Thanks Matt...good stuff as always.

Of course, I know you have to take his analysis with a grain of salt, since he focuses on recruiting rather than actual performance and coaching. But it still irks me that he would say something like "it keeps them at [their current] level." Gary has won a championship without getting 5-star guys. None of the guys on the championship team were in that class. But yeah, it's encouraging to hear about Pankey's inside play. JWill and Padgett will probably both end up being good scorers inside, so a hard-nosed defense and rebounding big man will be a nice complement.

Also, the scouts don't give Stoglin much love, but I think he could end up being a Malcolm Delaney-type guy who just knows how to score. I'm excited about the teams prospects over the next 5 years.

An average class in the ACC.......great. Middle of the pack is NOT acceptable for this program.

Jeremy,

The analysis was right on the money. It does not really bolster our chances because half of the other teams in our league out recruited us, again. We are in the middle of the pack now and that's where our class falls for 2010. The fact that we won a national championship with no five star recruits does not mean that we shoot to replicate that again. If it was so darn successful I would think other colleges would do the same. Do you hear Carolina, Duke,Kansas or Kentucky say we need more 3 or 4 star recruits so we can win a championship...hell no. For some reason that works for a lot of UMD fans because it happened once and Gary is some iconic God that has no limitations.

I am a huge UMD fan but I am also a realist. We are an average team this year and will be so for years to come if we can not recruit better. If Ross pulls his commitment, which I hope he does not, we are in big trouble. Why are many people willing to give Gary a hall pass on his recruiting is beyond me. Talented players in Indiana, Kentucky, Memphis, Carolina and Duke go to their home schools. Ours seem to go out of state. There are a lot of AAU coaches who can't stand Gary's ego. I know one who has called Gary repeatily about a player and his staff does not return the call. It is easy for us to always make the the AAU coaches out to be the bad guys so we can defend our coach. But it is making me wonder how hard Gary is trying. You piss off an AAU coach I doubt they will be looking for you the next time around. Lastly, If Gary takes his team to the NCAA with average players we all say what a great coach he is...is that all we want anymore?

Ralph and Yow need to go! Bring in a AD Director who want to take our sports programs in the right direction. I am talking about our major programs for those who will talk about all the other championships that are not on the same level as football and basketball. It is clear that both Ralph and Gary have no respect for Yow and she feels the same about them. Time for major changes at UMD!

As usual, Matt, a very informative and helpful posting.

Rob:

I believe I am, or at least can be, as critical as anyone regarding the Terps and the football and basketball programs. With that said, I think your views, while with plenty of merit, may be a bit too pessimistic. Then again, as I presume you are located much closer to the scene than me, perhaps you have your finger on the pulse of the present sentiment surrounding the Terps' athletic program.

From my perspecitve, Maryland's basketball program is certainly "middling," from a conference standpoint, at present and probably will remain so for another year or so. THen again, middling in the ACC can be Top-25 in the nation. During this period, I anticipate the Terps, due to William's coaching--and I do not believe there is a better in-game coach within the conference--will still steal a few games that they should otherwise lose. I do anticipate, however, a significant competitive upswing in the program toward the end of next year when the team's youth will be fully integrated into the system along with the existing seniors (Bowie, Tucker, Gregory) and the continued development of Padgett and Williams.

None of this should detract from the overall quality of the incoming class, a recruiting class ranked anywhere from 7th - 19th by national publications. Mr. Coleman obviously values Pankey far above his national ranking. With the role Pankey appears targeted for, if he's correct in his analysis of him, this should translate into an immediate contribution. As for the remainder of the class, again, it seems that he sees Stoglin in a stronger light than others. With a year behind Bowie to grasp the offense and not be weighted down by the expectaton of having to run the offense can only help his transition and development (something that I think stunted Hayes' early development more than any lack of ability). And Ross and Parker should only add some immediate and severely needed quickness, skill and, most importantly, athleticism on the wings.

In short, I think this is a very solid class which, with Williams' coaching ability, will hopefully develop in accordance with its "hype." As for the 2010 (and 2011) class hype versus production, viewing it from the law of averages, the Terps should fare bettter than they did with the first 2 post-NC classes.

Turning to Yow and her apparent icy relations with Williams and Friedgen, it does seem that her shelf-life is nearing an end. Given that her strength was financial organization and budgeting which, in the present economy, has her "boat" taking on a great deal of water, I'm not certain that she can survive a potical face-off with either or both of these coaches. I don't know the typical "life" of a college athletic director, but I would think that she's exceeded the average and may need a change of scenery.

Finally, it is my opinion that Maryland did the proper thing in retaining Friedgen for at least one more year. He had too young of a team and way too many injuries for it to be consistently successful. To illustrate, how many times have you heard of a team losing its punter (All-Conference, no less) not once, but twice, in the course of a season. This year was a disaster, but was completely inapposite to their ACC championship year, and, for the most part, the first 3 years of Friedgen's reign, when those teams sustained very few major injuries and, where such injuries did occur, they had capable players ready to contribute. Again, I don't get the opportunity to view the program too closely from where I live, but it seems to me that this season had a troubling look to it before it even began. When you looked at the offensive line, you just had to wonder how they were going to consistently, one, pass protect for a generally immobile Chris Turner, or two, run block to open holes for D'Rell Scott, et al. As the year progressed, it became much like a snowball rolling down a hill. In addition to the experience gained from this year, they should be much healthier and, consequently, better next year which should provide a more accurate barometer of Friedgen's program.

Jeremy, you are repeating that same misinformed rationale people use to justify GW's weak recruiting class. His NC team was not filled with a bunch of lowly ranked recruits. Wilcott, Blake, Holden and Mouton were all ranked higher than any of this incoming class. Dixon and Baxter weren't ranked higher because of questions of their size not questions of their talent. Talent wins in the end. Don't drink GW's kool-aid about winning w/o highly ranked recruits.

Why was MD never in the hunt for Lake Clifton's John Selby?

Ptw,
All four of those guys were four star recruits who were in the top thirty of their class? That's what it takes to be better than Ross and Parker and since you don't even know how to spell Wilcox's name, I doubt you really know anything about what you are talking about.

For routinely dealing with snot-nosed high school kids who think they know everything, and insufferable AAU coaches, Coach Williams deserves thanks and our best wishes.

Evaluating talent at any level and in any sport both an art and a science, and it as least as important you get kids that are wired together in a way that is consistent with your overall philosophy.

Thus, the first question I would always ask a player after he took a recruit around was-- "is he one of us?" You are asking for trouble if you allow a kid's talent to cloud a determination as to whether he is indeed a program "fit".

So, please give Gary credit for generally passing on those kind of kids. Since you will spend more time with these kids than you do your own biological ones, you had better have a "family first" mentality when it comes to recruiting. That Gary generally gets good kids who work hard, develop, and leave it on the court, while not prone to blowing up off the court/in the classroom, we should be grateful.

Old Timer, I generally agree with what you wrote about Gary passing on kids that don't fit our program. But the truth is that kids are passing on Gary and our program more than the the other way around. Generally less talented players are going to work harder and have a willingness to be coached because they are happy to even be out on the floor. But in order to win you need to have talented players. Last night's game was a perfect illustration of that fact. Indiana took the lead on us because they were playing with more heart and passion; but in the end though the more talented Terps won the game. Can anyone seriously argue that we could not use one or two 5 Star recruits? I realize that all 5 stars don't play out to their potential and you run the risk of them being head cases. But the fact is we have tried to land 5 stars and have not had any success. You can't say Gary passed on them. They choose not to come to UMD.

TNT, I realize I am being critical. But don't we have a right to know why we are coming up short on recruiting? By the way, I do agree with much that you wrote as well. However, I do respectfully disagree with them keeping Friedgen. The damage is done at UMD with him as coach. If you were a talented player would you want to play for a lame duck coach? Let's face it, this was purely done for the economics. It also affords Yow a chance to get out of her stupid agreement with Franklin. Fridge will fire him, and we will pay off that piece. Next year after we return many of the same players and see similar results, we will see the last of Friedgen and his golf cart. Hopefully by that time the booster and the University will have had enough of seeing Chevy Chase Stadium filled with cob webs that they will pull the trigger on Yow. But until that time do not expect anything great from our major sports programs.

Dear Rob:

Maryland has plenty of talent on its football team. The skill positions are in good shape. What the Terps lack is experience on the OL and DL.

The Terps problems this year begin and end on the line of scrimmage.

If you look at the roster you will see a critical shortage of scholarship OL and interior DLs in their Junior and Senior years. Consequently, the Terps are paying the price now for a recruiting error that was made 4-5 years ago. Today, the Terps have landed three consecutive classes of good OLs and DLs and they have a fourth on the way. Lineman take time to develop which is why every recruiting class needs to have some big boys. Yes, Ralph is responsible for this mistake but recent recruiting classes give every reason to believe that the mistake has been corrected. This is why Yow did not fire Ralph.

The fastest way back to bowl performances is to maintain continuity in recruiting. Ralph will hand over a pretty good program to Franklin when his contract expires.

Mark,

We are in total agreement on the OL and DL. They do take time to develop and I see your point about the shortage in recruiting. But that does not paint the entire picture. What about the poor play calling? How about our secondary? What about our running backs who can't hold onto the football. Robinson looks good, but we still have not found a true number 1 QB going back how many years now? This team is young, but we having glaring weaknesses in many areas (except FG kicking). How does that not fall on the coaching and their recruiting?

Mark, I am hoping you are right and they can turn it around. The positive is that the ACC should be pretty weak again next year so that should bolster our chances for being in the middle of the pack. I guess that where we are content to be. Maybe we should change our slogan to "Feed the Turtle" or "Pet the Turtle." He sure isn't fearsome anymore...

I believe in continuity if you are looking to preserve something that is working. Are we doing that great of a job recruiting? The product on the field answers that question. The lack of people in the seats answer the coaching question. If Ralph fails to produce 5 or more wins next year he is gone. That includes Franklin because they can not afford the program to totally fall in the abyss. Change is not always a bad thing. Many UMD fans hate it because of the bad history we have experienced with new coaches in both basketball and football. Somehow we have become content with being mediocre because we have become fearful of being worse than mediocre. In business, if you just try to preserve what you got you become a dinosaur. Same thing is happening to our top sports programs.

Once again Mark I hope you are right and thank for your response.

Jared, considering you're just making up rankings, I guess that makes you smart. Provide a current ranking that has Ross and Parker in the top 40. The lastest Scout Inc has Parker at 60 and Ross at 99. And yes, Blake, Mouton and Wilcox were rated higher than that. But apparently being mediocre is acceptable to you. Sad!

I don't care how much talent you have on your team a coach makes the difference. The 2010 class coming in may not be 5 star recruits but you don't need all five star recruits to win. The National Championship team had veterans on the starting five and on the bench a luxury any coach in college basketball would take in a heartbeat. they were big, athletic, and blocked and dunked anything in site. They had a solid ten man rotation and those players that did play were in Gary's system for at least two years. Now I am not saying that is the keys to victory but having athletic, defense minded big men and a couple of perimeter threats can get you a long tournament run.

Gary can't recruit, blah, blah, blah. Yet over the past decade, the team has been to two Final Fours, is third in the ACC in conference wins, has beaten four #1 teams and has won 19 or more games 13 straight seasons. The facts say he can recruit and coach. The man is a Hall of Fame coach, currently 6th in wins for active coaches. Recruiting is not done in one season. The four players in the 2010 class will join Williams (as good or better than Baxter) and Padgett. So take your shots now. Williams, Padgett, Ross, Parker and Stoglin wiill be competing for a title.

On another topic, looks like Sean Mosley is silencing his critics who jumped on the "he can't play" bandwagon a little too quickly. Man, I love those BALTIMORE kids.

GO TERPS,

I did say last year that I predicted the Mosley would be a bust. I am eating my words my friend. Nothing but a lot heart out of that kid. I did also predict that Adrian Bowie would be a stud this year. Looks like I am 0-2 on those predictions.

Let's hope Ross ends up a Terp! We need a shooter.

Next year's team will be losing its top 3 scorers, top 2 ball handlers, and most consistent inside player in Landon M. The starting point guard will most likely be Adrian B. or a freshman. The only semi big man coming in is lightly regarded. We are counting the days until Dino Gregory can return with his 2.6/3.2 (pt/reb) averages from last year. Our best recruiting class in years only ranks 6th or 7th in our own conference. Why can't we expect more out of this program?

Some of you should just grab a cold one, relax, and root for the hometown Terps. Always too many negative "experts" on these threads...and remember many of these "top" recruits that you "experts" pine for are 17 year old kids that may or may not have the maturity, discipline, and work ethic to develop as players and live up to their high school ranking. For example, I don't see many Gonzaga players on these top 100 lists, but Mark Few seems to consistantly produce top 10 teams. But for some of you that like numbers, rankings, and lists here you go...Maxpreps has the Terps inbound players ranked this way in the 2010 class. Ross#30, Stoglin #43, Parker #62, and Pankey #88....that's four is the top 100.

In the end I respect G-Dub because he doesn't cater to high school prima donnas and their "handlers", yet Maryland consistantly turns out hardworking, NCAA tourney qualifying teams.

http://www.maxpreps.com/basketball-recruiting/basketball-winter-09-10/Xb7WOWAUEd6SyQAcxJTdpg/2010-players-to-watch/top-recruits.htm

gary williams gets paid final four money with n.i.t. results...pure and simple.also recruiting is a major part of coaching.mybe gary needs to spend a little less time on the golf course and a little more on the road.

First of all PTW and Jeremy, you both make some good points. Although, I must admit that it is hard to listen to anyone that screws up Chris Wilcox's name (written as Wilcotts) in a way that shows it was clearly not a typo. If you look at Rivals, Ross (who has decommitted) is #43 and Parker is #53 and I don't think there were two players recruited the same year that were ranked that high on the national title team. Also, you have to remember that different sites have fairly different rankings. Stoglin's rankings across Rivals, Scout, ESPN and MaxPreps come to mind. His rankings along with Pankey's are all over the place. With that being said, getting Ross and Parker in the same year would provide the Terps with recruiting it did not have before winning the national title. Obviously, we did have recruiting on that level in 2003 with Mike Jones, Ekene Ibekwe, Hassan Fofana, but we see where that got us. As for the national title roster, I know Wilcox was a 5 star player according to some recruiting sites and Blake I think might have been a top 100/4 star player, but I doubt Holden and Mouten were. Besides, the two best players on the national title team (Dixon and Baxter) were 3 star players if my memory serves me correct, which does lend credence to the argument that you can win without all high 4 star/5 star recruits. By the way PTW, the statement directly below is completely false except for Wilcott (LOL): "Wilcott, Blake, Holden and Mouton were all ranked higher than any of this incoming class." And the following statement is completely ridiculous: "Dixon and Baxter weren't ranked higher because of questions of their size not questions of their talent." PTW, how do you know that some/many of our 3 star recruits over the years weren't downgraded because of size issues? Often times, the reason some very productive players are not 4 or 5 star recruits is size. That might be the only thing seperating two players with similar high school production against similar quality competition. Lastly, I just want to remind you that there are only 25 5-star recruits every year and there are hundreds of D-1 basketball teams. I am saying that to put in perspective how hard it is to land one (given that the Dukes and UNCs of the world get 2 or 3 every year) from year to year. Do the math.