Terp fans, we have reached the time of year when it's ALL on the line. Tonight, Maryland travels to Syracuse New York to face the Orangemen for a trip to the Elite 8.
It's Gary Williams vs. Jim Boeheim
Maryland's James Gist vs. 'Cuse's Donte Green
Greivis Vasquez vs. whoever plays point guard for Syracuse...
This one is big!
I, for one, will be watching this game, unless Belmont keeps things close with Duke.
I should also provide some commentary about Maryland's win at Minnesota the other night, attended by about 3500 diehards in a 15,000 seat building. I'm not kidding about the attendance by the way. Did anyone else watch? The ENTIRE upper bowl was empty. I actually felt kinda bad for the players, diminished as they were by not making the tournament, now made to care about a second-tier event that even the home team's fans don't give a crap about.
But Maryland finally closed a team out, if only because Minn. couldn't throw the ball into Lake Minnetonka (does anyone not think of Purple Rain when they hear the words "Lake Minnetonka?")
And how about Gary starting Adrian Bowie over Landon Milbourne? I think that was an interesting move, will be more interesting to see how it plays out next year with all these young guards and wing players returning. Unless, of course, someone doesn't return... and then there's the addition of Baltimore prep stud Sean Mosely, who might play someone out of a position. Too soon to get into all that.
Regarding tonight, interesting to see two former recent national championship winners (Terps in '02, Syracuse in '03) battling it out in the NIT. Maryland and Syracuse are mirror images of each other, program wise, as was recently pointed out to me by Turtle Nation reader M. Weiss of Baltimore. Since winning the title, both have been consistently inconsistent, bubble teams making their fans sweat it out.
Then, of course, there's the lacrosse thing. Both schools seem to care about the sport. So there's that.
If Maryland wins tonight, they will take on the winner of the hot, hot, hot UMass-Akron game. Here's a link to the NIT brackets, for you die-hards out there:
http://sportsline.com/collegebasketball/mayhem/brackets/viewable_nit
Go Terps?
Oh, why the hell not, GO TERPS!
Wait, more link, this one to a "no duh," but slightly thought provoking column by Dan Wetzel of Yahoo sports. Dan points out all the hypocrisy inherent in college sports, enough to turn March Madness into just plain mad-ness.
Here's the link: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/news?slug=dw-academics031808&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
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