I don’t have much to say about the game because my wife and I were in the middle of moving during yesterday’s championship; so I didn’t get to see any of the game.
All I know is that coach Sasho has built one hell of a program. The Terp Women won the Field Hockey and the Men won Soccer. That is one great Fall season.
Now if the Basketball team can keep playing well; this will be a great year in College Park.
By the way, was I the only one who noticed Gary Williams sitting in the owner’s box at M&T Bank Stadium for the Ravens-Steelers game? I know Biscotti is a huge donor to the school, but I love the fact that Gary is a Raven fan. If you recall, he brought in Brian Billick to give a pep talk to the Terps after they lost to Duke (gone in 53 seconds) and Fl. St. Billick had just won the Super Bowl, and Gary called in a favor.
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REPOST FROM DEL STATE THREAD
Kudos to the 2008 NC Mens Soccer Team!
In this dead period between December games I took the time to look at what some of the recent de-commits or transfers are doing.
Bobby Maze – Starting for Tennessee and playing pretty well. I wonder how he would have been helping us with the glut of guards we have but he definitely is a talent.
Terrance Jennings – Is on Louisville, current averaging 6.2 minutes a game, 2.2 reb. and 2.8 pts. He has the least amount of minutes of anyone on the team.
Gus Gilchrist – Has played only one game so far, 21 minutes, 6 rebs and 8 pts.
Shane Clark – Now a senior at Villanova, averages 17 min a game, 2.9 rebs and 5.1 pts.
Tyree Evans – Listed on Kent State website as on the team but no appearances in the box scores.
Shane Walker is at Loyola but is sitting out this year.
I think we will miss Gilchrist the most this year given our lack of size.
I think we’d all help our health if we just moved on from the de-commits LOL
Terps soccer is a serious powerhouse. I try to get out to at least one home game a year at Ludwig and caught the final four games. Although the St Johns game was on…you guessed it…ESPNU! But it was replayed the next day. Sasho said this team set the “gold standard” which is saying something for our program. Whats perhaps most scary is that this team is young. Although we will probably lose some underclassmen going pro.
Go Terps!
Hey that’s great.
(What is ’soccer’ again? Is that like chess?)
I’m with you Stevend…I even watched both College Cup games, and I just can’t get into the sport. Maybe when my kids get older and start playing it, I will. For now, though, I view soccer like I view baseball…totally worthless until the playoffs.
I do think, however, that MD’s success in the non-revenue sports is yet another tip of the cap to Debbie Yow. Hate her all you want, but how many championships in any sport did MD win in the decade previous to her hiring and how many have they won since? Hell, the MD swim teams are even among the better in the nation. She’s even built a hell of a softabll team! The entire athletic department has quality of depth.
I know some of you will make the case that the coaches deserve credit and not her, but that argument is logically faulty. She feeds the monsters, she builds the facilities, she raises the funds, she keeps the entire athletic department in the black, and she wins. You can’t begrudge her management or leadership successes. She came to a class of mine at MD, and I thought she was a real bizzo, but you have to give her credit where credit is due.
I knew this was coming…I happen to LOVE soccer, but I am not going to defend it. I understand people don’t feel it. I hate baseball. Can’t even watch highlights. But thats me. Anyways, soccer has a bit of a following in College Park. This years high attendance was 6500. Which is not bad. And they show up on Fox Soccer Channel and ESPN2 (obviously for the final four). I think it is something to be proud of as an alum. Just like the womens b-ball and field hockey team.
No argument with you Jon…I wouldn’t have watched a second of the College Cup unless MD played in it. I thought that was inherent in my last post. I tend to get more geeked up for men’s lacrosse than I do for the hoops team, and I am probably an outlier on this site for that. But…it’s always about Terps sports.
I went to OU for grad school and really could care less about Bradford winning the Heisman. I’ll watch OU play for the national title in football but won’t really lose sleep over it if they lose. I would have lost more sleep if MD’s soccer team had last yesterday than an OU loss in football. Get my drift? I don’t identify with the OU fan base.
I do identify with the MD fan base, which is you all. God help me.
Guys, guys give “The Beautiful Game” a chance. Here’s a tip. Don’t look for goals all of the time when you watch the game. Concentrate on the midfielders (especially the attacking midfielder) who is the “quarterback” of the game. Watch how he distributes the ball to the proper player. In fact, don’t watch the ball. Watch the guys without the ball and how they move into positions to receive a pass. It is a totally satifying sporting experience. Talk about non-stop action. It’s 45 minutes of pure action without interruption. No referees calls, no instant replays, no huddles and no timeouts.
When we watch a hoops game, we don’t always look at the shooting and scoring only do we? Only children watch a game that way. We see when a player makes a great cut without the ball. We see when a guy isn’t boxing out. We see when the help defense doesn’t come in time. Well you just have to apply those watching skills to soccer. Watch for the intricacies of the game and you will enjoy it after you get used to it. Then you will eventually love it. I compare it to playing golf. When you first start its frustrating and stupid. Then after you improve you fall in love with it right? You can’t sleep the night before a morning tee time right? Soccer is the same way.
Prediction: Maryland 90 American 10
I agree completely, Eddie but I try to refrain from “selling” the sport. Y’know, everyone is entitled to their opinion. One thing I would suggest is for non-fans to watch the EPL, Champions League or the World Cup. That is where the sport is played at its best. Possession.
Don’t miss the HBO special “Breaking The Huddle” a key person in that special is Lee Corso. Back in the day it was Corso, an assistant coach at Maryland, who spearheaded the recruiting of the first African-American player in the ACC (which was/is made up of primarily southern schools). That player was Daryl Hill who transferred from Xavier to play at UMD.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darryl_Hill_(football_player)
You’re right Jon. Sorry for the soccer advertisement.
Hey Eddie, I liked your post.
I was just told by a NC State guy that we have only sold like 10 tickets to our bowl. Ouch.
I can’t blame anyone for not wanting to go to Idaho in the winter to watch us play Nevada. It just doesn’t bode well when we are in the running for bowls next year.
I’m told that 2010 Terp recruit Will Regan scored 43 pts in his most recent game including 2-3 three point shots.
Ricksterps,
what is suprising is the lack of support coming out of the AD about the bowl game. Normally high up Terp Club members (up to about 250 I guess) get called and asked to buy 10-50 tickets and they donate them to charity if you don’t go. This way the tix sales are up. This year no calls, one small e-mail announcement, no travel packages, no promotional gifts. Nothing, its like they don’t care.
Also its between zero and 9 degrees at its coldest in Boise right now. I do not know of one person who is going to the game, not one.
No worries Eddie. I completely agree! It was a great post about the finer points of soccer.
This morning before work I was at 7-11 flipping through the latest ESPN the Mag. In the little back section on College b-ball there was a bit of a scathing article on our beloved Terps. You know, the classic, “What happened to the Terps after the championship?” article. It was weird because the article said, after some impressive early non-conference wins the Terps find themselves on the bubble again this year. First it is WAY early for the dreaded bubble talk. Second, I would say we are IN right now.
Anyone see the article?
Eddie,
That was a great post about soccer, but…it’s true that if you watch the game at the high levels, it is really amazing what can be done with the ball, the way teams move, etc.
I’ve coached my daughters and even played back in the stone ages, so I am familiar with the sport. But the scoring thing just makes it hard, for me, to follow the sport. I watch both games this weekend (following by watching the Volleyball regionals–daughters have moved to the volleyball court) and was thrilled to see the Terps win and BEAT UNC. Nothing could be finer…But to go back and forth for 90 minutes and see only 1 goal…to know that in the final 4, there were only T-H-R-E-E goals in 3 games. Imagine if the Terps won the title in ‘02 by beating Kansas 2-0 and Indiana 2-0. Well, OK, that would actually be cool, but you get my point.
It’s not for me, but here’s to Terp soccer fans and the Terps themselves.
That ESPN the Mag blurb on the Terps sounds ridiculous, definitely WAY too early to make bubble pronouncements. Sports Illustrated is and always be a much higher quality publication, in my opinion.
This is silly. The terps are one of three teams to win the acc in the years since we won the national championship. There are not many teams that have won the National Championship since we have, and a lot of teams who haven’t – especially some teams who everyone thinks are always hot.
I think we should all be glad that someone thinks so highly of us to consider a winning season, production from all four classes, and promising acc schedule to be an indication of a down season for the Terps.
I don’t think that the “low scoring” argument against soccer really holds water. Yes, football and and football have a lot of scoring 9and in footaball that idea is inflated because one “score” can give a team as much as 7 points (8 with the two pt conversion). But other sports succeed with low scores. Hockey is low scoring and (like soccer) can end in a tie, and yet there are many rabid fans of that sport in the US (not tons, but many – c’mon caps fans, I know you read this), and baseball (the so-called national pastime) is low scoring (1-0 and 2-1 are not uncommon and are often praised as great “pitcher’s duels) and incredibly successful in the US.
So I decry the “low-scoring” argument as an excuse, not a reason, for disliking soccer.
I said football and football in that last post and meant football and basketball. My apologies, its been a long day.
Not to rain on you soccer lovers’ parade, but I think you need an explanation from someone who has tried to appreciate that sport, but can’t.
Soccer, IMO, has world-wide popularity because it’s cheap: you need a ball and an open space to play. Since it’s cheap, it’s universally accessable. Compared to sitting around and doing nothing soccer is fun. It also requires athleticism to play well. I would not deny that. I’ve played the game on occasion and have always enjoyed the experience.
When it comes to spectating, however, compared to any other sport I can think of, soccer is boring. Here’s why:
1. The field is big. Most of the ball action takes place in the center of the field (where scoring isn’t even possible) and is slow to develop.
2. Scoring is rare. In fact, even shots on goal are rare. You can deny it, but it’s true. Clock any game and compare time when scoring is possible to when it is not and you will see a 90-10 ratio. Baseball always has a scoring threat (i.e., the home run) and has variety (some low scoring and some high scoring). Hockey has speed. Soccer has long period of boredom with flashes of excitement.
3. “Comeback” victories are even rarer. At higher levels, they are almost non existent. Frequently, you see 1-0 games when a goal is scored in the first half and the leading team sits on the lead. If a team goes up 2-0, then start drinking heavily, because the game is over.
4. Because scoring is so rare, strategy is limited. Sure players hustle to get into position, and an affecinado can appreciate that, but it’s not a coordinated attack where a team feigns and redirects by plan. Players attack and react – athletic (on those rare times when something exciting happens) but hardly a ‘thinking man’s’ game.
5. You can’t use your hands. So a large part of the body goes untested.
6. When something dirty happens, the player gets a “yellow card.” That’s just silly.
7. On those infrequent occasions when the ball gets close to the goal, there are “stars” like Maradonna, who collapse faster than a dook center to get a penalty kick. It probably wouldn’t be so bad but for instant replay. When you see some of those falls in slo-mo, you recognize the bullshit that happens and you think, the sport is as much about acting as anything else.
BTW – saying that the Terps are a buble team is just stupid. If the selection was tomorrow, the Terps would be the 3rd ACC school selected. The Terps are going dancing this year for sure. It’s only a question of when they crack the Top 25.
I’m not so sure we will make the NCAA’s. I’m more of a realist here. I suspect we’ll get drummed by UNC and Wake. Heck, I’m probably wrong in all my assertions. Anyhow, the lack of interior play and scoring punch concerns me. We’ll see.
Stevend,
I am a huge soccer fan and I can’t dispute some of your arguments.
1. Definitely true. But I would argue that it is an appeal of soccer. You can see the flow of the game and the buildup through the midfield. Oftentimes you can tell as the ball is being moved through the midfield that a score is coming.
2. Again true. But I would say it is like foreplay. A huge buildup to, well, you get the drift.
3. True. And I hate this. When the Terps scored I said pack it in. Defense. I would add to this that soccer is the rare sport where a team can completely dominate and if they allow a flukey goal. the other (inferior) team can just play defense to not lose.
4,5 6. I disagree with
7. COMPLETELY agree with. This was almost enough to make me leave the game during the Euro. It is even more frustrating when the best players (Christiano Ronaldo) is one of the worst “divers”. I think that FIFA should give out post-game cards for blatant dives.
But I still love the game. No sport is perfect. Except for maybe college basketball.
Hey we’re going to be 12-2 with 2 solid wins going into the ACC schedule. We play Virgina twice which makes us 14-2. We play Virgina Tech at home and they are struggling, 15-2. We actually match up REALLY well with Duke this year, believe it or not. They have sorry @ss Zubak at center and Kyle Singler is about the same size as Milbourne and probably not as athletic. We’ll beat Duke at least once to go 16-2. Clemson is going to get smoked this year, they always start out 10-0. We won’t give up a 23 point lead with the leadership on the team this year, 17-2. North Carolina will smoke us twice, 17-4. The rest of the games are probably going to be competetive games and we’ll split them 50-50 putting us at 21 or 22 wins going into the ACC tournament. We’ll pick up our 22nd and/or 23rd win in the tourney and fly into the NCAAs with a 6 seed.
I repeat, we were 10 minutes of basketball from a 27 win season last year. We just lacked leadership in crucial situations and lacked the ability to maintain leads. Adrian Bowie is helping tremendously on that front and we will be just fine!
I’m watching Gus Gilchrist on ESPN 2 right now. His team is getting wiped by Vanderbilt, and though it’s only his second game ever, he doesn’t look too good. I’m convinced that he would have been a help for us just with his size, and if he wanted, he could have gotten better under Gary and his staff, but alas, the ridiculous politics of college basketball.
They showed that piece of crap Woody on the USF bench, makes me so angry. As for Gilchrist, he can’t hit a foul shot and basically looks uncomfortable out there, though like I said it’s only his second game.
I saw that USF game too…Gus is sloooow and lazy
One problem with soccer is that the game doesn’t translate to television well. I dare anyone to go see a game in England and not come back a fan forever. I dare anyone! :-) (Or better yet spend a month in South Africa in 2010!)
Updated Prediction: Maryland 150 American 10
Paging DBR………. tried to sort thru 6 pages on Scout to find a credible answer (NO link confirming) but IS there any deference to be given to this rumor that Josh Portis is Transferring to JMU? Balderdash? Truefax?
TIA
GO Terps and Congrats to Sasho and the Boys!!!!!
Not to totally give in to the man, but I think that the marketing and commercializing of soccer has a lot to do with how many fans there are.
Since high level of soccer play basically has one or two opportunities for commercial interruption, televising games is such a huge gamble and not very profitable for stations or services who would offer it if it were more commercial friendly. (Why do you think there are a million and one brands on the jerseys of the guys in the Euro leagues?)
At least NASCAR is boring enough so that you can basically not watch for tens of laps and no one will even notice because – “what did they do 2 minutes ago? Oh they all made a left turn.” The magic of instant replay allows us to see the cool stuff like the crashes and since everything else is so linear, no one really cares about the far buildup to the crash.
Getting back to the point – soccer is stuck in that whole “we’re going to keep playing until something exciting happens and you don’t want to miss a minute of it” mentality that prevents the commercializing of the sport to encourage televising it to grow a fan base. Instead it is kept alive in America by the contingent of fans who are willing to pay to have it piped in from Europe (- or live within walking distance of the home field of the best college Soccer Program in the past decade).
To semi-prove my point about how TV affects the opinions of millions: would you know what Curling is if not for NBC’s coverage of the Olympics?
Go Terps!
Soccer is a much more complicated team sport than any of the other main stream sports on TV. Hockey and Basketball for example have similar flows to the game, back door cuts on double teams lead to dunks but they are only 5-5. A soccer player easily adapts to the flow of a basketball game, but not vice versa (I played all sports in HS so I can verify this). In outdoor soccer there are so many more wide ranging possibities across the field. Football doesn’t really count because they stop between plays and baseball isn’t a sport it’s a “pass time”, literally. Look how hard it is to maintain relationships in American sports with 5 greedy players on the court, let alone 11. I don’t think anyone who hasn’t tried to trap a soccer ball on a 60 yard-cross,field pass, turn and shoot on a dime, can really appreciate the skill that takes.
Uh….. Darryl Hill transferred from NAVY. You really must write for the Diamondback, great research!
jonbruns, thanks for the response. Please don’t take my rant the wrong way. I’m not trying to be a soccer hater. I just can’t get into it.
markmax, there’s a difference betwen playing and spectating. The times I’ve played soccer, I’ve had fun. Watching, on the other had, is dull, IMO.
Eddie, I’ve seen a plenty of games in England (I lived their for a while). Having “the big game” on in the pub does add to the atmosphere, and the UK commentators are light years ahead of their American counterparts. But if it’s not the “big game” then the electricity fades quickly. Believe me, I wanted to like it. I tried to like it. I just can’t. (Rugby, on the other hand, is awesome! Top tier rugby would sell very well in the USA, I think.) BTW – During the Lady Terps Championship season, I tried to like Women’s college basketball, too. That game was too slow to keep my interest. I also tried to like NASCAR, but was left thinking that it was as exciting as watching paint dry. For the most part, I’m a basics guy – basketball, baseball and football. So be it.
Gus Gilchrest is dead. Long live Dino Gregory!
Actually I just misread the Daryl Hill wikipedia page, that’s all. Thanks for the correction there J. At least we’re talking about Daryl Hill and that’s a good thing.
Meanwhile, on Josh Portis, I’ve heard talk about JMU also but haven’t really paid alot of attention to it. I do expect Portis to transfer though since it doesn’t appear he’s going to get much if any playing time.
Chris will probably be #1 on the depth chart for next season and I’m told Jamar has made the biggest improvement/impression on the coaches.
I wonder if the Terps made promises they could not keep to Gus Gilchrist? Like saying they could get the year-off waived when the rules were pretty clear? Or whether they had a legit shot in getting an exemption for him?
But basically I’m happy with the turnaround in recruiting by Gary and staff. I feel that the Terps are trying as hard as they can to produce winners in the future. I did not feel that way 2-3 years ago. The program’s direction is up, no doubt about it.
Good point EdDC. It’s hard to complain about the recent recruiting effort being put forth by Gary and his staff.
I think Gus Gilchrest expected his handler to get a job and Gary said shove it! That’s what Gary said in an interview a few weeks ago. Gary may have known more than we did when letting Gus go. Gary’s quote was something like, “If he was that good he wouldn’t have ended up at USF.”
I better never see another recruiting update from DBR about another Gilchrest in my life or I will personally fly back to College Park and shake Gary. We can blame 3-4 years of misery on that last name alone!
John Gilcrest was a headcase for sure. But I think we can also blame a Maryland ACC tourney championship on him. And by “Blame” I mean credit.
without J Gilly MD would be ’savoring’ 4 NITs in the last 5 years. I dont know what was more ‘impressive’ – his acc tourney performance or the following year’s flameout.
ah well, ancient history.
I’m with Markmax – no more gilchrists please.
Here, here on Stevend’s point about soccer…I would watch or attend any big soccer match or tournament because the atmosphere looks and sounds amazing. The only soccer matches I watch are in the big tournaments…and watching the crowds is almost as fun as watching the game. I’d go to South Africa in 2010 in a heartbeat, if my wife would let me, just to be a part of that spectacle. Soccer is a world game, and I dig anything that brings the world together (peace and love, man).
I hate to say this, but I can no longer watch NFL games for some of the same reasons that have been brought up about soccer. Very few teams in the NFL play an exciting brand of football anymore. There are only so many 13-10 games I can watch. I also can’t stand watching college football teams with former NFL coaches (hello Wanny at Pitt) because they bring that stodgy NFL style of play to college ball. It just sucks the life out of the game.
I don’t quite agree that soccer is more complex of a game than football. Even with the stops in between plays, getting 11 men to move in concert, even for 3 seconds, against 11 other men bent on stopping the play is quite a feat. 3 or 4 seeconds of highly choreographed violence done 80 times a game…with rather large men…might be the most complex non-mechanical feat on the planet.
Last night in the Lake Clifton/City College HS b-ball game, Will Barton scored 17 points, pulled down 16 rebounds, had 2 steals, 3 assists and one TO. Nice night for Barton as he only had 5 points at halftime and didn’t shoot particularly well in the first half.
Terps have several wings that they’re involved with for the class of 2010 but the Terps will continue to actively recruit Barton as long as his academics are in line.
GBX79,
I guess my point is that if we didn’t recruit Johny G with or without his ACC Tourney performance we would have gotten another TOP recruit based on our prior year’s performance. His actions also probably affected future recruiting efforts. Gilchrests all be damned.
I have a soft spot for all ex-Terps, even Johm Gilchrist (the courtesy does not extend to Gus Gilchrist, who never actually played in a game).
For sure John Gilchrist did not single-handedly undo the program. There was something that turned out to be off about that entire recruiting class (Caner-Medley, Garrision, and McCray). They all had off-the-court issues.
The assistant coaching ranks got blown-up at the same time. Lonergan, Patsos and Dickerson got head coaching jobs. Mike Adams came and left. And that guy from Charlotte came and left. Assistant coaches are important to keep players in order. Without asst. coach continuity, disipline suffered.
GW contributed with two lack-luster recruiting clases beforehand. Some guy named Grinnon was the one that preceeded the blow-up class and, after Wilcox left early, the one two before the blow-up class only had Jamar Smith (a Juco).
The point guard problem killed the team on the court. There was a PG in the Grinnon class (I forgot his name), who transferred out. When Gilchrist split, there were no true point guards to run the offense. College hoops is about guards and with no PG, things did not go well till Hayes/GV arrived.
Markmax
I get your point – the reality is that he produced for 2 years before hurting MD. As Stevend noted, the PG hole was a big one, but he had help imploding the program. I’m not a J Gilly fan, in hindsight would have happily had another recruit – but just as i can blast him, i also have to give kudos for what he did right.
I wonder how many recruits saw the Gilly problem as GW’s fault? Seems that most in the know blamed it on Gilly’s excessive expectations about his own talent. Had he gotten drafted it might have been on GW. I would think its the guys like Garrison followed by MJones who never reached potential that made recruits hesitate.
There are very few things that I miss about the US, but among them are Vietnamese food and the Terps. If anyone connected to Turtle Soup shows up in northeastern Brazil, I will happily take them to a great experience in a soccer stadium (A soccer game here in Recife is a party with 20-35,000 of your closest friends, and will help anyone to love the sport.) if they will consent to discuss the Terps over freezing cold beers afterward. I won’t expect any Souper to be able to help me with the Vietnamese food problem, though.
I think Gilchrist (John) had quite a bit of talent and was a fierce competitor. Remember that magnificent game he had against Wake in the ACC tourney? He single-handedly won the game. We rode Gilly’s back to the ACC tourney championship.
Sadly, aftert that Gilly turned out to be a simple case of “me first” attitude which, IMO, contributed to the free fall. Gilly’s attitude really reminds me of Marbury and T.O.
Gary Williams was on Comcast Sportsnet tonight. You can catch the extended video of the interview at
http://www.comcastsportsnet.tv/pages/maryland
John Gilchrist had plenty of game. Unfortunately, he had no inkling on how to play point guard. You have to give him credit for trying though. He did not lack effort. But he just didn’t have the smarts to play that position. Gilchrist made up his mind whether he was passing or shooting, regardless of how the defense was playing him. He lacked “basketball instinct”. You could say that about Caner-Medley too. He was dumb as a rock basketball-wise.
Thanks for that link matmc. I live in upsate NY so I’m saving that link for future interviews.
I learned tonight that Georgia Tech point guard Maurice “Moe” Miller was to undergo surgery today to reset a nasal fracture, sustained as a result of an elbow to the face in Sunday’s game, and will be sidelined approximately three weeks.
Miller also suffered a mild concussion as a result of the ‘bow. Paul Hewitt says it appears Miller won’t be able to play again until mid January. So looks like he may miss the Terps game.
I think most of you are too hard on Nick Caner-Medley. I remember more than one game that,were it not for him, we’d have lost. Most notably, he scored 35 when we beat the Rat and his Puke team ……in Cameron Indoor Stadium—-the devils pit. The Cameron “crazies” went BS with that loss. A Terp win, led by NCM or any other Md palyer …in Cameron is worth a years kudos.
Just because I am from Portland, Maine and he went to HS across the bridge from me
has no impact on my sentiments. Right?
Every now and then Nik would have one of those games that made you think “if he could only do that more consistently…”.
When he grad…finished playing at UMD…Nik was one of only five Maryland players (Walt Williams, Johnny Rhodes, Laron Profit and Terence Morris) to score over 1500 points, grab 500+ rebounds, record more than 200 assists, 100 steals, 100 3s and 50 blocks during his career at Maryland.
Russ, it’s all good. The Terps made a very interesting press release about Darryl Hill and the circumstances surrounding his move to Maryland: http://umterps.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/102506aad.html
I missed the end of NCM’s Maryland career (or that’s what I thought — looking at his stats, apparently I was in Brazil for almost all of his Maryland career). What happened, exactly? Everyone I knew loved him his hustle, and then, what? Did he just stop hustling because he thought he was the focus of the team?
NCM sure did win plenty of games for the Terps. That’s what’s so frustrating about him. He had NBA potential. I mean don’t mean fringe NBA, I mean solid 10-year NBA player. He was a 6′7″ off-guard with an NBA-body and a slashing game. With a decent jump shot to boot. But his basketball IQ was zero. To be fair though it wasn’t only him. It was all those guys from that 2-3 year period. Everyone knows those two classes were Gary’s best ever recruiting-wise. NCM, Gilchrist, McCray, Garrison, Ibekwe, Mike Jones, etc. Have you guys noticed how many of those guys are in the NBA right now? A big ZERO. That is very rare considering how highly-rated those guys were. It’s because most of them simply did not know how to play the game the right way.
Recife,
just my opinion, but NCM was recruited to be a cog in the machine, not the star. After Gilly left and as it became obvious that Garrison was a stiff, NCM became the go-to guy. Maybe this was because GW needed him to be, maybe he thought he needed to be, maybe no one else wanted the role…
Problem was that he wasnt skilled enough (IMO) to carry the team every game, nor was the team disciplined enough to make up for its shortcomings. He always played hard and he had his moments, but he ended up forcing a lot of shots too.
Again, JMO.
Even if he had flat out sukked, and he didnt, I’ll never forget watching him shut his tormentors up during the Myron Piggy game in Cameron.
When NCM was a freshman and sophmore, he was like a puppy. Wherever the ball was, he was. He was all over the court. As he matured, his NBA prospects dimmed a little, as the true NBA prospects in the ACC rose to the top. I think he just lost his enthusiasm for the game a little. Plus, his shot didn’t go down like it once did. Confidence maybe?
Interesting commentary concerning the last four years of UMd basketball. In reading all the posts, it seems like our program suffered through the perfect storm of s#@! Here’s to hoping GW & staff have learned all the lessons from it and have turned the corner.
The recent recruiting efforts seem to indicate that we have. It looks like we’re going to have to suffer for a little awhile more from the residual effects of the recent past. I’m optimistic, but guys I have to admit, I think this year may be a bit more on the suffering side than most of us would care to admit. We’ll see. Markmax33, loved your hypothetical breakdown of the upcoming season (where the Ws & Ls will come from), I hope you are right. Go Terps!
Regarding NCM-
In short, his decision making with the ball was TERR-ible. He epitmotized the dumb play of his entire senior class. McCray, NCM, Gilchrist and Garrison (shuddering) did not understand the fundamentals of basketball. That is the worst recruiting class in Gary Williams’ tenure. The sad part is that those were the guys Gary brought in right after the 2002 title.
I have nightmares of NCM lowering his shoulder and driving to the basket from the elbow extended. GUARANTEED CHARGE everytime. NCM owned the patent on that play. God Awful.
Jeremy, you said exactly what I wanted to say in one paragraph. Thank you.
Guys,
Please don’t dismiss all those Terps of the post NatChamp season. We all need to be thankful we had DJ for his 4 years. He was the glue that actually kept it together, living up to and beyond the expectations. He fit Gary’s system and was consumate team player offensively and with his “shut down” defensive tenaciousness. His skill set has been sorely missed since he moved on to his next steps in the journey.
Jeremy I agree that the class of McCray, Garrison, NCM and Gilchrist ended up being a terrible one. The ironic thing is that coming in that was a heralded class. At the time it was viewed that we had parlayed our NC into a great recruiting class. Travis Garrison was a McDonalds all american. Also, the following year we had what was regarded at the time as a great recruiting class, Jones, Ibekwe, mike jones. But they didn’t live up to the hype.
Jones, Ibekwe, Fofana, Strawberry. That was a consensus Top 5 recruiting class with Strawberry being the throw-in and lowest rated. Even Dookie V was screaming about that class whenever he was on TV (being the front-runner that he is).
McCray, Garrison, NCM, Gilchrist, Jones, Ibekwe, Fofana and Strawberry were all heralded HS players. But something clicked the wrong way while they were at CP.
As I mentioned above, I think it was a combination of factors. When an airplane crashes, there are usually 3 or 4 bad things that happen that combine to create the disaster. If only 1 or 2 of the malfunctions happened, the scenario would have been survivable, but adding the 3rd or 4th factor creates an unrecoverable scenario. Likewise, there was just too much that those kids had to deal with. That’s the past. It’s not quite right to single our NCM or Gilchrist for ridicule. They were Terps and gave us at least some good memories.
Straberry and Gist, IMO, do deserve special kudos for fighting through those malaise years and helping to restore the program.
This year is special. The Terps are good again!
The underperforming and disappointing classes of NKM, Garrison, Gilchrist, McCray, Jones, Ibekwe, FoFana & Strawberry were all the results of lazy recruiting efforts by GW and his staff. Yes, they were all highly rated HS players, but they all had issues either personally or in their ability to play basketball and if GW and his staff actually put in the time to evaluate them properly than they would have known these things prior to them coming to MD. Essentially, we were at the top or near the top of the college basketball world and every kid had us on their radar, but we did not do our due diligence which in turn has made our basketball program suffer the last couple of years.
I just read that Jordan Williams racked up 39 points on 14-18 shooting, 17 boards, 5 steals against Waterton in a 40 point blowout last night.
I think NCM’s game changed once he had the ankle injury in the game against MSU in the NCAAT. Leaping ability was a part of NCM’s game and that was gone. I agree with the person that posted NCM was supposed to be a cog…not the main part (I’m paraphrasing) but due to the players around him…the one that flaked out…and the one that flunked out…he became the main part and that’s when ya knew we had a problem. Oh well. Meanwhile those recruiting classes point out how questionable the “star” system or “rankings” of players can be sometimes.
Speaking of recruiting, Jordan Williams scored 39 points last night.
http://www.registercitizen.com/articles/2008/12/18/sports/doc4949eb8ec5842544696676.txt
DBR – Thanks for the great research on NCM. For all the “flack” he’s taken on this site those stats probably place him in the top 30, certainly, in Terp BB history.
We’re still looking for guys like NCM to rise (as they should have) to the level of Joe Smith, Wilcox, Elmore, Steve Francis etc and it just ain’t happening. Maybe GV will break into NBA.
Didn’t NCM start every game his 4 yrs?
Anybody know is Juan Dixon is still on an NBA roster?
Anybody see Blake “meltdown” last week with 3 seconds to go. He was foulded shooting a 3, they are down by 1. He misses all 3 FT’s….uncharacteristically.
In an earlier game he hit a 3 for the W.
Gerry, Juan is playing for the Wizards right now…
7-2 is a great start. Did not see the bigs come out and Vaz is playing better. The next 10 should result in 7 easy wins with FSU, Miami, and Duke as the only contests since all are on the road. Worst case is 14-5 which is still great. With 5 out of the next 11 easier wins and only UNC as the only should be 2 losses. So 19-16 if they play horrible. That would still get the Terps in the dance. I am looking honestly at 23 wins as the most likely scenario unless some of the ACC teams have great games. I have looked at most of the teams and only UNC and WFU have great bigs and FSU, Clem and NCSU have decent ones. Going to be a tough ACC this year. But at least there is no IU with kelvin Sampson in the ACC. Oh yeah MAX I am only and have only ever been AL V not the other douche.
Matmc- Odd, I watched a Wizard game for about a quarter, they were getting pounded
and hadn’t seen (or heard) of DIxon’s PT etc.
Thanks again. I’ll check it out.
There’s been a time change in the Terps/AU game to 7:45 PM
Juan is getting some good minutes in. He started off playing around 30 minutes a game and was great coming off the bench. He’s playing less minutes now though. I think he’s averaging around 20 minutes.
According to ESPN.com – 6.9pts 3.4assists .385 3P%
It’s almost a crime to see Nick Young and Javale McGee getting less and less playing time…anyone remember Nick Young at USC?
Anyway, the Wizards are a whole ‘nother story….
Watching UNC play and I realized just how much I dislike Tyler Hansborough. And Denny Green for that matter. Throw Ty Lawson in there too. Can’t place the exact reason, they just get on my frickin’ nerves. They get on my nerves even more than the Dookies this year. I actually like to watch Singleton. Damn good player, plays the game the right way. Hansborough is just a bully. I can’t wait to watch him get his shot thrown 5 times a games next year.
Singleton? I meant Singler. Sorry.
Eddie,
I hope that Landon and Dino throw his shots 5 times each in games this season.