Baltimore Sports Report

Maryland Prevew: No Breaks for Terps Against Carolina’s Fast Break

Marco Romanell — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:19:49 +0000

6North Carolina Tarheels (19-3, 6-1 ACC)

Maryland Terrapins (13-8, 3-4 Acc)

Saturday, Feb. 4th at 4pm– Comcast Center: College Park, MD

Last game: UNC: def Wake 68-53 MD: lost to Miami 90-86, 2 OT

Leading Scorers: UNC- Harrison Barnes– 17.3 ppg MD- Terrell Stoglin– 21.8ppg

Outlook:

After watching SportsCenter all week and hearing the name Rob Gronkowski mentioned over and again, I invented a little drinking game whose rules are simple: every time he is mentioned or shown on television you drink. How does this parlay into the Maryland/UNC game? It’s simple: for every North Carolina fast break that is started from a Terps missed shot you drink. That game is sure to get you intoxicated and is the main reason why North Carolina is one of the favorites to win the National Championship. Not only do they have size and maybe the best player in basketball in Harrison Barnes, they also run up and down the floor on the offensive end putting pressure on their opponents to make shots and match them score for score. Where the Tarheels do struggle, however is against physical teams that can score inside, get the Tarheels in foul trouble, and also can rebound. Florida State was also able to that as well as knock down shots in their rout of the Tarheels earlier this season. While Mark Turgeon and his staff are sure to be watching film of that Florida State game, they will surely realize they don’t have that kind of personnel and will have to take a different approach. The Tarheels looking ahead to the Duke game in a few days might be the only shot, albeit slim, that the Terps have.

Maryland for years has always risen to the occasion and played well against top teams at home; that was their mantra under Gary Williams and one they look to continue. I have been hearing all week from other Terps fans that are saying, “We played Duke tough so that means we should play Carolina tough.” However, that is the furthest thing from the truth. Basketball is about match-ups, and Maryland’s erratic style plays right into the hands of the Tarheels. I love Terrell Stoglin but he is no Greivis Vasquez, and this Terps team is not like one of the teams from the Williams era that were proverbial giant killers. The only way to win this game is to be efficient in the half court offense, working the ball inside ad nauseam and get a lot of second chance opportunities to limit the offensive possessions for the Tarheels. James Padgett, Alex Len and Ashton Pankey will be key inside, and Nick Faust and Sean Mosley will need to knock down outside shots if the Terps want to compete at all in this game. I just think the odds of this happening are about as good as someone on the Wizards not tweeting something ridiculous. Of course, as Terrell Stokes once proclaimed after his Terps knocked off the Tarheels, they could “shock the world”.

Prediction:

I am by no means a hater: I am a loyal Terps fan and would love to see a win, but I tell it like it is. This game will not be close. Tyler Zeller will destroy the Terps on the inside and Carolina’s fast break will be too much to handle. They will run the Terps right out of their own arena.

UNC 89 MD 71.

This Week In Baltimore Sports History: Happy Birthday, Honey Buns!

Dave Gilmore — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:40:55 +0000

We know our founding editor had a birthday this week, but did you know that on Tuesday Ben “Honey Buns” Cavil turned the big 4-0? Who’s Ben Cavil? And you call yourselves Ravens fans. As we all know, he saw regular time and started about half the games at guard for the vaunted 1997-1998 Baltimore offensive line. I would say more, but in 2007, the Sun’s Mike Klingaman wrote THE DEFINITIVE Ben “Honey Buns” Cavil piece in the history of the Internet.

The only info Klingaman’s piece (which is about 50% pastry-related) is missing is that Cavil also played a year in the famed XFL for the NY/NJ Hitmen. I would be severely disappointed if he didn’t have “HONEY BUNS” on his jersey.

Go ahead and wish Cavil a happy birthday on LinkedIn, and if you’re in the market for a home in the Houston area, Honey Buns is your man.

Got an item for TWIBSH? Send it to baltimorecaps@gmail.com or @BalSportsReport on Twitter.

Ayanbadejo Says He Won’t Give Ravens A Discount

Zach Wilt — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:40:59 +0000

Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo is coming off one of the best seasons of his career. He played in more games in 2011 than he did in the previous two years combined and posted a career high 31 tackles.

I was surprised to see just how big of a role he played this season on defense because I’ve always thought of Ayanbadejo as only a special teams player.

Ayanbadejo enters this offseason as a free agent and he tweeted on Wednesday that the Ravens should expect “no discounts.” He added that it wouldn’t take much to keep him in Baltimore and said that he just wants to “be treated fairly.”

When asked directly if he would take less money to stay with the Ravens, Ayanbadejo responded “Nah.”

You’d think a guy that close to going to a Super Bowl would want to stay or at least tell the fans he’d try to remain a Raven.

Both Matt Lund and Dave Gilmore write that the Ravens should hold on to Ayanbadejo in their Keep Or Dump column. I’m not saying I disagree, I’m just surprised by his comments.

Martindale Is Latest Ravens Coach With Harbaugh Family Ties

Zach Wilt — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:30:40 +0000

Well the Ravens have their man. The team announced on Thursday afternoon that Don Martindale will be Baltimore’s new linebackers coach. Martindale replaces Dean Pees who was promoted to defensive coordinator after Chuck Pagano left to coach the Colts.

We all should have known that Jack Del Rio wouldn’t reunite with the Ravens. I cited “different eras” as my reasoning when first discussing candidates to replace Pagano. Del Rio came from the Brian Billick era Ravens, a team and method that the front office and ownership have decided to put behind them.

Martindale comes to Baltimore with 18 years of coaching experience in both the NFL and at the college level. Not surprisingly, he was on Jack Harbaugh’s coaching staff at Western Kentucky.

It seems that the Harbaugh family tree is becoming the Ravens index for coaching vacancies.

Here’s a fun little game. Next time the Ravens need to replace a coach, just start looking at people near Jack, Jim or John.

Have these personal relationships held the Ravens back? Look at Baltimore’s most controversial non-fire, Cam Cameron. Despite Joe Flacco’s numbers declining in 2011, Cameron still hangs on as the Ravens offensive coordinator. Did you know that Cameron was hired by John Harbaugh as an assistant 1997 at Indiana University? Did you know that Cameron was the Jim Harbaugh’s quarterbacks coach at the University of Michigan?

Steve Bisciotti and Ozzie Newsome have put all their eggs in the Harbaugh basket. Four straight trips to the postseason and two to the AFC championship are hard to argue against. I just hope that when the Ravens have to make coaching changes, the decision is affected by these long relationships that have been established.

Zach Wilt is the Founding Editor of BaltimoreSportsReport.com and Host of the BSR Podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @zamwi or send him an email: zach@baltimoresportsreport.com.

The Greek: Super Bowl XLVI

Jim Broderick — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:30:49 +0000

In the spirit of Jimmy the Greek, we’re going to offer you some stone cold Superbowl XLVI locks, or, just some spurious guesses based on cursory analysis and casual observation. Either way, this being Baltimore, we thought we’d hear from our favorite wholesale narcotics importer: the man known simply as “The Greek.”

Greek’s 2011/2012 Record ATS: 37-39-2

Greetings Readers. Are you ready for the Big Game? I assume that it’s being met with disdain by most who grace these pages given the geographical skew. Anyhow, 2-2 for Championship Sunday, nailing the game lines, but coming up short on the over/unders. Despite the push I’m still sitting at a 67% clip over the last 5 weeks (15-7-1) and have a chance to bring the season over .500. I’ll be giving you my thoughts on the game line, the over/under and some of my favorite prop bets.

New York Giants +3 over New England Patriots

Is this a homer pick? Yes and no. If you’ve read my column you know I am a Giants season

ticket holder (thanks for nothing SB XLVI ticket lottery) and therefore my natural bias in this game will go in the direction of Big Blue. However, I have picked against the Giants before (not often). The Ravens showed what a great defense can do against New England. The Giants defense, while not Baltimore, has been playing extremely well and hasn’t allowed more than 20 points in the playoffs. This includes a game against Green Bay and the Discount Double Check at Lambeau. The front 4 can get to Brady, Gronkowski is hobbled and the Giants just seem to have the Pats number. In the Week 9 win at New England the Giants offense was also without Nicks, Bradshaw and center Davis Baas. Indy is a fast field and that should be a benefit to the Giants with guys like Cruz, Bradshaw, Nicks and the Giants front 4. I think the Patriots are favored because of Belichick and Brady. It’s tough to pick against them in the Superbowl, but the Giants are the better team right now. If the Pats are to win it’ll come down to their signature field goal way of getting it done. You’ve got the insurance in that case with the Gmen getting 3.

New York Giants/New England Patriots under 54 total points

Everything in this game seems to be screaming OVER. The teams combine to go 22-15 on the over if you include the playoff numbers. Manning is playing on another level. The Patriots drop 30 on the scoreboard with regularity. The turf at Indy is conducive to a lot of quick strikes and points. Why am I going under? Quietly (much more so in New

England than in New York) the defenses have been stepping up. The Giants defense has given up 2 (really zero), 20 and 17 in their three playoff games. New England has given up 10 and 20 in their two contests. Everyone is talking about Brady vs. Manning. Time for the defense to show up just a little.

Super Bowl 46 Prop Bets

Lebron James Points Against Raptors +.5 over New England Patriots Total Points
James gets to his 29.7 ppg average. The Giants defense holds the Pats under 30.

Eli Manning over 310.5 Passing Yards
This is kind of a hedge against the under play above.

Rob Gronkowski under 80.5 receiving yards
The guy is a beast, but if that ankle is anything like Ben Roethlisberger’s was then I can’t see him making sharp cuts at all. He would make for a fantastic decoy, especially in the red zone.

Aaron Hernandez over 66.5 receiving yards
Brady still loves throwing to his TE and his 1A man-crush is Hernandez. He’ll pick up his usual 50 yards, but most likely add another 20+ that would have gone to a non hobbled Gronkowski

Team To Have Longest Kickoff Return-New England Patriots
I have no idea what the true stat is, but I sat through almost every Giants kickoff return this year and they all seem to end up at the 23. The Pats have to do better than that, no?

For the Roulette black/red type wagerers out there
Heads, Giants Win the Toss, Jersey Number of Player with first TD Under 86.5,

And One For Fun
New York Giants Adjusted Line -14.5 (+715)
This means on a $100 wager you’d win $715 if the Giants covered the 14.5

Jim Broderick can be harassed about his picks via Twitter @jimmyfromjc

Bisciotti Hints At Ravens Open Practice In Annapolis

Zach Wilt — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:25:02 +0000

The Ravens decision to shut down training camp at McDaniel College has been something that irked me from the minute the team snuck the news out late on a Friday afternoon. I still believe that this decision proves the team no longer has a desire to grow their fan base or thank the diehards and shows that this team wants to remain out of the spotlight as much as possible.

But you’ve read my complaints and heard me pile on the franchise on the BSR Podcast – I think you get the point.

When the Ravens quietly released the heartbreaking news of a closed training camp in 2012, they promised to provide free practices at M&T Bank Stadium. Personally, I’ve never been a big fan of the practice experience at the stadium, but at least it’s something.

Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti added that another public practice in Annapolis is a possibility this offseason. ”I’d like to get one down to Annapolis; it’s my neck of the woods,” Bisciotti said speaking at the State of the Ravens press conference according to Aaron Wilson at Ravens24x7.com. ”So, maybe we can talk with Navy and maybe get it down there in the summertime, which would be good.”

Was the Ravens owner just throwing out ideas or has the team actually looked at a public practice in Annapolis? The organization pointed to inconvenience as a reason to move from Westminster, I can’t imagine the Naval Academy (even for a day) will be much easier.

“It’s our job to create that access,” Bisciotti added.

You’re damn right it is. But, I’m not holding my breath.

Zach Wilt is the Founding Editor of BaltimoreSportsReport.com and Host of the BSR Podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @zamwi or send him an email: zach@baltimoresportsreport.com.

Brian Billick Thinks His Coaching Days Are Over

Zach Wilt — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:20:30 +0000

I’ve eagerly awaited the day that Brian Billick gets his next head coaching job so that I can add my second favorite NFL team. I love the guy. The demeanor, attitude and confidence of the Ravens during his tenure were a direct translation of his personality and became my favorite attributes of the early Ravens.

Billick hasn’t coached a game since 2007 and all signs point to him remaining in the booth rather than returning to the sideline.

“It’s a general manager’s game. I’m not what they’re looking for,” Billick said according to Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com. ”That’s fine. They want a head coach today that doesn’t have to worry about personnel, the cap or even the media. We’ll lock you in a room and you come out with a genius game plan. They’re looking for X’s and O’s guys. That’s the world we live in right now.”

The game certainly has changed in the five years that Billick has been out of it. Just look at Tom Coughlin and Bill Belichick’s interviews this week. Have you seen any sign of life from either head coach? Nope. And that’s the brand of boring football coach that dominates the NFL these days. Not the guy that famously cancelled a preseason game because of bad turf.

“When you go into a lion’s den, you don’t tiptoe in. You carry a spear. You go in screaming like a banshee and say, ‘Where’s the son of a bitch?’” That was the message Brian Billick delievered his team after defeating the defending AFC champion Tennessee Titans during the Super Bowl run in 2000.

You’d never hear anything like that today.

“I’ve always said at the very least that at least I am consistently arrogant, egotistical and eccentric,” Billick said.

BSR Podcast: Super Bowl Prop Bets, Peyton Or Eli, MLB Playoff Expansion

BSR Staff — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:28:15 +0000

AskMen.com votes Sofia Vergara hottest woman of 2012

It’s Super Bowl week, but in Baltimore there’s nothing Super about it — besides maybe the strange 65 degree weather.

The guys discuss the biggest topics going down in Indianapolis this week, make some Super Bowl prop bets, put a bow on the Ravens season and discuss playoff expansion in Major League Baseball.

You can get in touch with the BSR Podcast by sending your emails to podcast@baltimoresportsreport.com or leaving a voicemail at 443-379-4BSR (4377).

Here are some of topics discussed in this week’s show:

Super Bowl Week

Bernard Pollard knocked Tom Brady out for an entire season, now his hit on Rob Gronkowski in the AFC Championship could could keep him out of the big game.
Who is bigger news: Peyton Manning or Eli Manning? Will Peyton Manning ever play again and if he does with who?

Recapping The Ravens

Steve Bisciotti promises to keep both Ray Rice and Joe Flacco
Cam Cameron is back as the Ravens offensive coordinator. Is bringing Cam back the best move for the Ravens going forward?
Jim Caldwell joins the Ravens coaching staff as the quarterbacks coach.

Talking Baseball

Edwin Jackson will likely take a one year deal rather than a multi-year deal in Baltimore.
Roy Oswalt is still on the market. Which team is the best fit for the veteran?
Bud Selig wants playoff expansion NOW. Which two teams benefit the most from another Wild Card?

Super Bowl Prop Bets

Kelly Clarkson national anthem over/under - 1:34
Madonna’s hair color during the halftime show – blond or any other colo
Number of times Peyton Manning will be shown during the game over/under – 3.5
Number of times Jim Irsay will be mentioned over/under – 1
Number of times Robert Kraft will be shown over/under – 3.5
Who will the Super Bowl MVP thank first? – Teammates (8/5), Coach (12/1), Family (7/1), God (4/1), Owner (9/2), Does not thank anyone (11/4)

AskMen.com’s Top 99 Hottest Women

Sofia Vergara is number one, Kate Upton is two.
Rooney Mara is number three.
The guys argue the entire list.

A Conversation With Gary Bruzdzinski — A Finalist In The Orioles Voice Competition

Zach Wilt — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:35:59 +0000

Gary Bruzdzinski is a lifelong Orioles fan who has been given the chance to live out every sports fan’s dream.

Bruzdzinski is a finalist in the Orioles Voice competition — the organization’s search for their next Public Address Announcer.

Gary auditioned for the PA Announcer job with hundreds of other fans at Orioles FanFest on January 21 and now he finds himself among the remaining few for the role.

I spoke with him about the process, fulfilling the dream, his PA Announcing experience and heard a sample of what Baltimore fans could expect to hear at Camden Yards this season.

Maryland At Miami Report Card: Terps Lose Thriller in 2 OTs

Gregg Cobert — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:32:11 +0000

umterps.com

For a lot of the game it looked like this might be the same Terps team that fans have seen all year. However, Maryland (13-8, 3-4) showed they had some fight still in them. The whole evening in Coral Gables went exactly as Miami would want it to go as they lead 62-46 with 7:09 but the Terps closed regulation on a 23-7 run to send it to overtime. They even had a chance to win with a Terrell Stoglin 3 at the buzzer that rimmed out. In the first overtime, the Terps had a brief lead at 72-71 but Miami was able to answer and the teams closed the first overtime tied at 76. In the second overtime, the Hurricanes (13-7, 4-3) scored the first 7 points and were able to hold off the Terps 90-86. Let’s get to the report card.

Nick Faust B
Faust was the starter in name only as his production and minutes were similar to what he has done off the bench. He had some bright spots and I love his ability to grab a steal for the team (he finished with 3). Faust’s shooting has also improved over the last few games as well which is a good sign.

Terrell Stoglin B+
The Terps needed Stoglin’s 33 points but the stat line that stuck out was 6-20 which is what he shot from distance and he shot 3-6 from 2 point range. If Stoglin can find a way to blend his shooting and driving ability, he could become even more unstoppable. 20 threes is entirely too many for one person to shoot in a game. Even Ray Allen doesn’t jack em up that frequently in a game.

Sean Mosley B
Tonight was “good Sean.” He didn’t shoot well from the field (1-7) but he was 5-6 from the charity stripe. He also added 9 rebounds to pace the team. Despite fouling out, he made strong contributions to the team across the board.

Ashton Pankey C-
The best thing he had was 7 rebounds (4 offensive). However, he did have a crucial layup to cut the lead to 62-57. Pankey adds a toughness to the interior.

James Padgett C+
His footwork and post work are still good and he displayed it tonight. I wish the Terps would feed him more in the post as he seems capable to be a solid second scorer. He seems well on his way to join the long list of accomplished Terps big men: Bias, Joe Smith, Lonnie Baxter, Jordan Williams.

Bench B+
The bench had strong efforts from Pe’Shon and Len. Len in the interior providing 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 blocks. It was the type of game a Terps fan can hopefully grow to consistently see from the freshman. Pe’Shon had 8 assists and seemed to make sure to get others involved. Between the two of the them, the Terps had some added punch for sure off the bench.
Sub of the Game: Alex Len

Mark Turgeon B
It’s been a tough year for Turgeon but he has done a solid job with the talent provided. Tonight, his team hung tough and came back although they could have packed it in late in the second half. It was a good sign to see.

A Peak at the Standings
The Terps still are winless on the road this year and face North Carolina on Saturday at Comcast. So here is a look at the ACC Standings following the games from last night.

North Carolina 6-1
Florida State 6-1
Duke 5-1
Virginia 5-2
NC State 5-3
Miami 4-3
Maryland 3-4
Clemson 3-4
Wake Forest 2-6
Boston College 2-6
Virginia Tech 1-5
Georgia Tech 1-7
The Terps are caught in the jumbled middle of the ACC with losses to the two teams ahead of them on the road (NC State and Miami). It will be interesting how the Terps finish up February.