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Terps Picked Seventh, Gary Talks Smack
By Jamie Mottram | October 28, 2008
At ACC media day on Sunday, Maryland basketball was picked to finish seventh in the conference. Joining us now our Mr. Irrelevant Maryland sports correspondents Brad Parker and Andy Peden to answer the question, is that about right?
Parker: If you’d have asked me about a month ago I would have said even [seventh] was wildly optimistic. But the closer we get to the season the more I think this is exactly the kind of team Gary needs right now. They’ll be guard heavy, may play four at a time. I expect they’ll press a lot, make good decisions and sneak up on some people. He loves the underdog role.
Fans will grumble that Gary needs to go, and then they’ll end up sixth or seventh in the best conference in the country and make the tourney. Best part of the media day was Gary’s quote about fans forgetting he won a national championship, “Some people think it is ancient history. It is not as ancient history as Duke’s last title” in 2001. (ed. note — Snap!)
Peden: I echo Brad’s comments. If you play 3 and 4 guards in today’s game, you can win games. Not going to win anything big like the ACC or go on a run in the NCAA but you can get to 20 wins. MD has a lot of guards and we are going to see a faster game like he played in his early years at MD.
(Photo ripped clean from the Sun’s Maryland Madness gallery.)
Topics: College Hoops, Duke Sucks, Maryland, Parker and Peden | 8 Comments »
October 28th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Watching the Terps rebound this year is going to be gross. Last year it was bad but I can only imagine how terrible it will be this year.
On the other hand. Watching Greivy-train run the fast break with Adrian Bowie slashing and Hayes looking to bust threes on the kick out will be really fun to watch. If this Mosley character pans out this could be a very entertaining team to watch.
Also, whats the deal with that Soo Kim guy? Is he going to come this year?
October 28th, 2008 at 10:08 am
The only way four guards would work at Maryland is if Juan Dixon, Steve Francis, Steve Blake and John Gilchrist decide that a masters’ degree would be fun to try.
October 28th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Hey, it could be worse. You could be GW.
/Goes back to throwing darts at photo of Karl Hobbs.
October 28th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
The main problem with the program right now is that Gary Williams simply forgot how to recruit. He’s never really been able to get the big names to stay local (Durant, Anthony, Gay, etc.) but he always seemed to be able to find unheralded gems like Dixon and Baxter to keep us contenders.
Now, our best player averages five turnovers a game and our top 3 recruits bailed at the last second. Line me up some shots it’s gonna be a long season…
October 28th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Agreed that Gary is not the greatest recruiter and didn’t get Durant, Anthony or Gay (who played a combined 4 college seasons) but everyone seems to forget that the Garrison, Gilchrist, McCray class was a top 5 class and Mike Jones was the #2 rated SG coming out of HS. Its not like he doesn’t get some players.
Put Lefty in the HOF!!!
October 28th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Gary will have these guys ready come Tourny time.
October 28th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
National Invitational Tourny, right?
October 28th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Greivis is a playmaker, but who else on this team is? I forsee many nights that I am left pissed off by a shitty loss.