When and Where: Gary Williams Court at the Comcast Center, College Park, Md.; 2:30

Where to Watch: ACC Network, so check your local listings and/or the affiliates list; it'll also be on ESPN3 if it's not on in your area

Line: Vegas: Virginia Tech -2.5 KenPom: Virginia Tech by 5, 31% chance of Maryland victory

Links: Our preview | Gobbler Country | Hokies vs Terrapins coverage

Notes & Storylines:

• Alex Len. Mark Turgeon revealed that the big man might actually start off on the bench, as a way to "help him relax." That might not be a bad idea - Len has seemed jittery in his ACC home games, and perhaps having trouble coping with the pressure. He still has gobs of potential, and right now it's about mentally unlocking it. He'll tower over everyone on Virginia Tech's roster - center Cadarian Raines is only 6-9 - and I'm tipping him for a better performance than we've seen lately.
• Slumps. Maryland's lost three in a row, their first such streak of the year. Virginia Tech, for its part, has won only one of its last six, although it was an impressive upset victory in Charlottesville. Both teams are struggling. That means there's a good chance the end result will be unwatchable, but it also means that there's a good chance both teams will be more determined than usual. If one happens to come out flat, this one could get ugly.
• Make it count. Things get really real after this. How real? Road game to Miami, home against UNC, road trip to Clemson, and then heading down to Durham to play Duke at Cameron. The two games Maryland could really win in that bunch, Miami and Clemson, are both on the road, so 0-4 isn't out of the realm of imagination.
• Hey, it's an important game again! People throw around must-win too liberally and this isn't that, but ... if Maryland can't beat one of the ACC's worst teams in their own building, we might want to just write the rest of this season off for good, especially with that pretty brutal stretch on the way. If they do come away with a win, even by a small margin, we have to keep watching to see which way this pivots.

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Our friends over at Rush the Court published an interesting piece a few days ago, just before the Duke game, on Maryland's failure (or unwillingness) to get the ball inside on a consistent basis. It's not something that's new to any Maryland fan, but it's always god to get some statistical backup for what our eyes are telling us. They took a look at the number of field goals attempted (and FGA minus offensive rebounds, which is valuable when considering someone like James Padgett) among the ACC's major frontcourt players, and ranked them on those measures. As you might expect, Maryland's three primary big men are all at the bottom of the totem pole.

It's an interesting topic and worthy of more thought, particularly after the Duke game on Wednesday night. The Terrapins had success, particularly in the first half, in getting the ball into the interior and attacking the rim, and their inability to replicate that in the second was a big reason for their offensive slowdown.

Let's update RTC's numbers to be accurate through today, while also adding a rough attempt at a tempo-free margin and a few other notables: (all numbers are per game)

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You know what sucks? Losing streaks. You know what also sucks? Being sub-.500 in the conference. Maryland, after their loss to Duke last night, knows both.

Good news: so does their next opponent, Virginia Tech. The Hokies have dropped five of their last six and stand at 1-4 in the ACC, a worse mark than Boston College. Hosting VPI is about the best tonic Maryland could've wished for in this trying time, especially with a road trip to Miami and a game against North Carolina right around the corner.

Which isn't to say they'll be an easy win. Tech is one of those ACC teams that just doesn't make any sense. (I feel like Maryland is the only ACC school dedicated to consistency anymore.) Expected to be one of the conference's better units, they had a so-so out-of-conference showing, notching only two semi-impressive wins - both against Oklahoma State, weirdly enough. But that was vastly preferable to their ACC start: they dropped their first four games in the season, two against teams they definitely should've beaten (Wake Forest and Boston College, for God's sake) and two that were more understandable (Florida State and North Carolina). They were never truly embarrassed in any of those games - all were by three or less save for the 14-pointer to UNC, which isn't that bad - but that didn't stop anyone from writing them off.

So then they turn around, go to Virginia, and beat the two-loss, #17 Cavs in their own building. (And no, neither team scored 50. Why do you ask?) Is it too much to ask for an ACC where the bad teams are bad and the good teams are good? Gah.

Anyway, Tech returned to the hardwood action last night, hosting BYU. And, much like their previous four losses, it was a close one that they easily could've one but dropped in the end, only a Brock Zylstra three-pointer away from a win. So ... yeah, I'm not sure.

One thing I do know for sure: no more Malcolm Delaney. Everybody dance now.

Oh, wait, Erick Green is still there. Darn. Almost.

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The dedication of Gary Williams Court brought Maryland a lot of energy, a packed house, and a super-charged and emotional start, but it wasn't enough to overcome 23 points and 11 boards from Mason Plumlee and a more talented and efficient Duke team. The Terrapins shot only 40% from the field and 52% from the stripe as the Blue Devils took the game 74-61.

The intensity for the Gary Game was predictably insane in the opening minutes, and Maryland jumping out to an 18-10 lead did little to calm it. Duke fought back largely thanks to an advantage on the inside, with Plumlee more or less having his way with whoever Maryland tried to throw at him. A four-point swing - a Sean Mosley charge leading to a James Padgett lay-in at the buzzer - kept Maryland within striking distance at the half, trailing only by 37-34 despite a lowly four first-half points from Terrell Stoglin.

Stoglin had a stronger second, scoring three quick buckets out of the break to give Maryland the lead at 43-42. An Alex Len turnaround jumper gave the Terrapins a three-point lead on the next possession. The Duke response? A predicable 15-3 run that nearly took Maryland out of the game. A five-point spurt form Nick Faust would help get the Terrapins back in the game, but it wasn't enough: there was too much Plumlee and not enough Maryland execution.

There were some positives tonight - this seemed a winnable game for about 39 minutes and I think 13 might be a harsh final margin - but it also illustrated pretty well just how far Maryland has to go. They have no consistent, go-to offensive sets. The only elite scorer on the team is Stoglin and even he isn't that consistent. There's still an utter lack of shooters. I'm not sure if there's a true floor general on the team. But most of all, there was no contest between Duke's bigs and Maryland's bigs: Plumlee basically had his way with Ashton Pankey, James Padgett, and Alex Len in turn. No one could come close to stopping him.

Give Maryland credit for the heart they showed and for the stretches of the game where they outplayed Duke - and there were several. Also realize that there's still a lot of building, both through recruiting and developing the current roster, that Mark Turgeon has to do.

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Game tips at 9:00, but the Gary ceremony begins around 8:40ish. If you're wondering if you can see it on TV: Louisville-Villanova is on ESPN before the Maryland game, but I've been told the ESPN3 link will go live a half-hour before the game starts. So that may be where you can see it.

Anyway, game is on ESPN on the real 'tube, at least once Nova and the Ville finish things up. TV crew is Dan Shulman and Bobby Knight, and I literally couldn't have asked for a better combo, short of Uncle Verne somehow working his way in there.

Random, Baseless Prediction: Nick Faust goes 2-3 from beyond the arc, but the one that misses gets stuck between the rim and backboard. I don't believe we have a name for that.

Prediction: Like I said earlier, Duke will win this game. But we're a Maryland sports blog and this is basically our Super Bowl - not just because it's home against Duke, but because it's Gary's game. So I'm calling for the epic upset win.

This post was originally compiled by Ben G. shortly after Gary retired. But this is the Gary game, Lefty Driesell be damned (four words I never thought I'd say in that order, given that Lefty is actually my favorite coach in history), so it's a great time to bring it back up.

Try to make it through the whole thing without crying.

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Editors note: This is the story I originally did following Gary's retirement press conference last year. Given that this is the game they're dedicating the court after Gary, we thought it would be appropriate to re-run it today. If you haven't read it, I hope you enjoy doing so. If you have read it, I hope you enjoy reading it again. Maryland basketball will always be Garyland to me. Thanks for everything, coach!

One of the hardest parts about being a fan of college basketball is growing attached to a player on your team, because no matter how good they are or how much they personify your school and its fan base, you know that in a few shorts years, they’ll be gone. The NCAA grants us just a brief, four-year window to form a bond with a player in college and once that window of eligibility closes, you’re forced to move on, whether you want to or not. But as a Maryland fan, there has always been one thing that’s made the departure of some of my favorite Terps’ players sting a little less; you knew Gary Williams would still be on the sideline the following season. Knowing that gave most Maryland basketball fans a sense of comfort and ease, even after losing some of the program’s most accomplished players to graduation and careers in the NBA; fear not, for we have Gary Williams at the helm! With each new season and the new players and coaches that came with it, the one face that didn’t change was that of Gary Williams.

Since I started following college basketball, Gary Williams has been the only coach I’ve known. Aside from Coach K at Duke, Jim Boeheim at Syracuse and Jim Calhoun at UConn, few coaches today are as associated with their programs as Gary Williams is to Maryland. When someone says Maryland basketball, Gary’s antics on the sideline and sweat-soaked suits are some of the first things that pop into your mind. You think of a man who left a great job at Ohio State to return to his dream job at his alma mater in June of 1989. You also remember the hardships and struggles he endured when the dark clouds of NCAA sanctions resided over College Park for several years, shaking both his coaching abilities and desires to the core. Who could forget that despite those sanctions, despite the ban from playing on TV and appearing in the post season, Gary stuck it out. He didn’t bolt; he didn’t make excuses; he quietly rebuilt this basketball program from the shadows of Len Bias’ death and the NCAA’s "death penalty" into one that annually achieved national prominence, culminating in a National Championship in 2002.

Through all of those trials and tribulations, he did it his way and without cheating or bending the rules. He did it because he cared about Maryland basketball and about the players that suited up for him. He cared about his Alma Mater and about making sure his assistant coaches would one day have the opportunity to do the same thing.

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