Maryland Basketball: The First 48

Maryland Terrapins (10-4, 1-0 ACC) vs.
Wake Forest Demon Deacons (11-3, 1-1 ACC)
Lawrence Joel Memorial Coliseum – Winston-Salem, NC

Even if you had told me Maryland would beat Florida State, there’s no way I would have believed you if you had told me that Maryland would outrebound the Seminoles 40-34. Where did that performance come from, and where has that type of effort been the past two months?

If you didn’t recognize that Maryland team, you are not alone. They played like a team possessed in the first half. In fact, that might have been their best opening half of basketball in years. The Terps got a little lackadaisical in the second half and allowed FSU to get some easy put backs (including a couple of highlite reel dunks). But for the most part, Maryland executed their game plan to perfection. They got Soloman Alabi and Chris Singleton in early foul trouble. They minimized the efforts of Michael Snaer and Derwin Kitchen with aggressive, but smart, man-to-man defense. Most importantly, Greivis Vasquez and Eric Hayes made the open looks that they’ve been missing all season. Add in 13 points from Landon Milbourne and a solid effort from both Dino Gregory and James Padgett, and the Terps can claim their first big win of the 2009-10 season.

It would be nice to assume that Maryland will play like the from here on out, but you know there will be several games where the rebounding effort slacks off or the Terps start missing open shots again. However, this type of effort at least lets us know what Maryland is actually capable of. I seriously doubted that they could ever play as well as they did Sunday night. Just keep in mind, Maryland won a game over a ranked team in a game where Sean Mosley scored six points, Jordan Williams scored three (but did have seven boards) and Adrian Bowie didn’t score at all in 11 minutes. So as well as the Terrapins played, they could certainly play even better in the future.

Speaking of the future, Maryland has less than 48 hours to get ready for their next ACC game. This is a fact that did not escape Gary Williams. As you well know, Gary has a long history of taking any real or perceived slight from the ACC and blowing it out of proportion. This past week, he’s been complaining to anyone who will listen about the schedule. He points out that Maryland is the only team in the ACC that has to play two games in three days with the second game on the road…not counting the Carolina schools, since a road trip to the town next door hardly counts as an actual road trip. It’s a fair complaint, even though it’s not accurate (the Dookies host Georgia Tech on February 4th and are at Boston College on the 6th). Maryland is the only team that’s required to do this right out of the gate of the conference schedule. That’s certainly asking a little much. However, Gary fails to point out that the ACC was fairly generous with the opening schedule (as I pointed out in the last point, no Georgia Tech, Duke or UNC until February). So while it’s technically not fair to have this quick of a turn around, and Gary is usually right on the money when it comes to calling out the Carolina-bias of the ACC, he’s not going to get a lot of sympathy from me in this case. Maryland has been compensated in other ways on their 2010 conference schedule. Not to mention the fact that if the Terps want to go past the second round of the NCAA tournament ever again, they'll have to win two games in three days.

A team that has a real gripe with the schedule may be Wake Forest. This game is crucial for the Demon Deacons, even though we are only in mid-January. So far the Deacs have beaten NC State at home and lost by one at Miami. But after their game with Maryland, they have back-to-back games at Duke and at UNC. A home game against Virginia follows that double dip, but then it’s right back on the road to Georgia Tech. Assuming they go 1-3 in that stretch (a fair assumption right now), then a loss to Maryland would give Wake a 2-4 start in conference play. Even in a down year for the conference, that hole might be too much for the Deacons to overcome. Plus in their remaining ten games, they still have home games against UNC, Tech and Clemson and road trips to Virginia Tech and FSU. So you know Dino Gaudio has his players thinking this is a must win against Maryland. Be prepared to see a desperate Wake Forest team (or at least a desperate Wake Forest coach).

It’s hard to know what to make of the Deacs 11-3 record so far. Along with the loss to Miami, Wake got drubbed at Purdue and lost at home to William & Mary. Terps fans know what that’s like. The loser of this game will not be invited to participate in the CAA Tournament later this winter. They have a quality win at Gonzaga, which was a true road game played in Spokane (rather than Seattle or Portland). Wake had back-to-back overtime wins against A-10 schools Richmond and Xavier. Richmond got a lot of hype entering the season, but they probably won’t be sniffing the tournament. Xavier is not as good as they usually are, but they’ll probably win the A-10 or get an at large bid. Wake’s three quality wins have come by a total of 12 points…and again, they needed overtime twice. Other than that, they’ve played cupcakes (and that includes NC State). They needed all 40 minutes to put the Wolfpack away at home. Like Maryland, Wake’s beaten UNC Greensboro and Winston-Salem State, but not nearly as convincingly. The Deacons have all the makings of a good team, but they aren’t close to being a great team. Certainly not as good as they were last season.

In fairness to Wake, it’s not easy to replace James Johnson and Jeff Teague. Last season, along with Al-Farouq Aminu, the Deacons climbed as high as #1 in the country before claiming a four seed in the NCAA tournament. Wake decided not to show for their first round game against Cleveland State, but the overall season before that was impressive. Then Teague and Johnson moved on in the offseason, which means Aminu was left with Ishmael Smith, a bunch of role players and underclassmen.

Aminu should be the early favorite for ACC player of the year. He was a certain first round NBA pick but came back for a second season. 17 points and 11 boards per game later, and I doubt that Aminu has hurt his draft stock any. Ish Smith is lightning quick, and despite the fact he’s undersized, he plays solid defense against taller opponents. He’s also a great passer, with six assists per game and a 2.1/1 assist/turnover ratio. But he has struggled to shoot this year. Especially from the three-point line (24%) and from the foul line (44%). So there’s no secret in how to guard him. Take away his passing lanes, let him shoot from the outside, and be physical if he tries to use his speed to drive. C.J Harris, L.D. Williams, Redskins receiver Gary Clark, freshman and Entorage character Ari Stewart, and white stiff Chas McFarland are all solid role players. With Aminu and Smith controlling the game, the rest of the Deacons fit in nicely. If Smith’s passes are stopped, and Aminu is forced to carry the team himself, the rest of the Deacons struggle to contribute. The key for Maryland will be stopping Smith, not Aminu. Let Aminu have his 20 and 10, stop Smith from getting the rest of the team involved, and Wake’s offense should grind to a halt.

Like FSU, Wake Forest is a tall team. They have five guys who are 6’8” or taller and get significant playing time. However, the Deacons are not as physical as the Seminoles. Even with their height, Wake struggles at times to rebound. They’ve basically played their opponents even on the boards through the course of the season. If Maryland duplicates their effort from Sunday, rebounding should not be the difference. Despite the performance two days ago, and despite the favorable matchups for Maryland (there is no one on this team that can guard Vasquez), I have a nagging feeling that the quick turnaround and the hostile environment will be Maryland’s downfall. Wake needs this game more than the Terps do, and I think they go out and take it in the second half.

Wake Forest 78
Maryland 73


Elsewhere in the ACC…

I’m going to try to have pithy comments for most of the ACC games this season, but not this week because of the quick turnaround.

Florida State 65, NC State 54
Duke 81, Boston College 66
Georgia Tech 77, Virginia 60
Virginia Tech 73, Miami 67
Clemson 84, North Carolina 77