Terps beatdown at Duke; The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Going into today’s Maryland game at Duke, there was a lot of talk from Terp fans about ending the 5 game losing streak to the Blue Devils, and avenging the 41 point beating suffered at Cameron last-year.

The Blue Devils ended that talk, with a dominating performance from start to finish. With the loss, the Terps fall to 16-7 overall, and 6-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

From the perspective of a Maryland fan, the disappointment is not just the loss; but seeing the Terps not play the game they are capable of playing. You have to give Duke and Coach K credit for some of that. Perhaps the most important aspect of the game, was Coach K giving the start to Brian Zoubek.

Maryland had zero answers for the 7’1 Center, who finished with 16 points, and 17 rebounds. I thought the overall size of Duke might give the Terps problems today, but count me as one that did not expect to see Zoubek controlling the action.

I went into today believing Duke would play a lot of zone against Maryland, and that the Terps were going to have prove they could get dribble penetration, and kick for open shots. To often in the first-half the Terps struggled to beat their man off the dribble. The passing was not crisp, and this led to a bunch of poor looks from 3. I was happy to see that Maryland only took 13 three-point attempts, but you will not be a talented team on the road, if you can not hit your share from the outside. Vasquez and Hayes only had 5 total turnovers, but their ball-handling in the first-half, left something to be desired.

The Good:

1) Gary Williams is catching a lot of heat on Maryland message boards for his use of timeouts, but I think he used them properly. He was doing his part to try and eliminate the game from getting out of hand, and knew that with the game being on National TV, there would be additional opportunities to stop the clock, and communicate to his team. Plenty of negatives on the day today, but Williams’ use of timeouts was not one of them.

2) Hayes started the game correctly, by showing a willingness to attack the rim.

3) Gregory had 4 blocks off the bench.

4) Tucker did not have a great game by any-means, but his 12 points off the bench was an example of his scoring ability.

5) Padgett got some good minutes, and was making a difference during his time on the floor.

6) Jeff Barker of The Baltimore Sun, reported that Jerome Burney was back in uniform for Maryland today. Burney was ruled out for the season in October due to his chronic foot-injuries. He has been seen numerous times during the year, wearing a suit, and helping the team with their strength and conditioning training. The big 6’9 Burney has always worked hard in the gym. When healthy, he played with strong intensity on the boards, and on defense. If get to the point where he is capable of giving a few minutes a game, that can only help. Even if that does not happen, I feel good for him, and applaud his efforts. Here is a Youtube video, showing some of that athleticism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfA64T8KDyQ

The Bad:

1) Mosley and Milbourne combined for 6 points, 7 boards, 1 steal, and 2 blocks. Maryland is simply not capable of beating a good team on the road, if these two combine for minimal production.

2) The Terps came into this game averaging 20.38 Foul shots per game in Atlantic Coast Conference Play, today they got to the line just 11 times. When Maryland gets to the foul-line, they have an advantage over opponents, because they have strong foul-shooters, and because they can set-up their press. When they do not get to the foul-line, their ability to score is mitigated. When Duke comes to College Park, this number will have to change for the Terps to have a chance to win.

3) I gave Gregory credit for being active, and providing a shot-blocking presence. Perhaps expecting the 6’7 Gregory to rebound on the 7’1 Zoubek is asking too much. However, what I question is why Gregory played 21 minutes today. In those 21 minutes Gregory had 3 rebounds. Compare that to Padgett who had 3 boards of his own in just 8 minutes of action.

4) Similarly, I gave Tucker credit for providing scoring off the bench, but CBS’ Clark Kellogg was exactly right to point out that Tucker needed to throw down a dunk when Maryland was coming-back. Tucker has major athleticism, has shown the ability to dunk. Why is he in his Jr. year and still having finger-rolls blocked at the rim?

5) When I have been projecting the roster for next year, I have often included Bowie as the de facto starter at the PG position. While I have figured that Stoglin, and Howard will get equal time behind him (and probably control the ball in games late), I have thought that Bowie would start the year as the starter due to his size, experience, and ability to drive to the rack. Bowie is not going to have a chance to start, if he does not show marked improvement with his handle. He only played 5 minutes today, and had 2 turnovers, looking very uncomfortable against the on-the-ball pressure of Duke.

Getting past next-season, Bowie has to improve his play now. Bowie started 29 games for Maryland last-year. He scored in double-figures 16 times, and had at-least 6 points 26 different times. I understand that his minutes and correspondingly his confidence has been lowered.

Bowie has to look in the mirror, and raise his play. Gary Williams needs to find ways to increase his confidence.

6) CBS Sportsline has Jordan Williams line as 6 points, 6 boards, a steal, and a block in 19 minutes. Yahoo Sports gave Williams an additional-rebound, and said he played 24 minutes. I am not sure which is accurate, but the result is he had limited production overall. He was just 3-10 from the floor, missed a lot of close in looks, and was pushed around by Zoubek. Williams had played (and faired well) against a lot of bigs all season, but this was the first-time I remember seeing him out-muscled.

I know he had 3 fouls, but I think Gary Williams sat him on the bench too early, and too long today. My focus would have been finding Jordan Williams as quickly as possible, and getting his legs under him. I think Coach K threw a large wrinkle into Maryland’s plans with the start of Zoubek.

The Ugly:

1) Vasquez finished with 17 points (7 of 12 from the floor), 7 boards, and 4 assists. That is a decent stat-line, but the reality is that he did nothing for the first 30 minutes of the game. He also had trouble defending Scheyer.

I guess my frustration with Vasquez today is that it took him too long to figure out how to attack Duke. When he finally figured it out, he put the Terps on the brink of getting back into the game. Your Senior leader can not be a non-factor for 3/4’s of the game.

As I have tried to illustrate above, this game does not fall on Vasquez’s shoulders alone. There was plenty of blame to go around for the Terps, and credit due to Duke. Still, more was needed from the General today.

Up-Next:

Monday night against Virginia is a huge-game for the Terps. Maryland will have had limited preparation for the Cavaliers, and will still be smarting from today. Maryland will need to ride the emotion of the home-crowd, and get strong production from their Seniors (Vasquez, Milbourne, and Hayes).

At 5-3, Virginia is just a 1/2 game behind Maryland in the ACC standings, going into their game tonight at Virginia Tech.

If I am Gary Williams, I am spending the entire trip home reminding my team that the 5 games they have until they play Duke again, will determine how important that game is.

If the Terps play to their potential, one week from today Maryland should be 19-7 overall, and 9-3 in the ACC. It will be interesting to see what mind-set the Terps have in their game Monday night. My early take is that getting right back on the court is going to prove to be a good thing.