Terps upset at home; The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The University of Maryland fell to 8-4, with an upset loss at home to the Colonial Athletic Association’s William & Mary.

The loss means that for the third consecutive year, the Terps have lost to a lower-tier D1 team at-home in the Comcast Center. (Ohio University, and American in 2007, Morgan State in 2008)

Maryland was well aware that William & Mary would represent a challenge tonight. The Tribe had lost to Connecticut by just 9 in their first game of the year, and had beaten a fellow Atlantic Coast Conference team in Wake Forest earlier this year. You could see that Maryland came out with a bit of intensity tonight, with the intent of defending their home-floor.

Unfortunately, while that early effort was good, their in game decisions were poor. Maryland forced up 13 three-pointers in the first-half, hitting just 2. Their firing and missing from the outside, allowed the Tribe to build a 9 point half-time lead. By that point William & Mary knew they belonged on the same court, and Maryland took the look of a team playing with the weight of the world on their shoulders. That is what happens when you play a team you are expected to beat, and you do not put them away early.

To the credit of Maryland, they came out to start the 2nd-half by attacking the basket. Their defense was not good enough though, and they simply allowed to many back-court screens, and sent the Tribe to the foul-line too many times.

The Terps are a fairly deep team of good basketball players. What they are not, is a team blessed with a lot of elite talent, nor a team blessed with great athleticism. There are good pure athletes on the team – Milbourne, Gregory, Padgett, Tucker, Bowie – but overall the athleticism is very mediocre for a high-major team. More than anything else, that is what on certain nights allows Maryland to be embarrassed on their home-floor.

Ohio, American, and Morgan each reached post-season tournaments the past two-years, and so will this W&M team. The difference between those teams on their best nights, and the Terps on an off night is just not very much.

What this loss means to Maryland, is that in-conjunction with having very little on their out-of-conference resume beyond beating Indiana, they will have the stigma of losing to a CAA team at-home. More to the point, they have lost a game, that they counted as a W. Starting Sunday at UNC Greensboro, the Terps have a total of 18 regular-season games left, and at-least 1 game in the ACC Tournament. If you give the Terps wins over UNC-Greensboro, and Longwood; in my mind Maryland is going to have to go 10-7 in their 17 guaranteed ACC games to definitively reach the NCAA Tournament. 9-8 might get them in, but it would have them sweating on Selection Sunday.

Their best path to 10 ACC wins could be:

Florida State @ home
@Wake Forest
@Boston College
NCST @ home
Miami @ home
UVA @ home
@NCST
Georgia Tech @home
Clemson @home
@UVA

This path would allow for the following losses:

@Clemson
@Florida State
North Carolina @ home
@Duke
@Virginia Tech
Duke @ home
1st round of the ACCT

Clearly a 9-8 Maryland team that beat UNC or Duke, would be just as likely to dance, as a 10-7 Maryland team that did not.

There is two months of basketball to be played, but the writing is on the wall of what has to be accomplished.

The Good:

1) The Terps only had 8 turnovers for the game, so you can not say they were sloppy with the ball.

2) Maryland out-rebounded W&M 37-29, so you can not fault their efforts on the boards.

3) Milbourne finished with 19 points, and 10 boards, and tried very hard down the stretch to will his team back into the game.

4) Vasquez jacked a couple of shots at the end of the game, which hurt his FG%; but he played reasonably well. 26 points, 6 assists, 5 boards, 1 steal, 1 block. He was regularly getting to the rim when he attempted to do so.

5) 8 points, and 8 boards for Jordan Williams, who also had 2 blocks. Hayes caught him in stride for a beautiful lay-up early in the game. He does not have the hops of a Padgett, or Gregory to ‘wow’ you as an athlete, but a 6’10, 260 lb guy that can run the court like him is plenty valuable.

6) After missing the last-game due to his ankle, Mosley returned for 33 minutes. He has great confidence this year in his short-range jumper. 12 points, and 8 boards for Mosley tonight.

The Bad:

1) I am a fan of Dino Gregory. He has an offensive game limited to put-backs, and the occasional open jumper to 10-12′ feet, but he can help a team. He runs the court, he can jump, shot-block, and rebound. He was the best-player on very good Mount Saint Joe teams, and deserved or not; The Sun named him the Baltimore City Player of the Year. Xavier, and Virginia Tech also offered him, so other high-major teams thought he could play. Maryland partly signed Gregory with the hope that he would grow a couple of more inches like his Dad, and have more of the Power Forward body that fits his skill set. That has not happened. To Gregory’s credit though, he has worked very hard in the gym, and it shows. The reason I have Gregory in the ‘bad’ category tonight is not because of his lack of offense. It is because it is just not acceptable for Gregory to have 22 minutes on the court against a mid-major, and come away with 2 boards, and 1 block. Gregory has to clean the glass, and defend for him to be on the court. If he does not do that, his minutes have to be reduced, with Padgett picking up the slack. My guess is that Gregory is a bit upset about how his Junior season is going. Missing the time to start the year, and falling behind Williams at Center. If I am right, Gregory has to take a look in the mirror and remember he is the only one that can correct that.

2) Due to Mosley being out the last game, Tucker was coming off of a 29 minute outing against Florida Atlantic. Tucker said it was easier to play with those extended minutes vs. coming off the bench. You can understand that, as it is easier to play when you can get into the flow of the game. It is disappointing he only received 11 minutes tonight, but also disappointing he could not do more during that time on the court. This team is deep at the guard and wing positions. If Tucker wants increased time, he is going to have to do enough when he is on the court, that Gary Williams can not sit him. Conversely, Williams should look to find him more time.

3) W&M had some extra free-throws down the stretch as Maryland was trying to extend the game, but the Terps allowed the Tribe to get to the line 31 times. Good-luck beating any team that gets to the foul-line that much.

3a) Maryland took only 19 foul-shots, and made just 13. Until the final last minute push by the Terps, they were not being aggressive enough. When they got desperate, they found a way to the line. Why can not they not play with that same desperation for 40 minutes?

4) The Terps lost this game by taking 13 three-pointers in the 1st-half. While Maryland has a number of players capable of knocking down a couple of threes, they are not a good outside shooting team. Maryland has to have the mindset of aggressively going inside, with their guards and wings crashing the boards. This team has to score on put-backs, and by getting to the line. When they do that, they will be tough to beat. When they settle for jumpers, they will lose.

Maryland was 4 of 25 from 3 point-land tonight. At some point they have to learn who they are.

The Ugly

1) It was one thing for this to be a close game, it was another to lose. The CAA is good mid-major conference, and W&M will contend for the league title. Playing to a 9 point loss at UConn is impressive. Beating Wake Forest is a major win. Maryland being down 16 points at-home to W&M is not acceptable.

Maryland played hard in the beginning of the game, but they did not play smart. Still, the end of the game showed they were capable of ratcheting their intensity to a whole other level. The Terps could have gotten away with not playing smart, if they had played at that level of intensity for 40 minutes.

2) Maryland had 3 steals, and forced just 11 turnovers. The press continues to be broken to easy. When the press is called for, I would love to see some extended minutes with a lineup that looked like Bowie at the 1, Tucker 2, Milbourne 3, Padgett 4, Gregory 5.

3) Can the Terps please stop scheduling teams of low-profile that are capable of beating them, during Winter Break for the students? The Arena is not filled, the atmosphere is not as good, and Maryland pays for it. Winning these games would do little for Maryland’s tournament profile anyway. You might as well schedule someone that is respected more, that might bring out more fans, and would not be looked at as such a ‘poor’ loss if you were to lose. Teams from Conference USA, the Mountain West, or Western Athletic Conference would be ideal.

Up-Next:

2009 is over, and the focus turns to 2010. There are enough good players, and experience on this roster to be a factor in conference, and in the post-season.

I still think this is a team with the components necessary to achieve 10 ACC regular-season wins, and two wins in the NCAA Tournament. With every-game, I become more convinced that for that to happen, the Terps are going to have to concentrate on working inside-out, and giving touches to Jordan Williams as many possessions as possible.

I think if the Terps worked on giving him the ball in the blocks, good things will happen for everyone else.

Maryland starts 2010 with a trip to UNC Greensboro Sunday. It is a game designed to give the Terps some familiarity with the Greensboro Arena when they return for the ACC Tournament. UNCG is 2-9 with losses to Duke, Clemson, and Wake Forest already. They will play NCST tomorrow night, before hosting Maryland. Having played 4 ACC teams before playing the Terps, you can count on them not being in awe of Maryland. If UNCG happens to play NCST tight tomorrow, watch for another danger game for Maryland.

Unlike tonight though, if the Terps were to lose against UNCG there would be no excuses.

Tomorrow night, the calendar will turn to the graduating year of Vasquez, Milbourne, and Hayes. Maybe tonight will serve as the reminder needed to make each day count.