Watching the Maryland Terrapins play over the last week plus somehow reminds me of that great cinematic tour de force “Austin Powers: The Spy That Shagged Me”. Everyone knows the timeless story line – Dr. Evil invents a “time machine” to travel back in time to steal Austin’s mojo (his life-force, for lack of a better way to put it).
There are all sorts of issues and characters that come and go in the 90 minutes of the movie including Scott Evil (the Diet Coke of evil) and Fat Bastard (“even stink would say that stinks”), but the one central theme that hits home is simple:
It may be for just a short period of time but somebody has stolen our hero’s mojo.
And it’s terrifying.
(You can can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)
You would be hard pressed to find one player in the history of the Maryland program who has done what Melo Trimble has done. Prior to his arrival this was, to say the least, a program adrift. The multiple roster defections, while ultimately beneficial, had to be explained and dealt with by a coach and staff in warm chairs. Back in the darkest of those days, Mark Turgeon was completely unwavering in his confidence for the future of his team and the program and the biggest source of confidence was Trimble’s impending arrival in College Park.
Melo surpassed every single expectation he came in and had an All Big Ten year and a spot on some All-American teams. It wasn’t just that he did it; it was how he did it. Tremendous work ethic, incredibly clutch play at crucial times – both of which came while speaking softly and smiling broadly.
This season has started with more of the same. Incendiary performances in Chapel Hill against a loaded UNC team and in Madison Square Garden against UConn in November and December seemed to foreshadow more impressive play for him as the Big Ten season rolled around in January.
We certainly have seen flashes of what we were sure we would see. Melo single handedly kept his team in contention in the first conference loss at Michigan State. He and Rasheed Sulaimon completely trashed Northwestern at Northwestern. And then there was his long distance dagger at Wisconsin. Even when he wasn’t shooting well he was able to take over games against Purdue at home and make two critical threes on the road at Nebraska.
Then this week happened. Out of the blue. Unexpected and inexplicable.
Theories as to the “why” abound. Injury? Fatigue? Too much Steph Curry love? Too much NBA talk, period? It may be more simple than any of that.
It’s a long season. Shit happens and almost all of it is not what you planned for. The grade you get at the end of the year is directly related to the minefield you had to deal with at some point during the season. It’s like a movie (back to Austin…) – it wouldn’t be any fun if there wasn’t some drama along the way.
A lot of the questions I get asked is in regards to the players themselves…what is this guy like? What is that guy like? Everybody sees the games and the highlights yet very few have the access. With Melo Trimble I think what you see is what you get. He’s a sweet, gifted kid who is really just now trying to find his way. In spite of all the accomplishments and all of the notoriety, confidence can be an issue for him. I commented to someone else that knows him well in the fall that it was hard for me to believe that this guy (Melo) might well be on an NBA charter flight within 12 months playing cards for thousands a hand. He has no “get over” in him. That’s a good thing, for the most part. But God save him on that charter.
He’ll be back. Book it.
In the meantime, this team has some things they need to deal with.
The loss of Diamond Stone was huge in the Minnesota game. Damonte Dodd played very well defensively in his stead but just doesn’t offer the offensive dynamic that Stone does. With Robert Carter struggling as he did in that game, an additional inside presence against a small Gopher team would have been huge. Given the struggles of the bench (we’ll get to that shortly) the loss of a starter amounts to a huge deal.
The play of the bench has been inconsistent at best, horrific at worst. Mark Turgeon made one really telling move last night in the Minnesota game. Normally when a player has two fouls in the first half he will sit until halftime so as not to pick up the third. Last night he put Jake Layman back in with six or seven minutes to play in the first even with two fouls. I love that adjustment. I have no idea who authored that whole thing about sitting a player with two fouls but it makes no sense at all, especially in this case. One of the strengths of this team, I think, is that it has veteran players who know how to play and should know how to play with two fouls. It ain’t that hard. With his replacement Jared Nickens struggling on both ends (perhaps an understatement), Layman should go back in as needed.
Speaking of Layman….he has to be more involved. Somehow, someway. He’s not really a takeover the game kinda guy, unfortunately. I’m not sure what the answer is. Maybe he should play the 4 spot more regularly. I know they run things for him and he gets his touches yet somehow the production doesn’t equal the talent. I love his durability and his energy and how far he has come as a player. This would be a great time for the light to switch completely to “on.”
Michal Cekovsky has shown signs of life of late off of the bench. It would be huge if you can count on him for 8-10 minutes per game but it might be hard to do if you get Layman minutes at the 4 spot. The whole Varun Ram/Jaylen Brantley thing probably has to come to fruition at some point. Brantley has looked increasingly comfortable of late and his ability to score seems to outweigh his defensive liabilities at this point. This is a team that is locking down teams pretty regularly on defense. An offensive punch off the bench with Nickens struggling is a necessity. As a caveat…I say these things without being in practice. At this time of the year these guys are practicing ten hours a week and playing for four. Things happen in practice that none of us know about.
I’ll be back in this space next week. It’s hard not to think micro when you witness the debacles of the last week up close. At this point, however, looking back does no good whatsoever. All you can do is move forward, with a completely lack of self pity, and a resolve to change the direction of where you’re headed. Think prospectively. All of us.
Terps Analyst
A fixture in the Washington sports scene since his days as a player and a coach, Chris Knoche has accumulated a diverse resume as a media presence in town for more than two decades. That resume has earned him opportunities on both national and local stages and made him a Washington DC staple on radio, television and in digital media.