Four Things We Learned from Maryland's Loss to North Carolina

It was a tough, tough loss to take, but this team is really starting to come around. Who would’ve thought 2 months ago, when we were beating the likes of Radford by 5, we would hang with both Duke and UNC for the majority of those respective games at Comcast? Heck, we had a 9 point lead on UNC in the second half. What I’m eager to see now is how we do on the road against them. It’ll be quite difficult to grab a win, but I’m not putting it out of the realm of possibility. I’d like to see if we can give both a run for their money again though at least. I also think that by the time the ACC Tournament comes around we could make a run there. We should be pretty battle tested and can hopefully go in with confidence.

But before I get ahead of myself, let’s see how this team does at Clemson Thursday. I’d like to see them build off today and put together a solid game down there. Our remaining home games are BC, Miami, and UVA…let’s hope the fans/students stay with this team and show up strong. I’m really excited about this teams’ potential.

I’m loving the attitude Turgeon has, even during the transition year. Even he didn’t know what he had in this team with Pe’ hurt, Len an unknown quantity on suspension, and a huge question mark about the leadership Mosley brings. He’s found a good rotation of guys to keep up with any team in the nation (although I think against a Kansas or Mizzou, they’d be blown out). The wins aren’t the most important thing this year.
My confidence is higher than it was when Greivis was a sophomore. I look at the home games against Duke and UNC (and possibly UVA in the upcoming weeks), and see those as very winnable games. That’s the next step for this team.

Turgeon just told ol Roy to watch the f*ck out

Needs to go John Chaney next time we play and send some “goons” in

is everything right about Turgeon condensed into 1 line of text.

I have enjoyed this team more than any in recent years. Not that I ACCEPT losses, but they have not bothered me as much as in the past. I see progress, great coaching, great players coming into the program, and future success. It is kind of nice watching these young players getting better every game.

The Terps basketball play, especially, in the ACC has been inconsistent.

1/ We commit too many mistakes — poor passing, shot selections, etc.

2/ We simply can’t protect a lead. Today’s game is prime example. We led by 9 points, and couldn’t build on it.

3/ We need scorers. Other than Stoglin, we simply don’t have a spark plug. Alex is learning to get his groove. The 10 game suspension did hurt his development. Nick Faust just can’t get his scoring groove on. He needs to step up to the plate, and start getting his 15 – 20 feet strokes going.

4/ 2nd half last 5 minutes … we tend to be gased. Bench strength has a lot to do with it. We need Mychael Parker and Ashton Pinkey to step it up.

When we say we need reinforcements down low, I think what we really need is better defensive rebounding from James and Ashton. That’s putting a body on people and being aggressive going after the ball. Those are teachable skills. Why James isn’t better at this stage I don’t know. He should be a better defensive rebounder. He is certainly strong enough to take on a Henson. As to Ashton, he is effectively a freshman. He is too reactive at this stage and a half-step behnd the action. He often looks like James did when he was a freshman. I think we are going to see big improvements in his play.

One reinforcement we do need is a back-up point guard. Terrell cannot continue to be the go-to guy at the 2 and back-up Pe’Shon at the point.

I have nothing else to say. Fucking assists.

Is he really “formerly of the Baltimore Sun”? I thought he still writes for them.

I thought the fact that we actually fed Len the ball in the post was a huge plus in this game. I can’t remember him getting the ball on the block at all during the Miami game. Having a post presence makes a huge difference offensively.

Len was more than a little impressive in the 2nd half. Even the gold tendings send a message. He scrambled on the floor. Coach got him up. When 6’8" isn’t tall enough than maybe he has to learn to box out and stop pulling punches. One thing Duke and NC always do is try to intimidate. But u got to be smart about it. Losing is no big thing unless your record starts to suck and I bet these guys feel down today. So don’t get in their face how close it was. They know the three inside Carolina players stole the show from them down the stretch. I saw on TV no help for Alex playing with four. Faust may be aggressive and athletic but his instincts may still be at the high school level. When to take a shot and drive. Stoglin. Someone like Mosley has to grab him by the arm and let him know he has to pass the ball when he’s at the arc. I didn’t see the first half so I only recall his futile shot late that hit the front rim. He basically takes a one handed set because he lacks the strength in his legs to shoot a true high arc 3. If he can’t hit don’t give him the ball. He can score his 20 with fewer shots and if he can’t he can sit down and watch from the bench. Four assists? Well whoopie doo. Not that he’s bad he just doesn’t know how to play on a team. Take JJ Reddick. I guy who f’d over MD many times. He didn’t hog the ball. He ran a set around the court and would lose his cover and the ball came to him on the run. For the most part the Terps were moving the ball but again down the stretch they got either tired or frustrated or I don’t know what. That’s when a Len on the inside a Padgett at ten or Pankey blocking out should be demanding the ball. Two poor turnovers in the last five stand out. Bad passing underneath. I get it. They’re in a hurry. And I agree they’ll be good. But for me Faust would be better served playing at a higher tempo but in reality Stoglin slows them down hanging onto the ball for ten seconds until the defense says ok sucker take your best shot. rims out. three defenders underneath, fast break. Best shot of the day I think it was a cross over under the rim layup by Mosley. Where was this guy when Vaz was playing. He had to be the guard for the number one guy. But the other was Padge’s step back and underneath and a follow thru like the man knows what he’s doing. He didn’t play last year either. For the most part these guys are all first year players. Give it time. Don’t wish for Cleare. Watch these guys. They’re talented.

a big part of the large amount of turnovers is that several terps aren’t very good with the ball. dribbling, passing and shooting. so if you pass to padgett, pankey, parker or weijs you have a 50/50 chance of the play not going well. that problem should go away after the next year or 2 as better, more complete players are recruited to come to c.p. sometimes i think gary said find me guys who lack skills and i’ll mold them to be players…. but we got too much mold.

With coach and everyone else complaining about his shot selection, can someone please acknowledge that some of those drives he made to the basket with the double-clutch moves were just remarkable.

Bottom line is that GW left the cupboard bare; esp. with big men. So recruiting is key to get MD back to the top of the ACC. I have no doubt that Turge can turn this around; just going to take 2-3 seasons to get the right players. Hell, if an average coach like Roy Williams can win then so can Turge…the difference is talent. Roy has had the luxury of getting great talent both at Kansas and at UNC. Both tradition rich programs that attract the best players. MD needs to get to that level-use the 2001-2002 MD teams as a model.

Is how many turnovers we had simply from picking up the dribble too early out on the perimeter. I understand why we can’t beat teams like fsu. There was a point in the game where we turned over the ball on 4-5 straight possessions because of this.

I don’t mind his 9 3PT shots because I can only remember one or two that I thought were really forced. I think he averages over 7 a game to begin with so 9 is nothing outrageous and he was shooting over 38% on 3PTRs coming into the game. Maybe it was the size of Carolina’s guards or maybe just too much adrenaline but it could be a different game if he hits 3 or 4 of 9 instead of 1. I also thought there were a few fouls not called on some of his drives that seemed to be fouls when MD was on defense. I agree that some of his drives are incredible. As for the question of end of game shot selection, I have to wonder who has the responsibility there? Doesn’t some of his decision making have to be laid at the feet of his teammates? Don’t they have to step up and show that they want the ball and are willing to take those shots?

I hope Stoglin doesn’t get cute and go pro.Turge is a better coach than huckleberry Roy.

I’m sick of people complaining about how bad the refs are, each and every game. UNC got screwed over too, so suck it up and move on.

Same with Henson’s dunk. Please, please get over it. I cursed at my TV when he ended the game like that, but the truth of the matter is he’s around 20 years old and allowed to have some fun. And don’t forget that our crowd was chewing him out all game. And that MD players we’re probably talking trash with him on the court. I’m sure he had some anger he wanted to take out. For all we know, maybe that’s the slap in the face MD needs to not just play competitively, but really take it to UNC next time around.

I thought we played our hearts out today and am proud of all of guys. Stogs for being Stogs, Len for doing what many of us thought was never going to happen again this season, and Pe’ for playing a good all-around game. Here’s to hoping we punish Clemson.

1. P’shon can not guard anyone. Marshall drove past him like he was invisible, and Marshall’s not that quick. That plus the stupid 3 point attempt when it was 1 on 4 make P’shon a problem.
2. I love Turg, but the fact is, late in the game, he had Len and 4 guards on the floor with the game still close. We got out-rebounded in crunch time because we had no height in the game. Padgett should have been in the game.
3. Len is the real deal. All ACC 1st team by Jr year.
4. Stogs took the last 6 shots because nobody esle was getting open. Watch the tape, no one else is moving.
5. Is it only me, or does anyone else think Barnes really resembles Len Bias? Same exact body, same exact perfect jump shot.

We’ve all been saying how this team is inexperienced but that all of these close games are, in the long term, going to be really helpful. It would seem that the team, especially young guys, are learning on the job how to (and not to) close out a close game against a tough opponent. HOWEVER, I think this is way off from reality. At the end of all these close games, like it’s been mentioned above, Stogs is the only one taking shots and the rest of his teammates are afraid/hesitant to want the ball and shoot a big shot in crunch time. This is definitely NOT good for the future and the for the experience of everyone not named Stoglin. If Stoglin didn’t take over with 5 minutes left in the game, I understand we have less of a chance of winning most of these games, but not getting anyone else involved has taught them nothing about closing out a game. What’s going to happen when/if Stoglin leaves? I think what we’ll see is a relapse into poor play at the end of games even when Faust/Len/the other young guys are Juniors. Let’s keep an eye on this!