More "vindication" for Williams??? Let's see what the excuses will be once Maryland's lack of talent shows itself again because of William's inability to recruit.

I believe it would be far better to creep up into the Top 25 by playing inspiring, scrapping, diving for the ball play than by giving too much hot air for young heads. Grievus needs to get everyone involved and remain composed if he wants his stock for the draft to go up. GO TERPS !!

considering the have unproven big men it's not a shock. look out for steve goins this year.

Jeff, I totally agree with you. You write that "the Terps can't ever forget who they are." True, and I'm sure Gary Williams isn't about to let that happen.

Last season showed how good they can be if they work at it, and they're a deeper team this year. What's going to be the difference between being just a good team and a great team is whether they can be consistent, sustain the intensity and minimize losses to inferior teams.

Bottom Line: They'll be a Top 25 team soon enough, but they need to remember to bring their lunch buckets with them every game.

Terps have to work hard and earn it. Nothing wrong with goals and looking up for awhile. They'll have to prove their worthiness on the court. As it should be.

Jeff - youre right - they have to understand their strengths - and weaknesses - and beat opponents with 40 minutes of hustle, never yielding defense, and very important - good foul shooting.

Went to the scrimmage today and things look very promising. The freshman will be OK. Give them time and they'll both be contributing more as the season progresses. While they wont be the dominant players that maybe some fans expect too soon, I think everyone will be pleasantly surprised at their ability to adapt to college ball sooner rather than later.

I'm glad the tone has mellowed here. Setting the bar too high can be devastating when the returns aren't validated immediately. I'll be looking at the Maui for a sign of things to come. But it's equally important to win the close ones against all the ACC opponents.

They're top 5 in the ACC. That's a lot of competition. Most of it falls on GV and I think he will handle it well. Based on his preseason comments he's matured.

Lastly I hope they can recruit one of the big men they're after: Hippo or Panckey. It's tough for a fan to see the highest ranked players in a position go to the same teams year in and year out. But game time may be better this year. I would like to see them get to the "16", and have a good record in league play. Beating GT, Clemson, FSU, VT, Miami consistently is more important than the one big win against NC or Duke.

The point is the lack of respect for MD athletics. If this same team were fielded by Duke or NC it would be a top 20 Team. This will help the MD basketball team work to prove the doubters wrong but this is about respect and MD never has gotten any from the sports media. Jeb if you don't see the improvement in the makeup in this roster then you must be a Duke apologist.....

Lack of talent? Inability to recruit?

Some "fans" seem to think the program is a failure if it doesn't make the Final Four every year. This talentless team beat UNC and Michigan State last year. Greivis Vasquez is talented (albeit a bit reckless at times). Sean Mosley is talented. Cliff Tucker is talented. Eleven straight NCAA appearances, two Final Fours and a National Championship say enough about Gary's recruiting ability.

This team probably won't win 25+ games, but they will finish in the top half of the ACC, beat some outstanding teams, and will be a lock for the NCAA Tournament come Selection Sunday. And with solid recruiting classes for this year and next, the program is in great shape.

"More "vindication" for Williams??? Let's see what the excuses will be once Maryland's lack of talent shows itself again because of William's inability to recruit."

It always amuses me when uneducated fools like this continue to run their mouths after they hop off the bandwagon when things don't go the way they think it should go. Leave the adult conversations to the adults. Jeff, you are spot on in your assessment. The terps should, and will, have to work to make the top 25. After looking at the first 2 scrimmages, that is exactly what they are starting to do.

The lack of preseason top 25 will help with the lack of respect Gary and his teams tend to thrive on. The only interesting part about the rankings that will really motivate the team is the Cal team, that the Terps beat them in the tourney, is ranked 12 while both teams pretty much return most of their same players.

Who Cares!!

If they Win and take care of Maui over Thanksgiving the Ranking will come. It matter where we end, not where we start. My Take: If we blow out (or put away early) the "easy" teams we will have turned a corner this year. If not, and we have to battle/struggle against the weaker teams, it will mean we are still good, but have little room for error. Scoring still may be an issue. We will see.

Rankings only matter in March!

Clearly gary could recruit a little harder and maybe he would bring in another blue chip now and then. Gary's best years occurred when he had a more reputable coaching staff. Most of them have moved on to head coaching jobs and he hasn't been up yo the task of bringing in quality assistants who are adept at recruiting. It takes a while to build a relationship with high school coaches and these guys don't stay around long enough to do that. If they fix that problem, the Terps may just become more appealing to five star recruits. We've been doing well with 3 star players and sleepers who like to work and learn from a very good teaching coach, Gary Williams.

Excellent. Maryland can only succced if each and every player brings it all each and every game. Thanks for making that important point.