#3 Kentucky vs. Maryland (Nov. 9th)

[EagleOriole]

Mitchell had a much more productive game than Shaq Cleare!

It seems that Turgeon did not want Cleare and Len on the floor at the same time, wonder how that would work.

Mitchell seems to me to be a glue guy. You don't need to give him the ball on offense and he is going to go after EVERY board. Vitale, in his over excuberance said he looked like a Charles Barkley type.

[bOhs01]

I, for one was very impressed with Md. Len looked like he put on some upper body weight and it definitely showed. They were absolute beasts on the boards all night and definitely should've won that game. I came away completely unimpressed by Calipari's new crop of freshmen. I think Noel is very overrated and other then shot blocking doesn't have much to his game. He looked stiff and unathletic throughout the game. I know they are a young team but this crop is not even in the same ballpark as last years freshmen squad that they had last year.

[EagleOriole]

I, for one was very impressed with Md. Len looked like he put on some upper body weight and it definitely showed. They were absolute beasts on the boards all night and definitely should've won that game. I came away completely unimpressed by Calipari's new crop of freshmen. I think Noel is very overrated and other then shot blocking doesn't have much to his game. He looked stiff and unathletic throughout the game. I know they are a young team but this crop is not even in the same ballpark as last years freshmen squad that they had last year.

Cauley-Stein is better than Noel. He is a freak athletically, 7-0 tall and had 16 TDs as a receiver in high school. The Goodman kid is good, so is Pothyress....I agree on Noel, not anything at all. The white stretch 4 kid is a really good offensive player though. You are right, that team is not as good.

[Munson]

The Terps shooting really killed them. It's encouraging that they could have and probably should have won this game. It's disappointing at the same time. I don't know if Kentucky is worthy of the #3 ranking right now. We will find out more when they play Duke on Tuesday.

[ThisIsOurHouse]

Cauley-Stein is better than Noel. He is a freak athletically, 7-0 tall and had 16 TDs as a receiver in high school. The Goodman kid is good, so is Pothyress....I agree on Noel, not anything at all. The white stretch 4 kid is a really good offensive player though. You are right, that team is not as good.

We have a long way to go as a team. We had to give a former walk on, Polson, close to thirty minutes because guard play from Harrow was poor. This team is nowhere as good as last year's squad as this team is more comparable to the 2010 2011 team with Brandon Knight. This team is going to lose some game this year but if they come together they are talented enough to be dangerous in March. This team you saw last Friday is not the team you will see this March.

I was proud to see Maryland play so well. The team looks like a rising program with all their young players. I do not know how long you guys will have Len but hopefully this is a team that can bring back the early 2000 glory days back to College Park.

Also great to see Calipari's fundraiser for Hurricane Sandy raise close to one million dollars.

[Tony-OH]

We have a long way to go as a team. We had to give a former walk on, Polson, close to thirty minutes because guard play from Harrow was poor. This team is nowhere as good as last year's squad as this team is more comparable to the 2010 2011 team with Brandon Knight. This team is going to lose some game this year but if they come together they are talented enough to be dangerous in March. This team you saw last Friday is not the team you will see this March.

I was proud to see Maryland play so well. The team looks like a rising program with all their young players. I do not know how long you guys will have Len but hopefully this is a team that can bring back the early 2000 glory days back to College Park.

Also great to see Calipari's fundraiser for Hurricane Sandy raise close to one million dollars.

Agreed on all parts. You could see the talent on both squads but you could tell Kentucky just needs to play more together and they will be a force. Of course it would have helped if the Terps could have hit a shot past 12 ft all night as well.

[Tony-OH]

Game recap:

Great Games:

Alex Len went for 23 points, 12 rebounds and 4 block shots while looking like the best player on the floor.

Good Games:

Charles Mitchell only played 16 minutes but managed 10 rebounds including 6 offensive rebounds and four points. I could see him starting next to Len real soon.

Seth Allen played pretty well and the team looks much better when he runs the point then disappointing Pe'Shon Howard. He didn't shoot well (2-8 including 2-6 from 3pt range), but collected five assists and three rebounds in 25 mins. I will not surprised if he's not starting soon.

Mediocre games:

Dez Wells was a little too hyped up and cold hit the side of a barn with his shot (2-12) but he managed to get himself to the line where he went 4-6. He had a nice hustle play in the second half. He looks explosive but we a little tight.

Good old mediocre James Padgett ended up with 10 points and five rebounds in 22 minutes.

Bad games:

Nick Faust continues to be a disappointment. He's a slasher who thinks he's a bomber but he went 4-15 from the floor including 0-for-5 from 3 pt range. He did get 3 assists and two steals but he was out there for 26 minutes and ended up 11 points. He still has an ugly FT shot.

Pe'Shon Howard should have never been on the floor for that last play and he certainly should not have been taken that last shot. Howard ended up with five assists but only two points in 28 minutes. That's a lot of wasteful time out there.

Shaquille Cleare was a disappointment only getting seven minutes of play and doing just about nothing during that time. Not sure what was going on here but Mitchell looks like the much better player early on.

The good news is that Maryland hung with Kentucky while really not really playing that great of a game outside of Alex Len and maybe Mitchell. That means there's a lot of room for improvement and that bodes well for Maryland this year.