Maryland Basketball: Failing To Make The Grade

#18/19 Maryland Terrapins (13-4, 3-2 ACC) at
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (9-7, 2-3 ACC)
Alexander Memorial Coliseum – Atlanta, GA

So Chris McCray can’t pass a couple of classes, huh? That’s a shame. See ya Chris. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Take your buddy Garrison with you if you could.

Before I let loose on McCray, I have to criticize the NCAA. Everyone knows that the NCAA is one of the worst bureaucracies in sports. This rule about student athletes having at least a 2.0 every semester is ridiculous. Most full-time regular students have trouble posting a 2.0 every few months. And they don’t have the responsibilities that student athletes do. Does the NCAA realize how many classes that the average student athlete misses? I’m surprised that half of them can keep their overall GPA above 2.0. I understand that the NCAA wants to promote academics, but let’s face it. These kids are in school on athletic scholarships. Their first responsibility is to represent their university in competition, not in the classroom. As long as they aren’t posting sub-2.0’s in multiple semesters, let it slide.

However, it isn’t like McCray was attending MIT. Seriously, how hard is it to get a 2.0 at Maryland? This is a large public institution. You show up to class, you hand in half-assed assignments and you get at least a 65 on the exams, you should have a 2.0 easy. I easily had a 3.0 in seven of the eight semesters I went to College Park. And those who know me know I did very little actual work or studying. And I had plenty of extra-curriculars to distract me from my schoolwork. Heck, the one semester I didn’t get a 3.0 I was: pledging my fraternity, broadcasting both men’s and women’s basketball, overseeing the men’s lacrosse broadcasting crew, filling out boatloads of forms for a transfer to the University of Miami…twice, skipping classes for weeks at a time and getting drunk nearly every night. And the work I did manage to do was way below average standards. My final Journalism 360 project took me three hours to finish, while it took the rest of the class weeks to do. I didn’t hand in half the assignments in my Computer Science class. And I handed an eight page, double-spaced final paper for my Journalism Ethics class despite the assignment calling for a 20 page, single spaced report. I still managed to get a 2.7.

So as you can see, even with the commitments of playing basketball, it shouldn’t be hard to get a 2.0. So it’s kinda embarrassing to have a kid this stupid and uncommitted on the basketball team. I hope that McCray doesn’t appeal, and if he does, I hope it doesn’t go through. Maybe if he had spent less time at Cornerstone resisting arrest and watching Travis assault women (allegedly), he would have had more time for studying. McCray will go down with Danny Miller as two of the more disappointing players to don a Maryland uniform in the past decade. He had so much potential, and never really maximized it. There would be a stretch of games where McCray would come out of his shell and dominate. Then he would disappear for a month. He would pass on open shots. He would refuse to move in the flex offense without the ball. His perimeter defense would suffer. He was too inconsistent and never became the team leader on the court that he should have been.

That doesn’t mean that Maryland won’t miss him. Even playing under his potential, McCray still managed 15 points and 3.6 assists a game. Without McCray’s point production in the offense, Maryland only averages 70 points a game. The Terps also lose McCray’s defensive abilities, which were much better than they were the last three years. And the burden now falls more on Nik Caner-Medley, D.J. Strawberry and Mike Jones to step up their production.

The big question mark now surrounding Maryland is this. Can Mike Jones be a starter in the ACC? Can Jones play 30 minutes a game without hindering the Terrapins defense? Will Jones be able to shoot in the second half despite being tired from playing more minutes than he’s used to? Only twice this season has Jones played more than 25 minutes. He played 33 minutes against Western Carolina and looked horrible. He had one of the worst shooting nights of his career. He managed only six points and committed three turnovers. His 26-minute performance against Wake Forest was the complete opposite. Jones scored 22, and was 8-11 from the field. He also dropped a couple of assists, and most importantly, played solid defense. But, Jones did most of his damage in the first half. 16 of the 22 points came in the first 20 minutes. Jones was clearly exhausted by the midway point of the second half, and looked to pass instead of shoot. Jones only made one outside jumper the entire second half. The other two shots were easy baskets in Maryland’s fast break. The only big second half Jones has ever had came in Maryland’s overtime win at home against Duke last season. And that was after sitting on the bench for nearly the entire first half, so he was well rested.


No more of the guy on the top left means more of the guy on the top right which will surely lead to more screaming from the guy on the bottom left. And for no reason, a picture of Clinton Portis as Dollah Bill.

Almost everyone at Maryland wants to see Mike Jones. He is, by far, the fan favorite. If there is one thing that the student body at UMD doesn’t agree with Gary Williams on, it is the lack of minutes for Mike Jones. Every time Maryland loses, there is a call for more Mike Jones. And to be honest, I’m one of those people. I’ve never understood why Gary seems hell-bent on leaving that jump shot on the bench. I know his defense hasn’t been good at times, but it has been improving this season. Well, Jones now has his chance. We’ll learn real quickly if he can play in the ACC. McCray being suspended could be a blessing in disguise. It could just as easily be the event that sinks Maryland’s once promising season. Remember, despite all the hype surrounding Jones’ outside shot, he is only a career 39% three-point shooter. That’s good, but not great.

Jones won’t have to do it alone. Strawberry must look to score more often. If Jones can’t carry the load, Strawberry will be the only capable guard Maryland has left. And Caner-Medley (and I know I say this every week) has to play well in big games. He is going to be the primary guy now. If he continues to disappear for games at a time, Maryland is going to lose. McCray won’t be there to bail him out.

So Maryland, now with a lot more questions than answers, travels to the dirty-dirty for a game with The Institute. And this isn’t the Georgia Tech team from a couple of years ago. Paul Hewitt has had some problems maintaining his success in Atlanta. Instead of playing guys like B.J Elder, Will Bynum, Marvin Lewis (no, not that Marvin Lewis, the other one), Luke Schenscher and Jarrett Jacob Jeff John Jack, Hewitt has been forced to insert guys like Jeremis Smith, Lewis Clinch and Zam Fredrick III. Zam? That can’t be his name can it? C’mon, this has got to be made up.

Tech’s record of 9-7 is one of the ACC’s worse. Tech has beaten Boston College and Vanderbilt, which are good wins. They’ve lost to Air Force, Georgia and Illinois-Chicago (just for reference, that’s not the Fighting Illini), which are bad losses. Just this weekend they lost at home to Clemson (Hey, something Maryland and Georgia Tech now have in common!).

The new look Jackets have been having problems finding a consistent rotation on the court. The starting five is basically set, but that doesn’t mean that the starting five are Hewitt’s best players. Nine different guys play 10 minutes or more. Usually this is where I praise the depth of the opponent. Not in this case. The reason Hewitt is playing so many guys is because none of those nine players are anything special.

The Bees are horrible shooters from behind the arch and at the charity stripe. Other than Anthony Morrow, Mario West and Fredrick, the rest of the team shoots under 67% from the free throw line. That includes Clinch and Paco Diaw (C’mon, that can’t be a real name either) shooting 60 percent and Jeremis Smith shooting at a 55 percent clip. From the outside, Morrow is the only threat on the entire team. He shoots 43% from three land, as he has made 47-109 threes. Everyone else on the team that has attempted more than eight three-point shots is shooting under 30 percent. Big Zam loves the three pointers. Just loves ‘em. But he can’t hit them. He is 13-46 from long distance (28%). Clinch also takes a healthy amount but his percentage looks like Chris McCray’s English grade (27.6%). This means with only one dangerous outside shooter, Maryland should be able to shut down the perimeter. And if I’m Gary, I put Strawberry or Nik on Morrow. DO NOT put Jones on him.

Inside, the Jackets are a bit more proficient. Ra’Sean Dickey (Seriously, is Hewitt just pulling these names from a hat) is a man amongst boys at times. The forward-center is averaging 10.6 points and seven boards a game. He also has nearly 2 blocks per contest. Along with Smith’s 13.6 points and nine rebounds, the Ramblin’ Wrecks frontcourt could give Ekene and company fits tomorrow.

Traditionally, Maryland does not play well in the Thriller Dome (but where do they play well on the road outside of the Raleigh-Durham area). Even the year the Terps won the national championship, which coincided with Tech being a really bad team, Maryland needed a last second steal by His Juan-ness to win in Atlanta. Even with all their struggles offensively, Tech is still a pretty good defensive team. Maryland has a large hole in their offense right now and this might not be the best team to go against at this time. Still, Maryland’s defense should still be good enough to clamp down, or at least limit, Morrow’s ability. If Maryland plays even with Smith and Dickey in the frontcourt, and doesn’t allow Morrow to go nuts, this should be a win. Maryland could sure use a road win to cure all their problems. Look for this game to be a Big 10 style defensive slugfest. It's going to be physical. Tech will try to make up for a lack of talent by pushing the Terps around. It will be close, and it won’t be pretty, but I see Maryland winning.

Maryland 68
Georgia Tech 63

Elsewhere in the ACC…

Alright, I was 4-1 last week. That’s more like it. My ACC record now bumps up to 12-8. I fell a Redskins-esque winning streak coming on. And in a rare move, I’m going with four, yes count them, four road teams.

Tuesday
Florida State at Wake Forest
The Deacs looked pretty good in their loss to the Wolfpack. Florida State continues their masquerade as an average ACC team. Time for them to go back to the cellar.
Pick: Wake Forest 84, Florida State 72

Miami at Virginia
Don’t be fooled by Virginia’s win over UNC. Miami is a much better team.
Pick: Miami 75, Virginia 64

Wednesday
Boston College at North Carolina
In the ACC’s version of pick ‘em, I’m forced to determine which team will underachieve more. UNC’s loss to Virginia and escape at FSU doesn’t sit well with me. I’m taking a risk and going with the road team.
Pick: Boston College 76, North Carolina 70

Thursday
Duke at Virginia Tech
It was like Duke had never seen the Princeton offense. It’s not like Herb Sendek has been running it for the past seven years. But do you really think Ratface is going to let the Dookies lose two in a row?
Pick: Duke 77, Virginia Tech 69