typical

Zagoria is a complete St. Johns hack...you should talk to Jeff Ermann at TerpCenter.com if you want the real story...

That's really unfortunate. Stephenson would have been a perfect fit for Gary's system. Gary's system would have show cased Lance's skills. Terps play with passion and use long guards and mobile forwards to do the bulk of the scoring. Gary's format requires superior passing and movement skills. Maryland is a pressing team and gets alot of its points in transition. Maryland's centers have to be mobile and run the break. That's why we usually have a forward as a center. Lance is a highly athletic 1-2 who would maximize his potential in a pressing style of play. Maryland employs tall guards. Longish mobile guards fit Gary's defensive and offensive strategies. Gary often rotates the offense to take advantage of height differences. Maryland's guards don't just sit on the perimeter jacking threes all day, but must be versatile. (Mike Jones was a 3 pt specialist and not versatile enough to flourish at MD.) Versatility is Lance's greatest asset. Conversely, Coach Bill Self has always employed a big physical prodding front line with a true center and with little guards primarily used for 3 pointers or feeding the ball to the post. Kansas' current guards are 5'11" and 6'2". Lance's skills will be totally wasted there. Besides, Lance would have to listen to Bill Self's horrible accent for four years. I mean seriously, do you really want to hear that for four years?
Maryland produce Steve "Franchise" Francis, a highly athletic versatile pro guard with a long career. Kansas produced Danny Manning, a slow prodding but consistent and boring pro forward with a limited pro career. Maryland is close enough for family and friends to drive down for big games, and games against UNC and Duke just don't get any bigger. Kansas is where Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz is from...... Unless they're handing out ruby slippers it will be difficult for family and friends to visit.

The Washington Post's false report about potential recruiting violations probably killed MD's chances. The recruiting violation rumors turned out to based upon false information. Mr Plank wasn't even in the building when Stephenson visted. The meeting that the Washington Post reported never even took place! Lance should not even be remotely concerned about the Post's FALSE report and instead focus on where his versatile skills would be showcased for the NBA. In fact, ESPN reports that the NCAA is looking into the recruitment of Kansas guard, Mario Chalmers. They are currently looking into questions surrounding the hiring of Chalmers' father by Kansas. There is more about the Chalmers recruitment to be worried about than a meeting that never took place.
I think Lance Stephenson was born ready for the heat and competition in the ACC where he'll meet the best athletes in the world. I hope Lance isn't ready to be Dorothy and go home to Kansas.

If we do not get him, Give me Vinson with our incoming class and we will be just fine.

And somehow as always this will be Gary's fault,no matter how it plays out.If Vasquez comes back,I believe the team will be even better next year.

CharmCityTerp -- I definitely disagree re: Zagoria. He does great work and has solid sources. That said, Jeff has absolutely been all over the Stephenson recruitment since it began. So nothing would surprise me at this point. Both guys are great reporters.

Burt -- If the report proves to be true, then I would hope nobody blames GW. Maryland got involved out of nowhere and put itself in great position to land Stephenson. You always miss on more kids than you land, so any criticism in this case would be completely off the mark.

Let's see what happens...

Although I would like him in a MD uniform it is not the end of the world if he does not committ. Big mistake if he goes to Kansas since he will be a supporting cast member in a system not condusive for his type of skills. If he goes to St John's he will not get the national exposure he is looking for to showcase his NBA talent. I trust that Gary will make the right decision even if Stephenson does not.

Things are looking up either way for this program!

Matt,
I'm inclined to go with CharmCityTerp on this...are you sure about Zagoria's source? Even if you think he's a good reporter, the source sounded really sketchy to me. I mean, if someone claiming to be in the "inner circle" is going to give you a scoop, of course you report it...but that doesn't mean the source is valid. On the other hand, I'm having a hard time seeing Stephenson announce for Maryland on April 1, when it's highly unlikely we would even have a scholarship open by then.

I agree with terpman - Vinson is a great second option (probably ready to contribute as a freshman about what Milbourne did as a soph), and he sounds like he's in the tank for Maryland if we give him a scholly.

Jeremy -- Yeah, looks like that source was off. So my apologies to CharmCityTerp (although Zagoria is definitely not a 'hack'. He just got bad initial info here. Happens to the best of us, especially in recruiting).

Gary also helped Walt "the Wizard" Williams develop into an NBA pro. Walt was another highly versatile tall guard who could do a lot more than just jack a jumper and pass to the post.

I completely disagree. He will get more national exposure at Kansas and will play with better coaches. Kansas is a top 3 program of all time. If he wants a championship, he will go to KU.