Tomorrow is a notable day for Maryland athletics for two reasons: first, it's a return to playing in bowl games after taking a break last year; second and more importantly, it's the end of the Ralph Friedgen era and the potential start of the Leach/Malzahn/Edsall/other era. But hey, guess what: there's also a basketball game tomorrow! Betcha didn't know that.
Maryland returns to the hardwood tomorrow night, playing the North Florida Ospreys tomorrow at 8:00 in the Comcast Center. And no, there is no TV past TerpsTV (hopefully I can find a stream).
For the record, North Florida is another cupcake variety of opponent, even if they are a better one than UNC-Greensboro or NJIT. For one, they have a couple of wins over D-I opponents, sporting a 4-7 record overall. They even defeated a decent Wyoming team on the road by 16, which is pretty impressive considering their standing as a low-major. Since then, they've lost home games to Stetson and Furman, so don't get too worried just yet.
They've faced a decent number of high-major teams, so they won't be starstruck by Maryland. The closest they've come against any of the Big 6 teams they've faced is a 20-point deficit, against both FSU and Purdue. They've also suffered their fair share of blowouts.
Their most notable stat is TO%, which ranks as the fifth-worst in DI. If Maryland's defense goes high-pressure, which they probably will at some point, you can probably expect a decent number of turnovers to result.
The Osprey's tempo is middle of the road, neither Maryland's breakneck pace nor a Big Ten slog. That should lend itself to a decent score when it's all said and done.
Like many other mid-majors, they lack height. The biggest player is 6-7, which means Jordan Williams should hold a huge advantage over whomever tries to cover him. The double-double streak should again extend itself.
Elsewhere, there's not much to see. This was a decent team last year as far as Atlantic Sun teams go, and they return a solid amount of players, but they're ultimately a run-of-the-mill A-Sun team. No run-of-the-mill A-Sun team should make a serious run at Maryland.
So once again, the biggest storyline will be whether or not Maryland sticks with its lineup change from last game, which involved a Pe'Shon Howard-Cliff Tucker sub. It had mixed results last time, so we'll see.
So with that, I wrap it up. I'm sorry, I know I should go more in-depth. But it's late and I'm tired. Big day tomorrow, you know?