Thursday, November 13, 2008

Welcome to the Start of the 08-09 Season, Inspired?

I have been kind of avoiding my own blog lately, not sure what to say about Maryland basketball these days. If you pay any attention to preseason polls or previews, most people think Gary and the Terps will be either A) bad or B) largely irrelevant.

The Maryland season tips off Friday night at home against Bucknell at 8 p.m. in a game they could definitely lose. Bucknell is a decent team and Maryland might not be.

The Washington Post pointed out that some previews didn't even mention Maryland in their ACC games, teams, or players to watch list; Maryland has become uninteresting.

Time will tell. I have always said, "let's evaluate the product on the court" as opposed to getting worked up about which players are on which recruiting top 100 lists. Put it this way, Juan Dixon was on no one's lists and Mike Jones was on everyone's. Who was the better college player?

So let's give Gary a chance this year to show what he can do with a new team. It should be interesting to see Greivis playing the 2 and the wing with Hayes running the point. I am curious just how good Sean Moseley might be; and if Landon Milbourne has improved from a decent role player to a solid ACC performer.

Then there's perhaps the season's most intriguing subplot. The 6-8, 190-pounder from Suwon South Korea, Jin Soo Kim. Apparently the dude can play, he had 20 points in 20 minutes in the Terps' only preseason game, and get this, he has three names, all with three letters, and he likes to shoot 3-pointers. Coincidence? I don't think so.

2 comments:

bl said...

Abes - Glad you decided to post a column. MD has always done better as the underdog, so to hell with anyone's valuations of the team. Looking forward to the season. Go Terps!

Woody Hinkle said...

We got spoiled by years of great teams. There are plenty of schools that would love to have a team and a program like Md. basketball.

Like you said, who would ever have suggested that Dixon and Baxter would lead anybody to a national championship? Should be a fun season -- just don't expect the ACC title and you'll have fun.