ralph! his teams have done nothing the last few years. gary can still fall back on that national champ.

Ralph has more at stake. You can see the light at the end of the tunnel for Gary. With all his young talent and Gilchrist, Moseley and others coming. But Ralph desperately needs a good recruiting class to right the ship and get back to being a BCS contender. As we saw with Billick, when you peak early in your tenure you better get back to that spot soon or he'll join Billick as an announcer.

It's a big week for both coaches Ralph needs it for recruiting, he needs to start taping into the local talent however so should Gary. With the expansion of the football stadium Ralph will need to win to keep the fans coming and the revenue flowing as well.

A win is great, but if this team is going to move up to the next tier it needs to learn how to play when it's up. Slow it down, pass around the lane, take the clock down, and stop taking shots that look desperate or selfish.

Certainly for shaping a team's future, Friedgen has a substantially bigger week ahead of him. On that point, aside from the Oklahoma QB, what other "blue chippers" remain uncommitted that have been recruited by and/or have indicated an interest in Maryland? I have not heard much, if anything, about any of these prospective players.

Andrew - I agree with your proposition, but I also believe it when Williams says, especially this year, that a conference road win is a win, no matter how ugly. He understands that this is a very young team that is still learning how to play the game. Personally, I'm refreshed by watching this team versus some of the recent past additions. At times, yes, it is painful (i.e., the turnovers.) However, this team reminds me of some of the previous "signature" Gary Williams-coached teams: they get better as the season progresses. This team is already demonstrating signs of significant improvement and a collective understanding of how to play if they are to succeed. And, they are actually winning games during this process. Look around at a number of other "young" teams, such as GT, and you'll see their "growing pains" do not include enjoying victories along the way. If they continue their steady improvement over the remainder of the regular season and through the ACC tournament, this team should accumulate enough wins to secure an NCAA bid and present a difficult "out" for any team matched up against them.

It pains me to say it, but I vote for Ralph because who knows how many stressful seasons he has left.

Pardon me, I need to find my rosary.

It wouldbe nice to see MD get a true point guard next year, because when it comes down to it the games that MD has lost this year could have been avoided by the amount of turnovers thier point has had in the second half. A true point guard that can create his own shot is sorely needed in College Park.

Ralph always has a big week...everything is big about that dude. As Terps fans we are in good hands w/ Ralph AND Gary...dont take that for granted folks. It could be ALOT worse

I believe Ralph has more to prove and lost. He desperately needs a good recruiting class or he'll see alot of no-shows for the new seats.
Obviously Mike has no idea who commits the turnovers, but Hayes is a true Point Guard and ghas one of the best assists to turnover ratios in the ACC. The turnover problem is Gist and Bum, but I would tkae them over any Front court in teh ACC.

I agree that Coach Friedgen needs to pull in a great class, but I just don't see it happening. Even after the Tate commitment, Rivals has Maryland's class at 31. Unless Coach has a few surprises up his sleeve, this could be another mediocre class.

"a true point guard that can create his own shot" is kind of an oxymoron...the terps have a true point guard in E. Hayes. Check his assist:to ratio, watch him feed the post, and he can hit the standstill 3 on kick outs...cant ask for much more. A point guard that can get his own shot does just fine in the NBA, but isn't needed in college if he's got players around him. In Boom and Gist on the inside, and Vasquez, Milbourne and Tucker on the wings, this team shold be fine. Just keep the ball out of GV's hands in the last 5 min. of the game so he can't take any pull-up 3's or throw the ball into the stands.

Mike - See jack's entry.

Turnovers are the result of a lot of factors beyond the PG's handle. Vasquez, while not a classic PG, he certainly knows how to create his shot. For players like him who thrive on emotion, it's pretty hard to instill within him an understanding of ball protection without unnecessarily detracting from his natural aggressiveness and passion, things this young Terps team needs. With that said, I, too, am taken aback somewhat by Maze's TO ratio.

Whether Bowman comes to MD and what roster attrition must occur for it to happen, I believe it's better to allow this situation to play itself out absent dangerous speculation. As mentioned, it is more than "bad form" for a school to withdraw its reciprocal "unwritten" committment to a student-athlete who, apart from not developing as expected on the court, is doing everything else right. That's the price a program pays for its choice and anything less would be without character, not to mention the damage it would do to future recruiting efforts. To illustrate, some of you may recall when the Terps had Christian Blab (Ewe's brother). A physical exam revealed that he had a congenital heart condition (similar to the one ending Herman Veal's and Chris Patton's lives.) Williams essentially told Blab that he could keep his scholarship and get his degree, but that he would never allow him to play. I believe Williams could have really used that additional scholarship back then.

Good post about Blab TerpnTexas. That shows Gary has class and puts people above wins. The Maryland guard situation is going to get more interesting. Mosley and the kid from Oklahoma come in next year. Bowie has played well and is a true point guard. Tucker would be an incredible 2 guard with his height and athleticism. That's a lot of guards, even with Tucker playing the small forward spot. Vasquez is 6'5" and poses problems for defenses. He also plays incredibly hard. He can post up and play defense. The problem is Vasquez is not a true point guard and is erratic. Hayes is not a great 2 guard nor a true point. I see one or both seeing diminished time over the next two years. I'd love to see Bowie and Tucker tackle the backcourt. Mosley is going to play. Finding time for all of them could be problematic, tho I could see Maryland going to a three guard offense next year with their young big men not getting much time this year and struggling. Other than Millborne, that's going to be a real transition in the frontcourt. let's hope Gilcrest is a beast.

Ralph has the tougher road to hoe. I can't imagine the Seminoles and the U are going to be mediocre-bad forever. Plus with the emergence of Wake and a likely revival in Chapel Hill, competing in the ACC will become increasingly more difficult

I think ralph has the bigger week because he has to start keeping in state talent. the Kenny Tate and Zac Kerr committs was huge un the sense it gives other recruits the confidence that highly touted athletes are seriously considering Maryland. I like the make up of the class we have good recievers and D-Linemen and with the recievers i hope that a big time dual threat quaterback will be next (i.e) shawn jones at g tech)

I think the U of MD should be ashamed that they don't care enough about the fridge to mandate a daily diet. The guy is a phenominal guy and coach, and graduates his players, unlike Gary Williams - who is surviving off the national championship. Btw, they won it that year because the big schools all lost their talent to the NBA. MD had a majority of seniors plus wilcox. Back to Fridge, i truly believe the university is partly responsible for putting him on a program. What type of role model is he to his players if he cant show disipline himself. I just want the guy to be our coach for the next 10 years - but very unlikely if they dont put him on an exercise and diet plan immediately. He is a good man, and they should intervene immediately!

Miya Opinion