Maryland Basketball: Desperate Times Make For Desperate Tigers

Maryland Terrapins (15-8, 5-5 ACC) at
Clemson Tigers (14-10, 3-8 ACC)
Littlejohn Coliseum – Clemson, SC

In talking to Maryland fans this week, I found that most of them were pretty happy with the way that the Terps played against Duke on Saturday. Funny, I thought they lost by eight points and were never really in the game after halftime. And this was a home game…they’re supposed to win those.

Here’s the thing. Two or three years ago, losing at home to Duke, by any amount, would have sent the campus and the fan base into an uproar. Now, it seems like everyone is accepting that fact that Maryland can’t compete with Duke. Why is this? The talent level is basically the same. Sure, no one on Maryland can compete with Backne one-on-one. But are you telling me, that to a man, the entire Duke team is better than all the players on Maryland? This isn’t the case. The talent is there. It’s just that the talent isn’t listening to the coach.

For one of the few times this year, the majority of players actually followed Gary’s gameplan. The Terps were determined to attack inside and get easy baskets. It is important to do this against the Dookies because a team that is able to get quick baskets inside doesn’t allow Duke to go on one of those nine or ten point blitzes that they so often do. Basically, the Terps strategy was to stop the patented Duke run before it even happened. And for 20 minutes, it was very effective.

But there were some on the team, namely Ekene Ibekwe and Sterling Ledbetter, who had mental lapses in the first eight minutes of the second half. While Duke never went on any runs, their lead methodically built from four to fourteen by the 10 minute mark. By running Maryland’s offense the way it normally runs, which is to have DJ dribble around for 10 seconds before someone takes an quick shot from 15 feet away, the Terps had too many bad possessions in the beginning of the second half. This cost them. After they fell behind by double-digits, their plan of working the ball inside wasn’t going to win the game for them. For some reason, the Terps looked scared to start shooting threes until there was two minutes left in the game. Now, is losing to Duke, considering how “good” they are supposed to be, a horrible loss? No, of course not. But this was a home game. This was a home game that Maryland needed to desperately win to merit consideration for an NCAA bid. And they came up flat for 20 minutes.

Let me tell you something. If the season ended today, Maryland would be on the outside looking in for the second straight season. Their resume is unimpressive. Their only win against a decent team came almost two months ago against Boston College. And that was a two-point win, at home when resident bookworm Chris McCray was still on the team. The committee isn’t going to pay much attention to anything happened when McCray was on the team. So in the post McCray era, the Terps are 2-4. They are 1-2 at home. Their two wins have been against a bad Georgia Tech team an average Virginia team. Even the RPI, which for most of the season floated somewhere in the high 20’s, is now at 41. There is no team in the top 65 of the RPI that has a worse road record than Maryland. The Terps are 1-7 against the RPI top 50 and have yet to have a statement win. This team would not receive a bid.

Playing Clemson tonight isn’t going to help Maryland on any account. If anything, a loss is much more damaging than a win is helpful. The Terps just need to grab a couple of road wins, and there is no better place to do it now than in the backwoods of South Carolina.

Clemson has one of the nicest campuses of all the ACC schools. But I’ve never seen such a collection of slack-jaw yokels concentrated in one area. And I’ve been to Morgantown, Winston-Salem, Tallahassee and Athens, Ga. One of my favorite stories from all the broadcasting road trips I took during college came while driving to Death Valley before the MD-CU football game. The game started at noon. So we had to get to the stadium by nine to prepare to go on-air. So three other guys and myself left our hotel room very early in the morning. We were all half asleep (even me, despite the fact I was driving). Then on one of the local stations, the strangest commercial comes on.

“Come down to Walgreens today and get your Clemson commemorative shotgun! You won’t find a better deal on any Clemson decorated shotgun. It will be a treasured heirloom in your family for years to come!”

Needless to say, everyone in the car woke up instantly and had a good laugh. How many Clemson graduates would go purchase this? There are very few colleges that would dare to pull this kind of promotion with a local shop. Only in rural South Carolina. Seriously, who would consider a Clemson logo-adorned shotgun as an heirloom? Other than Dick Cheney. I’d like to thank the vice president for proving my long stated point: guns don’t kill people; only stupid republicans with guns kill people.

Anyway, back to Oliver Purnell and the Tigers. We all know what happened last season. Despite the uncanny ability to act like a NBA team against Duke, the Terps somehow managed to lose three games to Clemson. It was very hard for Maryland to accomplish this feat, considering it takes most ACC teams ten years to lose three times to Clemson.

Two of the three main reasons Maryland lost those games won’t be playing tonight. The biggest factor in the three games was former Tigers center, and Maryland native, Sharrod Ford. He averaged over 20 points and nearly had a double-double in the games against the Terps. Maryland simply had no answer for him. Ford graduated last year and is languishing somewhere in the NBDL. The second player that killed Maryland was Vernon Hamilton. He hurt his hand over the weekend and Purnell says he’s doubtful to suit up tonight. His injury allows the third player that burned Maryland to be entered into the starting lineup. Shawan Robinson, who hit 15 threes in the three games against Maryland will get a rare start tonight for Purnell.

Most on Maryland blame the lack of effort for the three losses last year. I can buy that for one game, maybe even two. But in the third game in the ACC tournament, Clemson simply played better. Maryland couldn’t grab a rebound, and couldn’t defend either the perimeter or the interior. Clemson cruised to a rather easy win. It was one of the most embarrassing performances I’ve ever seen Maryland put together.

Maryland matches up better against Clemson this year. The Tigers don’t have the inside presence of Ford, so Maryland can focus more attention on the jump shooters. Without Hamilton, only Robinson and Akin Akinbala average more than 10 points a game. Purnell is starting to turn things around in Death Valley, but after a strong start, this won’t be the watershed season for the Tigers. They have lost five straight and seven of their last eight. They’ve got a bunch of interesting underclassmen in sophomores Sam Perry, James Mays and Cliff Hammonds; and freshmen K.C. Rivers, Julius Powell and Raymond Sykes. It will take a couple of additional season for Purnell, but Clemson is on the verge of being a threat in the ACC for the first time in over a decade.

Maryland has six games left. Four are on the road. I’m going to assume that Maryland will beat the Yellow Jackets at home and will lose to UNC on the road. Because the ACC is so down this season, Maryland, in my opinion, will need to win three of the following four games to even merit consideration for an at large birth: at Clemson, at Florida State, at home against Miami and at Virginia. Even three of four may not be enough. The Terps may have to win one in the ACC tournament. Anyway you slice it, Maryland needs to have a 9-7 conference record to make the NCAA’s. So they are going to have to win road games and win those road games in places they normally don’t perform well in. I don’t know if Maryland can win four more games, but I do like them in this one.

Maryland 72
Clemson 67

Elsewhere in the ACC…

I had another mediocre weekend, going 3-2. That puts me at 34-19 overall. Here are the picks for this week.

Tuesday
Wake Forest at Duke
Forget this season, Wake is going to be in even bigger trouble next year when they don’t even have Eric Williams and Justin Gray. Looks like I can safely tuck away my tie-dyed t-shirts for a while.
Pick: Duke 85, Wake Forest 69

Wednesday
Florida State at NC State
Herb Sendek is single-handedly killing my predicting record. Seriously Herb, Georgia Tech? Do you actually coach this team or do you dress up and parade around the sideline in a suit for no reason?
Pick: NC State 69, Florida State 62

Georgia Tech at North Carolina
I’m real interested to see what Roy Williams can do with an underrated team in March rather than an overrated one. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Heels won three games or so in the NCAA’s. Now that I’ve said that, I’m sure that the Heels will drop this one.
Pick: North Carolina 79, Georgia Tech 68

Thursday
Miami at Boston College
If the Eagles allow the Canes to hang around like they have with recent opponents, they are going to lose. I just don’t think Miami plays enough defense to stop both Smith and Dudley.
Pick: Boston College 85, Miami 80