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Welcome back. Here's a game preview, if you need one. Oh, and in case you were wondering, Maryland is six-point dogs. Game is at 2:00 on ESPNU.
Random, Baseless Prediction: Mychal Parker comes out guns a-blazing, knocks down two first-half three-pointers. I have no reason to believe this will actually come true.
Prediction: This feels like a bit of a toss-up, given how much Maryland prides itself on defense and how good Iona is on defense. There's a difference, though, between priding yourself on something and actually being good at it. My only question is this: can Maryland's offense keep pace?
I feel like the Terps' defense, with a day to think about it and Mark Turgeon screaming at them, should be able to play well enough to keep Iona more bottled-up than Purdue or Western Michigan did, somewhere below 90 points at least. But what Maryland offense shows up? The one that was awful against Alabama, or the one that was great against Colorado? Iona is an inferior defense to the Buffs; does that mean Maryland might be able to put up more than 77 (if they'll need to), or was Friday really just a fluke?
I'm guessing it'll be the latter, but we'll see. My guess: Maryland keeps Iona below 90, partially thanks to the pace, and puts up some buckets of their own, but a third-straight points-assists double-double from Scott Machado and a big game from Mike Glover secure an Iona victory. A poor first-half performance from Terrell Stoglin does Maryalnd in. I'll go 83-71.