Quality Losses

My friend Sherman, an occassional Maryland fan, came over with his family to watch the Ravens game Sunday night. Prior to the game, Sherms asked what Maryland had done the day before. When I informed him that they lost in OT at Florida State, he said, "they're bad, huh?"

And this is where I said, 'no, not really. They just aren't great. They play hard, they have some good players. But they are missing a few pieces'

His response: "They're bad."

And herein lies the challenge for Gary and the Terps, the 08-09 version. They are good enough to hang, but perhaps not talented enough to win. They are bad enough to lose at home to Morgan State, yet good enough to beat Michigan State on a neutral court. Good enough to come back from down 11 in the second half against Florida State, bad enough to blow a 17-point second half lead at Miami.

On and on it goes.

In the FSU game, give credit to the Terps for nearly winning on the road on a day when Greivis and Eric Hayes shot a combined 5 for 24 from the field.

Kudos to Landon Milbourne and Sean Mosley for stepping up the toughness factor for the Terps, as those two, undersized as they are, mixed it up inside and grabbed 9 and 5 boards at Miami. Mosley is a bit of a bricklayer from the outside, but no one on the team is tougher.

I do believe that quality losses help a team's confidence, perhaps not their NCAA tournament resume, but at least in their mind they know they are just as good as anyone on the docket.

What is most frustrating to me, and I assume all Terps fans, is the feeling of being outmanned in these games. Maryland's guards and wing players are as good as anyone, but in the frontcourt, we look a lot like a big backcourt.

A win tonight against UVa would be huge, get us back to 2-2 in the league with a date at Duke Saturday. It's funny how the tide can turn with one game, hopefully it starts tonight.