OT: The rebirth of Maryland MBB?

Submitted by j.o.s.e maizenblue on

 

Taking a look at what's to come next year, an under the radar Terrapins team barely pulled off a victory against the same Wolfpack team that knocked off Duke this past weekend.

Who knows what the move to the B1G will do for their program and what it means for us, but halfway into the season they've shown that they're worth a second look for this year’s tournament. The next four games should really tell what direction the team is going in as they'll face UNC (@ Chapel Hill), Duke (@ Cameron) and home against a scrappy FSU team. 

 

 

B-Nut-GoBlue

January 16th, 2013 at 10:31 PM ^

They have potential, that's for sure.  I don't know that much about their coach, whose name I know but literally cannot think of at the moment, but I like what I do know of him and what I've seen of his coaching...derp, that kind of looks stupid after reading what I wrote.  N.C State on the other hand is a legitimate team and and "older" team who just can't seem to put it together night in and night out; talk about udnerachieving at times, with some supreme talent.  Maryland, I think, is knocking on the door to becoming a good team (versus the average team they are now) and as far as basketball is concerned is an alright addition.

B-Nut-GoBlue

January 16th, 2013 at 10:36 PM ^

But they do have the talent (and the potential to play very well) on any given night to compete with just about anybody.  Inconsistent as hell and not a great team overall, yes, but they are a roster of talented young men who can play the game.

Annnnd all of that is sort of moot because they haven't even played UNC.

MGoDC

January 16th, 2013 at 11:16 PM ^

I was watching that and laughed, but then I remembered January 17th, 2010 when Michigan fans rushed the court after beating #15 UConn at Crisler. And Michigan was Preseason #15 that year so it's even worse than Maryland's court rush tonight.

Those in glass houses.....

MGoDC

January 16th, 2013 at 11:35 PM ^

I guess. You seemed to say they have a ways to go, but considering Michigan did the same exact thing and won the Big Ten 2 years later (and is very much in National Title Contention 3 years later) leads me to think that rushing the court is not a good measure these days.

If Maryland somehow wins the Big Ten in 2015 and is considered a final four team in 2016 I'd say they do not have a ways to go. 2 years is the blink of an eye in terms of building a sports brand.

bchristo

January 17th, 2013 at 12:13 AM ^

Post UCONN upset courtrush, Mich still had a 'ways to go'.  I hoped to use the floor rushing context in relation to a big win after a few years (many years in Mich's case) of mediocrity.  The team (mich) has come quite a ways since then in terms of talent/depth/nonwalkonstarters.  I guess I had hoped to use 'ways to go' more in terms of content rather than timelength in that comparison.

 

Regardless, Mich is in National Title Contention at the moment, so cheers!

smwilliams

January 16th, 2013 at 10:50 PM ^

It's still up in the air. It's been over a decade since they won the title and the following year made the Sweet 16. Since then, it's been NIT, NCAA 2nd Round, NIT, NCAA 2nd Round, almost on repeat. Turgeon is a good coach who had success at Texas A&M, and the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) area is a hoops hotbed, but they've had real problems keeping local talent at home (Carmelo, Ty Lawson, Kevin Durant just to name 3).

They're definitely a better program than Northwestern, Penn State, Nebraska and probably on the same level as Iowa and Purdue in that they'll have a couple of good stretches every now and then before having some NIT years in a row.

Of course, remember, Michigan basketball wasn't a great program until Beilein was hired (yes, I realize, that was largely due to the scandal, but still), and now we're a Top 5 team.

ak47

January 17th, 2013 at 1:07 AM ^

Maryland is at minimum a top 15 program historically and could be argued top 10.  There was a reason that during the coaching search every major basketball writer was talking about how it is a top 10-15 coaching job in the country.  Maryland basketball got killed by the len bias tragedy and subsequent ncaa sanctions and it took a long time to rebuild but it is historically an important basketball school.  Also considering that maryland sold out and packed its 18k stadium vs nc state and we only managed to get our 12k seat stadium about 3/4's full for our game against nc state and at least a 1/4 of the lower bowl was empty at tip for nebraska we shouldn't really be talking about other basketball programs.  

smwilliams

January 17th, 2013 at 1:33 AM ^

Not sure what you're arguing against since the point I made was that in the past decade Maryland hasn't enjoyed crazy amounts of success having not made a Sweet 16 since 2003. I used to live in College Park and attended plenty of Maryland basketball games and have been a staunch defender of both their football and basketball attendance since the move was announced.

 

My only point was that it's too early to tell whether Maryland is back to a "prestige" national program or whether they are still mired in that NIT/NCAA Bubble morass that we used to occupy.

Also, top 10 is stretching it as UCLA, Kentucky, Indiana, North Carolina, Duke are probably the Top 5 with Kansas, Louisville, Connecticut, NC State, Sparty, Ohio, Cincinnati, Georgetown, and yes, Michigan in the mix for the final 5 spots. Maryland has made 1 title game ever. I'm not disputing that it isn't a good program, it's just not elite anymore and hasn't been for 10 years now.

ak47

January 17th, 2013 at 9:37 AM ^

I was saying they are way above purdue and such as a program, not in the last decade per se but based off of michigan football's last decade I think we can all understand not judging a teams historical importance based off one decade.  And yeah I said an argument could be made, not a slam dunk, uconn has only been good under calhoun, no real history, ohio is not as good (see gary williams leaving ohio st to rebuild a maryland team still under probation) and maryland has more acc wins than nc state and is the reason the postseason is not limited to just conference champs anymore.  But yeah the last decade hasn't been great mainly because gary refused to deal with the aau scene and thus missed on a lot of local talent.

Michael

January 17th, 2013 at 9:47 AM ^

I don't know. I live in DC and know a decent amount of Maryland fans. Their biggest rivals, Duke and UNC, don't even know they are rivals. It's like Illinois saying Michigan is their rival in football.

And as far as last night's win, the team didn't even make an attempt to shake hands with the NC State team. And the students rushing the court for beating the 15th ranked team at home? Am I missing something? That's amateur hour in my opinion.

Needs

January 17th, 2013 at 2:00 PM ^

Your last point is the key. That's why they fell off recently, Williams just got disgusted by everything about modern AAU basketball (which has a lot to be disgusted with but, as MD's case shows, is essential for building a consistent tournament team).

I'd put Maryland and OSU on about the same level. Historically very good but not top tier in their conferences, but with periodic runs of being national contenders (about where Michigan is too). Williams did leave OSU for Maryland, but he did it to return to his alma mater, which seems a special case.

LSAClassOf2000

January 17th, 2013 at 9:05 AM ^

...here is how Maryland would compare to some select Big Ten teams right now, if anyone is curious. Granted, they are still in the ACC right now and the competition is different, so draw from this what you will.

 

  Maryland Michigan Indiana Penn State Iowa
Offense          
Points/Game 73.4 77.8 85.4 65.8 74.2
Avg Score Margin 13.9 19.4 24.8 3.5 11.2
Assists/Game 16.8 15.6 16.5 16.1 17.1
Total Rebounds/Gm 44.1 38.4 41.9 34.9 40.8
Effective FG % 52.40% 57.50% 56.70% 49.60% 49.20%
Off Rebound % 40.40% 32.80% 39.60% 26.30% 35.00%
FTA/FGA 0.374 0.292 0.484 0.362 0.41
Turnover % 18.20% 12.80% 16.20% 14.80% 16.10%
Defense          
Opp Points/Game 59.5 58.4 60.6 62.2 63
Opp Effective FG % 39.90% 46.20% 42.40% 46.80% 42.90%
Off Rebounds/Gm 12.1 9.4 11.6 8.4 11.6
Def Rebounds/Gm 28.8 25.8 27.4 22.4 26.9
Blocks/Game 4.5 2.7 3.4 3.8 4.6
Steals/Game 4.4 5.1 8.1 6.1 6.8
Personal Fouls/Gm 14.5 11.6 16.5 15.6 16.3

VSS

January 17th, 2013 at 11:18 AM ^

I think Turgeon is a very good coach and they're on a positive trajectory. As for why we can't pack a basketball stadium, you can ask Maryland about their abysmal football attendance. Basketball is just a bigger deal there and really the main major sport that they've had any consistent success at recently. If they recruit the area better, they will be a very dangerous team in the Big Ten and at minimum, they'll be in the top half of the Big Ten for a while.