Starting 5 - Gary Williams Era

[ccbird]

Booth was never the 1st option other than his senior year. Obviously, Smith was there his first two years and his junior year you still had Rhodes and Simpkins. His senior year he was the man and carried his team to the tournament with arguably a worst team than GV had his senior year. Booth had 3 sophomores(Ekeze, Profit, Stokes) and a Junior( Sarunus) around him. GV had Jordan Williams and two other solid seniors( Hayes, Milbourne).

Oh, and Rhodes as another guy who was very underrated and IMO better player than GV. All time ACC steals leader, was much better defensively, better rebounder at 6'4, better shooter. He was easily the more complete player. Given a chance to carry a team they both would've blown GV out of the water.

[mweb]

If Rhodes and Booth were so great, they should have been a lot better in Booth's Junior year.

BTW, Grievis won more games than Booth.

[ccbird]

If Rhodes and Booth were so great, they should have been a lot better in Booth's Junior year.

BTW, Grievis won more games than Booth.

Hipp was a complete black hole on the '95-96 team. He brought that team down yet they still made the tournament on the backs of Booth and Rhodes. And the ACC was much more competitive in the mid '90s.

BTW.... GV played in 10 more games. Here's the kicker that you forgot to mention, GV had more cupcakes. Look at the number of "mid majors" the Terps played just in '09'-10 compared to '95-96. Over their careers, I bet Vaz played 10 -15 more cupcakes than Booth. Winning 7 more games in 10 more tries against easier competition holds zero weight. Booth had 37 ACC wins, GV had 38 but the ACC was tougher in the mid 90's. You know, when the conference wasn't watered down and you played every team twice in a season. Booth's '94 and '96 teams won 8 ACC games and they comfortably made the NCAA tournament. GV's '08 team won 8 ACC games and wasn't even one of Lunardi's last 4 out.

http://terrapinstats.com/bb/gamesum.cfm?season=2010

http://terrapinstats.com/bb/gamesum.cfm?season=1996

[glenn__davis]

His senior year he was the man and carried his team to the tournament with arguably a worst team than GV had his senior year. Booth had 3 sophomores(Ekeze, Profit, Stokes) and a Junior( Sarunus) around him. GV had Jordan Williams and two other solid seniors( Hayes, Milbourne).

Boy, I have to really disagree with this. Ekeze/Profit/Stokes/Sarunas is >>>> Williams as a freshman/Hayes/Milbourne. Not even close IMO.

[ccbird]

Boy, I have to really disagree with this. Ekeze/Profit/Stokes/Sarunas is >>>> Williams as a freshman/Hayes/Milbourne. Not even close IMO.

No way. Williams freshman year was arguably better than any year any of those other guys had in their career at MD let alone their sophomore years. Hayes and Milbourne had very good senior years. Remember we aren't talking careers we are talking '96-97 vs '09-'10. I'm gonna take the '09-'10 team without even giving it much thought.

And let me point out that the two most effecient years GV had were his freshman and senior years when he had players playing very well around him and he didn't feel forced to be the man. GV was a very good player but he wasn't the superstar that many made him out to be during his time here. His soph and junior years he really put up empty, volume numbers.

[JohnD]

I don't know why you don't like Vasquez so much, but you're outta your mind.

[glenn__davis]

No way. Williams freshman year was arguably better than any year any of those other guys had in their career at MD let alone their sophomore years. Hayes and Milbourne had very good senior years. Remember we aren't talking careers we are talking '96-97 vs '09-'10. I'm gonna take the '09-'10 team without even giving it much thought.

I might take the '09-'10 team as well - but only because that team had Greivis.

We'll just have to agree to disagree. I have nothing against Hayes and Milbourne, but they would have been bench players on a truly good team. A lot of the numbers Williams put up were because Vasquez was constantly feeding him easy dunks - granted, he still had to put himself in the right place at the right time.

But the real crux of the matter is, was Vasquez the 4th best Terp under Williams? I don't think it's a clear case either way. But I can definitely see the argument for it.

[JohnD]

Johnny Rhodes was really, really good. He's definitely underrated. But he NEVER took over a game like Vasquez did. Never led on the court the way Vasquez did. And teams never said the key to beating Maryland was making sure you contained Johnny Rhodes and make other players beat you instead.

[mweb]

Hipp was a complete black hole on the '95-96 team. He brought that team down yet they still made the tournament on the backs of Booth and Rhodes. And the ACC was much more competitive in the mid '90s.

BTW.... GV played in 10 more games. Here's the kicker that you forgot to mention, GV had more cupcakes. Look at the number of "mid majors" the Terps played just in '09'-10 compared to '95-96. Over their careers, I bet Vaz played 10 -15 more cupcakes than Booth. Winning 7 more games in 10 more tries against easier competition holds zero weight. Booth had 37 ACC wins, GV had 38 but the ACC was tougher in the mid 90's. You know, when the conference wasn't watered down and you played every team twice in a season. Booth's '94 and '96 teams won 8 ACC games and they comfortably made the NCAA tournament. GV's '08 team won 8 ACC games and wasn't even one of Lunardi's last 4 out.

http://terrapinstats.com/bb/gamesum.cfm?season=2010

http://terrapinstats.com/bb/gamesum.cfm?season=1996

The two schedules you linked to seem to show one more solid to tough out of conference games before the tourney in the Booth season. So not a big deal

Booth also had more talent around him over the course of his career so he should have had more success than Greivis. But that wasn't the case and you can't totally blame Hipp either.

Booth was a PF who only shot .456% from the field and never averaged 8 rebounds a game. Oh, and he turned the ball over almost as much as Greivis did his senior year(for some reason bb-reference only has his senior year tov's). That's not that great and I don't see how he can possibly be considered a no doubter over Vasquez.

[mweb]

I might take the '09-'10 team as well - but only because that team had Greivis.

We'll just have to agree to disagree. I have nothing against Hayes and Milbourne, but they would have been bench players on a truly good team. A lot of the numbers Williams put up were because Vasquez was constantly feeding him easy dunks - granted, he still had to put himself in the right place at the right time.

But the real crux of the matter is, was Vasquez the 4th best Terp under Williams? I don't think it's a clear case either way. But I can definitely see the argument for it.

Yeah, there's only 3 guys who are obvious for those 4 spots. After that Greivis competes with Baxter, Blake, and to a lesser degree Booth, Rhodes, and even Francis if you want to consider a 1 year player.

[ccbird]

I might take the '09-'10 team as well - but only because that team had Greivis.

We'll just have to agree to disagree. I have nothing against Hayes and Milbourne, but they would have been bench players on a truly good team. A lot of the numbers Williams put up were because Vasquez was constantly feeding him easy dunks - granted, he still had to put himself in the right place at the right time.

But the real crux of the matter is, was Vasquez the 4th best Terp under Williams? I don't think it's a clear case either way. But I can definitely see the argument for it.

Yeah, there's only 3 guys who are obvious for those 4 spots. After that Greivis competes with Baxter, Blake, and to a lesser degree Booth, Rhodes, and even Francis if you want to consider a 1 year player.

That's fine. I'd personally take all of Booth, Baxter, Rhodes, and Blake over Vasquez but I'll agree that there is not a clear cut #4 behind the big 3 and that Vasquez is in the discussion. Obviously, if we are going on great players and not looking at careers than Francis was clearly the better player as well.

[OsnRavensallday]

In my life time my top 5 of the Gary era would have to be

PG-Vasquez

SG-Dixon

SF-Booth

PF-Walt Williams

C-Joe Smith

Stevie Franchise, Blake,Mouton,Baxter,Wilcox would be 2nd top 5. LOL

[Floater]

Gotta have Steve Blake on the team, for his fighting skills alone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zo5nRPC6uw8&feature=player_embedded