As it Should Be

Calling Maryland's season "a little eratic" is like calling Hummer sales a little slow and my hairline a little receding.

They have been alternately inspiring and wretched this season, with little in between. Who knows what to expect today, I'm just happy they're still playing and we get to watch, even if it is with one hand covering the other eye.

And here we are. Deep into March, with a date against Duke to go to the tournament. Sure, Maryland might make the field of 65 even without a win today, but it's not a lock.

Put it this way, if Maryland loses today, I don't think anyone can gripe, 'we got robbed.' Why? Well, at 7-8 in the ACC, needing to win one game a UVa, they couldn't get it done. 7-9 in the top heavy ACC ain't all that. Wins against Michigan State, UNC, and Wake look great, but Maryland also lost by 40 at Duke, lost at home to Morgan State, and got thrashed at Clemson. They also blew big second half leads to BC and Miami and needed a miracle three in the final 3 seconds to beat Vermont. OK? This is not a great team. It's a team that's fun to watch and capable of great things, but they are not great.

So anyway, I don't mean to be negative, I'm just saying that anyone who says "look what we did, we belong," isn't looking at the full picture. Then again, the full picture also includes the tournament resumes of a half dozen to 10 other bubble teams whose tournament worthiness is just as dubious or credible as Maryland's.

Bottom line - win today vs. Duke and a it's a stone cold lock. You can't keep out a team that has 4 wins against teams in the top 10 (and mabye you can't do that to a team with 3... maybe). So I'll be watching and hoping. I want it for Maryland because making the ACC finals would be a great acomplishment for this team and winning it would be amazing.

Couple other random notes:
Check out my brother-in-law Matt's blog post about Binghampton University hoops, then and now, great stuff.

I'm really tired of this exchange:
Play-by-play guy: And there's DAVE NEAL with the 3!
Color guy: Unbelievable. You know, this is a guy who wouldn't get picked in the the church league in the top 5. Ha ha ha
Play-by-play guy: ha ha ha that's so funny, ha ha ha. Yeah, he's a big fat white guy who doesn't look like a good basketball player, but it's so weird, he's actually pretty good.
Color guy: Yeah, yeah, what you said, if you would have told me he would average 8 and 4 for Maryland before the season, I would have told you, 'no way man,' he's way too big and fat and slow looking to be good on Maryland.
Play-by-play guy: yeah, yeah, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

You know what? If Dave Neal showed up at your church league or rec league on the JCC, you'd pick him first, because he's 6-6 and can shoot and people would say, 'hey, there's Dave Neal, he starts for Maryland.' OK?

ACC tournament schedule

See schedule below. Terps play NC State, then would play Wake, then would play winner of Duke vs. BC or UVa, then would play for the title on Sunday. A guy can dream, right?

Thursday, March 12
No. 8 Virginia Tech vs. No. 9 Miami, Noon (Raycom)
No. 5 Clemson vs. No. 12 Georgia Tech, 2:30 p.m. (Raycom)
No. 7 Maryland vs. No. 10 NC State, 7:00 p.m. (ESPN2)
No. 6 Boston College vs. No. 11 Virginia, 9:30 p.m. (Raycom)

Friday, March 13
Game No. 5: No. 1 North Carolina vs. Virginia Tech/Miami winner, Noon (Raycom/ESPN2)
Game No. 6: No. 4 Florida State vs. Clemson/Georgia Tech winner, 2:30 p.m. (Raycom/ESPN2)
Game No. 7: No. 2 Wake Forest vs. Maryland/NC State winner, 7:00 p.m. (Raycom/ESPN2)
Game No. 8: No. 3 Duke vs. Boston College/Virginia winner, 9:30 p.m. (Raycom/ESPN2)

Saturday, March 14
Game No. 9: ACC Semifinals, 1:30 p.m. (Raycom/ESPN)
Game No. 10 - ACC Semifinals, 4:00 p.m. (Raycom/ESPN)

Sunday, March 15
Game No. 11 - Championship Game, 1:00 p.m. (Raycom/ESPN)

I guess we could still win the ACC tournament

I won't add to the stream of misery spewing from Terps followers. As you look back on this season, you see a team capable of great things, but also deeply flawed. They have an engimatic guard in Greivis Vasquez, a potential star playing out of position in Milbourne, some very nice role players and a coach who cares very deeply about the team and wants to win. But they aren't good enough.

7-9 in the ACC is about right. There's always the chance for a miracle in the ACC tournament, a la John Gilchrist in 2004, with the leading role occupied by Vasquez. More than likely, Maryland will return to the NIT and we will have to decide if we want to watch.

Burney's Done and Greivis is a Game-Changer

From the Maryland Sports Information Department:

Sophomore forward Jerome Burney will be out for the remainder of the season due to a broken sesamoid bone in his right foot. Burney appeared in nine games and averaged 0.9 points, 1.9 rebounds and 7.6 minutes per game.

Greivis Vasquez’s triple-double and 35-point effort against North Carolina has been selected as a Pontiac Game Changing Performance. For more details, the following link is available: http://www.umterps.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/030509aab.html.

Gabe's Take

Here's my buddy Gabe's take on last night's game. I should note that after filing a running commentary during the first half of the ball game while seated on press row, I moved to a seat in the stands with big bro E and friend B Flaks for most of the second half. Had to cheer.

Here's Gabe's take in an email exchange from today, he always brings it strong:

Wake is big but they don't seem to have shooters. I see them as the #3 seed that goes down in the first or second round to Boise State or Evansville or Butler

Gary has been great...zone was a good idea and fortunately it works pretty much the last 12 minutes of the game. Neal was inspirational...missed the touch fouls early which is too bad he missed some minutes, but he was ready for the second half. The three at the end of the half was big, would love to know what he was barking at the Wake bench. (That one definitely came back to haunt him later, when J-Teague dropped the hammer on him, that was NASTY). Place must have been totally bonkers in the second half when he started raining them in. GA, your running blog was great in the first half, wish there was more but I can understand and appreciate that you were just into the game, I would have been. Your boy Dave Neal Sr got lots of air time - I would say at least 45 seconds total, mostly random donks from Bowie and Odenton running up and double high-fiving him. TV guys said when wake made their comeback run that someone needed to step up and help GV, and he did right on cue. Then they came with the trivia question when he got to 14...what is his career high. It was 18 vs Morgan State, not necessarily a good omen but I just KNEW at that point that he would drill a three at the buzzer to get to 19, which is exactly what happened. Hopefully it at least got the cover for some Terps-loving gamblers.

GV was great - dished the whole second half, including 2 or 3 to set up Hayes for wide open looks, he knocks down even one of those and I think we get it done. Gary postgame was classic....someone asked if they would be ready for the UVa game after a tough loss like this, he just stared him down and said "watch the game". I have done a 180, I am loving Gary and this scrappy can do team...GA I disagree on what it will take. There are less worthy mid majors than usual, and whatever happened to the days of 8-8 in the ACC gets you in? I think 8-8 and a first round win (vs someone like Miami or NC State) should be enough.. We have some quality wins, we are playing well down the stretch, and we are a name brand.

Good job on the radio (only heard the pregame)...the format is ridiculous, every time you start to get going on a topic the music comes on...half of Steinberg's interview was fighting with the music to be heard. Honestly, if it wasn't you I would have tuned out right away, nobody wants to hear a commercial every 3 minutes! (And ESPECIALLY when it is the same dumb Geico commerical twice in a row, but you probably don't hear that). I think Dave Neal Sr should have his own 30 minute hoops talk show, I loved his breakdown on how Jr guards the bigs.

We better beat UVa, it will be a tough on, nothing is easy on the road, but I like our chances.