Mark Turgeon Is Unhappy With Maryland Basketball, Thanks For Asking

7 players on scholarship, no point guard, and a new system, relying on Freshman and sophomores as primary ball handlers, only one player who can create his own offense and no low post scorers. All these are reasons not to expect greatness right away or even goodness. Realistically mediocreness should be the goal until Pe’Shon gets back and Len becomes eligible. At that point, with 15 games under their belts and Howard back and Auslander and Thomas back to the bench, its reasonable to expect some improvement. Until then, its survival mode and no one should fault Turge or the 7 players on scholarship for some ugly performances.
If you want further evidence not that the UNC wilmington team that played the Terps to a single digit loss got blasted by 25 at a decent but far from spectacular by Dayton on Saturday.
I still trust Turge and still believe they’ll be in the sweet 16 in three years, he just may have a lot more grey hair by then.

By the way Scott Machado is really really really good. Good point guards like Machado and Releford are going to shred the Terps for a while, but Ben’s already noted that.

This is how it goes sometimes. Everyone knows they have fewer scholarship players. It’s just a reality that we all will have to deal with. The Terps will be back. A little time and sweat and energy and the Terps will be back. MD has the right coach in football and basketball. Five years from now, everyone will see. There will be some bumps in the road, but it will happen.

And, I can’t say that Turgeon’s comments are “calculated” per se, but I think there’s a bit of calculation in being candid. I think he wants the players to understand the frustration and he wants them to understand that he is going to share it with the world. I’m sure that will make even the most reluctant try harder. There’s nothing wrong with that. At the same time, I don’t even mind if Edsall is a bit more “calculated” in his comments. The goal is the same. Both coaches want to win and they want to win the right way. They are willing to say things to send messages to their players. Coaches at all major programs do it. When you lose, the microscope comes out and all of the comments are scrutinized. When you lose, the comments become more fodder for blog discussion.

but turgeon is right.
there is a lot of work ahead. I watched all three games. in the first they basically panicked and forced the issue. no team trust or sticking to game plan at all.
the second game they got hot and had a flow but made poor decisions. also got bailed out by timely plays.
in the Iona game they fought at times but were so lazy it was ridiculous. I can’t count how many WTF’s I screamed at my tv. as a former player I know I would’ve gotten benched for life for that kind of nonsense. granted Iona was a superior team, the terps still just went through he motions. maybe mental fatigue set in after 3 games in 4 days.
they’re kids and I can only get but so upset. I feel turgeon’s pain. they REALLY need pe’shon to keep nick at the 2. that alone would make a world of difference. and on the inside, I personally have to admit that weijs’ weight really force him to be a slow 3 or 4. i was hoping for him making a big difference in the middle this season. the guards made no effort to feed the post and had a load of opportunities to do it. pankey can score from inside and so can Padgett. they need the ball, particularly against a team so weak on the inside.
they have a ways to go and I’m not mad. they still need to learn sync and trust each other… and learn their roles. hopefully some of the players buy into the team philosophy more. they can win a lot of games if they get dedicated. they were basically almost tied at the half despite all the turnovers.
I’m still going to my games this year.

and then try to claim it’s not about him? Hilarious. We get it already, one of our two head coaches will get the benefit of the doubt from you.

If my coach ever came out and said “Hey, he’s just not doing what I’m telling him to do.”

I’d be embarrassed! and very motivated to correct my mistakes.

Smart move by Turgeon. If Edsall said it, dumb move different situation.

It is a relief to see the transparency with Turgeon and what you see (or hear) is what you get. No mind games or double talk. If Turgeon says the players should care more than they better make the change quickly. With Turgeon you know where you stand. It is something to appreciate even in a loss.

It almost appeared that the Terps have spent zero time working on this. Some of the mistakes looked comical. I hope this is the last we see of these types of mistakes because they are the easiest to correct. I liked Gary’s approach of spreading four players across midcourt on the inbounds play.

About time someone at MD spoke the truth instead of blowing smoke up our rear ends. Gary Williams left the cupboard empty of quality players; once Jordan Williams decided to leave GW could see what was coming down the road and he retired rather than take the heat for letting this program fall back to the bottom of the ACC.

He WILL find a way to turn things around. Of course with a team of 7 scholarship players, you can’t do much “If you don’t do what I say, you won’t play”

when they’ve played well. See his quotes about Stoglin following the Colorado game, for example. If he only ever had negative things to say, then I could see how it could be detrimental.

Teams with bunches of depth and talent can get away with lackadaisical play from time to time. The Terps don’t have that luxury this year, and Turgeon is well aware of that fact. Precision and concentration are ways to help mitigate the lack of depth and overall talent. He wants the team to value attention to detail and effort as much as he does.

“To me, the players have to care more than they are now. I think there is immaturity and we need confidence and the willingness to be good. It’s hard to be good. It’s easy to not be good.”

and i have ample personal experience to prove it.

I don’t remember Gary Williams ever turning on his team in front of the media, and I always admired that.

Nothing good comes from this kind of public excoriation of the team.

in his criticism of a team’s performance either. About the most he’d ever say is “we didn’t come ready to play.” However, “not coming ready to play” entails things like being sloppy with the ball, not running the offense, not getting back on D, etc. To me, Turgeon’s comments simply offer specificity to what it means to “not come ready to play.” His tone was quite subdued when he said them, so I wouldn’t say he excoriated anyone.

I understand why some people question Turgeon’s candor, but I think his coaching record challenges the notion that nothing good can come from his approach.

Ass chewings work wonders in the right circumstance and I think this was it. Just like a perfectly timed Technical can rally a team so can this. Sometimes in sports you have to be willing to call your own kids ugly and I think that’s what MT is doing here. Too many times you hear “Well, we just didn’t have it tonight” or “the better team won” and in certain situations that’s fine. That’s okay when a coach sees his team running the plays properly and shots just aren’t falling or if his team simply is outmatched talent wise but they’re improving every time they hit the floor. But when a coach sees his team deviate from the plan they worked on all week, especially a young team, and make stupid mistakes like being careless with the basketball it has to get frustrating. Telling the team that their play yesterday was unacceptable is perfectly okay and frankly it’s what this team needs. Turge told them “Look guys, if we run the offense that I’ve implemented and we play smart we will win, if you all go out there and take bad shots early in the play clock, don’t give full effort off the ball and try to make the sensational instead of the right or easy play (ie individual basketball) we will lose”. If they were a bad squad Turge wouldn’t have handled it this way. This shows me that although some may consider this a “rebuilding” year, Turge knows he has a solid core group of players. The first few games I’m sure Turge treated them like newborns. Now they are going into their 4th game, they occasionally need to be treated like teenagers. Of course, too much of this will backfire but I have faith in MT and I’m sure he knows what he’s doing. This isn’t his first rodeo. Sloppiness at TA&M might have been shrugged off more times than not but this is Maryland. We have a GREAT basketball tradition. “We don’t have Pe’ or Alex” aren’t excuses, this is Maryland not Towson. Turge knows that they should have beat Iona and his team has more talent even without those two.Turge knows it and he won’t accept anything less than constant improvement.

I know that sounds harsh just like Turge’s comments might have seemed harsh. I’m sure the players appreciate that MT won’t accept poor execution. He will accept a better team beating them, he will accept shots not falling, he will accept giving 110% and coming away with a loss. But he will NOT accept careless, stupid basketball over an entire game. A play here or there with a young team is expected but 26 TO’s? I would rather have a coach that is passionate than a Steve Spurrier “Oh well, get em next time” type coach. I think Turge’s attitude reflects how the fans are frustrated.

Saying that, now let’s move on. He won’t dwell on it, the players won’t either. That one is in the books and he said his peace. Next…..

Instead of “this is the biggest coaching challenge I’ve ever had…its not even close”,
how about “this is a really big coaching challenge.”
 
or instead of “the lack of commitment is mind-boggling…i’ve never seen anything like it.”
how about “we need a much greater commitment.”

Slight changes in one’s choice of words can take some of the edge off of sharp comments.

Hey, if it’s Turge’s style to be brutally honest like that then that’s his style. And while I love Turge and am totally behind him, I’m am curious as to one point. Fact is that all of these guys, except Faust, have been playing the flex offense for a long time…at least a year or more. And if Turge wants to totally change how we play offense, that’s fine. But when he said that all he was focusing on was defense for the first month, it kind of leaves a disconnect for me. If you’ve barely touched on your new offense, and the kids have another system ingrained in their heads and habits, well I think some confusion is quite likely to happen…only makes sense to me. So, perhaps either working more on the offense (while still working on D too but not making it the ONLY emphasis), or, if not, then still running some flex (that they know) while working on D and then coming back to the offense, one of those two ideas might have helped. For sure though, they are just lost on offense. And while you can say they didn’t run back and defend (which is true) and that they just caved in and stopped trying on D at the end (which is also true), perhaps some of that is cause they are frustrated cause they don’t know what to do on offense!!

So, basically, my point is a suggestion to Turge that at this point, why don’t you focus on the offense a little more!

A few other opinions about the players based on some other posts.

Faust – while young, he will get better, but he certainly isn’t hitting the ground running as a top level D1 player yet. No worries about him going pro!! Let’s see him start scoring like he can when he finally gets comfortable. Gonna need some more muscle over the next few years too (which will surely come).

Weijs – hate to say it cause I love the guy, but he’s just too weak to compete against some of these monsters. We’re just going to have to live with how he can contribute.

Padge – does need to stop taking the ball to the floor. He needs to relax and not spaz out… where if he’s got a good shot or a good low pass, then take it, but if not, kick it back out and try again.

Pankey – sick to think about good he can be eventually given he’s only a freshman, but needs to keep working hard and needs to work on his foul shot.

Parker – love the athleticism, but for some reason he just doesn’t seem to quite have a floor sense. Like when he drove straight into a pack of 3 defenders and got called for the charge. Anybody can see he should have stopped and popped, or tried to penetrate and dish. His bball IQ needs to improve along with his free throw shooting (which was horrible!)

Moseley – played fairly well but has had some dumb turnovers himself. Shouldn’t be happening from a senior leader. He needs to lead by example and don’t make stupid sloppy mistakes himself.

Stogs – gonna give you all he can and it must be frustrating to him thinking he’s the only guy that can really score. So, he needs to trust his teammates more but they need to give him more reasons to trust him too! Like others have said, we may be living and dying by the Stogs this year.

Walkons – man they are just nervous as hell. Thomas seems to be getting a little more comfortable (nice 3 ball) and Auslander seems like a pretty cool cat (nice nailing those free throws), so who knows but they aren’t going to make a huge difference in the end.

Overall, these games are gonna help, but if we’re transitioning to a completely new offensive system, then let’s start working on it down already!! All we can hope is we keep improving. I do believe it’s all mental with this group (with Wiejs the exception) though as we definitely have athleticism.

Doesn’t say much for his coaching ability. If Gary was coaching this team I don’t think they lose by 26.

Working the clock, passing, moving, set plays all buy you more open looks. Under staffed? Make them guard you for the full clock or close to it before getting the open shot.
If you got a natural 2-3 playing the point with little or no preparation lately to do so, things are not going to come off perfect every time. But, guys, you got to take this all as a learning experience, listen to Coach and get better at executing each time. Help is coming but you are good enough to win games right now if you steady up.