Hey folks! Welcome to the 2008-09 basketball season. Tipoff could not come at a worse time for me(7pm CT on a Friday???). As you all know, I’m Comcast SportsNet Mid Atlantic-LESS; so I will only get to watch this if I can convince my wife that cowering over a computer watching my slingbox’s grainy video is the best way to spend a Friday night.
I’ll try my best at running commentary, but no promises. I trust that there will be pleny of commentary underneath this thread to satisy your needs to commiserate.
My prediction? Call me crazy, but I feel a blowout. I think the athletes of Maryland put on a show. This won’t prove we are better than people think; but it will open up the possibility. Terps by 25-30 points.
900PM CT
Do I know this team or what? The Terps won by 29 points– right within my predicted range. I decided not to keep a running log of the game. I thought it was way too pathetic to actively blog about a game I was wantching on the CBS Gametracker. Even I have my limits.
After starting 3-17; the terps finished 27-53 or just over 50%. Cliff Tucker, Landon Milbourne led the way offensively and the Terps limited their total turnovers to 11. By way of contrast; last season’s Terp squad opened up against N. Florida and they committed more than 20 turnovers. Bucknell is better than N. Florida.
Looking at the box score; I’m concerned that took the Terps 35 minutes of game time before they got the edge in rebounding. Methinks the Terps will struggle all year with the glass but hopefully steals and forcing turnovers will keep the number of shots even against better opponents.
All four guards (GV, EH, SM, and AB) notched at least 3 assists with Vasquez leading the way with 6.
Only Milbourne and Vasquez played more than 20 minutes while a total of 11 Terps played at least 10 minutes. I think this will be Gary’s plan all year. The Terps will try to wear opponents down by throwing 11 athletes at them.
The Terps are much different than last year. Look for them to get stronger as the game wears on as opposed to fading down the stretch.
As far as debuts go; that was as good as Terp fan could hope for. Now let’s see the football team take to the Tarheels tomorrow.
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Leaving for CP in a half hour, can’t wait!!!!!! GO Terps!!!!!!!!
The expectations, the prognostications, the pontifications!! Everything we’ve discussed and fretted over, the disappointment of last season, the ups and downs of recruitment, the possible strengths and weaknesses, it all comes down to tonight. The season begins and we switch from what WILL they do to what ARE they doing. I’m giddy.
Maryland, we’re all behind you.
Wave high the BLACK and GOLD,
For there is nothing half so glorious
As to see our team victorious.
We’ve got the team, boys,
We’ve got the steam, boys,
So keep on fighting, don’t give in!
M-A-R-Y-L-A-N-D
Maryland will win!
Go Maryland.
GO TERPS!
Am I seeing this right? 3-17 shooting, 7 points 8 and a half minutes in? What the hell is going on?
Yikes, I just logged in to Gametracker also, 3-17 shooting almost half way through the first half. UGLY. They better calm down.
The CBS Gametracker is TERRIBLE!! I need a better way to follow the game.
Watching the game on ACC select…they are settling for jumpers that aren’t falling in. Bucknell is really bad
Not pretty so far. Hoping it’s nerves….You can buy the game at ACC.com through CBS CS.
After pretty bad start Tucker is coming on strong now.
shooting 35%, seems like they came out nervous and hyped up, but I am not watching the game. I expect them to settle down in the 2nd half and start making their shots. They need to put up at least 50 more points in the second half. Kim should get hot.
Looking very active so far, I like it. Up 15 right now which is good.
Good start
I was watching on ACC Select but it only showed me half of the screen. So I got to see alot of action away from the ball LOL My computer sucks sometimes.
some thoughts about tonight’s game. first off, no one looked great, everyone looked pretty rusty. i was hoping to see more out of mosley and dupree. kim sort of plays like a wild man, but i like his energy. cliff and landon both played solid games. vasquez looked out of control as usual. there’s absolutely no doubt that bowie should be starting over hayes, he’s just a much better player.
Starting to look better as a team. Our defense has been strong all night but nerves got the best of our offense for the first 10 minutes. Everything was fast and furious and nothing looked all that good. Vasquez has looked extremely patient though. In spots where he forced bad shots last season, he’s been looking to pass it back out or find someone else to finish. His shot hasn’t been falling but he looks to be scanning for options before getting into the teeth of the defense with no where to go.
Unfortunately, the glaring weakness of this team on paper also translates to the court. Unless you consider MIlbourne or Neal to be “big men” we don’t have one serviceable big man on this team. They all seem to play fairly solid defense and rebounding isn’t much of a problem (except for Dupree), but none of them will be an offensive threat. That’s a bit troubling. This is the first game, but unless Gregory gets consistent playing time, I don’t see this changing.
If you thought Hayes had slow feet, don’t expect to see Flash Gordon in Sean Mosely. He looks sick or really tired or something because he is SLOW. Hayes, with the ball, just ran away from Mosely in a mini break situation. Strange…
Kim looks suprisingly good and CONFIDENT!! Love a 6′8″ guy draining the three and making FTs! Tucker picked up his game after a very shaky start and looks like the second best player on the team tonight (behind Milbourne). Tucker’s season could dictate the fortunes of this team. Bowie also looks good. REALLY FAST and explosive! Just nailed a three as well!
I’m really looking forward to this season. It’s going to be extremely interesting either way, but if this team develops a bit (gets some better individual effort out of a couple of young guys) we could be pretty good. Top 10 in the country good? Probably not. Top 3 in the ACC good? I think so…
Looking forward to another big bowl of Turtle Soup,
loop
GO TERPS
GO TERPS!!!
Decent game. Slow start but not terribly sloppy. 11 TO’s for the game….better.
Just about everyone got PT. Tucker slow start…..solid finish. GV had decent all around game but shooting % (still) needs to improve.
Game stats tell the real story.
We should have won this one big…….and we did.
Go Terps
Funny, I really thought Vasquez played under control tonight. Little did I know that someone else could watch the same game and think he was “out of control as usual”! Granted, he forced a couple bad shots in the lane but had about 5 other opportunities to do the same thing throughout the game and got it out of there w/o committing a TO. It didn’t look to me like he was in a rush to score (like all of last season) and I can only remember one glaring mistake leading to a TO. I thought he looked pretty poised tonight. This is certainly subject to change…
I thought Vasquez was out of control only because of the bad shots that he was taking. I think he had 6 AST and 1 TO, so that was good.
Good win didnt watch the game, listened to some of it on the radio. Im curious as to what the deal was with our big man play overall. I was expecting Burney to really step up and have a big year, i feel like he showed some real potential last year and figured he would emerge as our best low post threat. Didnt look like he did much, only got ten minutes tonight i mean when it comes down to it i feel like he is more of a threat come ACC games than Dave Neal.
You gotta cut the guys a little slack for the start. These are still young guys who I’m sure were very nervous to start the game and try and prove they’ll be a good team. They came around and more importantly used their defense to keep the game in their control despite the slow start on offense.
From what I read, rebounding was an issue, but we have to get used to that. It will be an issue until we can find a couple guys who can get in the best position to get boards. We need to train a guy to be like Dennis Rodman, who was far from the biggest guy, but just had a knack at getting the boards.
All in all, a 29 point win on opening night is a good start and should give this team plenty of confidence heading forward. But they’ve got a long way to go to be competitive with Michigan State on Thanksgiving.
You have to remember, Bucknell had Duke beat in the NCAA last year. I know they have some different ball players but they have the chops to hang with good teams.
We did something we did not last year, took care of business against people we should handle.
The bigs arent going to score. They just need to rebound and play D. Good first game.
I know we’re all pumped up but we’ve got to remember this is the first game of the season. Nothing is going to be super polished, especially with a young team that is trying to find it’s identity. The first game is a big deal for these guys and some nerves are obviously present.
I was at the game and thought the atmosphere was pretty good for Bucknell and the opener. The students showed and after a while the Comcast Center started to fill out a bit.
All in all, I think everyone played well in general. The defensive effort was there and it was very effective. Bucknell looked awful on offense, turned it over 20 times and the defense had a lot to do with that. I thought Gregory was particularly active and did a nice job on the boards.
It’s been mentioned before and is obvious from this first game that our front line is a major weakness and that Gary is going to play a guard heavy lineup that includes a lot of pressing. It’s early. The bigs will get better. Plus it’ll take a while for the team to learn how to play with a guard heavy lineup. Naturally, Gary is still getting a feel for lineups and combinations.
I’d agree with some of the Vasquez talk on both sides. He played under control and out of control during stretches. He played off the ball pretty well hitting some shots off screens and cuts. And he only had one turnover. But his shot selection is still often bad and he continues to take wrong angles to the basket. I think he’d be able to finish better and get in less trouble if he would stop taking such wide drives to the hoop. He also shot 5 times more than any one else and was 5-16 from the field. Sometimes I think it takes him too many shots to get points. That can be trouble. He played well. I continue to hope that he’ll get better and embrace playing off the ball.
Tucker, Bowie and Milbourne were very active on both ends. This team has athletes to press and get out in the open and I’m siked to see it. I was also impressed with Tucker hitting some mid range jumpers. That part of the game is so lost in players these days.
One more positive….the scoring was spread out. That’s big. The more teams have to account for, the better.
I noticed that Landon was wearing different shoes than everyone else in the first half, he came out in black shoes. At the half, he appeared in the same red/white nikes that everyone else had on.
P.S. he didn’t miss a single shot in the second half, going 4-4 from the field, and 5-5 at the line.
All I see is the almost minute stretch without a bucket. WTFO!!!! Bucknell is a new coach team so there is little solace in that. Vaz was not too big a Spaz but needs to not shoot so dang much since it is obvious there are other scorers on the floor. Early wins are good wins just ask VMI who beat Kentucky……
Thanks for the commentary PT. Since you were at the game let me ask you a couple of clarifying questions based on the Soupers posts above about the game: 1) Bowie vs EH as the PG? Did you see a difference there as some did?; 2) Do either Burmey or Dupree show any signs that they will develop an ACC level game before the ACC season kicks-in?; 3) What is this about Mosley being slow? Is that what you saw?, and finally, do Tucker and Milbourne, and possibly Bowie, look like they might potentially be ACC level offensive talents, and quite possibly offesnsive difference makers this season?
HEY.
I was at the game.. i saw mosely adding what i thought he would solid play without a lot of flash. I thought Dupree looked in shape banged alot around the board. I am not expecting an all-acc year from. TERPGRAD, don’t you think it is a little to soon to slam the starting point guard and ask for a benching. also to bash Vasques all ready. Man that is not supporting that is tearing down.
Really good defensive effort…Terps are gonna have to defend this year in order to get some wins.
Don’t worry about Mosley, I’ve said before that he’s a “glue” guy. Not a flashy/highlight reel player but one that will fill out several columns of the stat sheet and eventually get his points in a variety of ways.
We should be glad we have the guards we have, because collectively they will do well. Splitting hairs about this guard and that guard serves no purpose. As I reported back in the summer Eric is going to be the primary PG, but we have the luxury of playing others there if needed. The problem ain’t the backcourt folks.
While I’ve been the one trying to manage expectations on Steve Goins, unless Dupree and Burney get it going, Steve may get some earlier minutes. Goins isn’t fast or overly aggressive but has a nice touch around the basket and showed in pick up games that he can…wait for it…catch a pass.
But overall, it was an acceptable showing for an opener with a lot of guys playing more minutes than ever before. But our big guys have to show, long way to go there. Perhaps we’ll see Dino more if he keeps up his aggressive play and put Goins on a faster track to minutes if Braxton continues struggling. C’mon BD…all we need is a consistent 10pts/6-7 rebounds a game night after night and you’re golden brah. But again it’s just ONE game, hopefully he can improve more soon.
Recruiting wise…Will Regan was in the building and in the locker room after the game with his dad. Both seemed to be enjoying themselves. Hopefully the booing early in the game doesn’t affect their feelings about UMD. Jon Graham was also at the game.
Next up…Youngstown State on Tuesday.
So did Hayes start at PG? I assumed that he didn’t because he didn’t get his first assist until like 8 1/2 minutes left in the game. It was a good team showing (I am assuming they were really nervous/excited at the beginning of the game). One thing I don’t understand is that there are a few people on this board that kept saying our big men are going to be a lot better bcause they got all that experience playing last year? These guys averaged collectively something like 5 minutes a game and maybe a couple of points between them in mostly garbage time. Unlike some of the freshman this year that are likely to get some consistent minutes (Mosely and Kim). Also, Neal seemed to play solidly in his minutes by just looking at the stats, don’t laugh, if the young guys don’t step up their game he my be seeing a lot more time.
I thought Gary was right in his post game comments about the fans booing at the Terps slow start. Give these guys a break some of them are playing their first game this year. Gary reminded the crowd that #3 UCLA beat Miami of Ohio by four on their own court. This season is going to be an exercise in patience for players, fans and media (Heather). Great tourney over Thanksgiving with Old Spice. That will test the Terps and to pull off a huge upset over MSU would be akin to beating GTown in 93.
I saw a headline “Maryland Stunned” in this morning’s paper and my heart sank….phew….it was only the lady Terps (sorry to those who like the sport, but them losing means next to nothing when compared to the Men losing). Congrats to the GW & Co.. Condolences to the Ladies.
Jeremy, I appreciate the comparison to last year’s opener with N. Florida. All naysayers should take note. It adds an excellent perspective.
Looking at the box score, Milbourne’s line looks very, very solid. In 25 minutes, he scored 16 pts (5 for 9) had 3 boards and no TOs. I like it. Also, to those who think we lack a legit big man, may I direct you to Gregory’s 10 minutes….he chipped in 2 pts on 1 shot, 5 boards, (2 on offense) 2 blks and a steal. Neal and Bowie also had an efficient lines. No one looks to have what I would call a bad line, but if I try to find the weaker ones, Kim and Burney seemed like they did less with their minutes than others.
Youngstown State on Tuesday…..1 down and 29 to go to reach my 30 win prediction!
Looks like Padgett has not signed yet. Any concerns?
geez louise, i didn’t think i was slamming anyone! i certainly didn’t bash hayes, i just stated my opinion that i think bowie is a better player and should be starting over him. vasquez is another story. i might’ve gotten a little early vasquez bashing in, but i can’t help it. he throws up so many wild shots that it frustrates me. i was hoping that would end now that he’s an upperclassman. it’s only the first game i suppose…
James Padgett signed Friday…letter must be reviewed/processed by UMD Compliance Department before official statement is issued.
Hayes did start at PG, it just took 8 minutes for someone he passed the ball to, to make a shot LOL
DiamondbackRuss, thanks for the information re the LOI from James Padget. I wss beginning to get concerned.
Well, now it gets interesting because another one of my sources says Padgett is going to sign on Monday. Both are pretty reliable and have never had conflicting info before so I’m not sure who is right. The good news is there appears to be no need for concern.
JohnE, a response to your questions…
1. Bowie is certainly the more athletic player and has the ability to do some things better than Hayes. He can slash to the bucket and is able to put more defensive pressure on the ball, though I wouldn’t quite call him a “stopper” yet. I don’t necessarily think Bowie is the better point guard. Their styles are different and I actually like Bowie coming off the bench right now. His energy is a big boost off the bench and he’s going to get solid minutes, especially if Gary pushes for a higher tempo by pressing a lot. I think some people want Hayes to be something he isn’t. That’s not to say he can’t develop and become a better, just like any other player. But it’s one game. We can’t truly draw complete conclusions on anything yet.
2. I’d say Burney and Dupree will be able to contribute nicely come ACC time. That’s assuming we don’t expect way too much. Dupree has a nice touch at times and is further along offensively than Burney. More offense will be run for him on the block. Burney will probably score more in transition and off put backs. But the majority of the scoring is going to come form the wing players. We should be hoping Burney and Dupee rebound, play solid defense and score enough to keep defenses honest.
3. Mosley is definitely not slow. He’s just not really flashy. He drove by defenders 2-3 times and got to the rim but had trouble finishing. I think he’ll end up contributing in several areas this season. I like how he plays under control. Take note of his 4 assists…second highest next to Vasquez.
4. Yes. I believe Milbourne, Tucker and Bowie can be offensive difference makers, particularly if the pace is and up and down one. Tucker looked real solid against Bucknell.
I totally agree with PT and DBR.
Vasquez should take it straight to the hoop or give it to someone who can. He gets to the baseline with two defenders and no where to go. Go to the rim!!
About Mosely…He did look slow, but that’s not to say that he’s no good. What DBR said about him getting his points and being a solid player seems right on. Mosely seemed very aware of his position/role on the court and that should translate to some scoring. If he can put 110 percent into defending, he could be a huge asset this season.
Hey JohnE…Mind if I take a shot?
Bowie looked great with a slashing mentality. Hayes also looked solid with a shooters mentality. Take your pick! DBR is right on.We’ve got a ton of guards and both of these guys should play substantial minutes along with whomever else is on.
Burney is a good defender/rebounder which we need. Dupree is big…we need that too! Don’t expect them to put up any big numbers though. Gregory looked good. If he keeps up his defensive efforts he could see a lot of PT. There is some promise in the front court.
Finally, Tucker, Milbourne,and Bowie ALL looked like excellent offensive talents. I can definitely see them making a difference this year. In fact, I think that threesome’s play could dictate the success of this team.
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The University of Maryland added an outstanding post prospect on Monday when James Padgett signed a National Letter of Intent to play men’s basketball at the university, head coach Gary Williams announced.
Padgett is a 6-foot-8, 212-pound power forward from Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, N.Y. He was ranked 54th nationally at power forward by ESPN.com, and 21st in the nation and a four-star prospect at center by Scout.com.
His high school coach, Dwayne Morton, said he hoped Padgett might turn into the “best big man in New York City this year.” Morton said he is outstanding with his back to the basket, and ESPN.com called him a “very athletic interior player.” He averaged nearly a double-double each game, with 10.4 points and 9.8 rebounds per game last season as a junior.
“James is a strong, physical player who knows how to play with his back to the basket, while expanding his perimeter game,” said Williams, who will begin his 20th season as head coach of his alma mater on Friday night against Bucknell. “He is a winner. His Lincoln High School team won the New York State Class AA Championship last year.”
Padgett played AAU ball for the Juice All-Stars and chose Maryland over Rutgers, Seton Hall, St. John’s and Pittsburgh. Lincoln High is the same school that produced Stephon Marbury. Padgett transferred to Lincoln after his sophomore season at Xaverian High.
He becomes the second four-star forward to sign with the Terps in the past week. Jordan Williams, a 6-foot-10 center from Torrington, Conn., signed on Thursday.
“With our quality guards returning, we felt a need to get bigger inside. James and Jordan will allow us to do that,” said Gary Williams.