Maryland Vs. Villanova

[clapdiddy]

I've only seen a little bit of Vazquez this year, but from what I've read on here, it almost seems like this team would have been better off without him.

[Mackus]

I've only seen a little bit of Vazquez this year, but from what I've read on here, it almost seems like this team would have been better off without him.

He's just gotten off to a bad start is all. He's still a terrific player and he'll get it going soon enough.

[Danielos38]

Wow. Just came back from that game. I'm actually quite happy. Usually, I'm really down about a loss. I put so much emotion into the games that I get crushed when we lose. But tonight, I'm happy. Fans were electric and the team played hard.

This game told us everything we need to know about the Terps going forward. We found our strengths (mid range shooting, getting to the line, 40 minute basketball) and our weaknesses (rebounding, perimeter D). You can take so much out of this. On the positive, you know that you can play with anyone in the country for 40 minutes. If it wasn't for the beginning 4 minutes or so, we basically tied them for 36. We had really good performances from Mosley, Hayes and Williams, all three we really need to step up this season. The team never threw in the towel or got frustrated after Nova would come back with yet another 3.

On the negative, rebounding was clearly an issue. They aren't a particularly big team and it seemed like we got crushed on the boards. (Just got back from the game, haven't seen the stats). Also, we were beaten easily by their quick passing on the perimeter. It effectively stretched out zone out. You just can't let a team attempt and make more 3's than 2's. There's no way you're going to win when that happens.

If we can play with the intensity and passion that we played with today for the rest of the season, we should have no problem going 10-6 in the ACC.

[ccbird]

There were some posititves to take from the game tonight but here is the bottom line. We have kind of already put our backs against the wall in that we are going to have no good OOC wins assuming Indiana finishes where everyone thinks they will finish in the Big 10. It forces us to win 9 games in the ACC this year, maybe even 9+ an ACC tourny game if the conference is really down this year.

[Danielos38]

There were some posititves to take from the game tonight but here is the bottom line. We have kind of already put our backs against the wall in that we are going to have no good OOC wins assuming Indiana finishes where everyone thinks they will finish in the Big 10. It forces us to win 9 games in the ACC this year, maybe even 9+ an ACC tourny game if the conference is really down this year.

We should win 9 + an ACC tournament game anyway. This doesn't really change that. If we did worse than that, it's gonna take some luck to make the tournament whether we lost tonight or not.

[Mackus]

There were some posititves to take from the game tonight but here is the bottom line. We have kind of already put our backs against the wall in that we are going to have no good OOC wins assuming Indiana finishes where everyone thinks they will finish in the Big 10. It forces us to win 9 games in the ACC this year, maybe even 9+ an ACC tourny game if the conference is really down this year.

9-7 will get us in the tournament, no doubt about that in my mind.

I agree that losing to both Cincinnati and Wisconsin stinks for our resume late in the year, but I'm optimistic that we won't really be on the bubble. If we finish 8-8 or worse it will start being really dicey, but I think we'll get to 9-10 ACC wins in the regular season.

[YaBoyTopher]

Tough loss but we hung in there and played hard until the end.

I am telling you right now this is a team no one in the country will want to play in March, as Williams begins to settle in, Mosley begins to establish himself as a star and Vasquez gets back to form this will be a tough team for anyone to play.

[ccbird]

All I'm saying is this most likely takes 8-8 out of the question. If we could've beat Wisconsin, Nova or possibly even Cincy it may have gave us a chance with 8 conference wins. 9-7 should be good but what happens if we win 9 with none of them against Duke, UNC, or Clemson. Right now, I guess it's too early to start worrying about things like that but I'm concerned we will be on the bubble again this year and unlike last year we might not have a big win or two to hang our hats on.

[Ruzious]

Honestly, if they can't beat any of Clemson, Duke, and UNC - they shouldn't be in the NCAA Tournament. Clemson and Duke are very beatable, and UNC lost their 3 top perimeter players plus the POY all to the NBA. No offense to Duke fans, but that's not a top 10 quality team, imo. It's a relatively unathletic team that hasn't really replaced Gerald Henderson and Elliot Williams. If you smother Singler, you stop Duke. And Clemson showed they can lose a 23 point 2nd half lead already this season. Booker can't dominate MD like he did last season.

[Mackus]

Honestly, if they can't beat any of Clemson, Duke, and UNC - they shouldn't be in the NCAA Tournament. Clemson and Duke are very beatable, and UNC lost their 3 top perimeter players plus the POY all to the NBA. No offense to Duke fans, but that's not a top 10 quality team, imo. It's a relatively unathletic team that hasn't really replaced Gerald Henderson and Elliot Williams. If you smother Singler, you stop Duke. And Clemson showed they can lose a 23 point 2nd half lead already this season. Booker can't dominate MD like he did last season.

I don't know if I agree with the "if you can't beat them you don't deserve it" statement, but I do agree that we shouldn't be vastly overmatched against any of those teams. We'll get some good wins. We'll also probably have a tough loss or two to teams we expect to win. Its the ACC, even if its a down year, it will be competitive.