Maryland Minute 12.15.10 - ACC Launches ACC Vault, Kills Productivity on Eastern Seaboard

ACC Releases ACC Vault, Ruins Your Productivity
The ACC just released a small group of games to watch (for free with no commercials!) on ACC Vault, sort of like what the NCAA did last year. "Small", by the way, is all relative: for instance, there are 15 Maryland games available for watching in full, plus a handful of highlights. Unfortunately, most of the recent games are losses and the Greivis-Duke Senior Day win isn't included. Luckily, another game is:

The 2004 ACC Championship Game
Watch it. Over. And over. And over. I already have.

I miss the old days; really, actually, just the first four years of the decade (and '99). Bias was before my time, so I've never had a better four or five years of basketball enjoyment than those. The jerseys, the players, slightly less crabby Gary, a more hateable Duke...it's just so idyllic. I don't know if it's because I blogged Greivis instead of experienced him, if I'm no longer innocent, or if it's just not as compelling as it used to be, but nothing compares to those few years. That highlight is just euphoric.

Also, watching freshman Mike Jones playing in the final minute against Duke in the ACC championship game was surprising. I forgot he wasn't always in the doghouse. I feel like we should do a GameThread for this with the long break coming up.

Maryland's games finished at the exams break - D1scourse
Potentially a better start that "games started", but only minimally so. Never understood the rationale behind "let's not have our best players on the floor to start the game." Especially when they start slow historically.

Haha: Wake Forest Beats UNC-G by 2
Maryland won by 43.

Whoa Whoa Whoa: Is Maryland Leading for Travis Hughes?
It's Bleacher Report, so take a breath. But hey, the guy has actual quotes, so maybe he knows something. I'm not saying it's true, but here it is if you want it.

"It’s truly a family there [at Maryland]. Everyone really comes together as one," Hughes said.

It also appears that Maryland quarterback Danny O’Brien will play a big role in Hughes' decision, as his father Tony pointed out. "I look at a program with a solid QB. If they don’t have a solid quarterback then their defense is on the field a long time. I think Maryland has that with a great defense coming back and a solid quarterback in O’Brien. I love him. He is one of best QBs out of Maryland."

He's making his decision on Saturday and would be a huge commitment: he's #154 in the nation on Rivals.

Whittington Drops 29 and 12
Nope, I've never heard of "Reservoir" either, but Whittington's averaging 27 and 13 so far. This is very promising.

DC-Area PF Eugene McCrory Visiting Maryland?
So says Zags. He doesn't give a timetable, but he says that Maryland "has invited him to a game," which I guess means there's some interest. McCrory was a 2010 and committed to Seton Hall, but he reclassified to 2011 and decommitted. McCrory is 6-8 and 240; he's not an instant-impact type of player, but for a team that lacks bigs and might be without Ashton Pankey, he might be a worthy pickup. Not sure he's a particularly better use of a scholarship than Whittington, though.