2011 ACC Basketball Media Day: Terps Picked 9th in Preseason Poll
by Ben Broman on Oct 19, 2011 8:23 PM EDT
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It was Media Day for ACC basketball today, which means the preseason media poll was released earlier today. The findings? About what you'd expect, with UNC and Duke running away as the top two. Maryland, meanwhile, fell in at 9th, beating out only Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, and Boston College.
We've been critical of this thingamigs in the past, primarily because the sportswriters have an unrepresentative Carolina bias in terms of location. But I have to say that things were pretty well on the up-and-up here, and are more or less how I would've slotted them. My only grumble is that I do think Wake Forest will surprise some people this year, and should certainly be ahead of GT and potentially Maryland as well. Virginia Tech is actually too high as well - these guys do know they lose Malcolm Delaney and Jeff Allen, right? - but they won't fall from the 6th-place they're slotted.
More interestingly: Nick Faust got a vote for ACC Freshman of the Year. Sure, it was only one vote, but one guy thought Faust would be better than both Austin Rivers - the heavy favorite, garnering 57 of the 59 votes - and James McAdoo, a top-10 five-star power forward. That probably has something to do with how much Maryland is likely to use Faust, but after that showing at Maryland Madness, I can't say I'm not dreaming.
The official site has quotes from the event, which is worth going through. Some of the best from each of Maryland's three representatives, starting with Mark Turgeon:
"Gary and I are a lot alike. I'm a little bit old-school; he's a little bit older-school than I am. So a lot of the things are the same, the discipline and different things are the same. The great thing for me is I inherited great-character kids, because that's what Gary did when he recruited and we'll do the same thing. I don't know if we've implemented anything new, we're just putting in our system. There are a lot of things you have to do your first year and I think first and foremost what I've tried to do is develop relationships with my players to where they trust me and believe in me, so when times get tough will stick together and get it done."
And then Sean Mosley:
"Coach always says his seniors play well for him. He has a lot of plays where I can score. He's putting me in good position where I can make a basket or make a play for my team. Playing at the defensive end is something I love to do. That's what gets me involved in the offense. I think if I don't come out and be aggressive on both ends, I think I'm not giving it my all and helping my team win. I'm the leader and captain and my job is to lead my team to victory and try to do all the things possible to get the win."
And lastly, Terrell Stoglin ... wait, it wasn't him? Uh, Pe'Shon Howard then, or maybe even Nick Faust? No?
Wait, Berend Weijs? Really? Okay, let's hear from the Flying Dutchman, too.
"For me, it's important to keep eating. Whatever I eat, it doesn't matter how much it is, it burns and it's gone. I've just got to keep food in my body. I walk around with my bag with Gatorade bars and Muscle Milk... For me, the summer was to bulk up as much as you can, but most important was to get stronger, and maybe faster, which is one of my strengths. Gaining weight for me might be somewhat a disadvantage because of my running, because I'm a fast runner. I like to be fast, I just have to get my footwork straight. If people push me off, I have to use my footwork to get around or work against it."
The runner-up quote comes from Mosley, who says Alex Len is teaching the team some Russian. Which is awesome.
Also, all 12 ACC coaches did a chat on ESPN.com, taking questions from fans. Fun to page through, especially because Turgeon is so ridiculously straightforward compared to everyone else. Jeff Bzdelik and Steve Donohue give some pretty lengthy answers; Turgeon's are two sentences max. The bummer: if you were angling for Maryland Pride basketball uniforms, they ain't coming ... this year.
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lol at the maryland pride jerseys
i’m trying to imagine this…pukes
I wish I had the problem of everything I eat immediately burning off
Fuck You Weijs
by The Burning Scheyer Jersey on Oct 19, 2011 8:50 PM EDT reply actions
I was the same way at that age...
Wait til he hits about 26-27 or so. (not that it matters from a UMD basketball perspective)
Not too surprised
With Turgeon taking Weijs over guys like Stoglin or Howard. Most of the players that coaches take with them to media days are seniors, and even though Weijs is a juco-transfer, he has about as much experience in the program as anyone but Mosley, and being a senior Turge probably wanted to reward him.
If Pankey comes on and becomes the beast on the boards...like Dennis Rodman or how about Buck Williams jr...
he could edge his way into the starting line-up with things potentially end up being…
Stoglin
Faust
Mosely
Pankey
Olexiy
with Peshon, Padgett and Weiss coming in next…and than Parker and than the walk-ons
- IN MY BOOK if everything works out that’s a line up that could make the NCAA tournament…we’re short on depth but the talent is there if the chemistry is there!
I don't get where everyone is saying we're going to be bad
We have as talented a group of players 1-3 as any team in the nation, and if Len gets cleared we have an average 5 until he proves otherwise. Only real weakness is the 4, and while it is a team game, one spot is not going to mean the difference between NCAAT and no postseason.
After all UConn won it all with no skilled big men….
Don't get your hopes up
Our 1-3’s are not even as talented as some other ACC teams, much less as talented as any team in the nation. They are young, and inconsistent, and not good enough outside shooters to avoid the eventual rebounding problems the team will face without a reliable big man or power forward. Heck, they are so thin (and not talking about weight) in the paint, that if anyone gets hurt, or get in foul trouble, they are going to have to play five guards at once. They are only 2 or 3 injuries away from starting walkons.
by JalenTigh on Oct 20, 2011 3:07 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Its hard to win games
with 8 (possibly 9) scholarship players on roster. Of those players, three have played any sort of significant minutes in ACC action. Weiss/Padgett have gotten a share of NCAA games but combined to average 13.5 MPG last year.
We have to essentially replace 47ppg of offense (out of the 77 ppg we averaged last year) and 26 reb/g (of 39) from a team that failed to make the NCAAT or the NIT.
I’m sure Faust will come in and have some success scoring points and Pankey might have success rebounding, but those are large gaps to fill without adding all that much. Plus, imagine if Pankey goes down again, Len doesn’t get cleared, and it never clicks for Parker. That puts us at six usable players with scholarships. You don’t compete in any conference with just six players.
granted we need all our players to be able to play and stay healthy but there is every potential for a whole new dynamic...
last year kind of sucked because the seniors were not able to take their game to the level of ACC starter particularly Bowie and Cliff and also Mosely underachieved for his capability. Dino was the solid unsung hero and it wasn’t surprising for us that Jordan opted to leave early….Conclusion- the synergy that makes a team come together as a team did not happen…our seniors did not emerge and it was one of the worst seasons we’ve had for some time although it is worth noting we were a team that came very close to pulling of some very big games and to me that suggest that we had enough components to almost be there but overall the tires went flat as the season wined down.
transition keys- new players (Faust, Olexiy, and Pankey*), new coach (Turgeon), graduations from last year likely will help this years team fuse
This years team has every potential to fuse and find a level of synergy that last eluded last years cast. What particularly will help is the addition of Faust who appears to provide the outside stroke we lacked last year outside of Stoglin. Olexiy and Pankey along with Padgett and Weiss are good enough to get us there if the whole team finds that enigmatic rhythm that every team strives to find. There might not be as much talent down low with Jordan and Dino gone but with all the newness and essentially three new players (Faust, Olexiy, and Pankey) we have a brand new opportunity to find what we never found last year…and though arguably we are too young or too skinny we definitely have potential to go farther with this team and we will….9th my ass…this season has every potential to be one of the greatest seasons ever the expectations are zero and we got fresh batch of soup being pieced together in the kitchen with Chef Turgeon at the helm.
So we're going to replace
60% of our scoring and 67% of our rebounding with “synergy”?
If Bowie/Tucker couldn’t elevate from critical role players to ACC starters (after 3 years of being rotational players/spot starters) why do you expect Weiss/Padgett to elevate their games from essentially nothing to ACC starter?
I see Weiss/Padgett will likely have the same role only with more experience and more playing time...
Looking at the backcourt with the addition of Faust and with a years experience for Stoglin and Peshon, and with it being Mosely’s final season our perimeter will be more refined and the synergy factor exponentially multiplies especially now that we have a new coach. Listening to the comments Turgeon is making it’s not difficult to speculate… so say when he clearly indicates Pankey is the best rebounder or Olexiy it’s a matter of time before the light comes on it suggest those guys will be getting time versus comments regarding Parker which to me indicate Parker likely has some of the same struggles he had last year.
Now if take things a step further… with the improvements on the perimeter and there is great potential for new movements to be established the question now comes to the front court where we are essentially replacing Jordan and Dino with Olexiy and Pankey or Olexiy and Mosely when we run a four guard offense. So let’s ask ourselves a question…what happened last year? Jordan was phenomenal in the beginning with all those double doubles…great indiviual statistics that we all enjoyed but as the season progressed defenses began to key in on him and offensively we essentially became a tunnel visioned two man show of Stoglin and Jordan (great components but defenses figured us out). Now bring in Olexiy and bring in Pankey and their is new potential for our overall offensive to develops that finds ways to move beyond the ruts we fell into last year. Turgeon is allready ribbing Stoglin that he is expecting more. So yes new components new coach equals new potential for new dynamics to emerge where team chemistry transcends the ruts of individual talent and overall lack of confidence we found in last years team. This years team is going to be better than last and as long as we get Olexiy able to play and everybody stays healthy we will be dancing come March…the eye of Ray has spoken!
Tons of assumptions
Looking at the backcourt with the addition of Faust and with a years experience for Stoglin and Peshon, and with it being Mosely’s final season our perimeter will be more refined and the synergy factor exponentially multiplies especially now that we have a new coach.
You could have just as easily replaced Faust with “Stoglin”, Stog/PeShon with “Mosley” and Mosley with “Bowie/Tucker” and you would have had our expectations for last year’s team. You’re seriously counting on Len 1. getting cleared 2. playing significant (JW replacement type) minutes and 3. making a significant impact on the offensive end as the driving force behind our trip to the NCAAs. European basketball is an entirely different animal than American ball. He’s going to go through struggles in his adjustment to the more physical game. As far as I have heard on Pankey, his offensive game is limited, so I wouldn’t count on him putting up numbers better than Padgett did last year.
Also, counting out Parker puts us down to 8 scholarship players, if Len doesn’t get cleared, that turns into 7. If Turge gets this team to the NCAAs he will deserve coach of the year honors (no exageration).
We can do it successfully with 8 or 9 players
Notre Dame only played 7 players most of the season, and they were pretty good.
I think Faust is our key go to guy this year, If he’s as good as advertised, he could play a great 3 so we can move the 3 P’s up to play the 4 spot. Haven’t heard much about Parker, mostly Pankey and Padge.
by Snappin Terp on Oct 21, 2011 2:35 AM EDT up reply actions
Notre Dame played
like 7 seniors/juniors who have all been on the team for the last three/four years. Its a lot different when you have one real senior, one junior, and a whole bunch of freshman/sophomores with little or no real game experience.
They'll find a way to blow it
Boring to watch anyway. Though Bennett is a good coach, his style is sooo boring.
I am looking at the rankings thinking that if this is all that’s in front of Turge and crew, it won’t be long until Maryland is top-3 in the league again very soon.
The Wahoos always disappoint themselves.
These team rankings are all about the players, not the coaches. Give Seth Greenburg tthe UNC players. He’d be lucky to finish 3rd or 4th. and make the NIT this year. Why do the Hokies keep him around. To castrate the the turkeys??
by Snappin Terp on Oct 21, 2011 2:39 AM EDT up reply actions
UVA will figure out how to lose. They always do.
Typical Carolina media day, all kissing each others ass and never saying one bad word about the Triangle teams. I actually l;ike being ranked 9th. It gives us an edge for the season against all our competition Temple was supposed to suck at football. They sure didn’t for us!
Len will be the key guy to take us to the NIT this year. Hope the NCAA is smart enough to call him eligible. The Terps have had too many bad breaks, like Ross last year.
Not to mention
UVA DOENST have talent…they have a bunch of scrappy unathletic (white) players…I refuse to believe we don’t have a shot at being competitive this year…hopefully being picked 9th will do nothing but inspire Turge and this team to prove everyone wrong!!!
UVA might be the 3rd best team in the conference
Mike Scott is back, Sammy Zeglinsky is back, Malcolm Brogdon was top 100 coming out of hs, Sene is back. They lost 1 player who mattered and added some pretty good freshmen. Come on, do your homework before you make these ridiculous comments. I think they only have 3 white guys on their team. I saw some people picking Maryland to finish 11th in the conference, and I didn’t agree with them at first. But after looking at what the other schools are brining back, Boston College is the only team that Maryland is better than.
He hit 25 to ruin Senior Day for the Terps last year...
Fear the Zeglinski! lol
UVA is actually kinda loaded
Mike Scott is legit, KT Harrell is pretty good, Joe Harris is good, Brogdon and Zeginski as mentioned below.
They're loaded
But the Wahoos haven’t played consistently well since the Ralph Sampson era.
by Snappin Terp on Oct 21, 2011 2:42 AM EDT up reply actions
I'd bet anyone on this board
we finish within 1 game of UVA in the ACC standings.
2010-2011 ACC Wins: Maryland (+1) vs UVA.
Media Voters
Is there a public list of who votes in the preseason poll and their respective media affiliation? I’ve always been curious about the geographic distribution, but I haven’t been able to find a list..
Expansion
After the last 7-8 years, expansion was definitely the answer to get ACC basketball great again. Other than UNC and Duke league has lost much of the “yester-year” glory. Now if we can get ND and UConn our league will be safe, secure, and VERY good in all sports.
I have a very hard time seeing Virginia or NC State as better than Maryland, even in a "rebuilding" year.
Duke and North Carolina are the top two, in some order. Georgia Tech and Boston College are the bottom two, in some order. Outside of that, the middle eight could finish in any order at all and nobody would be surprised.
Good thing you will get to watch it then
Virginia is absolutely loaded. NC State returns a lot as well. But Virginia, is absolutely loaded this year. I think the bottom 4 are Maryland, Wake, GT and BC. Wake is a toss up because they return almost everybody and they have a lot of length.
Florida State can easily be the #2 conference team this year.
Puke can be beaten this year. I expect K to have his head lowered several times this year.
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