Impressed with last night's game

[Great 2BA FL Gator]

I live in Florida, and I was able to attend my first Maryland game ever last night. Great crowd, great atmosphere, too bad we let it get away. This team has really surprised me with its recent surge. If we would have shot our average from the free throw line, and gotten a couple of rebounds at the end there, we would have had a chance. It really hurt to start the 2nd half the way we did, let Duke get back in it in a matter of a minute. I still cannot believe Gist couldn't snag that rebound when it was 84-81, but oh well, as Gary said, they are not perfect. I don't think there is any team out there that would be able to beat Duke and UNC in back to back games, and we gave it a good run. I just hope the momentum continues and maybe we can take it to them at Cameron indoor.

[Mackus]

I honestly wasn't so impressed with the crowd in the 2nd half. I was a bit upset with how quiet they got. They should have been as loud in the 2nd half as they were in the 1st. It seemed like both the crowd and team just had all their energy sapped out.

[Great 2BA FL Gator]

Yeah well I can't really blame the crowd too much. The boys turned the ball over 3 times in the first minutes of the second half, basically handing duke the momentum.

[section18]

The team appeared slower in the second half and they stopped moving the ball around the way they did in the first half which resulted in a 9 point half time lead. I think Gary should have substituted more in the second half. The team just looked tired after a week off. We have some capable back ups he needs to use. Dupree should have been spelling Osby and Gist in the second half to give us some rebounds and Vaszuez should have been rested. Tucker and Lambourne should play more. Vasquez's last drive at the end of the game that he missed and resulted in him laying on the floor after his missed shot was embarassing. Gary and the players looked at him and wondered what he was doing. He is getting better but he still does some immature things on the court and he continues to take some wild shots.

The team should have won last night and a few less errors here and there and we would have been duplicating back to back wins against Carolina and Duke like we did last year. This team has a nice nucleus going into next season and with Gus Gilchrist and Sean Mosley (both 4 star players) coming in and the JUCO guard Bobby Maze we will be a top 15 team IMO. If we land Ater Majok another 4 star forward we will be top 10. We just have to be patient with the team. Gary needs to play some of the reserves more as the season moves along.

[Great 2BA FL Gator]

I'm not so sure about our ranking next year. I mean, losing Osby and Gist is going to be huge. Gist is a beast, and Osby is key too. Unless Dupree/Walker/Burney/and new recruits can duplicate their success, I feel we might be in trouble next year as well. It took Gist a few years to come into his own, I dont know if these guys replacing him will be solid from the start.