Virginia Tech Hokies (12-8, 1-4 ACC)At Maryland Terrapins (12-7, 2-3 ACC)
Saturday 2:30pm Comcast Center, College Park, MD Leading Scorer: VT- Erick Green 15.8ppg MD: Terrell Stoglin 20.9ppg Last game: VT- lost to BYU 70-68 MD: lost to Duke 74-61
Outlook:
Does anyone hear that? Listen closer, we usually hear it around March, it’s the sound of Seth Greenberg pleading his team’s case to be in the NCAA Tournament. Maybe the Hokies have been “snubbed” in the past , but after a 1-4 start in conference play this season, Virginia Tech has a lot of work to do if they want to even be in the conversation come tourney time. Not only have the Hokies lost four games in conference, but they have lost to Boston College and Wake Forest. However, they did beat a good Virginia team in their last ACC game, despite scoring just 47 points. Not many expected the Hokies to be toiling around the cellar of the conference, but things like that don’t happen by accident. It just may be possible that this year’s Virginia Tech team is just not that talented, no matter how much Seth Greenberg wants to dispute the critics. Even after saying all that, it would not surprise anyone if they came into the Comcast Center and left with a win.
I know there is no such thing as a moral victory, and despite what anyone says, the Terps simply collapsed again Wednesday night. Despite leading the game in the second half, Maryland showed their usual ineptitude running the half- court offense, and failed to make shots for 40 minutes. While Duke couldn’t miss at the free throw stripe, MD couldn’t convert, and had noticeable breakdowns on the defensive end the floor. Alex Len is starting to look to like the second coming of Will Bowers, only weaker. And, Nick Faust has yet to show any sort of ability to make a three pointer. The one bright spot has been Ashton Pankey, who is a menace on the glass, and strong enough to play against players who have more size then he does. If I could not see the name on the back of their jersey, I might mistake Pankey for former Terp Byron Mouton, READ MORE >>>
What a crappy week. The Ravens gets bounced from the AFC Championship, then lose Chuck Pagano, the Orioles miss on Prince Fielder and Maryland loses to Duke.
If you need something to brighten your day, the BSR Podcast is the best we can do.
It’s not necessarily a positive spin on all the terrible news, but it should have you laughing and ignoring a terrible week in Baltimore.
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:
There was a lot of emotion in the Comcast Center with the court being named in honor of Gary Williams tonight. The Terps played strong again for 30 minutes and had the lead by 3 points with 8 minutes to play. However, the Terps went through 2 separate cold spells of not having a field goal for over 3 minutes which sealed their fate. They could not help themselves either as they were 3-10 from the line in the 2nd half. Maryland (12-7, 2-3) fell 74-61 to the Blue Devils (17-3, 5-1). The main problem for the Terps was the fact they could not stop Mason Plumlee as he had 23 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 assists. Let’s get to the report card.
Pe’Shon Howard B+
Howard had a very good all around game with 10 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists. He was aggressive looking for his shot and also looking to find teammates for shots. It might have been his best game since coming back from the broken foot. READ MORE >>>
Duke Blue Devils (16-3. 4-1 ACC) at Maryland Terrapins (12-6, 2-2 ACC) Wed Jan 25th 9pm Comcast Center, College Park, Md Last game: Duke- lost to FSU 76-73 MD-lost to Temple 73-60 Leading scorer: Duke- Austin Rivers 14.4ppg MD- Terrell Stoglin 21.5ppg
Outlook:
After that, there is likely to be nothing but bad news, as the visiting and sixth ranked Blue Devils come to College Park looking to avenge their first conference loss. No matter what their fans may chant, Duke and Maryland are rivals as the Terps have more success against the Blue Devils then every team in the conference but North Carolina. The crowd is sure to be electric and the crowd is sure to be their loud, taunting selves. The Terrapin faithful is sure to turn the Comcast Center into the home court advantage it has not been all season. Just ask this guy what the Maryland crowd is like. READ MORE >>>
I wish I played basketball at Maryland so I could wear cool Under Armour shoes with Gary Williams signature on them.
As Terps fans know, Maryland will honor Gary Williams by naming their court after the legendary coach before tonight’s game against Duke. The University held a ceremony for Williams on Monday that featured such highlights as toasts from Coach K, Roy Williams and Juan Dixon as well as a fist pumping silhouette of the coach projected on to the Comcast Center.
When Gary Williams abruptly retired in May, I set my all-time speed record for blog writing. The moment that twitter-bomb detonated, I had so many different thoughts racing through my normally traffic-less head that I didn’t even know what I wanted to say. I just knew that I wanted to say something.
Because after Bob Wade left this program face down in a gutter somewhere, Gary came in and did what he does best. He built. Not just some very good teams, but a program that surpassed the glory of the Driesell years, and one that could contend for a national championship. This is what I wrote about replacing a legend.
The guys are back for another edition of the BSR Podcast. Just like Jimmy The Greek, Patrick swept the weekend with his Divisional playoff picks and he made sure that everyone knew it.
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:
Brian Stewart was hired yesterday to join Randy Edsall’s staff. Maryland’s defense, and actually Maryland’s everything, was an abomination in 2011. Stewart, who comes to College Park from Houston, will likely install a 3-4 system in an attempt to not lose ten games in a single season. In other words, HE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE. Seems reasonable.
Forgive me for jumping way ahead this college basketball season, but it is never too early to gaze in the crystal ball to see what might happen in the future. In college basketball, the future is in March, when teams, having finished their bodies of work, hope to hear their names called on Selection Sunday to get into the best tournament in sports, the NCAA basketball championship (my opinion; yours may vary).
Apparently it is not too early to begin what fans of the tournament have come to know as the Bubble Watch: explained as which teams may or may not be included in the field of 68 if the tournament were held on a given date. For the last few years, the Virginia Tech Hokies have been on and off the bubble so much, coach Seth Greenberg’s face should be pictured whenever the topic is discussed. This year may prove to be no exception. The Hokies have begun conference play with an 0-2 slate, after losses to Wake Forest on Saturday and Florida State last night. A look at their pre-conference schedule shows a lot of wins over teams they should have beaten, and no bad losses, unless you count the one to Minnesota, which has started out 0-4 in the Big Ten. The Wake Forest loss may prove to hurt them even more, unless the Demon Deacons prove to be better than expected going forward. That said, the Hokies will have some opportunities to improve their tournament bonafides, with upcoming games against North Carolina at home, a road game against Virginia and a non-conference matchup with BYU of the West Coast Conference. Wins in two of those three games will give the Hokies a boost; and they will get two cracks at beating the Duke Blue Devils down the line. Of course, last season the Hokies famously upset Duke at home, only to see themselves out of the tournament when the selections were made. If they prove to be the fourth best team in what is being looked at as a down year for the league, that might not be enough to get them a bid to the NCAA tournament. So every game from here on out is important as the Hokies try to build a good case for inclusion. READ MORE >>>
Wake Forest Demon Deacons (10-5, 1-0 ACC) At Maryland Terrapins (10-4, 0-1 ACC)
Wed 7pm, Comcast Center, College Park, MD
Last game: Wake- def V.Tech 58-55 MD: lost to NC St 79-74
Leading Scorer: Wake- C.J Harris 18.3ppg MD- Terrell Stoglin 21.4ppg
The Terps return to the friendly confines of the Comcast Center in search of their first conference win when they take on Wake Forest Wednesday night. With their loss to NC State and having six conference games against Duke, North Carolina and Virginia, which are likely to all be losses, the Terps to need win the games they are “supposed” to win and this game is can be viewed as one of them. While Wake did beat a good Virginia Tech team in their last game, they still are expected to finish in the lower of the conference, so defending home court is a must for the Terps if they want to make headway in the ACC this season. Despite Wake’s struggles the last couple of seasons and their expectations coming into this season, the Terps can’t take them lightly or they will fall to 0-2 in the ACC come about 9pm Wednesday night. READ MORE >>>
2012 brings TONS of news so here are some of the topic that the guys discussed on the show.
Ravens head into postseason with great chance of Super Bowl run – The guys discuss if Baltimore has what it takes to make it to Indianapolis in February and ponder their path to Super Bowl 46.
Any chance Cam Cameron gets fired? – With fans STILL hoping that the Ravens offensive coordinator will lose his job, the guys discuss just how unlikely it will be that he will be fired.
Many times in college hoops, teams are forced to start without players who are expected to make a positive impact on the season. Such was the case at the University of Maryland, where two important players were off the floor at the beginning of the year. The return of Pe’Shon Howard, and the appearance of Alex Len through three games have given way to raised expectations for the Terps going forward. Before Howard’s return from a broken foot and Len’s joining the team after a ten-game suspension, Maryland struggled to beat teams many figured they should beat and lost badly to teams where they were outmanned. Nevertheless, after last night’s win over Cornell, the Terrapins stood at 10-3 with a 7-game winning streak-albeit against weaker competition. Still, the fact that the Terps are gaining confidence with a full roster can only mean good things going forward, because conference play is finally about to arrive. Awaiting the Terrapins after finishing their pre-conference schedule is a trip to Raleigh to face North Carolina State’s Wolfpack. Recent ACC Player of the Week Lorenzo Brown, along with C.J. Leslie and three-point sharpshooter Scott Wood lead the Wolfpack under new head coach Mark Gottfried.
ACC teams will finish up with their up the first phase of the season by Thursday with some additional non-conference games. The most noteworthy of these games is Duke’s trip to Philadelphia to face the Temple Owls, whom they have beaten nine straight times. The Blue Devils have been something of an afterthought nationally, even as they won the Maui Classic, but were drubbed by Ohio State. The Blue Devils haven’t lost since, however, and head into this virtual home game with the Owls looking to get even better as they head into their first conference game on Saturday against Georgia Tech. READ MORE >>>
The day has finally come that my alma mater, Towson University, has out shined that bully school at College Park, the University of Maryland.
This season Randy Edsall took Ralph Friedgen’s football team and erased everything good about it. The Terps went from a team in a bowl game in 2010 to a 2-10 team in 2011. Towson on the other hand had the opposite happen. The Tigers finished last in the CAA in 2010 and won their whole damn conference this year.
The Tigers put up a nice billboard congratulating Coach Rob Ambrose and the Tigers for winning the CAA. The billboard reads “Maryland’s Championship Football Team.” As opposed to that crap that was on the field at College Park.
What a burn.
I’m happy to see Towson taking a jab at Maryland. Go Tigers.
Besides awesome new uniforms, this season was a complete disaster for the Maryland Terps football team. After letting Ralph Friedgen go, athletic director Kevin Anderson looked to start anew with Randy Edsall as the team’s head coach. Now after a horrendous season, John Feinstein of the Washington Post thinks Anderson needs to fire Edsall before things get any more worse.
Edsall’s boss, Athletic Director Kevin Anderson, should cancel that recruiting trip. And Edsall’s reevaluation. Anderson should do the reevaluation. And here’s the conclusion he should reach in about 15 seconds: Maryland needs a new football coach.
Randy Edsall should be fired — today.
Surely fans are disappointed in the Terps losing seven more games in 2011 than they did in 2010, especially considering how dramatically they lost them. Maryalnd was blown out by double digits in their last seven games of the season despite coach Edsall telling the media that his way of coaching was right.
Feinstein argues that even though the University is in a financial rut, spending more money on a coach will help increase attendance at home games because fans no longer want to see the team that Edsall has put together. READ MORE >>>
Outlook:
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