Maryland Basketball: Can't See The Forest For The Trees

Maryland Terrapins (16-6, 2-5 ACC) at
Wake Forest Demon Deacons (10-11, 2-7 ACC)
Lawrence Joel Memorial Coliseum - Winston-Salem, NC

Defense, defense, defense. People don’t say defense wins championships because they love spouting clichés. It’s usually said because it’s true. In football, good defense is based on guessing what your opponent is going to do then scheming to stop them. In basketball, there isn’t rhyme or reason or the perfect strategy for solid defense. Defensive success in basketball begins and ends with defensive intensity. You have to want to play good defense. And it doesn’t matter how many points you score (James Gist), how many points you aren’t scoring (D.J. Strawberry) or how many off-balance, ill-advised, wild shots you take (Greivis Vasquez), you need to play good defense. You need to take pride in your defensive game.

I hate saying this, but Maryland could really learn something from Duke (ugh…dirty, dirty…must take a shower). The Dookies, and we’ll get to this next week when they come to College Park, are probably the worst offensive team in the conference with the exception of NC State. But they play defense. They get after you on every possession. Their defense makes them seem a whole lot better than they actually are. Sure they play a lot of close games. Sure they’ve almost lost a bunch of winnable games. But without their defensive intensity, they probably have seven or eight losses at this point.

This happens every year in college basketball. There are many otherwise average teams that take pride in their defense and end up tallying 22-24 wins a year. Look at Wisconsin, Pittsburgh or Air Force. Those three teams combined have one decent scorer (Alondo Tucker) and a bunch of role players. But they play aggressive defense. They never give up easy points. They are in every game, even against teams that are more athletic than they are. Are any one of those three teams going to the Final Four? No, because their offenses are atrocious and eventually they’ll run into a team that can play both defense and offense and they won’t be able to score with them. But are those teams going to challenge for their conference title? Yes. Are those teams going to get a high seed in the tournament? Yes. Are they going to win a few games and make the second weekend in late March? Most likely. Are they going to have a season that their schools, alumni and fans will be proud of? Most certainly.

A team with a great defense and an average offense can finish at or near the top of their conference. Conversely, a team with an outstanding offense but an average defense will usually finish somewhere in the middle of the pack. Why? Offense, by its nature, is harder to achieve on a consistent basis. Good offense revolves around one specific thing. Getting the ball in the hoop. Good defense, as mentioned above, revolves around effort. Every team has off shooting nights, and you may not be able to score on a consistent basis. But you can go out there and give maximum effort on the defensive end every night. You have to want to do it.

Maryland, depending on the day, weather and stars, will play decent defense or no defense at all. We know that they can play defense. Strawberry is one of the best defenders in the conference. Gist and Ibekwe are some of the best shot blockers in the conference. Gary knows how to coach defense. This is a Maryland team that no less than five years ago gave up only 52 points in the National Championship game.

Giving up 103 points to Virginia is disgusting, but can be explained to a degree. Virginia has the two best guards in the entire conference, and if they have a great night, even if the rest of the Hoos do nothing, they can beat you by themselves. The loss to Florida State is maddening. Allowing a Seminoles team to score 96 points is completely unacceptable. They have one decent scoring threat on the entire team. Al Thornton, unlike Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds, can’t beat you alone. Let him score 30 points. Hell, let him score 40. Even if he does, there is no excuse giving up more than 75 points to the Seminoles as a team. Unless you don’t show up defensively. And Maryland didn’t show up at either end.

I know Wake Forest is terrible. I missed previewing their game last year because I was out…doing stuff (namely things I can’t remember). And it turns out that I don’t have the time to discuss the Deacs in any real detail this year either. Maybe if we didn’t have this stupid unbalanced schedule and 27 teams in the ACC, Maryland would play Wake Forest twice a season and I would have another shot.

Anyway, it’s alarming how fast the Demon Deacons have plummeted. They’ve fallen faster than any team I can think of, even Maryland. In 2005, less than two years ago, they were a two seed in the NCAA tournament and a Top 5 team nationally. I had North Carolina beating Illinois in the Final Four (and it actually happened), but I considered Wake Forest the third best team in the nation, only behind those two schools. Then West Virginia upset them in a wild, multi-over time game. Chris Paul punched a guy in the nuts. Then he left early for the NBA. Justin Gray got hurt in the offseason and was never healthy in 2006. Eric Williams, in what seemed like his 14th year of eligibility, couldn’t carry the team by himself. Skip Prosser looked utterly lost on the sideline. And, in less than a year, Wake Forest went from Final Four potential to starting some guy named Michael Drum in front of half empty crowds at The Joel.

Kyle Visser is the only threat for Wake inside. Overall, the Demon Deacons are a poor shooing team from three, but if left to their own devices, they have a handful of players who are hovering around 40%. They only shoot 62% from the line. They give up nearly 80 points a game in conference. This team is terrible. If Maryland boxes out Visser, gets a hand in the face of Ishmael Smith and Jamie Skeen, they win. However, like I said in the last post, I’m not picking Maryland on the road until they prove to me that they can win anywhere, even Wake Forest. Sorry.

Wake Forest 74
Maryland 71

Elsewhere around the ACC…

Thanks to Virginia Tech doing the Hokie Chokie, the record dropped to 3-2 last week (despite picking the Virginia upset) and 27-12 overall.

SATURDAY
Clemson at Georgia Tech
As of right now, Clemson is still very much in the NCAA tournament. But they have to stop this bizarre losing skid and they have to do it now. Old Clemson would lose this game. NCAA Clemson should win it.
Pick: Georgia Tech 77, Clemson 72

Virginia Tech at Boston College
I should have seen the loss to NC State coming. Typical Virginia Tech. Now watch them go to Chestnut Hill and knock off BC. I don't see it happening, but nothing the Hokies are doing now is what I saw happening in November. So who knows, maybe BC rallies for one more win before feeling the effects of playing only seven guys.
Pick: Boston College 82, Virginia Tech 70

North Carolina at NC State
UNC, after a grueling game against Miami, obviously needs a break from conference play. They get it here with a game against NC State. Wait, you say the Wolfpack are still in the ACC? Their roster certainly doesn’t look like it.
Pick: North Carolina 87, NC State 64

Miami at Virginia
Virginia losing here should be as predictable as Virginia Tech’s loss to NC State. This is a game that Virginia, following a huge win, usually drops. I won’t pick it, but don’t be surprised if the Canes steal one here.
Pick: Virginia 75, Miami 67

SUNDAY
Florida State at Duke
Does Duke get every game at home? Did the New York Giants make their schedule? They just finished playing at home against Clemson and BC, took a long road trip to Virginia, and are suddenly back home again to face FSU before another home game against UNC. They will have to play eight conference road games eventually, right?
Pick: Duke 73, Florida State 64