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Terps Do Their Best to Ruin the Season
By Jamie Mottram | January 8, 2009
Because I only watched the final two minutes of the game, we turn to Maryland sports correspondents Andy Peden and Brad Parker for perspective on last night’s loss to Morgan State …
Mr. I: How the fuck did they lose to Morgan State?
Peden: Twenty-one turnovers and 1-14 from 3. MD built a comfortable lead with about 10 minutes to play then just stopped playing. They couldn’t make shit all game.
Parker: How did they kill MSU and beat Michigan? Live by the press and emotion, die by the press and emotion. Gary’s team’s usually mirror his emotions. When they were really good, he was calm and confident and so were they. With teams like this he’s intense and the team is too, till this year. Vasquez seems to be the only player with any intensity most of the time. Oh, and they can’t shoot.
Mr. I: How does this rank vs. last year’s Ohio and American losses?
Peden: Probably worse. Ohio and American were both good teams last year. At 12-2, MD would have done everything they could have done going into ACC. This loss might haunt them like the two did last year.
Parker: Morgan State has a bad record but will probably do very well in the MEAC and may be in the Tourney. It’s a game that we should have won easily though.
Mr. I: Now that Maryland finished non-conference play 11-3 with a win over Michigan State, are they better or worse than expected? Who specifically, if anyone, has been a surprise?
Peden: Just when I was thinking this team was going to be better than expected, they lose to Morgan State. Even with this loss, they’re still better than expected. There is plenty of time to play down to expectations though.
Parker: Dave Neal is playing well, so is Bowie. But when is Eric Hayes going to become Steve Blake 2.0?
Mr. I: How many ACC wins do they need to make the Tournament?
Peden: Minimum of eight. If they go 8-8, 19-11 overall, I think they get in.
Unlike last year, they have two very good non-conference wins to hang their hat on. Mich. St. on a neutral court is huge and I think the win at home against Michigan will turn out to be very good. Last year all they had was the win at UNC. That was great, but you need a couple big wins outside the conference if you are going 8-8 in conference play.
MD needs to start 4-0 or 3-1 in the ACC. The schedule is favorable early (Georgia Tech on Saturday, Miami, Florida St., Virginia) and they must take advantage.
Parker: I can’t see going .500 in the best conference in the country two years in a row and not making it either time.
Mr. I: It looks like this year’s model is more or less the same as we’ve seen the past five seasons. Are you tired of this shit yet?
Peden: I’m tired of rooting for a bubble team. I’m tired of getting verbal commits and then the guys going elsewhere because of other teams continuing to recruit (Louisville). I’m tired of guys transferring because other schools will hire their AAU coach as a special assistant (South Florida). I’m tired of coaches recruiting a two-star recruit because their best friend is a five-star guy (UConn).
Parker: Am I tired of it, yeah. We should be in the Tourney every year and a Final Four threat often. Obviously we’re not. But, what are you going to do, fire Gary? I mean, he won a national championship and saved the program from Bob Wade. I won’t forget that, ever.
My quick, optimistic take on this crap: It’s the basketball team’s version of the Middle Tennessee State game. Since Fridge came in the football team and basketball team have similar seasons. It’s kind of scary:
- ‘07-08 football: 6-7 lose Emerald Bowl — basketball: NIT
- ‘06-07 FB: 9-4 win Champs Sports Bowl — BB: NCAA Tourney
- ‘05-06 FB: 5-6 — BB: NIT
- ‘04-05 FB: beat Florida St., end up 5-6 — BB: sweep Duke, go to NIT
- ‘03-04 FB: 10-3, win Gator Bowl 41-7 — BB: win ACC Championship
- ‘02-03 FB: 11-3, win Peach Bowl — BB: lose in Sweet 16
- ‘01-02 FB: ACC champs, lose Orange Bowl — BB: national champs
So, maybe this is a weird early setback but they somehow end up in the NCAA Tourney again.
Topics: Infinite Sadness, Maryland, Parker and Peden | 11 Comments »
January 8th, 2009 at 3:48 PM
1. Morgan beat American last year, and only lost by four on the road to UConn and Miami(Fl.). That classifies them as slightly better than American and Ohio.
2. MSU has beaten DePaul and Marshall this year. Considering Maryland struggled against Vermont at home, it wasn’t that inevitable to happen against Morgan.
3. Tread lightly on Morgan State, as I did with James Madison.
January 8th, 2009 at 3:58 PM
Impossible I mean to happen against Morgan.
January 8th, 2009 at 4:03 PM
Morgan State proved last night that they’re bad ass MFers, but, c’mon, they’re a losing team. American made the Tournament last year, and Ohio was in the CBI (big deal, I know).
January 8th, 2009 at 4:49 PM
Morgan State romped through the MEAC regular season last year and just barely lost to Coppin State in the tournament final. They did go to the NIT though, thanks to being the regular season conference champion.
January 8th, 2009 at 5:27 PM
That’s a good point, but I meant that Morgan State has been a losing team this year (5-8 coming in without playing any ranked teams).
January 8th, 2009 at 8:50 PM
Oh yeah, this year not so good. That’s what happens when you lose Boubacar.
January 9th, 2009 at 12:54 AM
College basketball teams win something like 77 percent of their home games. Financially strapped programs play almost all their non-conference games on the road. You can hardly judge a MEAC school on its early-season record, because it’s almost always gonna be dreck.
Maryland has played something like 10 home games and no true road games this year. Morgan has played something like three home games, and is still 6-8.
As for AU and Ohio, well, playing less rigorous non-conference schedules, American was 6-5 when the Eagles went to Comcast last year, and Ohio was 6-2 but had played five home games and no BCS-conference schools. Maryland was already the fourth BCS-conference opponent for Morgan.
January 9th, 2009 at 7:18 AM
Reminds me of something I wrote almost two years ago today …
“VCU has won 6 games in opponents’ gyms this year, more than UCLA, Florida and North Carolina … combined.”
Morgan State is not UMES, but it’s still not a good loss for the Terps as they head into ACC play.
January 9th, 2009 at 8:12 AM
OK, Stet, Max, Dan and Bill, perhaps this year’s Morgan State team is on equal footing with last year’s American and Ohio teams. Still, all three are awful losses for Maryland, hence the sturm und drang.
January 9th, 2009 at 9:05 AM
Do not feed the Atlantic 11 voters. Please.
January 11th, 2009 at 11:09 AM
Last year’s Morgan team was on equal footing with last year’s AU and Ohio. Same with this season.
Even though the Bears lost a lot in Coly and Smith (Defensive Player of the Year and Player of the Year in the MEAC in 07′) they go like 7-8 deep. Much to Gary, Dave Neal and the rest of the MEAC’s chagrin.