If a thrilling overtime game ends in a loss, is it still thrilling? NO, DAMMIT! IT’S NOT! WE LOST!! Just couldn’t salvage the 85-83 squeaker. Here’s some points:
- Seriously, it was a great game. Wake tried to pull away in the second half but we wouldn’t let them. Maryland had shots to win…they just didn’t go in. The Terps lost, but didn’t lose their heads. How does the selection committee weight stuff like that?
- Al-Farouq Aminu is a multi-talented guy. Strong post player, big-time shot blocker, runs the floor, handles the ball, and he was great in The Blind Side. Got a bright future, this kid.
- After all of Gary’s hand-wringing about playing on short rest, the team didn’t gas. Let this end any lingering questions about team conditioning and/or yoga habits.
- Vasquez: 30 points, 7 assists, 3 rebounds, 6 turnovers. The Maryland bench: 14 points, 1 assist, 8 rebounds, 2 turnovers.
- While I’m on the bench, exactly one day after I said Cliff Tucker was on a roll and Adrian Bowie was the odd man out, Huxtable throws up a 2-0-0 and Bowie pours in a 10-1-4. I give up. Can’t we just meld these two into one player already?
- From the land of baseless second-guessing, I think Coach Williams may have kept Freshman Williams out a little too long at the end of the first half. That’s when the momentum first swung to Wake, due mainly to the unabated dunking. We missed Steve Goins in this one. Get well soon, Steve!
- C.J. Harris…who knew?
- We outrebounded them (43-41), got more assists (18-12), and committed one fewer turnover (15-16). How did we lose this game? Oh, right, they made more shots.
- In a chillingly recurrent theme, Maryland had a hard time finishing around the rim. Wake had no such problem…I counted about 11 dunks, none of which came from Chas “Harlan Williams” McFarland
- Dear Raycom Sports play-by-play announcer Steve Martin: Anthony Bowie played for Oklahoma in the 80s. Shane Mosely is a boxer. To my knowledge, neither was involved in tonight’s game. But good try, you was close.
(Photo credit: The Baltimore Sun)
Classic Terps heart-attack game. Too bad it turned into the kind that leaves you dead, or at least glad you bought more alcohol than you could possibly need for the night. Was it me or did the Wake crowd clearly think they were the underdogs. Take you tie-dye and go back to…well I really didn’t think that one through. Your student t-shirts suck. So did Steve Martin. Not as many Vasquez mispronounciations as I expected though. On a final note, I heart Jordan Williams. What kind of freshman has the poise to set his feet and draw an offensive in the first 0.00016 of the game. I’m blinded by his future.
Vasquez’s spaztastic shot selection at the end of OT cost Maryland the game. Those were some mighty fine bricks and airballs Mr. Vasquez. Vasquez’s stinks, his game is so flawed. For every postive thing he does, he equally does something negative. 30 point… 9-27 shooting.. yuck. 7 assists… 6 to’s… horrible. Yup, he sure can fill up that stat line. If stupid decisions was included in the stat box, he’d have top marks for that too! A fine example of typical Vasquez basketball was around the 12 to 13 minute mark in the 2nd half when he made a couple of bonehead plays/to’s in which he helped Wake build an 8 point lead. This team isn’t going anywhere Vasquez “leading” them.
I really thought they had it. The team as a whole is a lot more poised than last year. Last year’s team loses by 8 in regulation.
I thought Vasquez had a pretty good game. His big mistake was with about 1:30 left in OT, and with the team down by 2 (pretty sure), he tried to shoot a floater over Chas McFarland, who is seven feet tall. It went off the side of the backboard. I agree with you in that I suspect that there’s a limit to how far Vasquez can take this team, but I think in this game his positives far outweighed his negatives.
I lost a year of my life watching that game last night. But the team looks good.
This wasn’t a bad loss by any means. Winston-Salem is a tough place to play, and the Terps fought hard the entire game. The leaner by Ish Smith was a back breaker.
I don’t see how you can complain about the way Vasquez played in this game. He missed a couple of really tough shots at the end, but he kept the team in it throughout the second half. Who else stepped up? Hayes hit a big three near the end of regulation, but was otherwise largely absent. Milbourne didn’t seem to take any of the crunch time responsibility.
That game was fun to watch but tough on the heart. I mean, it gave me higher blood pressure for a couple hours. I was at risk.
I think those initial missed free-throws in OT hurt the Terps’ chances. It’s tough to get down in OT, especially after fighting back so well in regulation.
The yellow and black tie-dye shirts are awful.