Terps Q&A with Mike Miller, NBC Sports

Tonight Terps fans will get the opportunity to see Coach Turgeon on the sideline for the first time, as Maryland hosts Northwood in an Exhibition. The season will then start officially on the 13^th against UNC Wilmington.

To help preview the season, Baltimore Sports and Life has spoken with Mike Miller, who covers College Basketball for NBC Sports.

You can find his work at:
http://beyondthearc.nbcsports.com/

You can find Miller on Twitter at:
http://twitter.com/#!/MikeMillerNBC

Baltimore Sports and Life thanks Mr. Miller for answering a few questions.

Baltimore Sports and Life: “In an interview with Drew Cannon, from Basketball Prospectus; Cannon has Maryland finishing 7-9 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Cannon expanded that it would not surprise him for the Terps to finish at the bottom, or the top of the Virginia, Virginia Tech, Clemson, NCST, Miami, MD group.

Less optimistically, the ACC Media projected Maryland to finish 9^th.

The Terps will also have to overcome Pe’Shon Howard’s broken foot, which will sideline him for the next 10-12 weeks.

When we last spoke in July, you thought a Tournament bid was possible, but seemed unlikely. Past UNC, and Duke who both figure to be imposing; you had Virginia, FSU, and Clemson ranking out your Top 5 ACC teams.

As the season nears, have your thoughts on Maryland or the league changed at all?”

Miller: “Not really, except I’d put Miami ahead of Virginia and behind Florida State and Clemson. Len and Howard should be back in time for ACC play and I’m a firm believer in Turgeon’s style and results. The bottom third of the league is terrible and Maryland’s not in that group. But yeah, an NCAA tournament still seems like a longshot. Especially when any good non-conference wins are gonna be sparse.”

Baltimore Sports and Life: “If Howard can not return for the great majority of ACC play, should he red-shirt?”

Miller: “Right now, I’d say no. Maryland will bring in plenty of skilled guards who’ll fight Howard for playing time in the future. If he can play at this season, he should. Not only will Maryland need him, but this is the best chance for him to get playing time as well.”

Baltimore Sports and Life: “Replacing Jordan Williams will obviously be difficult.

In late August, the 7’1, 225 lb Ukrainian Olexiy ‘Alex’ Len arrived at Maryland. At the 2010 U18 European Championships, Len averaged 16 ppg, 11.4 boards, and 4.3 blocks. I don’t think any Maryland fans are expecting that level of production, but Len showed an abundance of athleticism at Maryland Madness. Even if that was just a scrimmage, he certainly looks like a guy who is capable of helping the front-court, and overall depth.

Len has been declared eligible, but will be suspended for the first 10 games of this year.

Len will have adjustments to make on and off the court. Can you speak to the transition for European bigs from the international style of play, to US Division 1 College Basketball? Should Terps fans keep their expectations with Len, to contributing rotation player?”

Miller: “From what I can tell on Len, he’ll be expected to be an immediate contributor, if not a part-time starter. Part of that’s his size and supposed skill set, two things Maryland could desperately use.

And it seems like he should be OK in the ACC. It’s not as wide-open or as filled with skill players in the past, but it’s still a conference that prefers to run a bit and not get bogged down in half-court sets. As long as he’s a guy who can hit  15-foot jumper with regularity, stay mobile and not disappear under the boards, he’ll be fine in ACC play.

Then again, this influx of new coaches have preferred to play slower in the past, so the faster games may start vanishing.”

Baltimore Sports and Life: “Out of Conference, Maryland has Alabama in the 1^st round in Puerto Rico, Wichita State or Colorado on Day 2, and Purdue, Temple, Iona, and Western Michigan on the other side of the bracket.

The Terps will host Illinois in the ACC/Big Ten challenge, face Notre Dame in the BB&T Classic, and travel to Philadelphia for a January 21^st game against Temple (potentially facing the Owls for a second time).

If MD can get two wins in Puerto Rico, and take two of three from Illinois, Notre Dame, and Temple; do you agree that the Terps would have a solid OOC resume?  Does that seem realistically obtainable to you?

Of the other OOC games vs. UNC Wilmington, Florida Gulf Coast, Mount St. Mary’s, FIU, Radford, Albany, Samford, and Cornell – do you see Wilmington as the biggest threat?”

Miller: “Two wins in Puerto Rico and two of three from that non-conference would certainly be a decent résumé. But that’s a tall order.

Beating Temple is the longest shot  and unlikely. Beating Illinois and/or Notre Dame is possible, but I’m not sure I’d take the Terps in either game. The biggest problem in Puerto Rico might be that a loss to Alabama sets up unimposing foes in the rest of the games. Colorado’s gonna be awful. Iona’s good, but that won’t do much for the Terps’ SOS. I doubt they see Wichita State or Purdue.

Wilmington could be the toughest remaining opponent remaining of the bunch, but I’d say that has as much to do with it being Maryland’s opener. I’m waiting for FIU to be better. Isiah Thomas has never been much of a coach, but he has brought some talent down there. A Maryland loss, however? Not so much.”

Baltimore Sports and Life: “Syracuse and Pittsburgh have agreed to join the Atlantic Coast Conference as the 13^th and 14^th schools. Whenever they begin play within the league, the ACC will again assume the position as the premier basketball conference. ACC Commissioner John Swofford has been clear in his comments that the ACC is ‘comfortable’ with 14 teams. Would you advocate to Swofford that the ACC should also add Connecticut, and a 16^th? (Rutgers, other?)”

Miller: “UConn obviously adds quite a bit in terms of basketball quality. And Rutgers seems to be on the rise under Mike Rice. But I would pass on both.

Nobody cares about Rutgers. If the ACC adds the Scarlet Knight, all it’s doing is adding a blasé program for the sake of playing close to NYC. That sucks and it’s beneath the ACC to do so.

As for UConn, it’s tough to know what awaits that program once Jim Calhoun retires. He says he was rejuvenated by last year’s national title run, but he’s has myriad health issues and he’s almost 70. That’s enough pause for me.”

Baltimore Sports and Life: “When there were 9 schools in the ACC, each team would play a home-and-home with the other 8 universities.

If the ACC were to add UConn, and Rutgers, you could have natural North and South divisions for football, which I think could also be carried over to basketball.

ACC North: BC, UConn, ‘Cuse, Pitt, Rutgers, Maryland, Virginia, VTech
ACC South: UNC, Duke, Wake, NCST, Clemson, GaTech, FSU, Miami

With hoops, I think it would be important for the conference schedule to increase. You would want to play home-and-home series against your division, and some games against the other division. While it would be unlikely for the league’s Coaches to agree to up the conference schedule from 16 to 22 games, I think that would be ideal. (2 games vs. each of your 7 divisional opponents = 14 games, + 1 game each vs. the other division.)

With those 22 games on the schedule, you could then eliminate the hardest 5 or 6 games on the OOC schedule. Do you think the league’s Coaches would ever go for that?”

Miller: “I wouldn’t. There’s a lot of freedom in those non-conference games to set up opponents who present easy wins, add to gate receipts and work out roster issues. Nobody wants more conference games. There’s pressure enough with 16.”

Baltimore Sports and Life: “We are not one game into the 2011-12 season, but many Terps fans are extremely excited about the prospects for Maryland starting with ’12-’13.

2012-2013 Roster as of today:
Guards: Stoglin (Jr), Howard (Jr), Faust (Soph), Allen (Freshman)
SF: Parker (Jr), Layman (Freshman)
Bigs: Padgett (Sr), Pankey (Jr),  Len (Soph), Cleare (Freshman)

Allen will give MD another capable PG, Layman is a SF, that is a Top 50ish player in ’12 Class, and Cleare is a Center that is a Top 40 player.

Should the Terps also add a Top PF, do you see the makings of a National Contender?”

Miller: “(whistles) Honestly? It’d have to be an elite power forward. Right now, that roster doesn’t feel like a national contender, but there’s a lot of unknowns in that time. Can Turgeon develop his players significantly in that time? Do some of those players make impressive leaps in terms of performance (I’m thinking Faust)?

And how is the rest of the ACC? We know Duke and North Carolina aren’t going anywhere. I’d prefer to think of the Terps as an ACC contender first. Then we can talk nationally.”

Baltimore Sports and Life: “When we asked you if Terrell Stoglin would be on your ACC Pre-season teams in the Fall, you stated you would need three teams, maybe four. You lauded his passing abilities, and scoring knack and pointed out his need to improve his decision making. CBS Sports ( http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/15755657/season-preview-top-100-players-in-college-basketball ) recently listed their Top 100 players in College Basketball, with Stoglin not found on that list. Do you agree with their analysis?

Miller: “Yeah, but again, that’s not so much on Stoglin as it’s a reflection of the ACC’s guards. Surpassing guys like Kendall Marshall, Austin Rivers, Seth Curry, Durant Scott and Malcolm Grant is a tall order. Stoglin has the ability to do so – and without Howard in the backcourt, he’ll probably put up even better numbers – but there’s loads of guard talent in that conference. Tough to elevate Stoglin at this point.”