Maryland(15-4) @ Duke(16-2)

[Baltoravensrule]

The Terps have so many unforced turnovers.

Because no one takes control as the primary ball handler.

[Munson]

I thought the Terps would play better in the second half. I guess that was just wishful thinking.

[Slappy]

Turgeon forgot to go get a point guard.

[zweem]

" Lastly it's going to take Turgeon several more years to get this program where we all want it". Gary Williams really left this program in a mess and right now we look like a disjointed program trying to find some identity". Blame GW but one and a half years into Turge and this is one of the very worst Division 1 offenses I have ever seen. We take 5 to 8 seconds to cross mid court- when unchallenged. We then dribble outside and sometimes do a weave at the top of the key until the clock forces stupid shots and decisions. Meanwhile our 7 footer sets up 15 or so feet away from the basket.AN all NBA point guard would have trouble getting assists with this offense. The " no motion offense"

[Slappy]

Suffice to say that I have not been impressed with Turgeon outside of his staff hires.

He stubbornly butted heads with Terrell Stoglin last year when he was easily the best and only scoring option. Having someone who can shoot like Stogs would have been huge this year.

Halfway into this season, he has utterly failed to define roles for his team. We have no idea who the PG is - just pick someone and stay with him!! Using Allen and Wells at point is just stupid, those two should be looking to score. Len guarding guys outside the arc and then trying to post up at the foul line is absurd. He has failed to develop any big man offensive moves out of Len, Cleare, or Mitchell - something Gary did very well with all his big men. He substitutes like he's a hockey coach. And the man completely lacks for tact. His schtick was only "refreshing" because everyone latched onto the thought of him as program savior.

Blame it on Gary if you want. Blame it on youth, whatever. But this team is stuck in reverse right now and I see few signs of them moving in the right direction.

[Tony-OH]

Haha, and after a few losses with a young team, hear comes Gary's supporters' with the Turgeon hate.

Whatever. This team is young and we have some holes no doubt, but we all knew this team was young and would have struggles. We were never as good as our gaudy record showed because we didn't play anybody but Kentucky who ended up being way over rated.

I'll admit that I don't like the offense all that much this year, but I don't know whether it's because there's a bad game plan or just some players who either overrated/over their head in major D-1 (Faust/Pe'shon) or just young and inexperienced (pretty much everyone else). Most likely though, his offense will look better with better players, especially a real point guard running it.

We've seen players like Mitchell, Layman and Allen come on and show some serious promise this year. Cleare looks like a bust, but he won't be the first or last bust brought into a program with high expectations. Faust can't shoot, and Wells can be streaky, although again, we're talking about a sophomore here and you can see the promise. Len has improved, but the talk of him being ready for the NBA was premature. that's good for Maryland hopefully because with Cleare looking like a bust, they need Len to stay another year.

Turgeon's offense will look better when he has better and more experienced players running it especially once he gets a true point guard running things.

[glenn__davis]

Cleare looks like a bust, but he won't be the first or last bust brought into a program with high expectations.

Whoa, what? Cleare has been just fine. Averaging about 5 PPG and 3 RPG in 13 minutes as a freshman is not shabby. He also did a very good job defensively against Plumlee the other day. Everyone knew he was raw and a bit of a project coming in. I'm not sure where this comment or birdwatchers comment about needing to find out if he's a D1 player are coming from. Turgeon obviously thinks he's been OK as he's received a few starts recently.

It doesn't help that he (along with Len and Mitchell) have no one that can set things up for them. If he'd played with Vazquez as Jordan Williams got to as a freshman, he'd look like a beast.

Obviously no one knows how his development will ultimately go, but I'm expecting big things from both Cleare and Mitchell. They are going to dominate the frontcourt during their JR and SR years.

[glenn__davis]

Blame it on Gary if you want. Blame it on youth, whatever. But this team is stuck in reverse right now and I see few signs of them moving in the right direction.

I don't think I really agree with this either. I think the team has not looked that great because they've had a very difficult start to the ACC schedule. Road trips to Miami, Duke and UNC, and now to FSU. Home games against FSU and NC State. That's 6 of 8 games against teams that are (or should be in FSU's case) top half of the league teams.

The game tomorrow night becomes pretty darn big. IF they can manage to win, it would not only be a confidence-booster, but I don't think anyone could complain with a 4-4 record given the quality of the competition. Things start to soften up quite a bit after this one. MD really needs to come out and play a good game on the road.

Not trying to downplay the issues they've had, particularly offensively. But I think we have slowly seen some improvement there. Wells appears to be getting more comfortable. I think there's been a bit more continuity - I think Turgeon really failed in that regard during the cupcake season when he was trying to get everyone minutes. But I think they're getting there. But they really need a PG.

[Danielos38]

I'm a "Gary supporter" (as if its some kind of crime?) and I also really like Turgeon... the two are not mutually exclusive. I don't think that we played badly against Duke and the 2nd half of our ACC schedule is much easier than the first. I'm not crying wolf just yet.

[Tony-OH]

Whoa, what? Cleare has been just fine. Averaging about 5 PPG and 3 RPG in 13 minutes as a freshman is not shabby. He also did a very good job defensively against Plumlee the other day. Everyone knew he was raw and a bit of a project coming in. I'm not sure where this comment or birdwatchers comment about needing to find out if he's a D1 player are coming from. Turgeon obviously thinks he's been OK as he's received a few starts recently.

It doesn't help that he (along with Len and Mitchell) have no one that can set things up for them. If he'd played with Vazquez as Jordan Williams got to as a freshman, he'd look like a beast.

Obviously no one knows how his development will ultimately go, but I'm expecting big things from both Cleare and Mitchell. They are going to dominate the frontcourt during their JR and SR years.

I just don't like what I see. It is way too early to call him a bust of course, but I see a guy who doesn't moves very well, doesn't have very soft hands, doesn't particularly rebound very well, and has no offensive game besides a put back and slam. At least with Mitchell I see a Lonnie Baxter type guy who is going to be a rebounding machine when it's all said and done.

I don't pay a ton of attention to the recruiting process until the players sign, but after reading up on Cleare, I just expected a guy who was going to flash me some more promise. I guess I just don't see the upside here, but I'm not a basketball scout and I certainly could be wrong. In fact I hope I am.

[Tony-OH]

I don't think I really agree with this either. I think the team has not looked that great because they've had a very difficult start to the ACC schedule. Road trips to Miami, Duke and UNC, and now to FSU. Home games against FSU and NC State. That's 6 of 8 games against teams that are (or should be in FSU's case) top half of the league teams.

The game tomorrow night becomes pretty darn big. IF they can manage to win, it would not only be a confidence-booster, but I don't think anyone could complain with a 4-4 record given the quality of the competition. Things start to soften up quite a bit after this one. MD really needs to come out and play a good game on the road.

Not trying to downplay the issues they've had, particularly offensively. But I think we have slowly seen some improvement there. Wells appears to be getting more comfortable. I think there's been a bit more continuity - I think Turgeon really failed in that regard during the cupcake season when he was trying to get everyone minutes. But I think they're getting there. But they really need a PG.

I disagree. Turgeon had a bunch of freshman and sophomores and he needed to play them enough to allow them to show their true abilities. It would have be inherently unfair had he buried a Layman after a slow start. You can say what you want about the cupcake schedule, but it's totally Monday morning quarterbacking at this point. Turgeon did not know he was going to have Wells and Arrenault for the season when he made the schedule but he did know he was going to have a lot of young players who were going to need some time to show what they could do. The easy schedule allowed him to do that. As the cream rises to the top, he's have a better idea of who his guys are through the second part of the ACC schedule.

[glenn__davis]

I just don't like what I see. It is way too early to call him a bust of course, but I see a guy who doesn't moves very well, doesn't have very soft hands, doesn't particularly rebound very well, and has no offensive game besides a put back and slam. At least with Mitchell I see a Lonnie Baxter type guy who is going to be a rebounding machine when it's all said and done.

I don't pay a ton of attention to the recruiting process until the players sign, but after reading up on Cleare, I just expected a guy who was going to flash me some more promise. I guess I just don't see the upside here, but I'm not a basketball scout and I certainly could be wrong. In fact I hope I am.

Fair enough. Certainly nothing wrong with that opinion. I was just taken aback because other than your and birdwatcher's post I haven't seen anyone be all that down on Cleare.

I disagree. Turgeon had a bunch of freshman and sophomores and he needed to play them enough to allow them to show their true abilities. It would have be inherently unfair had he buried a Layman after a slow start. You can say what you want about the cupcake schedule, but it's totally Monday morning quarterbacking at this point. Turgeon did not know he was going to have Wells and Arrenault for the season when he made the schedule but he did know he was going to have a lot of young players who were going to need some time to show what they could do. The easy schedule allowed him to do that. As the cream rises to the top, he's have a better idea of who his guys are through the second part of the ACC schedule.

I'm actually not MMQBing the schedule. I think given where he thought the program would be it was appropriate in fact. And I don't think anyone should have been buried early. But by the last 2-3 games of the OOC schedule there should have been some semblance of set rotations, and some trimming of the fat from the 10-man rotation. I don't think the team was very cohesive, as a basketball team, coming into the ACC schedule. I do think it has gotten somewhat better as of late. We've seen Padgett and Howard lose minutes, appropriately IMO. I'm glad the team will seemingly be more prepared going into the second half of conference play, but that does not mean they could not have been more prepared for the first half too.

[ccbird]

Its a shame Turg still has to work with Gary's garbage at Guard. Howard isn't a ACC player, Faust is flawed( I saw earlier people wanted to give Gary credit for Faust so take him on now that he can't shoot worth a crap). Allen, Turge's guy, has shown the most flashes. You can tell he's going to be a quality player in the future but he's not a PG. The key is going to be getting a PG. Right now we have guards who can't do anything guards need to do. Can't shoot, can't ball handle, can't pass, can't drive and dish or drive and pop the mid range shot. One guy who can do some of those things, that can play with a little bit of basketball IQ and you would see a big change.

[glenn__davis]

Its a shame Turg still has to work with Gary's garbage at Guard. Howard isn't a ACC player, Faust is flawed( I saw earlier people wanted to give Gary credit for Faust so take him on now that he can't shoot worth a crap).

Of course, the very first thing Turgeon did when hired was work hard to make sure Faust stayed committed. So let's not act like Turgeon was stuck with Faust. He could very easily have let him walk.

BTW, I still believe in Faust. He's clearly not the shooter he was advertised as - that was evident in his very first game - but he does do a lot of things well.

[ccbird]

Of course, the very first thing Turgeon did when hired was work hard to make sure Faust stayed committed. So let's not act like Turgeon was stuck with Faust. He could very easily have let him walk.

BTW, I still believe in Faust. He's clearly not the shooter he was advertised as - that was evident in his very first game - but he does do a lot of things well.

Yes, Turg wanted Faust and I agree that there is some hope for Faust. There were some people here that wanted to give Gary all the credit for Faust awhile back when recruiting was discussed.

Listen, I'm not excusing Turg here. I have issues with the way he has handled some things but I don't think his coaching will be an issue once he gets better players, particularly a PG.

Bottom line is this.....It looks like we are headed for a .500 ish ACC record, 20+ wins, and hoping to be a bubble team. So Turg's 2nd year is no different than a lot of Gary's last 6 or 7 years.