According to this report card, Flossie Peterson may have outplayed Maryland to this point.

The Terps have ten days off for finals week, so there will be little news occuring until after Christmas.  This break comes at roughly the thirdway point in the season.  While a lot of basketball remains to be played in 2010, there are enough performances in the books to create a midterm report card.  There are no pluses and minuses in the SG grading system, only whole grades.

Record – C:  A 6-3 mark puts Maryland in a familiar bubblelicious spot nearing the end of their nonconference schedule.  After a rough start in Maui, the Terps started to turn it around with a win against Indiana.  Those loses to Cincinatti and Wisconsin don’t look as bad as they once did because those teams look better than expected, but the team has little room for error recordwise if they’re want to be dancing in March.  Maryland goes into ACC play at #46 in RPI.

Offense – B:  Against #3 Villanova, their toughest match-up to date, the Terps managed to score 86pts on 53% shooting.  That’s a good sign for the team in terms of what they can do during a strong conference schedule going forward.  The attack has been balanced, with four players are averaging double digits in scoring.  As Vasquez starts to heat-up, the overall scoring average should improve from a mediocre 77pts/gm, which puts them at 66th in the nation.  The main concern so far is that the Terps are not putting the average teams away.  This could be because they are, themselves, playing like an an average team.

Defense – C: Maryland has let-up 65pts/gm so far, which doesn’t seem like much until you consider their opponents.  In their four games against major D-I programs, the defensive PPG against average rises to 78pts/gm.  For a team whose gameplan is predicated on getting defensive pressure and converting in transition, this level of play has got to be raised in order for the team to win against the likes of Duke and UNC.  Padgett and Williams have shown a lot of improvement in a short time, but teams are getting too many open looks under the basket against the young frontcorut.  The return of Gregory to the lineup should help cure some of these problems.

Bench – D:  The Terps style of play requires strong bench play in order to maintain defensive pressure and an up-and-down transition offense throughout the game.  So far in 2010, the Terps bench has been their weakest link.  The bench is averaging 13 pts/gm with 10 rb/gm.  That is not going to cut it going forward.  Look for Choi to get diminished minutes as the season wears on and ACC play gets more physical.  Gregory will eat those minutes.  Bowie continues to seem lost in this team, and that probably won’t change by year end.  Who will step-up to be the eighth man?

Intangibles – C:  So far this year, the Terps seem uncomfortable in their skin.  The biggest intangible is that Vasquez hasn’t been “himself”.  He did some soul searching against EKU.  Was it enough to center his chi?  Mosley has not yet embraced the role of closer. Hayes’s numbers are down, and he still hasn’t decided whether or not he is Hangover Hayes or Steve Blake Hayes.  The underclassmen are still exploring their bodies.  The only consistent force thus far has been Milbourne.  He seems like Joe Cool in a room full of squares.  Once again, Gary Williams has his work cut out for him.

The Terps get a midterm GPA of 2.0 for a straight C average.  The most troubling thing about their spot coming into ACC play is that they are not even on the national radar.  They’re not in the discussion.  You don’t see their highlights on SportsCenter.  You don’t hear them mentioned among ACC contenders.  With Georgetown surging, Maryland isn’t even the most popular team in town right now.  It’s not yet time to panic, but it’s going to take another Gary Williams Christmas Special to get this team in shape and make the big dance.