Maryland Minute 8.22.11: Palsson Finds a Home (Plus More Uni Stuff)

Haukur Palsson Signs with Spain's Manresa
Didn't take long. He signed on to a team in Spain's top league, Liga ACB, which is probably the best league in Europe. That's actually pretty impressive. Oh, and George Gervin played there for a year at the tale end of his career, which is pretty cool.

Up-Close Look at New Helmet
I do like the turtle-shell / flag combo. Very, very distinctive.

Uni Watch hates on Maryland
Paul Lukas calls last night's event "a corporate masturbation session, a retailing showcase, and a sham." He refuses to talk about the unis as a result, claiming them to be simply Under Armour advertising designed to sell more.

To which I reply, "Duh." All uniforms are that. Under Armour is going to great lengths to improve Maryland's program, and if we have to shout their slogan at every damn event we ever have, I'm down.

Captains will choose uniform combos, except for Miami
Good.

“I told the captains, you’re the guys that are going to have to decide what we’re wearing because there are too many options for me,” Edsall said.

The captains will get help; Maryland is running a Twitter campaign to allow fans to vote on their favorite combination for next week’s opener Sept. 5 against the Miami Hurricanes, who probably wish all they had to worry about was what to wear to College Park.

Nice selling point.

Football will go retro ... eventually
Bring back these, and these. At least one towards the end of this year, please.

“To do it well, there has to be somewhat of a cooling-off period,” Pine said. “You need to set your pace with what you’re going to do with your branding and your logo use and you need to stick with those for a certain amount of time. Then you can phase in some retro brands. There’s obviously some popular marks over the years that we’ll bring back, but we have to move forward before we look back to those to do it effectively.”

What Is Villanova Losing In Isaiah Armwood? - The Nova Blog
Nova folks give the low-down on the man they call Zeek. Those who say he lacked an offensive game are right, it seems, and they describe him as a "leave-it-all-on-the-floor player who was probably never going to become the type of player we all hoped he could become." But they also laud his "leave-it-all-on-the-floor"-ness, and his experience.

I get that some people don't want him, but, frankly, I'll never understand those people, unless they have some reason not related to his game. Not all 13 scholarship players will be stars. Getting an experienced, leave-it-on-the-floor type to replace Mosley is no problem, and, in fact, is necessary on an elite team. He'd be a senior during the freshman years of the Harrison twins; if Maryland is as loaded as we all hope they might be, it'd be nice to have a Mouton type on which to rely, even if only off the bench.

Recruiting Report: Daquein McNeil no longer being recruited by Maryland
McNeil is a 2013 PG from Baltimore. He'll probably be a top 75-type, but with the Harrisons and Britt, I never though there'd be room for him. Looks like that's the case:

At the 2010 Bmorehoops.com All-Star event, McNeil said that he liked " Maryland a lot" and was hearing regularly from Terps assistant coach Bino Ranson. McNeil said Saturday that he is no longer being recruited by Maryland.

Remaining in contact would be nice, so I'm hoping this means the staff is very confident about either Britt or the twins.

BeeJay Anya's stock continues to rise - ESPN
Says he's "wide open."

On the recruiting end, Anya isn't a stranger to the attention. He has offers from Maryland, Pittsburgh, Indiana, Georgetown, Texas, St. John's, UCLA and several other programs.

He said that Indiana, Virginia and Syracuse are among the most active with his recruitment and while he isn't looking to follow his senior teammates to one of their respective schools, he wouldn't mind continuing to play with either Grant or Robinson or one of his other former DeMatha teammates.

With no draft defections, Terps' Bakich looks ahead - Washington Times
Three Terp commitments were drafted in July's MLB Draft. All three are heading to College Park, including local star KJ Hockaday.

Da'Rel Scott goes 97 yards for a TD for the Giants
Almost ended up with a safety, but instead he found a hole and sprinted 97 yards for a TD. Best part: Mike Tirico's call: "And here's Da'Rel Scott out of MARYLAND!"