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Maryland football and basketball are seemingly going in opposite directions this week. The football program is experiencing the highs of National Signing Day after keeping massive OL Damian Prince in-state.
Meanwhile, the basketball team is stuck in this perpetual state of mediocrity. Back-to-back wins over Virginia Tech and Miami were nice, dare I say - encouraging. However, everything came crashing back to earth after the loss to North Carolina.
It's a strange time for Maryland. This is the perfect example of what being a fan of sports is like.
Stock Rising:
2014 Recruiting Class - It's PRINCEMAS, ya'll. The class, while one of the smaller in the country, was penalized a tad for that, but overall was a decent class that loaded up the offensive line and added some depth at the skill positions.
The 2014 Offensive Line - Between Prince, Derwin Gray and Larry Mayzck the Terps got A LOT bigger and a lot more talented on the offensive line. We had a discussion in our official Testudo Times Chatroom TM (aka an email chain) about what the Offensive Line will look like in 2014. We all know starting three offensive linemen that are new can have its issues, but these three could start right away. It's a question we will get into in the Roundtable tomorrow as well.
Mike Locksley - The recruiter, not the coach. Landing Prince was huge for Locksley, Edsall and the program in general. It would have been devastating to miss out on Prince and Tabor if you're Maryland, so landing one of them is still positive.
Brendan Moore -- Not the highest-rated recruit in the class, but oh my god did you read his "how to get recruited" post? Mine would be simple like "Play really, really good and try and get noticed." That's not informative or helpful, the other Brendan killed it.
Stock Holding:
Dez Wells - Wells has had some moments of sheer dominance over the last week, but couldn't do it all against UNC like he did against Virginia Tech.
Evan Smotrycz - I'll start this by saying that I know Smotrycz is a liability at times on the defensive end, but he's been steady on the offensive end the last four games. He's shot 50 percent or better in his last five games and has double-digit scoring in four of them. I'll take that.
Stock Falling:
The Bench - 2-for-7 shooting. 4-for-7 from the line. Eight points, nine total rebounds and eight fouls. Nick Faust is boom or bust. Shaquille Cleare looks overmatched and like he isn't developing. Jonathan Graham is what he is and he's never going to be the guy to give you a monster night, but he won't kill you.
Roddy Peters - I think we're getting to the point where we need to discuss if Peters is regressing as a player. He had three turnovers in six minutes against UNC, that's just unacceptable out of a point guard no matter their age. This is another one of those things where it's happening and I don't know why. We know that he's committing turnovers, but I don't know if it is a talent issue, and therefore a lack of development, or if it is just a confidence issue.
