Maryland Minute - 11.11.10 - Are Writers Giving College of Charleston Enough Credit?

by Dave Tucker on Nov 12, 2010 3:50 PM EST in Maryland Minute

Maryland's Charleston squeak not all bad - College Basketball Nation Blog - ESPN
One of the best parts about this article/post are some of the comments from the Terps fans. Brennan says Maryland's close game against C of C doesn't support Maryland fans' claim that they deserve more love than UNC. Terps fans prove him wrong. That got me to thinking about my pet peeve with a lot of national writers. I often find that when they try to talk about a specific team, they don't have any kind of small details or knowledge about that team and simply pretend that they do. C of C is a good team...they're a close team, in other words, one who has a lot of players back and who have been playing together for several years...and they have a guard who is good enough to play and start in the ACC. But Brennan just sees "College of Charleston" and assumes Maryland should be trouncing them. Does he point out good aspects of Maryland's win? Yes. But he fails to articulate WHY the win was close and that this win, come March, will be a good one on Maryland's resume. That's something they're supposed to do in their job, but often times things like that are passed over and these writers just look at games from the 30,000 feet level.

MVPe's shot gives Terps the Victory
The ~~MVPe~~ MVPe' love is growing. Great piece by Griffin Wong on the game. I told him that the nickname was born here at Testudo Times and he said he'd reference that in his future pieces.

All signs pointing toward Howard | Washington Examiner
Gary spoke about this on his radio show last night. Basically he said MVPe was working his way towards the starting PG spot, but that it's still Bowie's and that Bowie can handle it. I think Gary is going to give Bowie every opportunity to keep it, but he has to show why he can. I think I'd like Bowie coming off the bench as the #1 option and subbing in for Howard or Mosley ala Hayes during his junior year.

Terps get lesson in what's at stake - ACC Blog - ESPN
"Right now we're one of 10 teams eligible for a bowl game," Friedgen said. "I told them that just because you are bowl eligible, does not mean you are going to make a bowl. So every win from here on out will determine which bowl we go to. That was not all that was mentioned, we also spoke about what Virginia is able to do that could jeopardize not jut our bowl contention but our conference championship." Hopefully they beat UVA Saturday and continue to be able to contend for that title...

How many NCAA basketball teams are wearing a "Necklace"? -- it's all in Uni Watch's NCAA preview - ESPN
Uni watch digs the new MD jerseys, but not so much on the black one.

Georgetown freshman center Moses Ayegba ruled ineligible for Hoyas' first nine games - ESPN
Whammy for Georgetown. I won't shed a tear for them but this ruling does seem to be a stupid one by the NCAA...

In The News: Terps’ James Gist Heads To Serbia – LostLettermen.com
James Gist is off to Serbia to play pro ball. Best of luck, James. Hope you can break into the NBA next year...

Maryland Fans Never Forget, Just Ask Jason Williams - Half Smokes - SB Nation DC
Sounds about right. My only beef is Jordan Ruby acting as if this JUST happens at Maryland...it happens all over.

Maryland Coach Brenda Frese facing new challenges on and off the court
She welcomes a heralded freshman class while at the same time tending to her 2-year-old son, who has leukemia. She's a pretty amazing coach...

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Comments

The apostrophe is crucial to the nickname.

MVPe’

Also, way to set that other blog straight.

February 12, 2010: http://www.testudotimes.com/2010/2/12/1308053/friendly-reminder-peshon-on-espnu#30712702

I expect there to be at least 5 MVPe’ signs at the next game. Hopefully Pe’ will earn the nickname with his play for the rest of the season.

by kckb8 on Nov 12, 2010 4:00 PM EST reply actions

Fixed

by Dave Tucker on Nov 12, 2010 4:57 PM EST up reply actions

thnx :)

by kckb8 on Nov 12, 2010 5:14 PM EST up reply actions

I disagree re: Eamonn

He’s right – there was a lot more bad than good. C of C is a fine team, but it was a disappointing game nonetheless when you look at the actual stats. He was fine in articulating his main point and went out of his way to point out the positives. If anything, he was defending Maryland. Heck, the entire point of the article was that Maryland looked better than most people will see.

I don’t think he needs to illustrate what he means in every single clause.

by Ben Broman on Nov 12, 2010 4:06 PM EST reply actions

I don't know...

This is what send me on the rant…“Maryland fans have spent most of the offseason (and especially the past few weeks, if the Hoopsbag is any indication) claiming their team is underrated, that they should be in the top 25, that they’re better than North Carolina; barely getting past College of Charleston doesn’t exactly support that theory.”

In my humble opinion, UNC hasn’t proven anything. Do they have good folks coming in? Yup. Have they proven jack on the court yet? Nope. To me, UNC very well might end up a top-10 team this year, but that’s relying solely on their incoming class to make them better. Maryland has a core group of returning players from a co-ACC championship team, a team that beat UNC by 21. UNC should have to show/earn that respect and it shouldn’t just be anointed to them.

To imply the barley beating C of C negates the claim that Maryland should start off ahead of UNC is misleading, in my opinion. This same C of C team beat UNC last year and virtually the same team lost to us, after we lost our big 3. If we’d lost to them, fine, maybe it’s a more valid argument. But I just don’t see that here. Maryland beat a C of C team, a probable, veteran Tourney team, and they would have done so easily if they’d didn’t have a random off night at the line. We shot over 50% from the field. We survived a dominant performance by one of their players, and our freshman responded well in the clutch.

I appreciate his pointing out the good, but I think the focus of the article shouldn’t be to belittle C of C for not being a good team, because they are. It should have been “here are the positives from MD’s game in light of them playing a good C of C team.”

by Dave Tucker on Nov 12, 2010 4:56 PM EST up reply actions