough hate on the road. Last night it was real, racist hate. Maybe it’s time for the hateratin’ Terrapin fans to drop the act and get behind him.

When our boys give us all they got we should show them love. They get enough hate from everyone else.

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maryland beats florida state in a game of four-on-four

On February 5, 2010, In Maryland sports, By Ian

The Terps survived a horrendous first half by coming out hot after intermission, and won 71-67 in Tallahassee yesterday. If yesterday’s win at Florida State proved anything, it proved that Maryland can win ugly. In the first half Maryland seemed stuck in the same fog they were in at Clemson earlier in the week. How did they snap out of it? Let’s go to the Porsche Keys to the Win:

Vasquez (23), Milbourne (18), Williams (14), and Hayes (12) had 67 of the Terps 71 points. The rest of the team was 0-10 from the field for 4 PTS. This was the second game in a row where the bench was nonexistent. Luckily, Florida State performed a similar disappearing act. The Noles got 58 points out of four players and nine out of the rest. On Thursday night, Maryland’s best four outperformed Florida State’s best four.
At the start of the game Florida State was able to dictate the pace, turning the game into a helter skelter track meet and trapping the Terps into turnovers. Maryland managed just 25 points by half time, but they were still only down four points. At halftime, Gary Williams made the adjustments necessary to get the Terps into their set offense, and the team rattled off seven unanswered points right away to take a four point lead. As is often the case, Gary Williams out-coached his opponent.
From there, the Terps were able to maintain a lead for most of the second half, until the very end of the game when Jordan Williams had to start sitting due to foul trouble. The Seminoles tied the game with three minutes left, and suddenly, the crowd was back in it. Who was going to step up? Dino Gregory,that’s who! That’s right, Dino freaking Gregory comes out of nowhere, takes a charge, and Vasquez sinks a couple of FT’s to preserve the lead. Dino was an unlikely hero after he was largely absent for most of the game, but that key play enabled the Terps to win the game. Overall, the game was that close. It could have gone either way. Kudos to Dino for shaking off the rust and making a big stop.
I love me some Greivis. Just when the haters started screaming at their TV’s and secretly hoping Greivis would blow it, Vasquez turns it on with a running jumper and forces a couple of fouls to keep the scoring going. His final line – 23 PTS /7 RB/7 AST – was pretty close to a triple-double. You may howl over his five turnovers but most of them came off of some tight traps, and he was better than a 1/1 AST/TO ratio on the night, so that’s a good line. I love how he incited the crowd from the opening tip. He thrives on the hate, so keep hating bitches. GREAT JOB GREIVIS! M-V-P! M-V-P!
It was a nice night for Milbourne. He was, once again, Steady Eddie when the rest of the team started crapping themselves. 18 PTS and 6 RB (including 4 huge ORB) doesn’t tell the story of how he continually stepped up on both sides of the ball. He’s the yin to Grevis’s yang. Landon is such a tweener that I didn’t think that he had a lot of pro upside coming into this season, but the more of these clutch ACC games he has, the more looks he’s going to get from teams that have a need at the small forward position. That is how well Milbourne is playing right now.
I’ve said before that Jordan Williams is the missing piece to the Terps puzzle for success, and this game just proved the point. With Williams (14 PTS, 7/11 FG, 6 RB, 2 blocks) in the game, Maryland looked confident in their sets, and they were able to work the ball inside out against a couple of big dudes from Florida State. Without him, the front court looked small and disorganized. How high is Williams’s upside? I the Terps will be his show by next season. Reports are that he is a humble hard worker that likes to learn. If he can continue to learn and hit the gym to chisel that big frame, I can see Williams becoming a first round NBA draft pick in a few years.

It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win is a win is a win. The team turned it around in the second half and started shooting the ball very well. That should bode well for this Sunday’s game against UNC.

Tagged with: Basketball • Dino Gregory • Eric Hayes • Greivis Vasquez • Jordan Williams • Landon Milbourne

maryland at florida state preview: the carousel game

On February 4, 2010, In Maryland sports, By Ian

If you stare at this picture long enough you'll understand the nature of suffering in the Terrapin condition.

A few weeks ago, Gilbert Arenas stopped by SG with guns ablazin’ to deliver a preview of the Florida State game that hit the mark. Who would have thought that the situation would blow up in Gil’s face like this since that post? It had to factor into David Stern’s decision to suspend him for the rest of the year.

What goes around comes around. On January 10th, Maryland ended up with a 77-68 win against the then ranked Seminoles. That win was the catalyst for a 5-1 run in ACC which put the Terps atop the ACC before the loss to Clemson. The Terps were red hot in January. True to form, just when the team started to exceed expectations, everyone was brought back down to earth with an ugly performance in SC on Sunday.

As the D.C. area braces for yet another obscene blizzard, there’s a feeling that things have come full circle. With ten games left in the regular season the, the Terps still need at least six more wins to put themselves in position for a tournament bid. The schedule here on out includes two “should wins” against NC State and VT, but the rest of it consists of ranked teams, road games, and no easy outs. I hate to overuse the term “must win”, but I’m going to use it in reference to this game against Florida State. Unlike a month ago, Maryland is now on the road and is going to have to beat a physical Florida State team in a hostile environment.

At home against Florida State in January, Greivis got off for 22 PTS. He was well complimented by 17 PTS from Hayes and a great performance from the front court. The win at Comcast Center was the first indication that Maryland basketball had some life in it.

Florida State is still keyed by 7′1″ Solomon Alibi, who is averaging 13 PTS and 7 RB per game. Alibi is flanked by 6′9″ PF Chris Singleton, who is averaging 11 PTS and 8 RB per game. Their front court is still strong, and the Terps are going to have a tougher time containing them without getting any hometown calls this time around. The Noles recently lost some bench strength as forward Jordan DeMercy left the team on Monday due to “personal reasons”, and that might provide some opportunity for Maryland’s bench to perform better after they disappeared in the Clemson loss.

Maryland’s key to victory will be forcing errors out of the Seminoles. Florida State averages a sub 1/1 AST/TO ratio. They’re mistake prone. They, how would you put it, give the ball away to the other team a lot. The Terps won the first contest against Florida State by forcing their hand with pressure. Applying constant back court pressure and collapsing on Singleton when he gets the ball will be the key to victory in tonight’s game, too.

The Terps have a golden chance to rebound from the Clemson loss and stay in the national discussion for a tournament bid with a win against Florida State. I can imagine that practice this week was not a quiet affair. Maryland will have to be focused in what should be another slug fest. The Noles are a 3.5 PT favorite on the Vegas line. My prediction: Maryland loses, 70-68. I hate to say it, but I don’t think Maryland has all their marbles in place, especially on the bench. They’re facing another team with their backs against the fence. This game is on the road. Maryland is not likely going to get another first half double-double out of Jordan Williams against a physical front court. This game seems eerily like the Clemson match-up, and unless something has drastically changed in the last four days, I can’t predict that the outcome will be any different.

When the music stops, everyone gets off the ride. There’s only so much music left in this season before the big dance begins. Is there some wisdom there? Not really. I don’t even know where I was going with this point. Abort. End post. Go Terps.

Tagged with: Basketball • Chris Singleton • Eric Hayes • Greivis Vasquez • Solomon Alibi

Greivis Vasquez = A-Rod of the ACC?

On February 3, 2010, In Maryland sports, By Scott

Everyone who knows me and has had a conversation of longer than five seconds with me about Maryland basketball (so yeah, everyone who knows me) is aware that I am ever so slightly, eh, strenuous, when it comes to my evalulations of one Mr. Greivis Vasquez. Yes. I am a Vasquez Hater. Kind of. Let me explain.

My concerns do not lie with his talent (which is considerable), his heart (which is plentiful), or even his constant mugging (which I could do without, but isn’t a deal breaker). No, my quibble is with the inability he shows to do what is known as close the deal. To get the team he leads over that magical hump. He can lead them tothe hump. But the getting over part…well, it just doesn’t happen.

That’s why he’s the Alex Rodriguez of the ACC. As every sports fan knows, A-Rod just got us all off his backs on this, but until recently he was hip-hop shorthand for “fills the stat sheet when the team is up big in a day game in Arlington, but strikes out looking five times in a Sunday night game with the wild card lead on the line.” For both, it’s not a lack of heart. It’s the opposite; they want it too much. Until the Yankees protected him with Mark Texiera, A-Rod would grind the bat to sawdust in the box. As for Vasquez, his signature move in big games is the Brickjob Three, or The Dribbles It Off Your Foot In Traffic. They both seem to get just a tad overwhelmed, and overwound.

Let’s drill down to Vasquez now. It’s not that he doesn’t play well in any game of consequence. Take the momentum-changing UNC game on Feb. 21, in which Vasquez’s borderline-mythological 35-11-10 lifted them back to Bubble Land. Or the Wake Forest game in March, when Greivis’ 22 points and 9 assists essentially led to a tournament berth. But it can be argued that those kinds of wins are different. Smeagol Vasquez is subsumed by Gollum Vasquez in the face of a little thing called expectations. It happens when the Terps are, for even a fleeting moment, placed in control of their own destiny, and the national buzz just baaarely reaches audible levels. Under the Vasquez administration, which began with his junior campaign in 08-09, the Terps have not done well in those circumstances. Sure, they’ve made the tourney, and that’s great. But they missed once and barely crept in the second time. You’re not making any history with that kind of slog in the mud.

So am I just ranting here, or do I have some evidence? Oh, there’s evidence baby. Last February, Maryland had just one more game to win — against MEAC bottom feeder Morgan State — before they could sweep into ACC play on an eight-game winning streak. Coach Williams spent much of the pregame wondering what it would take for his team to get some respect. Bada bing: expectations. Pressure. Vasquez got 19 points, but it took him 21 shots to get there, including 1-9 from three. Later that season, the Terps won four of six to bring their record to 18-10, meaning if they could win their next two — at home against a great Wake Forest team and lowly Virginia on the road — they’d be locked and loaded for the tourney. So of course, they lost both games. Against Wake, Vasquez got 16 points on 29 percent shooting (including 2-8 from three), five boards, seven assists, four turnovers. Of course, that made things even more pressure-packed for Virginia…the one they were “supposed to” win. The Vasquez line from Charlottesville: 21 points, 8-20 shooting (1-6 from three), 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 turnovers. Enough to get you to the hump…just not over it. Of course, after the Viriginia game, the momentum was dead and everyone walked away. Cue the miraculous Vasquez-fueled run to the tournament, which included an improbable upset of Cal, followed by a momentary re-establishing of expectations, after which Vasquez told Memphis they couldn’t hang in the ACC and his team got waxed by 19.

That brings us back to modern times. As I noted earlier, this Clemson game had some barometric implications for the season. If Maryland could pull this off, they could be ranked. They would be solidly ensconced at the top of the ACC rankings. They were, deservedly, starting to get some attention. With Clemson’s second-best player wearing a golf shirt and cargo shorts to the game, the expectations increased. The final Vasquez line in that Maryland loss: 10 points on 3-11 shooting, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 fouls, 9 turnovers.

Before I close here, just a few soothing words to the legions of Vasquez lovers who may now be ready to feed me to Debbie Yow: Greivis Vasquez is a great player for Maryland. He is the leader of this team. He will play at the next level. His combination of gifts is hard to find. Here’s hoping Vasquez proves me wrong and finds a way to put on his Superman cape for the many big games on the Terps’ horizon (starting tomorrow at Florida State). No one will be happier to eat some crow than me. So don’t hate the hater…we’re all in the same gang. I’m in the reasonable-people-can-disagree-camp. It’s a nice camp. You should come over. We have marshmallows.

In the meantime, though, I really do believe there is a ceiling on how far this team can go with Greivis Vasquez as its floor leader. And it’s going to take a lot more than faux hawks and shimmying to get me over to the bandwagon.

Tagged with: Basketball • Vasquez

For Football Signing Day, Terps Actually Looking Pretty Good

On February 3, 2010, In Maryland sports, By Scott

Typical disclaimer: We here at Shell Games are not what you would call recruiting insiders. We don’t pretend to be. We refuse — REFUSE, I TELL YOU! — to pay for access to any of those recruiting sites with their Fancy-Schmancy “star ratings systems” and “Top 150 Prospects” and “The Nine-Year-Olds Watch List” and so on. When something big happens, then we talk about it, but we figure that extensive coverage of this subject may encroach on our ability to, what’s the phrase I’m looking for, do the jobs we actually get paid to do.

I had something productive to say. Oh, right, it’s college football signing day! Seeing as how the University of Maryland does indeed have a college football program, it stands to reason that the actions of this day may be of some consequence, for good or bad. Baltimore Sun recruting guru Matt Bracken has several posts about what Terps fans can expect today. Short answer: we could have a sneakily good freshman class on our hands.

The jewel of the crop is D.C. defensive end Javarie Johnson, who decommitted from Miami to go to Maryland. Maryland’s biggest official get thus far is O-lineman Max Garcia (pictured above). He had 50 pancake blocks last season. That’s great, but how many flying elbow smashes did he get? Atomic leg drops? Belly-to-back suplexes? I know it’s been said before, but football really needs to improve its stat categories.

Good luck to the Terps today. We’ll have a recap later. Maybe. Either way, you can follow all the signing day action in real time on ESPNU.

Tagged with: Football • Javarie Johnson • Maryland football recruiting • Max Garcia

A Maryland-Clemson Basketball Recap in Ten Easily Digestible Bullet Points

On February 1, 2010, In Maryland sports, By Scott

Ugggh. Must. Purge. Game. From. Body. Please pass the ipecac, leeches, portable sauna, and electroshock nodes. After Maryland lost to Clemson 62-53 in one of the sloppiest games in recent memory, I need a reset. To the points:

Maryland played excellent team defense on Trevor Booker (10 points on 2-16 shooting). Too bad, though, that the focus on Booker meant Jerai Grant was wide open and free to score a career-high 18 points, many of which came on dunks.
By and large, Maryland’s strategy of collapsing in the middle and making a Demontez Stitt-less Clemson team beat them from the perimeter was effective. After all, they did hold the Tigers to 62 points, including 22 percent shooting beyond the arc. It’s just unfortunate that Maryland only managed 53 points and 20 percent shooting from three. Kind of a slight problem there.
This was the sloppiest game of Maryland’s season. Twenty-six turnovers, 22 fouls. What’s the holdup on the ipecac?!?!
Clemson repeatedly — repeatedly — shredded Maryland’s press, which I suppose coach Williams decided to use because Stitt was out. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I do not like the press.
I have a question. What good is a “veteran presence” and “senior leadership” if it goes away in big spots? Landon Milbourne (3 points, 5 rebounds) gets something of a pass because he’s not really a natural post player and struggles against physical bigs like Booker and Grant. Eric Hayes (11 pts on 4-7 shooting, 2 assts, 5 turnovers, 4 fouls) and Mr. Greivis Vasquez (10 pts on 3-11 shooting, 2 assts, 3 rebs, 4 fouls, NINE turnovers) have no such excuse.
The That-Sums-It-All-Up Play of the game came at about the 14-minute mark in the second half. With Tanner Smith in his shorts (and credit where it’s due: Smith did a great job on Vasquez all evening), Vasquez tries a completely unnecessary behind-the-back dribble, which skitters off his foot and rolls toward the out-of-bounds line. Smith, who was hustling, dives toward the ball. Vasquez decides that simply falling on Smith is the best way to make something happen. Third personal foul.
Which brings me to today’s rant. There’s a good Vasquez and a bad Vasquez. A Gollum and a Smeagol, if you will. And last night we had a big-time Gollum sighting. Vasquez has had a great season, no question. And sure, a guy who gets 15 points, 5 boards, and 6 assists per game is valuable. But again, how valuable is it really if it evaporates when the pressure is on? When he wasn’t sitting on the bench with foul trouble, how many times last night did Vasquez drive into the lane, leap into the air, and lob a wrap-around pass out of bounds? How many times did he (and Hayes) dribble directly into the teeth of the Clemson press? Where was the Vasquez Shimmy last night? This all clearly had a trickle-down effect for his teammates; Adrian Bowie and Dino Gregory, in particular, were basket cases out there. Don’t you think they could have benefited from some of that Vasquez fearlessness? Or does that fearlessness only exist against the Miamis and Boston Colleges of the world? Bottom line: Vasquez has some decidedly A-Roddian tendencies. If Maryland is up 15, he’s raining threes and shimmying around like he’s in a Rihanna video. And don’t talk to me about North Carolina last year…great game, but they were the underdogs. Thus, no pressure. If Maryland is going to fulfill its potential, which is considerable, Vasquez needs to put the cape on and deliver when his team needs him the most. Isn’t that what being a senior leader and All-ACC candidate is all about?
Obviously, every game is important, and blah blah blah, but this one was a particularly good barometer for how this Maryland team will perform against legit opponents. Because of their tendency to get overwound in big games like this one, I believe there’s a ceiling on what this group can do.
Enough bad stuff. Hey, what about Jordan Williams? A career game for the ever-improving freshman. In addition to some outstanding defense on Booker, he got 13 points and 13 rebounds, including some authoritative finishes at the rim.
We’ll see if Maryland can get back on the horse this Thursday in Tallahassee against a Florida State team that would love to even the season series with the Terps.

Tagged with: Bad Losses • Basketball • Clemson • Eric Hayes • Jerai Grant • Jordan Williams • Landon Milbourne • Trevor Booker • Vasquez

maryland at clemson preview: the moment of truth

On January 29, 2010, In Maryland sports, By Ian

They say it’s lonely at the top in whatever you do
You always gotta watch motherfuckers around you
Nobody’s invincible, no plan is foolproof
We all must meet our moment of truth

- Guru, Gang Starr, “Moment of Truth”

Gang Starr "Moment of Truth" was the hottest spit ever dribbled. Disagree at your own demise.

Here it is. It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for. After a shaky start, the Terps have taken care of business. Problems have been addressed. The team got the message from Gary, and is following the lead of Greivis. After a 9-4 start, Maryland has gone 5-1 with their only loss to a tough Wake Forest team on the road. They’re blowing opponents out, averaging a 28PT margin of victory over their four game winning streak. The team is firing on all cylinders, maximizing its potential, and playing its best ball.

Through nineteen games, Maryland sits alone atop the ACC. Now the real work begins.

Maryland travels to Clemson to face the #21 ranked Tigers on Sunday. After beating up on the likes of BC, Longwood College, NC State, and Miami, Maryland heads south to play a ranked opponent in a tough venue. Clemson comes into the game on a slide, losing three straight, but don’t let their recent losses fool you. Two of those three losses came against ranked opponents. The other was a letdown, but it was on the road at BC.

Jordan Williams passed a big test this week when he shut down DaWayne Collins of Miami. He’s going to get a bigger test this Sunday when he goes up against Trevor Booker. Booker is listed at 6′7″, 240 LBS, and every inch of the man child is chiseled stone. NBADraft.net has Booker going late in the first round of the 2010 draft. He’s legit.

Now, I love Williams, but he does have a bit of baby fat on him. He is going to have his hands full with Booker, who comes into the game 16 PTS and 8 RB per game. I believe this low post match-up is a major key to the game. Williams has to contain Booker. He can’t let him get too many second chance points. Williams isn’t going to get as many calls on the road as he did at home against Miami, so he’s going to have to show some maturity and toughness when he’s getting pushed around in Littlejohn Coliseum. If he can, the Terps should be in good shape.

Like Miami, Clemson seems to be struggling in defining roles at the guard spot. Four guards – Demontez Stitt, Tanner Smith, Andre Young, and recently Noel Johnson – have been rotating on the perimeter. Stitt had a huge 20PT game against UNC a couple weeks ago, but has since cooled off and DNP against BC with an ankle injury. While Smith and Young have faded during the Tiger’s losing streak, Johnson has been playing more, although his contributions have been irratic at best. Maryland should be able to exploit these guards and force turnovers, although it will be a bit tougher to do so on the road than it was against Miami in College Park.

Speaking of guards, my man Greivis got a mention in the Weekly Watch by ESPN’s Andy Katz. Katz cited his work against NC State, but the mention is more likely attributable to Greivis’s generally high level of play over the last few weeks. In Maryland’s five ACC games, Greivis is averaging a gaudy 21PTS/7AST/3RB per game, and he has shot 45% FG against ACC opponents. Vasquez will have opportunities to exploit Clemson this Sunday. I believe he will take them.

The overall match-up seems to favor the Terps, especially if you consider momentum. But make no mistake, beating Clemson in SC will be a major hurdle for Maryland. Littlejohn Coliseum will be rocking. Clemson is already playing for their postseason lives. Trevor Booker is a specimen. The Tigers will be a tough out.

How will the Terps fare in this Moment of Truth? This will be the tightest contest they’ve had since the Wake Forest game. I think they’ll pull it out, but the margin of victory will be in single digits.

Final Score: Maryland 78 - Clemson 74.

Addendum: In case you had any doubts as to how tough a game this will be for the Terps, the line in Vegas is opening with Clemson as a 5.5PT favorite.

Tagged with: Basketball • Greivis Vasquez • Jordan Williams • Previews • Trevor Booker

R.I.P. Bud Millikan

On January 28, 2010, In Maryland sports, By Scott

News in this afternoon that former Maryland men’s basketball coach Bud Millikan has died at age 89. From 1950 to 1967, Millikan compiled a 243-182 record with the Terps. In the pre-64-team NCAA tournament, the Terrapins reached an Elite Eight and won an ACC title under his leadership.

From 1964 to 1967, Millikan’s point guard was a young man named Gary Williams.

Here’s what Coach Williams had to say on Millikan’s passing:

“He was my coach for all four years. I think his strength was he was a very strict fundamentals coach. That was an important part of a number of us becoming head coaches. To have that many coaches come off one team shows that if you listened, you picked up a lot of good things. He was a tough coach and if you wanted to play, you did things his way. He was a great person.”

Tagged with: Basketball • Bud Millikan • Gary Williams

Stop the Presses! Maryland’s Trap Works…Just Don’t Get Used To It

On January 28, 2010, In Maryland sports, By Scott

There is a growing opinion (mainly among myself) that the full-court press in general — and Maryland’s in particular — is becoming a bit of a relic. Following its Kentucky and UNLV heyday in the mid 80s to early 90s, the number of teams heavily using the traditional full-court trap seems to have greatly diminished. This is perhaps due in no small part to an increase in early college departures and the NCAA’s 1991 decision to reduce scholarships from 15 to 13. These changes mean teams can no longer simply overwhelm opponents with superior depth and athleticism. It may also have to do with the fact that the press is, frankly, pretty easy to solve. Just don’t panic, keep the ball moving, and throw over your defenders for an easy bucket when the opportunity inevitably presents itself.

That trend changed for the Terps on Tuesday against Miami. Maryland pressed them into 14 turnovers in the first half, and breakaway layups and and-ones were a regular occurrence for the Terps. After building a 17-point lead, Gary Williams called off the dogs in the second half, and Miami committed only three additional turnovers the rest of the way.

But it was probably more a blip than anything else. Miami’s main ballhandler is a freshman and all but one of their guards are underclassmen. They’re greener than a bin of alfalfa sprouts, and crumple just about as quickly under pressure. (Zing!) The larger trend is that of the press getting kind of sort of absolutely shredded. For example, the Cincinnati loss turned into a jailbreak, with Maryland giving up 12 fast-break points to score 16 while sacrificing valuable help defense. Even William and Mary — up this year, sure, but still no Kentucky — solved it to the tune of six three-pointers on 50 percent shooting before the Terps retreated to the zone after halftime.

Now take the recent 88-64 blowout of N.C. State, in which Maryland pressed very little and emerged with decisive advantages in fast-break points (10-2) and turnovers (11-9), all while holding N.C. State 18 points below its scoring average from the previous three games.

Which brings us to Sunday’s big showdown with Clemson. It will be extremely interesting to see what Maryland does given that Tigers point guard Demontez Stitt has a gimpy ankle. Here’s hoping they ”repress,” if you will, their full-court urges. Pressure defense is and should remain a Maryland signature, but the all-out full-court press seems like more of a situational play at this point. Is it a coincidence that several recent games, featuring a more judicious use of the press, have heralded no less than a full defensive turnaround? With cagey (and decidedly long-limbed) veterans Greivis Vasquez and Landon Milbourne committing fully to defense, Sean Mosely become a stone-cold defensive stopper, a tougher and scrappier inside presence led by Jordan Williams and Dino Gregory, and some booster fuel off the bench in the form of Adrian Bowie (we’ll see if it sticks), this team doesn’t need to resort to gimmicks.

Tagged with: Adrian Bowie • Basketball • Dino Gregory • Gary Williams • Greivis Vasquez • Landon Milbourne

Maryland Basketball Recruit Terrell Stoglin Now a Record Holder

On January 27, 2010, In Maryland sports, By Scott

The Baltimore Sun’s Recruiting Report, via the Arizona Daily Star, has reported that 2010-2011 Maryland recruit and point guard heir apparent Terrell Stoglin has set a new scoring record for Tuscon prep basketball. Last Friday, Stoglin got 21 points to pass Chuck Overton for most career points in the history of the mad-crazy basketball hotbed known as Tuscon, Ariz. Don’t sleep on Chuck Overton, son. He was the best character on Living Single.

Stoglin, who is averaging 27 points a game, now has a decent chance to move into second place on the state’s all-time list, currently occupied by Trailblazers guard Jerryd Bayless. Terrell is also 446 points short of the all-time state scoring mark of 3,002, held by some guy named Mike Bibby. I hate that guy. Good luck, Terrell.

Tagged with: Basketball • Maryland basketball recruiting • Terrell Stoglin