Don,
Just wanted to say "thanks." I really like these Q&A sessions.

Maryland has a hard time playing teams that play thier guards to pickup thier dribble. Everytime that thier gaurds pick thier dribble up, they have trouble getting the into the post( where the bulk of thier offense comes from). I don't care how much you lean on Greivis at least he takes it to the hole, no other player on the Maryland seems like they want to do it. Not Hayes, not Adrian, or Tucker. It is not hard to play the Flex Cut offense because the guards are basically stationary at the top of the key and if your the opposing team when the guards pick up thier dribble just lock them up and it makes it hard to pass to a cutter. The next time you watch a Maryland game watch you will always have at least one to two people on offense standing still, which leaves it in Greivis's hands to create something off the dribble.

I agree wth the above poster. Thanks for the Q&As, Don. They are an excellent source of information. I didn't know that about Coach Williams' playing career. Do you think that the lack of playing time for Tucker has something to do with the loyalty issue? He does tend to hold back the highest rated freshman in a lot of cases. Maybe to keep team dynamics in line with upperclass leadership? Also, Charles Smith had a much more egregious series of consecutive missed dunks in the NBA than James. I think in both case, though, both players were fouled without it being called.

thanks don, once again, you provide needed insight in to the terps season. i am one of those that see a big time player in cliff tucker, but, once again, gary chooses not to utilize his talent. yes he is a little raw, but, he is a freshman. i think he is making the same mistake he made with mike jones. i guarantee you, since we have no bigs stepping up. he woud add more offensively, and defensively, then neal. teams are going to clog up the middle now, after watching duke take away the terps offense. we have no perimeter shooters, that create shots. and, i dont mean just 3 pointers. that is what was so great about dixon, he could penetrate and throw a 10 footer, and score, we have no one except vasquez that can penetrate. do you think this team can do well in the acc tourney without more play from tucker, and shane walker?

Why doesn't Gary replace all 5 players on the floor at one time when it seems that they are not make a good team effort?? By doing so, it would send a signal to them that if you don't perform, you don't play!! Lots of coaches use this as motivation to get players to stick to a game plan. AND it has work!!

Dave Neal my be slow but the Terps are better with him playing. When he was hurt was when the Terps lost to the American, Ohio and VCU.

I've said on this post several times, Tucker and Bowie should be playing more. Tucker at the 2-guard would be unstoppable. Bring Hayes off the bench for an offensive lift. Maybe Bowie could play some point with Vazquez at the 2, where his selfishness and erractic play would be less destructive to the team concept. Next year, the Terps will have five guards, Vazquez, Hayes, Bowie, Pax, and Mosley. That doesn't include Tucker whose could play either the two or the three. I see some transfers coming on the guard side of things. And clearly one or two of the big men will likely transfer as Maryland tries to upgrade their frontline. Gist looked tired against Duke. So did Osby. They've been playing a lot of minutes and carrying the team offensively and defensively. Gary should back down a little in practice, maybe give the kids a day off. After all, this is only college, right?

Let's hope Gary doesn't screw up Tucker like he did Mike Jones. Jones never got a chance at Maryland. If he had played 35 minutes a game instead of 15 broken into three minute intervals, he would have led the ACC in scoring and Maryland would have won a lot more basketball games. Gary's ego and "team concept" interferred with Gary's decisions about Jones' playing time. Scorers sometimes make mistakes with shot selection. To their credit, most scorers don't think there is such a thing as a bad shot. They want the ball and they're not afraid to shoot it. I'll take that kind of player anyday. Besides, it's not like Maryland's teams the last few years had a bunch of guys who could score. Notice that Maryland's winning streak this year came when Gary finally stopped rotating two and three guys in the game every 2 minutes. Constantly shuffling players doesn't prove you're a good coach or are making good decisions with personnel. Players aren't used to it and you can't get into the flow of a game. Play your best 7-8 and forget the rest.

Why did not Md change their defense when playing Duke? Duke lives and dies by the outside shot

Why no mention of "stone Hands Osby"? The guy reminds me of Obina Ekiesie. I will say though that I appeciate Boom's hustle and try.

I've seen a lot of comments about how Gary screwed up Jones. Jones didn't get much playing time the first couple of years because his defense was atrocious. No matter how good you are on offense, if you can't play defense you won't play for Gary and for good reason. Defense is why Milbourne starts and plays more. He blanketed Henderson, he just needs to be more agressive on offense.

I think it's crazy to say Mike Jones shouldn't have played because he supposedly played such horrible defense. His shooting was so far superior to most other COLLEGE players let alone his average to poor Terp teammates that there is NO WAY you take his offense off the floor for fear his defense is poor. You can't win if you don't score, so let him score and deal with the defense secondarily. They dind't run plays for him that I could ever see. All the Terps did was dump the ball in to the paint no matter if their was any talent there or not. Blame GW, not Mike Jones.

Yeah! How DOES Gist miss 2 straight dunks when neither time did a Duke player gets not even a finger on the basketball? Good defense my ***! But Duke also probably controls the Laws of Gravity also.

Gary Williams is a great defensive coach don't get me wrong, he doesn't develope offensive players like Duke does. He has a tendency to limit good offensive players. One way you do that is your have a good offensive player looking over his shoulder the whole game for fear of coming out. Could you imagine Mike Jones and JJ Redick on the same team, They would have been #1 and #2 in scoring in the ACC. Because of Gary's system, and quick hook you never build confidence in a game. I think Cliff Tucker is the best player on the bench, but you will never know because everytime he comes off the bench it's like starting all over again one mistake and he's put back on the shelf. Unless Maryland finds another guard that can penetrate all you have to do is play zone against MD, and tighten up the "D" when their guards pick up thier dribble and that Flex Offense is history.

Bob, come on, "Stone Hands Osby?"--Give that guy more credit than just 'hustle and try.' in 1 yr. he went from having no offensive presence whatsoever to being a credible 5 man who can score with his back to the bucket. Plus, he's a rebounding machine. If he reminds you of Obina, I'll take that....He wound up in the Association for a few yrs.