MBB: Miami 62 - Maryland 60

[4decadedukie]

I am surprised, unless I inadvertently missed it, that a Miami - Maryland thread has not been initiated. The bottom-line is UMd blew a seventeen point second half lead and was defeated by Miami in Coral Gables. The Terps are now 12 and 4, 1 and 1 in the ACC. Gary Williams' post-game news conferences indicated, "We lost our aggressiveness on the defensive end of the court." Miami was Maryland’s first true road game. Maryland has not won on Miami’s home court in thirty-nine years.

[Cavlaw]

I think there was no thread because no one was surprised. Seth Davis may have said it best in this week's mailbag (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/seth_davis/01/14/mailbag/1.html):


The Terps are neither good enough nor bad enough to make you sit up and take notice. Sure, they shocked the world by pummeling Michigan State in Orlando, but they followed that up by losing to Gonzaga and Georgetown by 22 and 27 points, respectively. Then they beat Michigan at home and set off on a slew of home games against no-name opponents -- and yet they still found a way to lose to Morgan State.

It makes sense that the Terrapins have been so up and down, because they are quarterbacked by the maddeningly inconsistent Greivis Vazquez, but it's unfair to lay all of their problems on him. The fact is, if Vazquez doesn't play superbly, this team has a hard time beating even decent teams. They don't rebound very well (their rebound margin is ranked last in the ACC), and they don't shoot well either (11th in the league in three-point percentage). Nor do I see a significant influx of talent on its way to College Park, either.