Saturday, February 16, 2008

MD 82, FSU 72

Quality second half performance by the Turtles today and we are back in the WIN column, as Joe Angel would say.

The 82-72 win over FSU puts Maryland back in a tie for third in the ACC with Clemson. Greivis almost pulled off a triple double with 20 points, 8 assists and 8 turnovers and later told the media he played "horrible." But if that's horrible, I think we can all live with it. After all, GV got Maryland back in the game in the first few minutes of the second half with a couple of big 3 pointers, even if he was a little sloppy with the ball.

Thoughts on the game:
I didn't get to attend in person today, watched on non-HD channel 54.
Love Dan Bonner on color commentary, the most under-rated color guy in the country in my opinion. He's been doing it under the radar for like 20 years. The guy is as insightful and smart about hoops as Billy Packer, without all the holier than thou attitude.
GREAT game by Milbourne; as Gist said after the game, he's a big X factor for this team, when he and Hayes are scoring, Maryland is very tough to beat.
Hayes has looked a bit weak the last two games, but did make a few big threes today.
Gist had either a bad good game or a good, bad game. All of a sudden he isn't finishing as well as he was prior to the Duke game. He made his free throws and was disruptive on D, so ... decent game, just not a dominant game like you'd like to see out of Gist. I guess he can't do it every night.
At 17-9, 7-4, Maryland has to win 3 of its last 5 to lock up a tourney spot. You gotta believe they are going if they make it to 10-6 in the ACC right? So here's what's left and what I think will happen:
Wed. night, home vs. Va Tech - VT just lost by 39 at UNC today; they are a bad road time, Md wins this one to guarantee at least a .500 season in the ACC.
at Miami -- I think Miami has won four of the last five vs. Maryland and they are going to really need this game. It's a toss-up but I think Maryland wins.
at Wake -- another toss up ... but one thing that scares me is this.. Wake is 5-5 in the league right now. Their next two are home vs. Duke and at UNC, so they'll probably lose both and be 5-7 when Maryland visits. That means wake will be playing for its season ... not good news for Maryland. I think the Terps win 1 of these 2 road games, not both.
vs. Clemson - Md. usually beats clemson, though the Tigers have a very solid team this year, another tough one, but I give the Terps the edge for their home finale (even though they've been a mediocre home team this year).
at Va. -- Md. should win; Cavs have Sean Singletary and not much else and typically handle UVa.

If I had to bet it, I think Maryland beats VT, goes 1-1 at Miami and Wake, and then beats Clemson and UVa to finish 11-5 in the ACC, 21-10 overall. That would be solid.

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