Terps Win Sole Exhibition, 75-54

Ok, it's late, I'm tired, and I'm sure my co-writers who attended the game probably have some more detailed thoughts, but here's what I'm thinking after the first exhibition game:

To sum it up, inconsistent, messy, got outrebounded by a DII school, and still won by 20.

It's definitely early, and the preseason wasn't kind for Maryland, but I think the inconsistentcy was a bit expected. I didn't fully expect the amazing amount of turnovers that the game provided, but other than that, everything looked okay for Maryland. There was the requisite early lack of hustle, which hurt the Terps quite a few times, but I'm sure Gary will get rid of that after just a practice.

No, Dino Gregory wasn't playing, but there's still nothing on his situation. Pure speculation, I'm guessing academics of some sort, as opposed to something behavior related. Nor was Steve Goins on the floor, victim to a knee injury. That left James Padgett and Jordan Williams as the lone big men for the day.

The freshmen looked pretty decent, if inconsistent. I was expecting Padgett to entirely outclass Williams after the early reports, but they were pretty equal. Padgett definitely had the "ooooooohhhhh" play of the game with a nasty putback dunk in the late first half and followed it up with some solid rebounding and a couple of nice left handed finishes. Once Jordan Williams got into the game, you could see his potential: he runs the floor extremely well for someone his size, surprised me with his endurance, and was money from the foul line. Especially early on in the year, he's going to get fouled a lot against smaller opponents, and he'll be able to take advantage of that.

Those weren't the most important developments of the night, though. No, that'd go to Sean Mosley's improved offensive game. He showcased an ability to actually finish to go along with his defense and hustle from last year - he will be very dangerous when given the opportunity.

Other than that, everything was as expected. Greivis was solid. Eric Hayes was the same as last year. Adrian Bowie showcased an improved jumper, but had the same ridiculously quicks and pesky defense. Cliff Tucker was still in the Gary doghouse for most of the game and only got a few minutes. Jin Soo Choi was still really thin and didn't look entirely sure of himself the entire time. Landon Milbourne was tough to handle in the paint and had a nice 13 foot jumper.

You get the point.

All that said, remember, it's an exhibition against DII, so these thoughts aren't worth a ton.