Did Somebody Say "Road Trip?"

Have you always wanted to visit Boise on a Tuesday in December but just couldn't find the right excuse?

Well here it is Maryland fans: The Humanitarian Bowl!

It's Maryland vs. Nevada for nationwide bragging rights on just WHO is the BEST 7-5 team in the country. Oh, it's ON people.

Massive Amounts of Love for Steve Blake in Portland

After the 2002 national championship season, who might you have guessed would be the most successful Terp from that squad in the NBA?

You may have thought Juan Dixon, just because he is, well, Juan Dixon and carried Maryland to that championship. But a longer and more thoughtful analysis would lead you to to the eventual and correct realization that he's a little small to be a force in the NBA at the 2 and not a natural PG to make an impact at the 1. Hence, he's had a journeyman's career, reliably putting up points when given an opportunity, but never developing a presence as an important and long-term piece of the puzzle on anyone's roster. It's a shame but it's true. I will always stop and watch when Juan is in the game for the Wiz, or whoever, because Juan is the THE MAN for many reasons, but an NBA star he is not. This year, it seemed like he was going to be a regular in the rotation for the Wiz under Eddie Jordan, but Juan hasn't played particularly well and new coach Ed Tapscott has forced Juan to have a lot of DNP-coach's decision next to his name. I'm sure it'll get better eventually, tough times for the Wiz right now.

Then there's Chris Wilcox, the freak of nature athlete who left after his sophomore year. He's making big money in Oklahoma City(about $7 million per) and has career averages of 9.5 points, 5.5 rebounds. Wilcox is solid, not great. Since he's been out west his whole career, I honestly haven't seen him play much. My take from reading boxscores and the occassion article is that he is solid, but has never done anything to distinguish himself from other very capable forwards who do enough to stay in the rotation, but not enough to carry a team forward in a meaningful way (like, say, an Elton Brand).

In other words, as coach Gary likes to say, from a production standpoint, he's a lot like his current teammate and fellow Terp alum Joe Smith (career averages of 12 and 7). In fairness to Wilcox, his career numbers would be much better if he played more during his first few seasons with the Clippers (he backed up Brand). In the last 3+ seasons, Wilcox is averaging about 14 and 8 as a starter. That's very good, not exceptional, enough to make a lot of money for sure. His numbers are a bit down this year, perhaps because OKC is horrible. As a pro, let's give Wilcox a solid, slightly disappointed B.

Then there's Steve Blake. Out in Portland this season, Blake is averaging a career-high 11.4 points with 4.2 assists and shooting a career-best 43.3 percent on three-pointers. He's my pick as the best Terp in the NBA (especially given that Steve Francis has fallen off with injuries the last few years. Remember Steve Francis???) Blake puts up good numbers and has earned a role as an important, well-liked piece on a good young team. It also helps that he has largely overachieved during his NBA career. I would have guessed career back-up, with a John Crotty like run of a dozen seasons getting 10-15 minutes a game and basically being counted on to not screw up.

Blake has found a home in Portland, doing his unassuming thing, just moving the team along, and recently taking more and more big shots. He hit a 3-pointer in the last 10 seconds Sunday night to give the Blazers a big road win in Toronto. Shockingly to me, he has become a better long-range shooter than Juan Dixon.

Allow me to let the Portland Oregonian's outstanding beat writer Jason Quick make the case for Blake and his impact and importance on the young and very promising (15-7) Blazers team.

Here's a choice excerpt from a recent blog post:

Behind the scenes, Blake is a fiery competitor who can instantly set a tone in Blazers practices. He is the player most likely to kick over a bench in practice or punt a ball into the rafters, and he is the only Blazer who spent part of his summer wrestling and working out with a professional Ultimate Fighter (Nate Quarry).

His teammates also call him one of the smartest on the team, knowing just the right time to call plays for certain players. But above all, he is perhaps the most selfless guy on the team -- not caring about his points, or statistics for that matter -- which is such an important trait for a point guard.

"He's just leading this team," McMillan said.

Here's a link to the full post. Don't miss the reader comments so you can read how much Blazers fans appreciate Blake. Good stuff.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2008/12/timeout_for_blake_its_time_to.html

Signs of Life

Terps showing nice signs of life last two games.
While the rest of the world was focused on Ravens-Skins, Maryland whipped GW Sunday night in a game that was never close, 76-53.
You know, I've been thinking a lot about how Maryland has zero good big guys down low, but they do have big guards, which has to help. Greivis is 6-6 and Eric Hayes is 6-4, and lately GV has been rebounding the ball - he went into double figures in boards the last two games.

After the two horrendous losses to Gonzaga and Georgetown, the Terps have bounced back nicely. The win over Michigan looks ever better now that the Wolverines beat Duke over the weekend; and after lots of tinkering, it seems Gary is starting the find a rotation he trusts.
Cliff Tucker, out. Adrian Bowie in.
Braxton Dupree out, Dino Gregory in.
Dave Neal - real minutes, every game = good news.

The last two games, the starting five has been Vasquez, Hayes, Neal, Bowie, and Milbourne; with Gregory off the bench first in the frontcourt and Mosley looking like the first guard/wing off the bench.

Not exactly sure how/why Tucker has fallen so far out of favor so fast - he started the season starting, but me likes some Adrian Bowie. Dude is the best finisher around the basket Maryland has had since Drew Nicholas and find ways to score time after time.

I still think this is not a great team, but they aren't bad either. Onward and upward.

Next up -- we now enter the "we better win this game" portion of the schedule, with six consecutive home games against Delaware State, American, Bryant, Elon, Charlotte, and Morgan State before the ACC schedule starts. Win them all and Maryland will be 12-2 and looking a lot like the counterfeit Clemson teams of the past 15 years who always start 12-2 and then go 6-10 in the ACC.

Zags Win Big

Time will have to tell whether Maryland's win over Michigan State on Turkey Day was indeed a big-time victory over a top 10 team. The Spartans' ranking said 6th, but they certainly didn't look or play like it. It was a perfect set-up for a Maryland win - their big 7-footer was out with an injury and their athletic, do it all, 6-8 forward got into early foul trouble and was never a factor. As a result, Maryland got to play a game against a team as small as they are; and the Terps got it done. 

Last night against Gonzaga, Maryland ran into a team that looked and played much more like a top 10 team. The Zags were huge and athletic and pretty much man-handled Maryland, winning easily, 81-59. 

Last I checked, this was a "big time" program, right?

As readers of this blog and my other stuff know, I enjoy Maryland basketball. Even when it's bad, it's good. There is never a shortage of story lines and intriguing player developments. Is Greivis really that good? (maybe) Will Gary ever calm down? (don't bet on it) Will the fans embrace the team even if they lose more than they win? (only the die-hards). My favorite subplot this year might be just simply watching Jin Soo Kim. He's interesting.

Hell, wouldn't it be a little boring if Maryland just clicked along in the top 10 every year like ... well ... nevermind. Here at Terps Nation, we embrace the underdog role, we even like it.

So it is that to keep myself informed, I often venture over to umterps.com to check on the basics, like the stats and the schedule and to find out which network is carrying the game, and then get annoyed when the SEASON OPENER is not on televesion. But I digress from where I'm going with this, which is online.

I am often amused, but the right word is incredulous, to see that in this era, the basketball program does not A) don't do anything particularly interesting or innovative on their site; and B) does not even make sure the content is up to date.

Here then, is a short list of exciting things you can do on the Maryland basketball portion of the UMTerps.com website:

Watch a video with the click inducing headline "Maryland All Access," with about half the picture missing from the little box, encouraging viewers to buy tickets to the upcoming 2K Sports College Hoops Classic. The only problem is that this took place in early November. Last year.

Link to a copy of the 2007-2008 men's basketball media guide, just in case you wanted to re-read Boom Osby's player bio.

Link to the Coach Gary Williams website, where our fearless leader welcomes you with a "message from the coach" that begins, "The 2007-2008 season is quickly approaching and I am very excited about our team this year." I was too coach.

You can also link to the always fun, "Terps in the Pros" section of the site, which informs the inquisitive reader that Maryland's all-time leading scorer and ultimate hero, Juan Dixon, currently plays for the Toronto Raptors.

Listen, I'm not saying everything has to be perfect. I don't think anyone is going to bitch if you don't have the link to the team Mike Jones is currently playing for in Romania (link courtesy of the fabulous, "Maryland Basketball: Where are they Now?" But wouldn't it be fun if it did? Why shouldn't Maryland's own basketball website keep religious track of its former players in the pros for the enjoyment of its fans?

I simply cannot imagine that there is not a hoops crazy Maryland student who would like nothing more than an internship with the sports information department where his sole responsibility in life is to update content constantly on the basketball portion of the site. A few minutes cruising around to other ACC teams' sites might even inspire some creative new ideas. They could even just look at what the women's program is doing on the web, which is pretty cool. Tons of video and exclusive content.

There was a time, and it wasn't long ago, that Maryland didn't need to do much to promote its men's basketball team. They had great college players, won a national championship, and opened a beautiful new building. The fans came running, wallets open. Those days, however, are long gone. The seats will likely be filled for the top ACC games, but if the early season is any indication, there very little buzz about this team, and plenty of apathy. More fans than anyone inside the program would like to admit, even in the student section, seem to be disguised as red seats. One place where the program could get it right and encourage more and better fan interaction is online; and right now, the Terps are dropping the ball.