Bring on the Terps

[paz8]

he made as many closely gaurded shots as he missed wide open ones, so it balances out.

[Sports Guy]

he made as many closely gaurded shots as he missed wide open ones, so it balances out.

The point is, 2-3 more baskets made and he is shooting 50% and goes for over 30. If he does that, he has a great game...Now, the game looks subpar by his standards.

Oh well, he still torched them for 27 on an OFF night...Tells you how good he really is this year.

He was smart...His shot was not there so he just went to the hoop.

[sangell2007]

I bet that was a fun party. Lots of drinking.

The rules were strictly enforced throughout . It was those shirtless Duke fans that killed us, even though that was only a 1-drinker. JJ really knows how to pile on. After the game was nowhere near in doubt he missed a free throw, giving us a 4-drinker and basically killing us. When Dave Neil came in at the end we were done.

[Mackus]

I find it hilarious (and consistent) that when we cut the lead to 10 in the first half with MJ in and Hyphen on the bench that GW would go back to Hyphen and immediately the lead was back to 20. We did not see MJ again until the end of the game.

I love Mike as much as anyon else, but he was, by far, the worst player on the court last night. He made two very nice plays - the fast-break three and the fast-break block from behind - but aside from that he was AWFUL. Almost every pass he made was a bad one, he took many incredibly bad shots (maybe not as many as Nik, but more per minute of playing time certainly), and his defense was worse than usual.

I'd really prefer a lineup with MJ in with DJ and McCray as opposed to NCM, but Nik was certainly playing better than MJ last night.

[Nuclear Dish]

Huh?

I pretty much agree with SG after I read through this. NC and Duke is a more historic rivarly, but over the past few years I don't think there's much doubt that MD/Duke has been the bigger game and has garnered more attention.

The "no one cares about MD" looks to be a bit biased on your part. Is it not possible to have 2 rivals?

Look, we can argue this till we're blue in the face, but there's just no way to explain it to you unless you've been down there and experienced it. Honestly, for Dook, Maryland is just another tough ACC game. Sure they've had their issues with you guys, but they don't care about a loss to Maryland any more than they do a loss to Wake, Georgia Tech, or BC. Same goes for Carolina.

But a loss to Carolina is the type of thing that gets them irritated for the rest of the season and into the off-season. Beat Carolina, and they are content, no matter what else happens. They could be 2-20, but if those 2 wins were againt Carolina, there would still be something to be proud of. At 2-20 with 2 wins over Maryland, they are throwing themselves off buildings. And the contrpositive is true too. If Dook goes 32-4, but 3 losses are to Carolina plus the National Champiopnship game to someone else, it's been an awful season. But if they go 32-4 and lose 3 times to Maryland but beat Carolina 3 times, they're going to be thrilled.

Again, I can say this over and over to you, but it's justnot going to sink in until you've been there and experienced the hatred the two schools have for each other. My gut tells me that even SG, who is a Dook fan, doesn't quite get it.

As a Carolina fan from birth, born and raised into a family of Tar Heels, there is nothing more distasteful to me than a loss to Dook. When I got engaged to my wife, she had to take a test to gain acceptance to my family (a la Diner vis a vis the Colts). My family regualrly eschews anything that is too close to Dook blue. We refuse to spell the name of the school by its more common spelling. It is an obsession like none other.

And let me tell you, that in Dook households, it's reciprocated 100%. I have heard stories of marriages that break up over the rivalry (they should never have made such an unholy union in the first place). Politicians are regularly subjected to interrogation over loyalties to one school or the other. Newspaper reporters are lambasted in print for a bias one way or the other.

There is really no comparison. I am going to ask Beaner to step i here and support me. He went to UNC. He has lived it. I've spent my share of time there too, experiencing it.

I hate Maryland because I grew up surrounded by it. But there's just no question that I'd gladly take 2 losses to Maryland every year in exchange for 2 wins against Dook. And I am certain that Coach Ratface and his players and all the real Dookies would say the same thing about wins against Carolina.

And that will never change no matter how many more years Maryland beats Dook or how many years Carolina doesn't.

[glenn__davis]

I love how Twerps fans will do anything to convince themselves that they have a real rivalry.

Carolina and Dook fans and players have 2 dates circled on their calendars each year, and that's it. No one cares about Maryland. It really doesn't matter how often you beat Dook.

There have been years in which either Carolina or Dook just plain sucked, and the games between them were still emotional and close. It's the same in football.

Until Maryland has a Beat Dook Parade each year and Dook reciprocates, get it through your head that you guys are NOT their rival.

My my, up on our high horse, aren't we? Let me say that I really don't care if the Cameron Crazy nerds want to stick their noses in the air at MD. Most of them have no clue what's going on in the game anyway.

Of course Duke and UNC will always be each others top rivals. I'm not sure how you can say, though, that the coaches and players only circle two dates on their calenders when various Duke players have said specifically the opposite -- that MD is a game they circle and a game they hate to lose. Is it the same as Duke-UNC? Of course not, and it never will be, but there's not doubt that K and the Duke players take special satisfaction in beating MD.

[Max Power]

9-22 from the field (many of which came in the final minutes) and 4-13 from beyond the arc. yeah, just a terrible job gaurding jj.

Apparently Buster was caught up in the idiocy spewing from Dook Vitale and Patrick about how unbelievable Reddick was last night. I still couldnt believe they honestly talked about how great he was at halftime after flashing that 5-13 start in the first half. If anything, he was the worst meaningful player on the court for Duke last night.

Maryland played crappy last night but the real key takeaway should have been that Shelden Williams, not JJ Reddick is the best player in the ACC. Thankfully Coach K doesnt know this and Dook will lose in the tourney because they take way too many threes and dont give the ball to their best player often enough.

[glenn__davis]

Maryland played crappy last night but the real key takeaway should have been that Shelden Williams, not JJ Reddick is the best player in the ACC. Thankfully Coach K doesnt know this and Dook will lose in the tourney because they take way too many threes and dont give the ball to their best player often enough.

I hate Duke but've been on the Williams bandwagon since his freshman year. I think if I were starting a team and could take any player in the nation, it'd be him.

It was just amazing and sad to watch Terp after Terp try to attack him. Jones and Ledbetter actually tried to challenge him a few times, and you know Williams had to be thinking, "Are you kidding me?"

[Sports Guy]

Apparently Buster was caught up in the idiocy spewing from Dook Vitale and Patrick about how unbelievable Reddick was last night. I still couldnt believe they honestly talked about how great he was at halftime after flashing that 5-13 start in the first half. If anything, he was the worst meaningful player on the court for Duke last night.

Maryland played crappy last night but the real key takeaway should have been that Shelden Williams, not JJ Reddick is the best player in the ACC. Thankfully Coach K doesnt know this and Dook will lose in the tourney because they take way too many threes and dont give the ball to their best player often enough.

Shelden should get 15 shots a game....As a Duke fan, it bothers me that he does not get enough touches.

[Nuclear Dish]

Well if you feel this way but you're not sure SG does, perhaps beating Duke is bigger to UNC than beating UNC is to Duke?

It's obvious that you take pride in your school, just as Mackus and Busta take pride in MD. But I think you're being biased. Just my opinion.

Guess we'll leave it at that.

You misunderstood. SG is a relative newbie Dookie. He may love them, but he has not been weaned on them, nor has he attended the school. I'm not suggesting he's a bandwagon fan, because he obviously has been a fan for a long time. But the difference is still quite tangible.

Again, were you to truly experience the animosity between the fans, you'd understand better. I can't possible expect you to understand something you've never truly experienced. But I assure you, this has nothig to do with bias.

As much as Maryland fans might hate Dook, the "rivalry" will pale in comparison.

The same way that as much as Orioles fans might hate the Yankees, the "rivalry" will always pale in comparison to the Yankees-Red Sox. It takes nothing from our distaste for them, but ultimately, if the Yankees were to choose one team they could stick it to, they'd choose the Red Sox, and not the Orioles. And the same applies to the Red Sox, vis a vis the O's or Yankees, and it would continue to be that way, even if the Orioles were beating the hell out of the Sox for a few years.

Do you want to accept that? No, because it makes you feel good to think your perceived rival considers you to be its biggest rival too. And until you experience the depth of the hatred between Boston and New York firsthand, you tend to think your rivalry is just as deep. But when all is said and done, Yankees fans will tell you that Boston is their #1 rival. Period. And that's what it's all about.

Ditto UNC-Dook.

[mweb]

While downing beers in sorrow late last night some friends and I were discussing how the Terps SR and JR classes that are playing now were recruited during the back to back Final 4 seasons. One would hope that the on-court success would have translated to recruits that could keep the program on top. Hopefully the next few classes live up to their billing.

As for this year, without a PG that can handle a pressure defense, I fear a 6-10 or 7-9 season in the ACC, which will again put us on the bubble.

MD's seniors and juniors are better recruits than MD has traditionally had under Gary, they just haven't panned out as well.

[sangell2007]

I have yet to see where any Maryland fan thinks that Maryland-Duke is THE rivalry, which you are implying. I, for one, will freely admit that it would take 100 years of Carolina Tar Heels teams circa 2002, and Maryland/Duke teams circa 2002, for Maryland/Duke to obliterate Duke/UNC simply because of the distance between the two schools.

I have just as much connection, if not more, than you do on this ND. My parents both went to Carolina, and my dad grew up on the campus of Wake Forest where my grandfather taught and my grandparents still live. My dad was going to ACC games when there were still players who'd played in the Southern Conference.

I know that Duke/UNC is right up there with Yankees/Red Sox as one of the biggest rivalries in sports, period. But in the past 7 years, as Duke has become the dominant team in the historically most dominant conference in America, Maryland has been the only team to step up and beat them on a consistent basis. And it hasn't hurt that they've been National Championship contenders and winners in that span, too. They ARE rivals, as anyone who actually works for/plays for Duke would tell you. Listen to players like Redick and Melchionni talk about how Maryland - not North Carolina - is the one place they actually fear playing, and you know that last night's win was more than just a game against NC State or B.C. It was a win against a heated rival, if not quite their MOST heated rival.

Now...as for my comments about Redick...I was not just going off what Vitale and Patrick were saying. In fact, as I mentioned before (I still would like to hear why, exactly Magic was there...just curious, really), I couldn't hear much because of the amount of people in our apartment. But when the game was put away for good, it was Redick's hot streak that did it. He hasn't been having those hot streaks at all in the recent MD/Duke games, but yesterday he had a stretch - short, but a definite stretch - where he was just lights out. And since that really delivered what was, in my mind, the knockout punch, I'm saying that the defense was at the very least less stellar than it was last year on our boy JJ.

[mweb]

Concerning the rivalry thing, I think it's pretty simple, Duke-UNC is the biggest rivalry in the ACC, however teams can have more than one rival, and Duke-UMD, is a rivalry, one of the biggest in the ACC and over the past 7 years or so it's been one of the biggest and most meaningful rivalry's in the nation.

[mweb]

And as Max and Glenn said, Sheldon is the best and most valuable Dookie, as he was last year.

[Pedro Cerrano]

If Dook goes 32-4, but 3 losses are to Carolina plus the National Champiopnship game to someone else, it's been an awful season.

I have a hard time believing that any school that advances all the way to the NCAA title game would consider it an "awful" season. Perhaps disappointing because they lost to UNC three times and in the title game, but certainly not awful.