Bad news for Terps

From Maryland media release.

"University of Maryland guard Pe’Shon Howard could miss up to 10 to 12 weeks with a broken foot, head coach Mark Turgeon said Thursday.

Howard has broken a small bone in his left foot that will keep him from any workouts for the short-term.

“I feel bad for Pe’Shon,” said Turgeon. “He worked so hard and had a great summer and early fall. He’s been practicing and playing well for us. Hopefully, we’ll get a lot better by the time Pe’Shon joins the team later this year.”

Howard, a 6-foot-3 guard from Los Angeles, averaged 5.4 points and 3.2 assists last season as a freshman. He played in all 33 of Maryland’s games a year ago and was projected to play at the point guard spot again this season."

Hate to see a kid get hurt, hope he has a full recovery.

Well, this would seem to assure that Maryland will do poorly in their non-conference slate and then get Howard back in time to perhaps win some ACC games and make the ACC seem worse than it really is. Oh goodie!

-Jason "in recent years, it feels like the ACC's glass is constantly half empty" Evans

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Originally Posted by JasonEvans

Well, this would seem to assure that Maryland will do poorly in their non-conference slate and then get Howard back in time to perhaps win some ACC games and make the ACC seem worse than it really is. Oh goodie!

-Jason "in recent years, it feels like the ACC's glass is constantly half empty" Evans

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COLLEGE PARK, JANUARY 28 - Maryland's PeShon Howard scores 20 to lead the Terrapins to a stunning upset of Virginia Tech, a loss that could really hurt the Hokies' chances of an NCAA Tournament bid.

Note that Duke plays at College Park on 1-25, about the end of that 12 week upper-limit.

I share Jason's concern. The selection committee is SUPPOSED to factor in such factors as injury, but never seems to do a good job os it.

Even if Howard does return in the minimum 10 weeks, I worry about his play this season. We've seen Duke guards go down with the same injury twice at about the same point in the season. Both Chis Collins in 1994-5 and Greg Paulus in 2006-07 returned by early December, but neither ever regained their form that season. Boh had terrible years (and, in context, so did those two Duke teams).

This just makes it tougher on Turgeon in year one ... any word yet on Len? Until he's cleared by the clearinghouse, he can't even work out with the team (according to bizarre NCAA rules -- an oxymoron if there ever was one -- he WAS allowed to play in Maryland's Red-White scrimmage where he led all scorers with 14 points; but he can't practice with the team).

On a related note: Got a report from a Miami player who insists that Reggie Johnson is making GREAT progress in his rehab. Reportedly, the injury served as a wake-up call to Johnson, who has lost a lot of weight and spent a lot of his down time in the weight room. He's now expected back in early January. And funny thing about foot injuries -- the Duke big guys with those injuries (Brand, Boozer twice) have come back faster and better than the guards with similar injuries. Well, usually -- Zoubek was hobbled for two years with foot problems.

With Turgeon having a one year honeymoon period before winning is expected,despite loss of Jordan Williams, he might want to consider red shirt for Pe'shon Howard.

He has Stoglin at the guard slot, needs bigs.

Even though UMD has is relatively deep at guard, this hurts them. The lack of overall depth this year is so bad that Turgeon held open tryouts and ended up adding a couple of players who have no business playing at the DI level. A friend of mine tried out and was one of the last ones cut. He told me that from what he saw at practice Howard and Stoglin were going to start and Mosley might come off the bench. Still no news about Len though.

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Originally Posted by zack2014

Even though UMD has is relatively deep at guard, this hurts them. The lack of overall depth this year is so bad that Turgeon held open tryouts and ended up adding a couple of players who have no business playing at the DI level. A friend of mine tried out and was one of the last ones cut. He told me that from what he saw at practice Howard and Stoglin were going to start and Mosley might come off the bench. Still no news about Len though.

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Yeah, this is a killer for the Terps. Subtract one (temporarily) from a team that already had no depth. Out of curiousity, are there any Football Players that were good enough basketball players in High School that they could join the team and at the very least help as practice players?

I would rather have a D1 Football Athlete with modest skills than a true walkon without D1 athletic ability in most cases. (Unless the walkon's last name is Davidson):)

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Originally Posted by Newton_14

Out of curiousity, are there any Football Players that were good enough basketball players in High School that they could join the team and at the very least help as practice players?

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I'm not sure if there are. I would think that there would be, but there are not any football players on the team. It is going to be an interesting season here in College Park. At least I'll get to see some good basketball when Duke comes.

It's a little scary to think how the Maryland fans might react to this depleted team. Ideally, you'd hope they could be at least somewhat supportive, patient, and appreciative of whatever good play and hustle the team produces in what is likely to be a relatively low-win season. But there is nothing ideal about most Terp hoops fans.