Maryland showed heart in keeping season alive
There's no figuring how the basketball season will work out for Maryland. Largely, that's because there's no figuring Maryland.
The Terrapins have proven that when they're focused, they can beat anyone -- North Carolina on the road, for instance. When they're not, they can lose to anyone. We'll spare you the examples.
But regardless of whether the Terps put together a record good enough for the NCAA tournament selection committee -- they're now 18-11 overall and 8-6 in the ACC with two regular-season games remaining -- they showed they have some grit in last night's 74-70 win at Wake Forest (16-10, 6-7).
Actually, it was something of a sports anatomy lesson: Maryland's back was against the wall and it showed a lot of heart.
If you haven't been paying attention to the home stretch of the season, Maryland was pretty much in the driver's seat for a Big Dance invite when it lost its last two putting its tournament chances in jeopardy. So last night's effort, especially on the road against an opponent that was every bit as desperate as the Terrapins, showed character.
Particularly encouraging was senior forward James Gist coming up with 31 points and 11 rebounds to finally give sophomore guard Greivis Vasquez some substantial support. Make no mistake, it wasn't easy. Maryland appears to be allergic to double-digit leads and let Wake make a game of it.
Maryland's final two are against Clemson at home and Virginia on the road. The Clemson game is considered the key because for the moment, the Tigers are 8-5 and in third place in the conference. Virginia is just 3-9. As we said at the top of this, you just can't figure what you'll get on any given night with this group. But last night, it had to be encouraging for Terps fans to see that these guys will not go quietly.
Comments
Huge win for the team. Winning Sunday would all but lock up a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Senior night for James and Boom. Should be a lot of fun.
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Greg,
If they play like it, Maryland will be okay. Showed some guts last night.
-- Bill O.
Posted by: Greg | February 29, 2008 10:28 AM
How was that win encouraging? MD went the last 9:10 without a fieldgoal!!!! That shows a team that lacks discipline and killer instincts, especially given that this has happened in other games. Bottom line, I would not put them in the tourney right now. They need to show they want it. They can do that by winning their way into the tournament, rather than back in with several losses.
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Christopher,
The win was far from perfect, that's why I said they seem to be allergic to double-digit leads. But they didn't completely buckle even when they couldn't find the basket. So I'm giving them an A for heart against Wake and keep my fingers crossed for Terp fans that they find their game to take the season into March.
-- Bill O.
Posted by: Christopher Griffin | February 29, 2008 11:02 AM
The difference between last night and the last two games, was our bench contributed. They won't have great stats in the box score, but they were able to play great d, and get us some hustle plays. That being said, Osby played his worst game of the season, I'd be interested to find out exactly what was wrong with him, he seemed out of it. Also, Milbourne was a non factor b/c of foul trouble, so we won this game with virtually on 2 players scoring. This shows that if we can get 3 or 4 at their best, we will be very dangerous in the tournament. This takes so much pressure off the Clemson game, and I believe we will come out firing carrying over this momentum, and if we win that game, it will almost clinch a tourney spot.
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Dave,
Good point about the thrr or four players ... I was thinking exactly that. Iif they get four guys show up, they can scare anybody ... I mean anybody. I have know idea what it will take to have that happen but that's what I find interesting about this team.
-- Bill O.
Posted by: Dave | February 29, 2008 11:28 AM
Yes they showed Heart, My question is, where's the BRAINS ??? With 8 or 10 min. to go & everyone on Wake playing with 4 fouls what does MD do ? It's 1 20 foot jump shot, then 1 turnover over & over for the next 8 minutes. I would have been pounding the ball inside & fouled everyone out in the process !!! No wonder they can't hold a lead, no BRAINS !! I'm sorry, but as much as I love Gary Williams, I have to place some of the blame on him. Your thoughts, Bill
Posted by: Baltimorejohn | February 29, 2008 11:56 AM
Last nights game reminded me of the old drag out, knock down ACC games of the past. Both teams put out 150% and as stated, both were desperate for the win the would make or break their seasons. Great ACC basketball last night!
Posted by: Louie | February 29, 2008 12:04 PM
To be honest. They were lucky to escape with a win. Poor free throw shooting at the end allowed Wake to stay in the game and poor shot selection by Wake let Md escape.
Posted by: Captain Jack | February 29, 2008 1:36 PM
Bill,
Lunardi has a new bracket out today. Maryland is a 9 seed and rising, and is nowhere close to the last 4 in currently. Lunardi says this about MD:
An NCAA bid will be all but assured if they can follow up with a win over Clemson in College Park.
To illustrate just how thin the bubble is this year, check out these comments for each of his last 4 teams in:
UAB: The close loss to Memphis and close win over Houston are enough to keep UAB in the field. This only works if you count the Memphis game as a "win."
New Mexico: The Lobos haven't really beaten anyone, but someone has to take the final at-large spots.
Virginia Tech: Yes, we are scraping the bottom of the at-large barrel.
Houston: The number of undeserving (or barely deserving) teams in this field is staggeringly high.
Why seeded here?
The rules still require 34 at-large teams.
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Greg,
Joe knows his stuff ... the advantages of a thin field.
-- Bill O.
Posted by: Greg | February 29, 2008 4:29 PM
As previously mentioned, the teams are very weak this year, leading me to believe any team can win the tourney. If MD gets in, and can win the first 2 rounds, we will be a team to Fear! Senior night at Comcast Center will be so loud you guys over at the Sun will hear us, and hopefully Boom and Gist go out with a BANG!
Assuming Clemson comes to play too, and we do drop the game (we wont), Bill what do you think about chance of a bid with a win at Virginia.
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Brad,
Sorry, didn't see your post until today. Obviously, now we're in a different conversation.
-- Bill O.
Posted by: Brad | February 29, 2008 8:19 PM