Maryland Basketball: State Of The Team...Not Good

#NR/23 Maryland Terrapins (14-6, 4-3 ACC) at
#18/17 North Carolina State Wolfpack (17-4, 6-2 ACC)
RBC Center – Raleigh, NC

It’s Super Bowl weekend, so there is no sense wasting too much time on Maryland and college basketball in general. Obviously Gary’s bunch is struggling. I had a lot of Maryland fans tell me this week that Nik Caner-Medley is killing the team by taking too many shots. I would have agreed 100% with that assessment two weeks ago. But without Chris McCray, Nik is forced into a situation where he has to take a lot of shots. Otherwise, Maryland isn’t going to score more than 65 points a game.

The Terps travel to Raleigh this weekend to take on the Little General and the Hodge-less Wolfpack. Maryland has actually had a lot of success at the RBC Center ever since it opened. Gary makes no qualms about his pleasure of not having to play at NC State’s old campus arena, Reynolds Coliseum, anymore. Gary even managed to notch his 500th career win at the RBC Center. Williams look for a milestone victory tomorrow, as he tries yet again to pass Lefty on the all-time win list.

I wouldn’t count on it happening this weekend. Ignoring their loss to Seton Hall, State has lost only to other ranked teams, and it is hard to consider Maryland a ranked team at the moment. The AP and The Predictor polls have them on the outside looking in. The Coaches Poll, which is basically a prop of ESPN, has Maryland ranked 23rd. But I really don’t pay much attention to those rankings. So State appears to be a good, but not great team this season. A team that will definitely make the tournament, but probably not make too much noise once it starts. They seem to be in a mini-slump, with their loss to the Hall followed by narrow wins against Clemson and UVA. But those were teams that State really didn’t match-up well against. That won’t be the case when they face the Terps.

The Pack’s offense, once centered on Julius Hodge and his ball-hogging tactics, is now actually centered around the “team first” principle. You know, the way a Princeton offense should actually look like. Cedric Simmons is the main beneficiary of the new approach by Tiny Herb. He averages 13 and 7 a game. But Simmons is hardly the only scorer on the team.

Cameron Bennerman also averages 13 points a game. Ilian Evtimov, now in his ninth year of eligibility, puts in 11.4 points a game and fellow Euro Trash member Edgin Atsur adds 11 points himself. Georgetown transfer Tony Bethel is close to double digits as well, as he averages 9.5 points. Andrew Brackman adds another 9 points off the bench. Basically, State is very balanced offensively. There is no way to stop all their players. Maryland just has to muck up their Princeton offense enough to frustrate the Pack into taking bad three pointers. State is prone to do this if the backdoor cuts and inside feeds don’t work. A disciplined man-to-man defense and the ability to fight off screens will be necessary to stop the backdoor. In other words, Maryland has little chance to win this game. I promise, after this weekend, I’ll get back to more detailed predictions.

NC State 71
Maryland 61

Elsewhere in the ACC…

Saturday
Florida State at Duke
If this game was in Tallahassee, I would really consider picking FSU. Alas, Duke will be playing in front of the nerds on caffeine. Still, I think FSU matches up well with the Dookies, and this game will be much closer than many expect.
Pick: Duke 88, FSU 82

Miami at Georgia Tech
The Jackets are just plain bad. But, Miami has struggled on the road. This one promises to be ugly and tight throughout.
Pick: Miami 72, Georgia Tech 67

Wake Forest at Virginia
Again, like Tech, Wake Forest is just plain bad. Virginia will continue their trek to the NIT as long as they keep winning these type of games to keep them over .500.
Pick: Virginia 77, Wake Forest 70

Clemson at North Carolina
All you need to know is that Clemson has NEVER won in Chapel Hill. Last I checked they were 0-52 against the Heels on the road. That would be like the Redskins never winning at Dallas. That is just unbelievable. How is that possible? They couldn’t even win there in 2002 when the Heels lost to Davidson at home. Until Clemson wins in the Triangle, I can’t pick them.
Pick: North Carolina 80, Clemson 66

Boston College at Virginia Tech
I thought I was only supposed to pick ACC games. How did this Big East match sneak in here?
Pick: Boston College 79, Virginia Tech 74