You raise some good points, except that Gus Gilchrist is technically eligible to play now, Gary is just redshirting him for this season. It was the first half of THIS season that he had to sit out.

Braxton and the rest of the Fowards will be ready next year. You could've said the same thing about Landon Melbrone last year; even at the begining of the year this year! Terps just need to ride the wave that is Gist and Osby. They could be in the top 5 front courts in the country. Its hard to keep them off the court when that happens.

Good observation, but one year at a time. I think Walker has showed Williams something to make him a little bit more of a nice surprise so that he can be "spotted" in games to provide some key relief without putting too much pressure on him. Whether Dupree is out of condition or not, it appears his lack of hustle/court saavy has more likely put him in William's "doghouse." I recall when Baxter was a freshman (and who maintained a generally similar body type throughout his career), he didn't see too much time until Ekeze injured himself late in the year. When he finally got onto the court, however, he was all energy. I don't see that same type of energy being exerted by Dupree. As far as the boxing out, i.e., rebounding, that is 90% desire. What's disappointing here is that Dupree, who came from Calvert Hall, and Gregory, who came from St. Joe's, were hailed as players with high basketball IQ's and good fundamentals.

As far as Gregory is concerned, he's been something of a mystery thus far. From some of the pre- and early season statements I read from him, I wonder if he fully understood the necessary work ethic that would be required for him to see the floor. In response to Gist's performance in a scrimmage, I had read where he casually related that he intended to get some of Gist's minutes. The comment sounded to me to have an element of entitlement in it.

My interpretation of the foregoing could be off-base and was simply just a confident player stating his confidence in his abilities. It could also be that, as a "'tweener," his role has not been fully developed yet and/or, if he's backing up Gist, he could be experiencing the same thing Milbourne suffered through last season backing up Strawberry. As far as backing up Milbourne, it appears to me that Tucker has primarily assumed that role and appears somewhat more flexible in the number of guard positions he can also play.

Another and potentially the most important factor may be that the Terps are now in conference play. I believe most freshman, while paying it lip-service, are probably overwhelmed to find out the necessary increase in effort, et al. that is required for them merely to "keep up." Some are slower than others to fully recognize and adjust their games accordingly. For others, you simply find out that their "ceiling" is just lower than originally anticipated.

In any case, I believe a concern on next year's front court depth is partially why the Terps continue to recruit players despite presently being out of scholarships for '08 or '09. I believe there will likely be some attrition in the present roster that will open up additional scholarships for others, e.g., the JC forward/center Bowen or Matok in '08 and/or Enchinque in '09 (assuming any of them wish to commit to Maryland.) Finally, I wouldn't be so quick to annoint Gilchrist as a front court savior just yet. By the time he steps on the court for the Terps, he will have not played any real games for almost 2 years. While he should certainly provide immediate help, he will still likely require some time to adjust to the college game and ACC before developing into any sort of dominant force.

negativity negativity negativity

DM, if you can navigate through the airhead posts on ACCBoards.com, you will see that the Terps picked up a new 6'8'' Junior College transfer. A player is leaving? FREDTERP

There is a potential problem. Osby, who has been outstanding, was gassed two minutes into the second half against Duke. While he played a great overall game, his performance went quickly downhill once he got tired.

This is happened more than once.

We need more minutes from the freshmen big men. Now, that we have exhausted scholarships with the Bowman commit. It may be up or out for some of these guys -- though I am sure it won't be talked about in that manner.

Terps footbal-are we FINALLY
winning the war for local recruits?
Beat Penn State for Kerr and
Illinios for Tate. Your commnets and thoughts please about this "turn around"? Thanks/

Don, This is a great post. I appreciate the depth of analysis. Thanks.

I think everyone has thought about this. That is why MD just received a committment from a Juco 6-8 PF this week. With him, Gilchrist, and the young guys on the bench the team will have enough players. Just have to hope someone develops the inside game. Also, Dupree is a lot like Lonnie Baxter and Lonnie's first year was bench time. A player has to learn to use that kind of body to his advantage in the college game. I am confident Dupree will work hard during the off season on conditioning and playing to be better in 2008-2009. If I remember correctly, Dupree had a serious ankle injury in a spring all star game that could have hurt his conditioning for last summer.

You raise some good points, except that Gus Gilchrist is technically eligible to play now, Gary is just redshirting him for this season. It was the first half of THIS season that he had to sit out.

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Robert have you done your homework. This is incorrect. Pay more attention? FREDTERP

The problem is Maryland just can't recruit blue chip players. While Duke and North Carolina reload every year, the Terps recruit projects. Basically, Walker, Dupree, Burney and Gregory are mid-major players, not ACC caliber players. Dupree is horribly out of shape. He could, by his junior year, be a decent player. He's got a nice touch. And while I love Gary, his yelling and screaming doesn't go over with today's high school stars nor does his rotating players in and out of games go over either. Mike Jones is a great example. One of the top players out of high school and one of the few scorers on the Terps team last year, he was constantly shuttled in and out of the game. Scorers need to get in the flow of a game. Yeah, he took bad shots, but it's not like the Terps were loaded with scorers. So if you're a scorer, are you going to Maryland? No.

baxter was the best 6'4 center in ACC history. dupree does need to learn how to use his body for boxing out and posting up. Baxter was the king of that. When Baxter got the ball in the paint, it was over.

Why always so negative? GG is not eligible until next December, but he will be an impact player immediately once he is. Add to that Ken Bowman, a recent JUCO commitment who is averaging 16 points and 9 rebounds at one of the top junior colleges in the country, and the frontcourt will be fine.

Don't be surprised to see Gary use 3 guards and Landon Milbourne at the 4 early next season, until GG is eligible.

Gilchrist lost a year of eligibility by ruling from the ACC (the last I had heard). So when he comes in next winter, he'll only have 2 1/2 years of eligibility left. He isn't being red-shirted.

Robert:

Gilchrist is not simply redshirted because that's what Williams wants to do. Recently, there was a conference ruling--driven by Seth Greenberg--making Gilchrist ineligible until next December AND he will lose a year of eligibility. Apparently, every ACC school (aside from Maryland which, as I understand it, had no vote) voted for this, the reason being to discourage recruits from committing (signing a LOI) and subsequently decommitting to attend another conference school. The unananimity of the vote suggests that the member schools were not swayed by the circumstances surrounding Gilchrist's "decommission."

Also, I misstated the JC F/C's name as "Bowen" as well as "Matok." Respectively, they are "Bowman" and "Majok." As with Jamar Smith, Ryan Randle and now, Obsy, if he's actually committed (I haven't seen any news on this one), Bowman's presence should hopefully shore up the Terps' front line over the next two seasons.

Randy Lyon:

Where did you get the news on Kenny Tate's decision to commit to Maryland? Last I heard, he had only narrowed his choice between Maryand and Illinois, but that he planned on announcing his decision today. If so, that's a pretty strong finish (assuming Friedgen is finished) to his 2008 recruting class.

It's an intriguing question, but as others have said, the freshman factor can't be ignored. I happen to think Walker can be a star if he works hard enough on his offensive game. He's already a game-changing defender when he comes in but looks lost in the offensive sets. Dupree is a mystery, but should be solid long-term b/c of his hands and touch near the hoop. I don't see a problem with Gregory, he's just a tweener...will be a strong role-player in his career, esp. against smaller teams. Burney is a bottom-of-the-bench guy, he has no feel for offense and is a high-risk defender with no discipline/fundamentals. We will miss Gist and Osby, but with the guys we're getting next year and the development of our young guys I'm not too worried.

Oh and Anonymous,
Besides digging up the tired blue chip argument (and the tired baseless argument about Gary's coaching style), your assessment of rotating players as being a problem is way off base. Have you watched (just as one example) UNC play lately?

lack of blue-chip talent is not solely gw's problem. since '02 (according to rivals) duke and unc have signed something like 18 five stars to LOIs while the rest of the acc total signed 8. md signed 1, mj.
however as tired as we may be of hearing this, it is still reality - it takes more time, effort, physical/mental maturity, yada, yada, for experience to trump raw talent. md fans, set your expectations accordingly and be glad you have one of the few acc coaches (aka skinner/bc...) who can polish diamonds-in-the-rough into winning teams once they find them.

Tired argument about blue chip players? Name the blue chip players Maryland has gotten since 01.. Five star players only. Answer: zero. talk to high school coaches in the area and ask them why the blue chip kids don't even consider Maryland? Gary, playing time and Georgetown are the answers, in that order. Carolina has three player (Hansbro, Lawson and Ellington in the top 20 in the ACC in minutes played)

Man, why do we put so much pressure on these kids? Dupree, Bowie, Walker, Tucker are FRESHMEN! Juan Dixon, (Maryland's ALL TIME scoring leader)didnt play a single game his freshmen year(he wars reshirted). Give these guys time to develope and can we please have a bit more faith in Coach Williams? I remember when we picked up Osby and many fans were livid(who is this guy..never heard of him)once again we were wrong and Gary was right. Have a bit more faith people. The Terps are young but the talent is there and this terp fan see's good things ahead for this current crop of Maryland players.

It never ceases to amaze me how near-sighted and stupid Maryland fans are when it comes to Gary Williams. I’ve been a Maryland fan since Lefty had his finest days, and I’ve seen a lot of Terp basketball. Gary took over a Maryland program that was reeling, stuck it out when any mortal coach would have given up, took the Terps to I think 9 Tourneys, 10 straight 20-win seasons, ACC championship, 2 Final Fours, and a Title. And EVERY time things get a little rough, people routinely call for his head. What the FREAK is wrong with Maryland fans?

Gary is a genius. He knows what he’s doing. YOU MUST TRUST HIM. He makes $2 million dollars a year coaching basketball and is one of the best coaches in the game. He is a professional. I’ve learned over the years that every time I doubt Gary, I end up looking stupid. The latest time was when Gary signed Bambale Osby two years ago, I saw nothing impressive about him on paper, and thought Gary had finally lost his mind. After failing to get minutes as a freshman at New Mexico, Bambale goes to a Texas Junior College I had never heard of and averages 6 pts and 5 rebs on a team that went 24-7, and now Gary is bringing him to the ACC???? I couldn’t believe it. I certainly thought that was a “wasted scholarship”. However, once again, Gary was right and I was wrong. I have no clue who Maze or Bowman are, or who Gary is going to come up with next, but I do know that Gary has earned my trust. HE WHOWS WHAT HE’S DOING. He gets paid millions of dollars, because he’s the best.

As far as the lack of blue-chippers, that’s not Gary’s problem. I know this, any athlete that wants to learn how to play the game of basketball and get a REAL education on the game couldn’t do better than playing for Gary Williams. When you leave Maryland, you will have a basketball education and know how to play the game with passion.

3 scholarships to give, 4 signed and another being recruited... who is leaving?

Gilchrist should have 3 years of eligibility remaining? Does he play 1/2 a season next year, 2 full seasons, and then the first half of the 11/12 season?