Maryland at Illinois

[murph]

Anyone watching?   Good start for MD. 

The announcers really should have practiced the players names a bit more before the game! 

[Yardball85]

Good start.

I like Robbie Hummel's analysis as color guy.

[murph]

 Both announcers are decent, but they were mispronouncing Morsell and someone else for MD early in the game,  not a big deal just sort of annoying.   

Not much to complain about at all, except Bruno got a ridiculous non-foul called as a foul near the end of the 1st half.  Hopefully they keep playing the way they are and it will not matter, but think that is 2 on him.  

[Tony-OH]

Not sure I've ever seen a more undisciplined and unfocused team. I mean, credit to Illinois for playing out of their minds in the second half, but the lazy passes, terrible non existent interior defense, and just awful ability to get any semblance of offense going shows that this not only is this team horribly coached (which we already know) but not mentally tough. 25 turnovers? What a joke.

Oh well, maybe an awful year will convince the University to get rid of Turgeon. The funny thing is, I didn't see but one minute of the first half but saw the entire second half implosion. Maybe it's me? Haha.

Oh well, with me not watching the NFL any longer, I was really hoping for a good college basketball season to watch instead I get this sloppy undisciplined team to watch. This team just had it's point guard not get the ball across half court within 10 seconds down by one with less than a minute to play. Can't say I've ever seen that.

By the way, one of the worse half of basketball I've ever seen from Kevin Huerter. I mean, not just bad with shooting, but in every aspect of his game. He lost his composure and his lack of athleticism really showed through. 

The last non call was ridiculous by the refs, but Maryland didn't deserve that call. Cowan was just awful in the second half and showed he's not ready for prime time. He's a mental midget who threw the ball away like it was his job. 

The total lack of composure and focus by this team is directly on Turgeon. Up by 18 points at the half and the team came out and played one of the worse halfs of basketball I've ever seen. everyone was totally lost. No leadership by anyone, no ability by Turgeon to get guys off the court that had lost their composure, no nothing. 

I'm writing this as the game is about to go to overtime. Whether the Terps win this or not, it doesn't change anything I said here.

[murph]

2 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Not sure I've ever seen a more undisciplined and unfocused team. I mean, credit to Illinois for playing out of their minds in the second half, but the lazy passes, terrible non existent interior defense, and just awful ability to get any semblance of offense going shows that this not only is this team horribly coached (which we already know) but not mentally tough. 25 turnovers? What a joke.

Oh well, maybe an awful year will convince the University to get rid of Turgeon. The funny thing is, I didn't see but one minute of the first half but saw the entire second half implosion. Maybe it's me? Haha.

Oh well, with me not watching the NFL any longer, I was really hoping for a good college basketball season to watch instead I get this sloppy undisciplined team to watch. This team just had it's point guard not get the ball across half court within 10 seconds down by one with less than a minute to play. Can't say I've ever seen that.

By the way, one of the worse half of basketball I've ever seen from Kevin Huerter. I mean, not just bad with shooting, but in every aspect of his game. He lost his composure and his lack of athleticism really showed through. 

The last non call was ridiculous by the refs, but Maryland didn't deserve that call. Cowan was just awful in the second half and showed he's not ready for prime time. He's a mental midget who threw the ball away like it was his job. 

The total lack of composure and focus by this team is directly on Turgeon. Up by 18 points at the half and the team came out and played one of the worse halfs of basketball I've ever seen. everyone was totally lost. No leadership by anyone, no ability by Turgeon to get guys off the court that had lost their composure, no nothing. 

I'm writing this as the game is about to go to overtime. Whether the Terps win this or not, it doesn't change anything I said here.

 It is a shame you missed the first half, because the mental midget was looking like the best point guard in the conference. And showing some of that in overtime, but it definitely comes and goes! 

 

If they cannot get the ball protection under control, I don't have faith we're going anywhere deep  in the league or in either tournament.  

 Would be nice if we can pull this one out and then ride the nonconference games out for the year.    

[murph]

Bruno just tapped him on the wrist, it did not effect that shot at all! 

[Finisher]

Bruno Fernando is a top ten draft pick. If Gary had this much talent we'd be a final four contender. With Turgeon it's a bubble team. Can we seriously not just endlessly feed Bruno the ball??

As good as Cowan can be offensively he is just too out of control too often. Never seen a team so careless with the ball. Not sure how a team can go from looking so good to so bad so often.

[Tony-OH]

11 hours ago, Finisher said:

Bruno Fernando is a top ten draft pick. If Gary had this much talent we'd be a final four contender. With Turgeon it's a bubble team. Can we seriously not just endlessly feed Bruno the ball??

As good as Cowan can be offensively he is just too out of control too often. Never seen a team so careless with the ball. Not sure how a team can go from looking so good to so bad so often.

The problem with Cowan is there is no real backup and he plays out of control way too much. Between him and Huerter there is a lot of talent, but they both play out of control and recklessly at times and Turgeon never sits them when they play that way so they just keep doing it.

It's a classic situation where there is no real accountability so they don't improve. This team loses concentration so quickly and I had a feeling when I turned on the game and saw how big a lead that a Turgeon run team would give it back. He instills zero discipline in his players and that's part of the reason no lead is ever too big for a Turgeon team.

Cowan is an enigma because for all his talent, some of his brain farts are honestly amazing. The not getting the ball over half court in ten seconds with no pressure was a new one for me. never seen a college point guard do that in a key moment. But these seem to be the kind of guys Turgeon recruits. He brings in the talent, but they all have something going on and that keeps them from being elite players. 

Huerter is athletically challenged and seems to be pressing this year when his shot is not on. Jackson has talent but can be MIA for long stretches of the game. Bruno looks like a beast but he has to be able to control his emotions and play smarter at times. Already discussed Cowan and the rest are role players though I think Morsell will be fine if he can stay healthy.

I think Turgeon gets a little too much credit for his recuiting honestly. What has he really brought into the program? I don't see good NBA players and the ones that do stay all four years are flawed in some way. The program has rarely been a top 25 team under Turgeon and it's doubtful they will be any time soon.

At the end of the day, Turgeon must go for this program to ever become what it should be, which is perennial top 25 team with a chance at a Big-10 title and a team that gets 4-5 seed each year at worse.

[Tony-OH]

3 hours ago, birdwatcher55 said:

Bring Back GW!

No, Williams left when the time was right. Although a fantastic Xs and Os and game time coach, he no longer had the interest level to recruit and the talent level had really dropped off. This program really needs to get a young hungry up and coming coach that can recruit, develop players, instill discipline, and is not out-coached by every coach he faces.

[Finisher]

Would never happen, but imagine if GW came back and co-coached with Turgeon. GW could develop guys - especially the bigs - and help with the Xs and Os. Or just fire Turgeon and let GW interim coach this current team the rest of the season. There is no effing way GW couldn't get WAY more out of this talent and have us situated for a strong tourney run. Versus being a bubble team with Turgeon that will 100% do nothing even if we sneak in.

Brantley wasn't great but he was a solid ball handler. Don't blame him at all for getting as far away from Turgeon as possible but he'd be nice to have. Cowan reminds me of Gilchrist, can score but it comes with unreliable ball handling and poor decision making. 25 turnovers against maybe the worst conference team is just sad, the Michigan State game sure will be fun to watch.

[scbalt52]

3 hours ago, Finisher said:

Would never happen, but imagine if GW came back and co-coached with Turgeon. GW could develop guys - especially the bigs - and help with the Xs and Os. Or just fire Turgeon and let GW interim coach this current team the rest of the season. There is no effing way GW couldn't get WAY more out of this talent and have us situated for a strong tourney run. Versus being a bubble team with Turgeon that will 100% do nothing even if we sneak in.

Brantley wasn't great but he was a solid ball handler. Don't blame him at all for getting as far away from Turgeon as possible but he'd be nice to have. Cowan reminds me of Gilchrist, can score but it comes with unreliable ball handling and poor decision making. 25 turnovers against maybe the worst conference team is just sad, the Michigan State game sure will be fun to watch.

Yeah this is a deep run type of team with Gary, think South Carolina type last year, except a little more talented and higher seeded to begin with. It would be night and day the difference of the team in November vs. March, under Turgeon its going to be the same.

[Tony-OH]

4 hours ago, Finisher said:

Would never happen, but imagine if GW came back and co-coached with Turgeon. GW could develop guys - especially the bigs - and help with the Xs and Os. Or just fire Turgeon and let GW interim coach this current team the rest of the season. There is no effing way GW couldn't get WAY more out of this talent and have us situated for a strong tourney run. Versus being a bubble team with Turgeon that will 100% do nothing even if we sneak in.

Brantley wasn't great but he was a solid ball handler. Don't blame him at all for getting as far away from Turgeon as possible but he'd be nice to have. Cowan reminds me of Gilchrist, can score but it comes with unreliable ball handling and poor decision making. 25 turnovers against maybe the worst conference team is just sad, the Michigan State game sure will be fun to watch.

The saddest thing is there is no reason that Michigan State should be a perennial top 25 team and Maryland is an afterthought. Maryland just needs to realize they hooked their cart to the wrong horse.  They'll probably giver him a chance to see where this current group takes them, but once they realize they are going to be afterthoughts come tourney time they'll have to make a change. Or at least I hope so. It's sad that Turgeon has done nothing with this program and he's in his 7th season.

 

[ChuckS]

1 hour ago, Tony-OH said:

The saddest thing is there is no reason that Michigan State should be a perennial top 25 team and Maryland is an afterthought. Maryland just needs to realize they hooked their cart to the wrong horse.  They'll probably giver him a chance to see where this current group takes them, but once they realize they are going to be afterthoughts come tourney time they'll have to make a change. Or at least I hope so. It's sad that Turgeon has done nothing with this program and he's in his 7th season.

 

I think it's way too early to make judgments on where the team will stand at the end of the season and especially a year or two down the line. 

I agree that our guards need to play more under control and there needs to be accountability but here is no reason we can't win 10-12 games in conference and make the tournament this season. 

 

[Can_of_corn]

18 minutes ago, ChuckS said:

I think it's way too early to make judgments on where the team will stand at the end of the season and especially a year or two down the line. 

I agree that our guards need to play more under control and there needs to be accountability but here is no reason we can't win 10-12 games in conference and make the tournament this season. 

 

I don't think making the tournament should be an acceptable goal.

[ChuckS]

26 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I don't think making the tournament should be an acceptable goal.

Considering we will be bringing most if not all pieces back last year I think it's fine, with an eye to make a deeper run next year. Our best players are three sophomores and two freshmen and we have a two top 50 recruits coming in. 

No one had in the top 25 coming into the season.  We were considered among the next wave of teams 26-50th best in the country.  I think that's where we are still at.