Maryland at Michigan State

[murph]

Going to miss this one, thinking I will probably not be too upset I did, but if it is close or we do pull out a W, then really interested on everyone's thoughts.  I think it would take a huge game from Fernando (on both sides of the court) and for Cowan and Huerter to be at their absolute best to take this game.   A lot of other things would have to right as well no doubt.  

[Finisher]

Have a few bucks on Maryland. Not expecting a win but we usually hang with MSU.

Best game of the season thus far. Huerter shooting out of his mind.

[Finisher]

MSU looks like a pro team.

Must be nice to be a fan of an elite program.

[JohnBKistler]

So we are in year # 7 with Turgeon?

Understand they are under-manned and caught MSU on a bad night, but what is the long-view to give me hope that this program can return to a top tier team? Kenpom has them at #33. They have never advanced past the round of 16. They can't play with the top teams (Gary's teams could always do that...) and they constantly play down to lesser competition (see getting outplayed by UMBC for a half at home). 

Again, I understand they ran into a buzz saw tonight, and have the Ravens' injury bug, but there offense was non-existent and they were getting out-hustled. That is coaching. 

Can someone provide a reasonable argument to hope things will get better under Turgeon?

[Finisher]

12 minutes ago, JohnBKistler said:

Can someone provide a reasonable argument to hope things will get better under Turgeon?

Seems pretty hopeless to be honest.

All you need to know about Turgeon is he has never beaten a major conference team in the tourney.

Take away Melo and I doubt he ever makes the tourney here. Just gets outcoached by virtually every remotely decent coach we face. Can't develop bigs, or really anyone, to save his life. How is Ceko still a non factor?

Guy just doesn't inspire confidence.

[ChuckS]

Might have lost by 20 instead of 30 with Jackson and Bender. 

We were a borderline tourney team with a healthy squad.  NIT bound now....at best. 

[murph]

So I heard a decent amount of the first half on the radio and sounded like Huerter was on absolute fire.   Heard the momentum change with us down by 8, but then find out we lost by 30!   And Huerter did almost nothing in the second half?   Doesn’t look he was in foul trouble.   What happened?

I understand about the Turgeon complaints, but we are sorta stuck with him so not sure that is going to change anytime soon.   I was a huge GW fan, but did have a hard time getting past the way he absolutely screamed at and destroyed those kids at times.  Not sure what the right answer is, but definitely a frustrating season this is becoming.  

[JohnBKistler]

9 hours ago, murph said:

So I heard a decent amount of the first half on the radio and sounded like Huerter was on absolute fire.   Heard the momentum change with us down by 8, but then find out we lost by 30!   And Huerter did almost nothing in the second half?   Doesn’t look he was in foul trouble.   What happened?

Well, like I said, they caught MSU on a bad night (for the Terps).  The Terps stopped scoring and MSU kept hitting all their looks.  That happens to all teams.  But...

One of the reasons the Terps stopped scoring is because they continually run that high screen offense that, if the first (only?) option doesn't come open off the pick, ends up with someone dribbling the ball at the top of key and the other 4 players standing around waiting for him to make a move.  Izzo had his team playing defense like they were down 10 points all game.  Bad coaching vs. good coaching.  And...

The Terps stopped rebounding.  There was a timeout and they went into MSU's huddle, and there was Izzo screaming at his team telling them, "All 5 guys need to go for the rebound."  Again, coaching like his team was down 10 and not up 20.  And his team continued to bust their ass, diving for loose balls, etc. throughout the game.  MD looked like they couldn't wait to get on the bus.

It is probably not fair to judge the undermanned Terps or Turgeon on a night like last night when a #1 team, with all their players, at home brought their A game.  But it sure did bring in sharp relief the difference between the 2 teams.  Pretty discouraging night for me, personally.

[Ruzious]

MSU's got an NBA front line - actually bigger than a lot of NBA teams.  Bridges and Jackson are locks as lotto picks, and Ward might be their best scorer.  So, when they make 16 of 28 3's... I mean nobody in the country has a chance to beat them.  Jackson, their 7 footer, made 5 of 6 3's.  That's crazy, and he's never done anything like that.  Would I like to have seen MD be more competitive - yes, I thought they had only 2 players that really competed, but no amount of coaching would have made a difference in the outcome.  It was the number 1 team in the country playing at their best.  We have another game against them on the 28th.  We'll need to see improvement then.    

[JohnBKistler]

On 1/5/2018 at 5:03 PM, Ruzious said:

MSU's got an NBA front line - actually bigger than a lot of NBA teams.  Bridges and Jackson are locks as lotto picks, and Ward might be their best scorer.  So, when they make 16 of 28 3's... I mean nobody in the country has a chance to beat them.  Jackson, their 7 footer, made 5 of 6 3's.  That's crazy, and he's never done anything like that.  Would I like to have seen MD be more competitive - yes, I thought they had only 2 players that really competed, but no amount of coaching would have made a difference in the outcome.  It was the number 1 team in the country playing at their best.  We have another game against them on the 28th.  We'll need to see improvement then.    

I certainly agree.  I didn't think they had a real chance of winning.  I just would have liked to see a little more fight; once MSU made that run at the end of the first half, it looked like MD just packed it in.  In the second half, talent discrepancy notwithstanding, one team was hustling and diving all over the court for loose balls and the other team was not.  That was disappointing to see.

Tonight should be interesting (I am going), I suspect with classes still out, it will be a half-empty arena.  Iowa is the proverbial "desperate man backed in a corner".  I will be curious to see if MD can bring the energy and focus.

[murph]

10 hours ago, JohnBKistler said:

I certainly agree.  I didn't think they had a real chance of winning.  I just would have liked to see a little more fight; once MSU made that run at the end of the first half, it looked like MD just packed it in.  In the second half, talent discrepancy notwithstanding, one team was hustling and diving all over the court for loose balls and the other team was not.  That was disappointing to see.

Tonight should be interesting (I am going), I suspect with classes still out, it will be a half-empty arena.  Iowa is the proverbial "desperate man backed in a corner".  I will be curious to see if MD can bring the energy and focus.

MD responded well tonight.  Little iffy for a bit, but put it away in the end.    Fernando really could be a difference maker for MD.

And Ohio state dismantled Michigan state tonight.   

[JohnBKistler]

9 hours ago, murph said:

MD responded well tonight.  Little iffy for a bit, but put it away in the end.    Fernando really could be a difference maker for MD.

And Ohio state dismantled Michigan state tonight.   

Yes...a well needed response after last Thursday.  The first half was touch-and-go, and quite frankly, Iowa looked like more prepared team.  But with the Terps having to shuttle in new starters, it is to be expected that there will be rough periods until they get everyone situated into the starting lineup and rotation.  Still don't like the high-post screen (stand around and wait for something to happen) offense.  But it is what it is at this point.  Energy was much better in the second half.  Bruno seemed to single handily get the place rocking.

Didn't see any of the Ohio State / MSU game.  I suspect at the end of year, we will look back and note that MSU played one of their best, if not their best, game of the year against the Terps.  Another big test for the Terps coming up against Ohio State on Thursday.  They will need some road victories to secure a place in the NCAA tournament.

[Ruzious]

On 1/7/2018 at 11:46 AM, JohnBKistler said:

I certainly agree.  I didn't think they had a real chance of winning.  I just would have liked to see a little more fight; once MSU made that run at the end of the first half, it looked like MD just packed it in.  In the second half, talent discrepancy notwithstanding, one team was hustling and diving all over the court for loose balls and the other team was not.  That was disappointing to see.

Tonight should be interesting (I am going), I suspect with classes still out, it will be a half-empty arena.  Iowa is the proverbial "desperate man backed in a corner".  I will be curious to see if MD can bring the energy and focus.

Agreed - I felt like only 2 Terps were really competing that game.  Nice to see the team regroup.  Funny - the Terps got totally out-done again at the 3 point line but still won handily - mainly by getting to the FT line and not turning the ball over.