Turmoil in Maryland Basketball

[gw67]

On the Front Page, DBR provided a link to Post article on Gilchrist transferring from Maryland. Gilchrist backed off his LOI to Virginia Tech last year and enrolled at Maryland this past spring. I am not familiar with the NCAA and ACC transfer rules but he would not have been able to play until this December and would have only 2-1/2 years of eligibility. His “handler” was quoted as saying that he wanted to find a place where he could have a 4-year career but the cynic in me suspects that they want to display his abilities as soon as possible and, hopefully, impress the pro scouts.

As DBR notes, this deprives the Terps of their best inside player for the coming season. To make matters worse, the rest of the frontcourt is woeful. Dupree and Burney have the size but have not shown much to date and it is not clear that the other two frontcourt players, Neal and Gregory, are ACC-quality players. They do have some decent talent on the perimeter and I suspect that most coaches would adjust the team playing style to their personnel and play a bunch of 4-1 offense and, perhaps, some zone. However, the words “adjust” and “change” are not in Williams’s vocabulary and I suspect that he will stick with his flex offense and man-to-man defense.

I foresee a long and difficult year for the Terps. I don’t know who they play in the ACC-Big Ten matchup but it would be appropriate if they played another team with a short roster, Indiana. If Williams was a dynamic recruiter, this would provide Maryland with the opportunity to bring in several players during the next two seasons. But that is one of the reasons, they are in this mess.

On a good note, the article on Gist stated that he got his degree. I believe that Osby got his as well and the word I hear is that the next two classes are on schedule to get their degrees.

I go on a spring golf outing with seven of my friends starting Friday of this week. Two of the eight are Maryland grads and boosters. It will be interesting to hear what they have to say about the current state of their sports programs.

gw67

[SMO]

I eagerly await Dana O'Neil or Pat Forde's articles on the demise of Maryland basketball...

[brevity]

I eagerly await Dana O'Neil or Pat Forde's articles on the demise of Maryland basketball...

I realize you're probably kidding, but even sarcastic comments that try to equate Maryland basketball to Duke basketball suggest that there is some kind of rivalry. When it comes to the Terps, I am not familiar with this manufactured R word.

[Ignatius07]

I realize you're probably kidding, but even sarcastic comments that try to equate Maryland basketball to Duke basketball suggest that there is some kind of rivalry. When it comes to the Terps, I am not familiar with this manufactured R word.

That's because you're (presumably) not from the DC-metropolitan area. Trust me, even if you wouldn't consider them a rival in the truest sense of the word, you would most certainly dislike them with passion.

Actually, for somebody my age growing up a Duke fan in this area, my dislike for Maryland strongly outweighed my dislike for UNC up until about two years ago, and even then sometimes it's difficult not to "prefer" UMD as a rival (or whatever you want to call it). The news media just has an enormous influence here that is hard to describe to outsiders. If anybody was at the Verizon Center for the NCAA Tournament this year, they know what it's like.

[roywhite]

Will Greivis Vasquez go for a Pistol Pete type role this year? Meaning major possession of the basketball, an array of flashy moves, high individual scoring games, and a mediocre team record. He is quite a talent but there just ain't much help for him.

[HaveFunExpectToWin]

That's because you're (presumably) not from the DC-metropolitan area. Trust me, even if you wouldn't consider them a rival in the truest sense of the word, you would most certainly dislike them with passion.

Actually, for somebody my age growing up a Duke fan in this area, my dislike for Maryland strongly outweighed my dislike for UNC up until about two years ago, and even then sometimes it's difficult not to "prefer" UMD as a rival (or whatever you want to call it). The news media just has an enormous influence here that is hard to describe to outsiders. If anybody was at the Verizon Center for the NCAA Tournament this year, they know what it's like.

The presence of Terp fans is one of the bigger drawbacks to living in this area, I agree.

[MChambers]

The presence of Terp fans is one of the bigger drawbacks to living in this area, I agree.

You just have to have the right attitude. Wear your Duke shirt everywhere, especially in College Park!

[ugadevil]

I'll be surprised if Gary lasts long enough to get good recruits in there to fix the problem.

[mddukefan]

There has been a lot of problems for Maryland's program in terms of holding onto players over the last few months. Not only did they lose Tyree Evans and Gilchrist in a matter of weeks, they also lost Shane Walker. Walker played sparingly throughout the season but would have played a decent role this year IMO. Gilchrist is the bigger loss according to a lot of the things i've heard, but losing both causes real depth issues.

Another player people may not realize that they lost is Terrence Jennings 6'10" recuit who is supposed to be a nice talent. Jennings commited to the Terps before the season but later opted out and is now headed to Louisville.

That is 4 players in a matter of months. With the way the Terps finished the season last year there is no doubt Gary is on the hot seat. Even losing Gist and Osby to graduation i thought they would have some trouble in the upcoming season. Those 2 seemed to be the big reason they won some big games, and IMO they were going to have a hard time replacing them even with Gilchrist. Just a lot of negative aspects for there program in the news lately does not look good.

Honestly being a Duke fan in Terp Country feels great right now!!!!! GO DUKE!!!!

[Huh?]

That's because you're (presumably) not from the DC-metropolitan area. Trust me, even if you wouldn't consider them a rival in the truest sense of the word, you would most certainly dislike them with passion.

Actually, for somebody my age growing up a Duke fan in this area, my dislike for Maryland strongly outweighed my dislike for UNC up until about two years ago, and even then sometimes it's difficult not to "prefer" UMD as a rival (or whatever you want to call it). The news media just has an enormous influence here that is hard to describe to outsiders. If anybody was at the Verizon Center for the NCAA Tournament this year, they know what it's like.

If anyone grows up a Duke fan in NC or any other part of the world other than DC, they could give a ship about Maryland. It's like the whole NC State/UNC thing. Maryland/ State fans hype this so called "rivalry" up while Duke and UNC worry about one another.

[Ignatius07]

If anyone grows up a Duke fan in NC or any other part of the world other than DC, they could give a ship about Maryland. It's like the whole NC State/UNC thing. Maryland/ State fans hype this so called "rivalry" up while Duke and UNC worry about one another.

I would certainly agree with this, though in the late 90s and early 2000s the Duke-Maryland match-ups were more consistently entertaining and high-profile than Duke-UNC.

[SMO]

I realize you're probably kidding, but even sarcastic comments that try to equate Maryland basketball to Duke basketball suggest that there is some kind of rivalry. When it comes to the Terps, I am not familiar with this manufactured R word.

Oh no, definitely not equating Maryland hoops to Duke. Just enjoying a sarcastic shot at Maryland's national championship program and some of ESPN's finest at the same time.

[gw67]

I personally could care less whether Duke fans consider Maryland a rival or vice versa. It's silly in my opinion. What cannot be denied is that the ACC designates UNC and Maryland as Duke's primary partners in basketball and that ESPN and the networks have considered the Maryland-Duke games to be attractive matchups for several years.

gw67

[SMO]

I personally could care less whether Duke fans consider Maryland a rival or vice versa. It's silly in my opinion. What cannot be denied is that the ACC designates UNC and Maryland as Duke's primary partners in basketball and that ESPN and the networks have considered the Maryland-Duke games to be attractive matchups for several years.

gw67

You bring up an interesting point. How far in advance does ESPN schedule? Could we see fewer Maryland/Duke matchups on TV as soon as 2009?

[Ignatius07]

You bring up an interesting point. How far in advance does ESPN schedule? Could we see fewer Maryland/Duke matchups on TV as soon as 2009?

I *think* individual games are bought each year by the networks.

[blazindw]

You just have to have the right attitude. Wear your Duke shirt everywhere, especially in College Park!

Agreed. I wore my Duke tie to the Obama rally in the Comcast Center. And, I love how mad Maryland fans get when they hurl insults at me about Duke and I just look at them with this "Who is Maryland" look on my face.

[PumpkinFunk]

That's because you're (presumably) not from the DC-metropolitan area. Trust me, even if you wouldn't consider them a rival in the truest sense of the word, you would most certainly dislike them with passion.

Actually, for somebody my age growing up a Duke fan in this area, my dislike for Maryland strongly outweighed my dislike for UNC up until about two years ago, and even then sometimes it's difficult not to "prefer" UMD as a rival (or whatever you want to call it). The news media just has an enormous influence here that is hard to describe to outsiders. If anybody was at the Verizon Center for the NCAA Tournament this year, they know what it's like.

I grew up in the DC area, and I still hate Maryland more than Carolina. Hell, I don't hate Carolina - I dislike them. Just their athletics. Maryland is a total hatred and disgust for anyone who lives in this area and is a Duke fan... or even some other ACC fans. They are disgusting fans with a bad coach and some of the most sketchy college basketball players. Even their national championship winning team was full of the same breed of players they have these days.

[roywhite]

I personally could care less whether Duke fans consider Maryland a rival or vice versa. It's silly in my opinion. What cannot be denied is that the ACC designates UNC and Maryland as Duke's primary partners in basketball and that ESPN and the networks have considered the Maryland-Duke games to be attractive matchups for several years.

gw..or other posters from Maryland/DC area,

Is Gary's job actually in jeopardy?

[just_wondering]

First of all recruiting isn't finished. Maryland is still waiting to hear if Sean Mosley qualified. Things could get worse or they could better.
Gary is not in trouble. Maryland has had a lot of turnover in assistant coaches. Chuck Driesell and Keith Booth are very good and will be there to turn things around. Maryland hired a new conditioning coach. Last year their conditioning was so much worse than Maryland teams of the past. They played themselves slow. While there is a lot of noise about both Gary and the A.D. it's just noise.

They have enough talent to win 8-10 ACC games if everything breaks right.

[sagegrouse]

First of all recruiting isn't finished. Maryland is still waiting to hear if Sean Mosley qualified. Things could get worse or they could better.
Gary is not in trouble. Maryland has had a lot of turnover in assistant coaches. Chuck Driesell and Keith Booth are very good and will be there to turn things around. Maryland hired a new conditioning coach. Last year their conditioning was so much worse than Maryland teams of the past. They played themselves slow. While there is a lot of noise about both Gary and the A.D. it's just noise.

They have enough talent to win 8-10 ACC games if everything breaks right.

Just Wondering:

Seven months of silence. Where have you been?

sagegrouse