Basketball Season In Full Swing

I am so happy for college basketball season to be back. The Terps got off to a good start and even broke into the top 25. They then fumbled in the Maui invitational to Cincinnati and Wisconsin. Both of those teams look poised to do good things this season. And the Terps managed to persevere against the Indiana Hoosiers in the ACC-Big Ten challenge. Overall, my Terps are looking good this year. I've heard naysayers talk about how in a month the fans and Washington Post will be calling for Gary's head. But I'm not so sure.

First of all, I want to enjoy the success while it's going on. Why assume bad things are going to happen? I'm trying to be positive. Maryland has a good mixture of young and experienced players. The new big freshman will need to grow as players to make Maryland great, but I think they have done well so far. The defense is playing well so far.

For that reason, I think Maryland can do well. The Terps tend to rely on their star shooters, like Vasquez and when he doesn't come through, the Terps are lost. But this year they have the defense working for them. The shots will start to fall more. They will struggle on Vasquez off nights, but I don't think it will kill them. There shouldn't be any games like last season's Duke blowout loss. I think that will bode well for Maryland.

This team also looks like a group of hard workers. They seem to have a drive early in the season that Gary's teams sometimes appear to lack. Even in their lackluster performances, the team did not give up, they always looked like they were working hard. This is good. I don't want to watch a team that doesn't try, even in the pushover games. In recent years, Maryland has lost to some cupcake team and then started to spiral downward. I think that can be avoided this year.

I don't want to be waiting anxiously on Selection Sunday, I don't want to be strung along throughout the season and have my emotions played with again. I don't want to mourn Maryland and I don't want to call for Gary's head. So I'm hoping the experienced Terps are teaching the freshman and that Maryland continues to improve over the season.

I have high hopes, here's hoping the Terps don't let me down.

GO TERPS!!

Hope Springs Eternal

Yesterday afternoon a graphic kept flashing across the bottom of the Maryland-UNC game. It was every major win by an ACC team over a top 10 ACC opponent. Even UVA had one. But next to MD there was a question mark. Every time it came up I felt the need to just shake my head. It was a huge gaping hole in an already very questionable resume for a NCAA bid. Maryland wasn't even on the bubble before yesterday. Then it all changed with a yellow clad, red hot Greivis Vasquez.

With the first triple double for Maryland since 1987, he kept the Terps in the game in the first half until someone else managed to hit a shot. The Terps who hadn't led all game managed to tie it up and send the game into overtime with 76 points. But Maryland managed to step it up in OT. And walked away from the #3 ranked UNC with a huge win 88-85.

All of a sudden Maryland is back to 6-6 in the ACC. Two of their next four games are very winnable, with UVA and NCST coming up. If they can win those, they become a legitimate bubble team by finishing 8-8 in the ACC. If they can also pull an upset against Duke or Wake Forest, a tourney bid becomes a real possibility. This erratic season is killing me but I have no intention of complaining if they can come back from the dead and make something happen.

Less than a month ago I was mourning the death of the Maryland season, Gary Williams and Debbie Yow were having a very public feud about recruiting and the Terps had suffered there worst loss in years against a hated Duke team. They couldn't hold onto leads in the second half, and everyone just seemed demoralized. But somehow this team made it through all that and started working its way back to .500. I keep giving up on them and they keep coming back and giving me hope. This is why no matter how bad they are I can't seem to abandon them. I can't stop watching.

This undersized team seems to have a big heart. Next year with a legitimate big man hopefully they will be a force to be reckoned with. But this season might have renewed my faith in Gary. Let's see if they can continue to rise to the challenge and maybe even make the tourney. I'm giddy with anticipation.

GO TERPS!!!

Photo: AP/Rob Carr found at ESPN.com

Utter Embarrassment

The way the Terps have been playing lately is an embarrassment. The rout by Duke and the second quarter collapses have been terrible to watch. But all of that pales in comparison to the athletic department squabbles. The rumors of difference between Gary Williams and Debbie Yow have been circulating for a while. But they were pushed into the spotlight this week. Articles in the Washington Post and Baltimore Sun highlighted the growing rifts between the AD and Gary. One of the Assistant ADs, Worthington, basically blamed Gary for all the problems, especially the recruiting.

I'm not sure how an athletic department is supposed to work, but I'm pretty sure that unless you are really ready to fire you're coach you should be supporting him up until the last possible second. The news of the infighting was even a headline on ESPN the other day. People who knew very little about the situation, but know I'm a huge Maryland fan, were asking me what the deal was with all of it. And many people pointed out the ESPN article to me. It's not enough that the program is suffering, the team can't win, and we have a giant hole on the roster where a big man should be. Now we have a very public fight between two people who should be trying to help the program get better. Not trying to bring more shame onto it.

This whole situation makes me feel really bad for Gary. He obviously doesn't have the support of the AD. Or maybe her assistant spoke out of turn. Yow is in North Carolina for the funeral of her sister this week. Maybe she didn't know about this public fight until it had already began. But somehow I doubt this. Rumors have been circulating for far too long for this to just be a rough assistant's comments Either ways, there's no way that Gary can successfully run a program without that support. I know he's made some mistakes but this is only making him more sympathetic in my eyes. I've been calling for his head for a while, but now I'm starting to think he was just trying to do the right thing and maybe its Debbie Yow that should go. Maybe Gary is trying to change and get better. Plus Gary does have all those big donors so he's probably not going anywhere. Might as well make the situation better any way they can.

But Yow has helped all those other coaches win all those national championships in sports like field hockey, soccer, and competitive cheer. It's a tough call. Wait, no its not, Maryland is a basketball school, and that should come first, before football or anything else. And if they do somehow manage to find the money to buy out Gary, who would want to step in and take his place. No one if it means being thrown under the bus by the AD the moment things start going bad.

Overall, I'm more embarrassed by this behavior than the 41 point loss to Duke. Our program can recover from a bad year with some really bad losses; however, it will take a lot longer to recover from the vicious infighting and public disgrace. Work it out behind closed doors people.

On a Side Note:

Any time a coaching change is made in a program so important to the success of the ACC, it can be seen as a tremendous gamble.

If you indulge in online sports betting the gamble you take is greater still.

Remember to wager only what you can afford to lose. Have fun, but be smart about it. Know your limits.

College Basketball Season Starts, Feelings of Trepidation Begin

Last night college basketball season tipped off with Duke beating some cupcake team. I know that's how big college programs start their seasons in every sport. Whatever, I'm fine with that, I like to see a win in the season opener as much as anyone. And with the Maryland team this year, we're going to need all the cupcake teams we can get, or maybe not.

Last season, Maryland gave up some easy wins to not very good teams, including American and Ohio. Yet, they managed to beat UNC while healthy, one of the few teams to do that. I fear that Maryland basketball might suffer the same problems as Maryland football, they play to the level of their opponent and forget to show up sometimes. This is a young team that is lacking in leadership and big men. Yes, they have Vasquez and Hayes as solid guard options, and that new freshman who was magically declared eligible, but this is a team that is going to struggle with consistency.

I know I'm sounding pessimistic again, as I tend to do at the beginning of any season for a team I follow, but lets be fair. I haven't had a reason to be optimistic before any season started this year. And with the Terps missing the NCAA Tournament 3 out of the last 4 years, and having an epic collapse last year, can I really get excited. I'd rather be surprised if Maryland does well than disappointed if they play terribly.

I believe that the ACC is the best conference in college basketball. Yeah, some people will argue that the Big East is the best, but I think they lose credibility when they have so many teams, they can't all play in the Big East tournament. The ACC was a little weaker than normal last year, but it's still a force to be reckoned with. And with 6 teams from the ACC ranked in the top 40 on rivals.com and 7 teams in the top 65.

This seems to be yet another rebuilding year for Maryland. Though I hope Gary will be able to motivate the team to somehow make the tournament. I'm tired of getting excited only to wind up watching the NIT every year. I'd rather go out in the first round to the Tourney than go deep in the NIT. And I think most people would agree.

I'm not going to make any preseason predictions as to what the Terps record is going to be. I really haven't put that much effort into analyzing the schedule and looking at how other teams are doing. And I really just have no idea what's going to happen. Maybe, Gary will get his alcoholic ass together and be able to motivate this young team and coach them into solid play, while showing the fans and alumni that there is a lot of upside for this young talent. And maybe, Gary will get so drunk he'll pass out mid game, leading everyone to think he finally had that heart attack everyone sees coming. Or maybe, he'll actually have a heart attack during an ACC game. Really, I can see any of these possibilities happening.

One thing I'm pretty certain of though, this whole, I won a Championship seven years ago routine is not going to fly much longer if the Terps keep missing the tournament. Maryland fans expect this team to be competitive every year and are getting tired of going to the NIT. If Gary doesn't turn things around this season, a lot more people will be calling for his head.

Photo: AP and found on the Baltimore Sun website