Maryland Basketball: A Fresh Start

Maryland Terrapins (3-0) vs.
St. John's Red Storm (2-0)
Madison Square Garden - New York, NY
2K Sports College Hoops Classic Semifinals

So it’s a new season for Maryland basketball. Hopefully it will be one that erases the crushing disappointment of how far this program has fallen the past two years. With a new season come new players. And I think I speak for most Maryland fans when they look at the roster and have no idea who half of these guys are. I really don’t follow recruiting that closely (and if you do then shame on you…find something better to do), but I’m sure most of these freshmen were not highly ranked. Which makes them exactly the kind of players that Gary Williams should be recruiting.

Look at the successful players that Williams has brought into College Park. Very few have ever been prized recruits. Williams found Joe Smith by accident while scouting another player. Same with Juan Dixon, Keith Booth and Exree Hipp. Lonny Baxter and Terrance Morris were nobodies and Williams was the only one who wanted them. Chris Wilcox was scouted but passed over by NC State and other Southern schools. The only player during Williams’ tenure that has come to Maryland as a prized recruit and succeeded was Steve Blake.

Now take a look at the list of sought after players that fizzled here at Maryland: Danny Miller, Drew Nicholas, John Gilchrist (with the exception of the 2004 ACC Tournament), Travis Garrison, etc… Gary doesn’t know what to do with highly touted freshmen. He yells at them, and gets no response. These kids have been coddled their entire high school career. Gary can’t make them better. His coaching style is better suited to a player that has nowhere else to go. When Gary yells at them they respond. They improve. They realize that it’s either deal with Williams’ dark side or hand back the scholarship and drop out of school.

So let’s look at some of the newcomers. For the first time in several years it looks like a very promising class (the same was said about the 2002 class, and you all know how that turned out). Greivis Vasquez is the most-hyped player. A 6-5 guard from Venezuela, he was expected to jump in and be the starter at point guard. However, in typical Williams fashion, the best recruit did not live up to expectations in camp. So lesser-pursued Eric Hayes has been getting the starts in the first three games. So far, Vasquez has been more of a scoring threat, but much less of a decent point guard. Hayes is averaging six assists a game and has done a great job of setting up Mike Jones and D.J. Strawberry. So look for Gary to continue using Hayes at point and Vasquez off the bench.

The new players in the frontcourt include freshmen Landon Milbourne and Jerome Burney. Milbourne has looked nothing but average in the first few games against inferior competition. Here’s another forward who doesn’t want to attack the basket. Didn’t Taj Holden and Garrison fill that role long enough? Milbourne averaged 11.5 minutes in the first three games and came up with a total of four rebounds. Can we please get a freshman that will rebound and go up strong for easy baskets? Just once. By the way…this guy Milbourne is 6-7 and 205 pounds. Players who are 6-3 should be 205 pounds. Let’s get this guy to Friedgen’s buffet line immediately. Burney looks promising, but he hasn’t played due to a foot injury. But he appears to be a player who will play above the rim and will get after loose balls.

The best new addition, at least in my mind, is junior transfer student Bambale Osby. He played two years ago at New Mexico. As a freshman, he saw considerable time on a team that won the Mountain West Conference. He also played with Lobo star and current pro Danny Granger. Osby is 6-8, 250 pounds, which is perfect for an inside banger in the ACC. I hate to say this so early in the season, but he reminds a little (emphasis on a little) of Lonny Baxter. Just a little. I’m not going to get carried away, but his style of play has several similarities. For someone 6-8/250, Osby moves very well and has great footwork inside. Just terrific footwork. He doesn’t seem to take missteps, he doesn’t put the ball on the floor, he just gets after the rim. That’s exactly what the Terps need.

These new cast of characters get to join Strawberry, Jones, Ekene Ibekwe, James Gist and Will Bowers in an effort to reclaim some pride. The starting five of Hayes-Strawberry-Jones-Gist-Ibekwe is pretty much what I would put on the floor right now. Gary is trying to establish a 10-man rotation (something that will be much easier to do when Burney is healthy) by giving Bowers, Vasquez and Osby significant playing time. Milbourne and Parrish Brown can come off the bench when needed. The Terps are legitimately 11-men deep. That may not be a good thing with all the inexperience on the roster, but it fits Williams’ relentless attacking style perfectly.

After cruising to three easy wins, the Terps go to New York City to face St. John’s in the Coach’s For Cancer/2K Sports Challenge/Black Coaches Association/Preseason NIT sponsored by Chick-Fil-A (does anybody really keep track of any of the preseason tournaments anymore). I believe - and someone correct me if I’m wrong - the last time these two met was in the 1999 Sweet 16. The Terps, led by Morris, didn’t score for something like the last ten minutes of the first half, and still almost won the game. St John’s, who at the time was coached by Mike Jarvis, went on to lose to the Ohio State Fightin’ Scoonie Penns in the next round. But technically, because former Buckeye coach Jim O’Brien is a scumbag, that game never happened. Ohio State was never in the 1999 tournament. Ignore what you may read elsewhere.

The Johnnies have since fallen on hard times. Jarvis left amid several losing seasons and rumors of illegal recruiting. Plus he couldn’t graduate anybody. Norm Roberts took over a couple of seasons ago and inherited a program that was one of the worst in the new 71-team Big East. Like Maryland, St. John’s appears to be a fringe NCAA Tournament team this year that has a brighter future in the next couple of seasons. Daryll Hill, Aaron Spears and Lamont Hamilton are all impact seniors that should be able to carry the team to a decent record. The offense runs through the point guard Hill. He has had several knee injuries the past few years. When he’s in the lineup, the offense produces. When he isn’t, they struggle.

The breakout player on the roster, and maybe even in the Big East, is junior swingman Avery Patterson. Patterson is averaging nearly 20 points a game so far this year (albeit against lesser competition). More impressive is his near 50% shooting mark through the first few games. The fifth starter is Anthony Mason Jr. (yes, son of crazy former NBA player Anthony Mason) who is only a sophomore. He would not be starting on most Big East teams, but the rest of St. John’s roster is young and unproven, so Roberts starts him. He has the potential in a couple of years to be someone similar to Byron Mouton, a scrappy player who is always in the right position to make a play. Every team needs one of those guys. Right now, Mason is still learning.

The Red Storm’s offense isn’t going to blow anyone off the court. Their strength is the multiple defensive looks that Roberts likes to throw out. Whatever defenses the Terps end up facing, you can bet the goal will be to encourage Maryland to shoot from the outside. The Terps still do not have a reliable 3-point shooter other than Jones, who is struggling to get going so far. In fact, Maryland as a whole is only 17 for 53 from beyond the arc, which translates into an awful 32%. The problem is, with Hamilton and Spears both being 6-10, the Terps won’t have it easy inside either. So Maryland will have to shoot well from the outside to win. Maryland will have the height advantage outside, as most of the Johnnies’ guards are 6-3 or smaller.

I think Jones gets going in this game. He always shows up for the big games and playing at Madison Square Garden should get him going. I would love to see more Osby inside. Maybe even a lineup with Strawberry running the point and Gist, Ibekwe and Osby all on the court at the same time. It’s worth a look. Regardless of the outcome, this is a great test for Maryland early on. They’re playing a de facto road game against a young, but somewhat talented Big East team. Unless they get blown out, this game won’t hurt them in the RPI. The more tests against quality opponents early in the season, the better (There are so many teams near this area Maryland should be scheduling home-and-homes with; West Virginia, Pitt, Penn State, Villanova, Rutgers, George Mason. I’ve given up hope that they’ll ever play Georgetown on a consistent basis. Why doesn’t Maryland schedule more games against average to above average “BCS” schools instead of allowing themselves to be sacrificial lambs in places like Illinois later this season?). I think this game will give us a great sense of which direction the Terps will be headed in this year. Let’s hope it’s on the way up.

Maryland 75
St. John’s 70