Before we look forward lets look at the three wins first.  All three came at home against teams that are currently all at the bottom of the conference with 2 wins a piece.  So, you could say Maryland is fortunate that they have won the game they did.  They were certainly there best chances at wins so far, and they took advantage of the situations.

Two of the losses were at home, to the conferences elite (Duke and UNC).  After the Alabama game, I was really worried those two games could be really ugly losses.  However, the Terps were right there in those games.    A stop here, a made shot there, a rebound here, and a couple less turnovers or made free throws and those games may have gone to the good guys.  Still, no shame in the effort in either of those games.  Then we have the three road loses.  Again, nothing to complain about so far.  Sure it would have been great to win any of those, especially the double OT killer at Miami, but they were in those games until late.

So looking forward there is one glaring problem with the remaining schedule.  Five of the remaining games are on the road.  At Clemson, at Duke, at UVA, at Georgia Tech, at UNC all pose a problem for a team that has yet to win a true road game.  Looking realistically at that list, you should think about Clemson and Georgia Tech as games they could win.   Sure they could win a lot of games, but looking at the list, those are ones you would be most confident about.

At home they get Boston College, Miami, and Virginia.  You could say I would be upset if we lost to BC.  I think they should be able to give Miami a run for their money, and at home against UVA you would think the Terps could have a chance if Comcast is rocking.

So in all the road to getting to .500 is going to be tough.  I think we would all consider .500 a success this season.  That being said games aren’t played on paper.  The team has been knocking on the door of getting a big win.  Somewhere along the line it is going to click for 40 minutes and it might be that game we all remember in Turgeon’s first season.  For now we will have to enjoy that win over a rapidly improving Notre Dame team as the best win of the season.  Still, I think we all want the team to play really well and get a big win for Turgeon.  You can tell he is starting to like the way the team is fighting.  Now if the could only box out for the man, he might be very happy.

Even with Alex Len playing his best ACC game, Maryland had a hard time keeping Carolina off the glass.  Despite picking up his 4th foul with about 12 minutes left in the game, Tyler Zeller was still able to score 22 points and John Henson added 17.  In his part  Len looked very comfortable out there today.  He finished with 12 points, 9 boards and 4 blocks.  There were several other balls he kept alive and altered several other shots on defense.  If he can build on this outing, he will be back in the starting lineup, or should be anyway.

I usually hate to point to the refs when Maryland loses, but that was probably the worst officiated Maryland game of the year so far. Not all of the calls when against Maryland, but it appeared when they did, they weren’t those ones where you say well you can see why he called.  The fourth foul on Alex Len was a block attempt where he made no contact with Henson.  Mosley was fighting for an offensive rebound, and clearly Barnes was over the back.  There were some questionable moving picks.  I really believe Nick Faust had that a clean steal late in the game when they were pressing.  One of Mosley’s fouls was on a block where the only contact was with the ball.  It was a very choppy game both ways.

For the most part Nick Faust played a really solid game.  He did pull up on a 1 on 4 early, but for the most part he was very effective driving the lane.  He did loose to in the paint late in the game, but overall he had a solid game.  He is slowly looking more comfortable out there.  He needs to really work on a pull up jumper in the paint though.

I think Terrell Stoglin played a more team oriented game until it was desperation time.  He seems to have lost his touch from behind the arc the last few games, but he did a great job getting to the basket against UNC’s huge front line and scoring or getting to the line.  He still gets beat on defense, but he is looking to get his teammates involved more.  It really seemed he lost a little bit of his confidence when he threw the ball away to James Padgett who was going to the scorers table to check in.  From that point on his jumpers were all short and I don’t believe he hit anything outside of the lane.

The only player who really struggled was PeShon Howard.  He didn’t seem comfortable running the team and was a bit of a liability defensively.  I was kind of hoping the half court offense would be running a little smoother with his return, but it hasn’t really happened yet.  They still wind up having to dump the ball off to Stoglin and hope he can create on his own a little too often.

If this was a season with high expectations it would be a maddening season.  However, I have done a pretty good job of keeping that in mind.  I am trying to focus on the big picture.   And you really can see things coming together.  They have just been running out of gas late in games, because it takes such an effort to stay in games.  They gave a tremendous effort today.  They hustled.  They dove for balls.  They didn’t get pushed around to often.  It was going to take a perfect game to win.  In the end they missed some shots, had some killer turnovers, and didn’t get a few rebounds that haunted them.  Still, I walk away and I am not overly disappointed.

In football, the Syracuse Orange…..really, the Orange, we can’t say Orangemen anymore?  Isn’t it a complement to have a team named after you?  Oh well, that isn’t for this post.  So the Orange will be joining the Atlantic Division in Football, while the Pitt Panthers (no disrespect to large black jungle cats intended) join the Coastal.  This means year in and year out the Terps (no offense to aquatic turtles) will face Clemson, FSU, NC State, Syracuse, Boston College, and Wake Forest.

As for getting Syracuse in Football, I’m fine with that.  I’m not all that familiar with how their program has been recently, but the fact that I don’t know probably means they haven’t been taking the world by storm.  Not that our team has  played all that great recently, but I still view this for the foreseeable future as a winnable game  year in and year out.  Then again, there is probably some blogger in Upstate New York saying the same thing about us right now.

On the round ball side of things, Maryland will no longer be playing Duke twice a year, which is fine with me.  Rivalry be damned, give me some wins, and let’s get the focus away from the only one game a year matters at Comcast mentality.  They all do!  Pairing up with the Terps is going to be Pitt which, isn’t exactly Towson.  So we will still have our work cut out for us (why couldn’t we play BC twice?!?!).

The other twice a year match ups will be Duke-UNC (a no brainer), Clemson-GT, FSU-Miami, BC-Syracuse, NC State-Wake, and UVA-VT.  In addition to the rivalry, each team will face 4 other opponents twice a year. So the idea is to play each team, other than Pitt, 4 times in 3 years.

Of course this is all great, and it is nice to know what is going to happen, but the BIG QUESTION (I use caps for emphasis here) is WHEN is this going to happen, as of now, we still do not have a date for Pitt and Syracuse to join the ACC.  That will be the next step, but at least when they do, we now know what the Conference will look like.

Oh and on a final note, all teams will be in the ACC Tournament, that format still needs to be worked out, but with no date for Pitt and Syracuse to join, I guess that hasn’t been that high of a priority.

First let’s start with Mark Turgeon’s ejection. I think the second one came very quickly. He must have said the magic words to get the boot. So following the two techs, the Terps found them down 16. Yet they slapped on the press, hit some shots, and found themselves with a chance to win. I think they showed a lot on how much they were going to battle for their coach. I think they are growing up and maybe this could be turning point.

Now onto the game. Stoglin had trouble getting into the lane as he tired and fell in love with the three. In fact he shot 20 threes, hitting only 6 of them. I don’t like that. I know he was forced into taking some because they were behind, but in overtime he kind of forgot about getting inside the arc. Still he got 33 points and heated up when the team needed him.

I think you have to give a little credit to Mychal Parker. The Terps are starting to find a way to use his athleticism. In transition, he can be a force in the open floor. He still needs to get more involved I the half court offense, but he is becoming a useful piece of the puzzle.

My disappointment in the game was when Maryland had a tremendous size advantage and tried to force the ball into Alex Len a few times and made really bad passes. He was effective at times, but I don’t feel they really took advantage of Miami’s lack of size.

This game was truly one that could have been a win. However, my expectations were low this year, and it allowed me to look at the big picture. I think some players are starting to fit into their roles nicely. I hope we saw Len begin to get back on track. I think there is a really good foundation being built for the future. I hope it all comes together Saturday against Carolina! It has to happen soon right?

Signing Day Log (confirmed NLIs)

• P.J. Gallo (7:01 a.m.)
• Alvin Hill (7:02 a.m.)
• Nick Brigham (7:10 a.m.)
• Stefan Houston (7:19 a.m.)
• Malcolm Culmer (7:24 a.m.)
• Kenneth Goins (7:28 a.m.)
• Joe Riddle (7:32 a.m.)
• Wes Brown (7:44 a.m.)
• Brock Dean (7:50 a.m.)
• Perry Hills (7:54 a.m.)
• Anthony Nixon (7:55 a.m.)
• Shawn Petty (7:57 a.m.)
• Caleb Rowe (8:23 a.m.)
• Mike Madaras (8:32 a.m.)
• Albert Reid (8:41 a.m.)
• Avery Thompson (8:45 a.m.)
• Amba Etta-Tawo (8:47 a.m.)
• Roman Braglio (8:50 a.m.)

The Canes are led by guards Malcom Scott (13.2) and Durand Scott (12.6). However their front court is a load.  Reggie Johnson is listed at 6’10″ and 284 pounds, while Kenny Kadji is listed at 6’11″ and 251.   They are big and are capable of blocking a lot of shots.  The way our bigs tend to play a little below the rim I suspect to they will have their share tonight.  Johnson worries me a bit.  He is much stronger, but not as skilled as Plumlee and could cause a problem for the duo of Ashton Pankey and Alex Len.

I certainly think this game is winnable.  I also think Miami has a nice mix of inside and outside players.  None are stars, but all of them are solid, and on a given night can get hot and carry the team.  I would like the to think the Terps are still improving and are ready to take the next step and win one of these close games that seem to slip away late.  Turgeon has said how far they come, and how much he truly enjoys coaching the team.   They are starting to do what he asks on a more consistent basis, and I think anyone that watches can see that.  So hopefully tonight, they can pull off a win and get back over .500 in the conference.

Check back in the afternoon today.  I will try and update the football signing day news if I have a chance.

Personally, I think Locksley got involved too late this season to truly have a positive effect on this class.  Next year is another story, but I think the combination of the 2-10 record and Locks coming on board just a month ago aren’t really going to help us this year.   That being said there is still some top talent that at least have the Terps listed.  The biggest get would be WR Stephon Diggs from Olny/ Good Council.  I would put this at about a 1% chance of happening, but…   The bad news is he never took an official visit, and just a couple of days ago went to USC.  So I guess the hopes of him wanting to stay close to home is about our only hope.

Ronald Darby is a Penn State commit that did take an official visit to Maryland.  The CB from Oxon Hill could find his way to Maryland if he wasn’t enamored with all the drama at Penn State.  Again the odds of this is very low, but you just never know.  Stranger things have happened on signing day.  Usually they happen to Maryland, not in our favor.

So don’t forget to keep an eye on all the signing day craziness.  I have a pretty busy day tomorrow, but maybe I will be able to update where the Terps stand at lunch time.

One final football note.  I would like to point out that Gary Crowton did indeed find his next job.  He is on his way to Canada and will be the OC for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.  We will always have fond memories of Coach Crowton from that Miami game.  And that is all!

By now, I am sure you have read the mainstream media recaps.  I wanted to throw out some mental notes I took during the game.

• Ashton Pankey can take advantage of smaller defenders.  We saw against Duke he needs to get stronger, but against VT he was able to do as Plumlee did to him.  Get in the lane and make some decent post moves.  I don’t know that Pankey will ever be an All-ACC level player, but if he continues to improve year in and year out, he could very well sneak onto a second or third team honor by the time he is a senior.  You have to remember he hasn’t really played for two straight years.  He shows flashes of what he can do, and he could very well be a major contributor by his senior year.  I have visions of a Rodney Elliot like career curve. Of course I still have nightmares of nearly running Elliot over in the crosswalk by PG2.  So maybe that isn’t a fair comparison, but if that is what we get out of his career, I think we all will be happy with that.
• There is a lot to like about Nick Faust.  There is also a lot he needs to work on.  He has good court vision.  He rebounds well out of the guard spot.  He can defend pretty well.  He can get into the lane and to the rim to draw fouls.  However, his free throw shooting (or lack there off) at crunch time forces Turgeon to get one of his better wing defenders off the court because the free throw misses (especially the front end of 1 and 1′s) are killing the Terps.  I expect him to really work hard on his shot this off season and be a different player next year.  Even if he isn’t the scorer we all want him to be, he is going to be an important part of this team in the future.
• Terrell Stoglin needs to get out of his free throw shooting funk ASAP.  I don’t know if it is a lack of concentration or what.  He started the season hitting 23 of 25 shots until a 12 of 21 shooting night against Florida Gulf Coast way back in December.  He too has missed the front end of a couple of 1 and 1′s and it is going to cost the Terps a game soon.  I think he is doing a better job getting everyone involved.  Though he recorded 0 official assists, he had some nice passes that led to players getting to the foul line.  He is still out of control at times, but we have to live with it.  He is a scorer.  At times he is going to drive you mad, but others he is going to put the team on his back.  If he ever hits that perfect balance of being a playmaker and a scorer, other teams had better watch out.  If you play off him, he can knock down a shot.  He just needs to stay in that team offense mode a little more.  That being said you can see some progress.  As long as the team is in striking distance he does ok.  Once they get down by ten points late in a game you might as well forget about it.  It is one on one time.
• I am really starting to like Mark Turgeon.  Sure sometimes he is blunt about his players, and someday that may bite him.  However, anytime he has said something in the media, the next game, you can see an improvement by that player on whatever his issue was.  Be it defense with Stoglin, shot selection by Faust, or effort by Pankey.  He drops subtle digs in the media, and the players respond.  I wasn’t expecting a miracle season this year.  I said to myself I would be fine if this young team develops and improves and builds a foundation for next season.  To this point I think you can say that is exactly what is happening so far.  This team would destroy the early season version.  I like the fire Turgeon shows on the sideline.  He is not the raving lunatic Gary was, but he has a fire that I like to see.
• We are going to miss Sean Mosley next year.  Sure he is starting to score a little more and knock down some three’s, but we are going to miss some of the other things he does.  He defends, scraps, and right now is making free throws.  He truly is a calming force out there on the court, and right now, I don’t know who fills that void next season.  He is one of those players that you really wish you had for just one more year.

Well that pretty much wraps up my thoughts after the Virginia Tech game.  Tech was dreadful in the first half, and I think we are lucky they got off to such a slow start.  Some of that was the Maryland defense, but I think more of it was Tech just playing so poorly.

Next up is a trip to Miami.  Turgeon will try and do something Gary never did, and that is win in Coral Gables.  Maryland is 0-2 on the road in the ACC and Miami is one of those toss up games.  You would like to think the Terps can pull it out, but far more talented and composed teams have gone down there and come up short.  I think you can argue Miami and Virginia Tech have been a thorn in the side of the Terps since they have joined the ACC.  They are games you expect Maryland to win, and they have struggled.  Miami is young and also playing their first season under new coach Jim Larranaga.  The school obviously likes what they have seen in Coach L as they recently gave him a three year extension.  Look for more on the Canes as we get closer to game day.

Quickly on to Virginia Tech.  They are 1-4 in the ACC and 12-8 overall.  They had a surprising road win at UVA Sunday night.  Erick Green and Dorenzo Hudson are the players you should know.  Green is averaging 15.8 points and 3.1 assists per game.  Hudson is averaging 11.8 points per game.

There is no beating around the bush.  Maryland should win this game.  It is at home.  Even though they have lost the last couple of games, you can see some improvement.  They really just need to play a solid 40 minute game and they should be able to win this game.  Of course if Terrell Stoglin is going to go 2 of 7 from the line, than maybe this game isn’t going to end up in the ‘W’ column.  Tech’s best win is UVA (which is better than any win Maryland can talk about), but they have also defeated Oklahoma State twice, and they just knocked off second ranked Missouri.  Still, I think this is a game Maryland can win.  I only caught a few minutes of the UVA game, but I think this is a game where the Terps have some advantages.  I think Erick Green is a solid player, but if you can contain him, they don’t have another player that can consistently beat you.

Be sure to tune in today at 2:30 to see how the Terps come out.  I really expect them to be ready to go.  I see improvement, even in losses.  This is a game they can and should get, if they continue that improvement trend.

Though Philly is only about 50 miles from the Mason Dixon line, I can’t help but feel a million miles away from anything going on in the Land of Terps (I feel even further from home whenever someone says the word “Use”, as in use guys need anything?  But last night I finally got to see the Terps play basketball, albeit from a TV that I could on tell if a ball went in based on the crowd noise or whether or not the player who came up with it ran up the court, or walked over to inbound.

Unfortunately it was another Terp lose to Duke on the night Gary Williams court was unveiled.  And this one played out exactly how it should have….in hindsight.  I of course was optimistic the entire time, but looking back at this game and how it unfolded makes perfect sense, especially for this undermanned and limited experienced Terps team.  But still I was holding out hope and at least for 3/4 of the night, we looked like we could hang with anyone.

Except maybe at the Free Throw line.  Oh and inside.  But other than that.  We were fortunately blessed by some lack luster outside shooting from the Dukies, which is rare for any opponent against the Terps.  Which allowed us to hang around as long as we did, but ultimately, and predictably now, the inside game was just too much.  Alex Len looked like a project at times (especially the first quarter) and picked up 2 quick fouls which would limit his minutes the rest of the way.  Actually I probably need to replace the word “quick” with a description that is…well ah quicker (There is no Thesaurus in the Hospital however).  But you get the point.

There were a lot of positives to take from this one, though I know most Terp fans aren’t interested in taking positives from a Duke loss, but the crowd was great.  Of course this is a double edged sword.  If we can get up for Duke, why can’t we get up for the other ACC games, why isn’t Comcast rocking every game like Cole used to do?  Why are there empty seats in…..gasp the STUDENT section on non Duke/Carolina nights?

Anyway, a student at the University has created a website, which we here at Turtledroppings wholeheartedly support.  It is called betterterps.com (Here is the link).  He also has a Twitter account by the same name.  We encourage everyone to check it out.  The first step in fixing a problem is admitting there is one, so I’m glad to see some student has taken the initiative.

I have no doubt that if Comcast is that loud each and every ACC game night, College Park would be a much tougher place for our opponents to play, and in the new ACC wins aren’t going to be had easily, every advantage we can gain we will need.  Hopefully this movement can gain some traction, because this team is on the rise, but they could still all the encouragement we can give them.