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With Football’s bowl hopes officially off life support, it is time we look ahead.  Luckily for us, this year there is plenty to be excited about with Gary Williams’ basketball team.  The Terps return 4 of 5 starters, and all the key players off the bench, maybe (more on that later in part 2).  With the addition of two freshman forward/centers, the outlook for the season is looking pretty good.  In this part we are going to take a look at the guards for the Terps.

Greivis Vasquez

When you think of Maryland Basketball these days, the first player that pops into your mind is Greivis Vasquez.  And as well he should.  If the Terps make a decent run in the ACC tournament and NCAA tournament, there is a very likely chance Greivis will leave Maryland as the school’s #2 all time scorer.  If you notice on the side bar of this website, we will be tracking Greivis’ climb through the ranks game by game.  Entering this season, he has been mentioned nearly everywhere, including the Naismith Watch list and the Wooden Award watch list.  There is no doubt that the Terps will only go as far as Greivis can lead them.  Vasquez led the Terps is scoring, rebounding, and assists last year.  Vasquez reigned himself in a little bit last season, and it showed.  He made much better decisions with the ball and did not force the action if it wasn’t there.  By doing that, he cut his turnovers down by almost half.  I don’t see any reason, Greivis doesn’t repeat where he left off last season.  He spent the summer playing for the Venezuelan National Team after going through the draft process.   I expect to see him out there 32 minutes or more per game, and to lead the Terps in scoring again.

Eric Hayes

Fellow Senior Eric Hayes returns, and likely will return to the starting point guard position this season after coming off the bench for most of last season.  Eric was a major reason the Terps were able to win a couple games in the ACC Tournament, and the victory over Cal in the NCAA Tournament.  He showed a confidence in himself, he hadn’t shown during his career.  There was no doubt he could shoot the open jump shot (39 % from 3 for his career), but late last season he really began attacking the basket and getting into the lane.  If he becomes the consistent player he was late last year, the Terps could have the top back court in the ACC.  Hayes,and Vasquez for that matter, will likely finish their career in the top 5 free throw percentage leaders in school history if they shoot at or near the levels they have up to this point in their careers.  In fact, if Hayes graduated last year he would have the top spot.  Hayes is getting a bit of a slow start this preseason as he is recovering from turf toe that kept him out of some of the off season workouts.  I expect Hayes to be out there 26-30 minutes a game.  He is really a steadying force for Grievis at times, and gets the team into the offensive flow.

Sean Mosley

There was no doubt Sean Mosley knew his role last season.  That was to defend, and rebound, even though he moved into a starters role.  This year, all reports indicate he is ready to show why he was the number two all time scorer for Maryland high school basketball.  He has one year under his belt, and it almost sounds like he truly believes he belongs now.  Not that this means much, but he was the leading scorer in the Terps exhibition game.  He doesn’t need to be the leading scorer, but if he can score enough to keep the oposing defense honest, it is going to help the other players on the floor.

Adrian Bowie

Bowie is going to most likely be the first guard off the bench.  With the versatility of Hayes, Vasquez, and Mosley, when Bowie enters, he will run the point.  He has more speed than either Hayes or Vasquez, and has shown he can easily get into the lane or to the basket.  The problem is there were plenty of times where he steam rolled a defender on the way.  The reports out of the preseason workouts say that Bowie has really worked on his outside shot.  He has stated he is trying to get more arch on the shot so he can get it over the front of the rim.  If he shows any kind of improvement on his shot over last season, his defender will have to respect his shot more, and give Adrian an advantage to get to the basket.  He should see close to 20 minutes a game off the bench, and if things are slowing down he can provide a spark offensively and defensively.

Cliff Tucker

Cliff could really be the “X factor” for this team.  At times last year he showed his explosive scoring ability that showed while he was so highly regarded when he came into Maryland.  At other times he appeared to be in Gary Williams’ doghouse.  I don’t really get it.  He seems to play more defense than Mike Jones, so I can’t see that being the problem.  I honestly think the real problem is purely numbers at the guard/small forward positions.  This is very unlikely, but if certain situations don’t pan out the way the Terps would like in terms of Dino Gregory, Tucker could be part of a true four guard lineup for a few minutes here and there if any of the bigs are in foul trouble, and someone needs a breather.  I don’t really know where Cliff is going to fit in the rotation.  There is no doubt he could come off the bench and light it up, but Gary seemed reluctant to give him consistent minutes last year.  I think that will be different this year, and he will provide some big scoring games off the bench.

There you have a look at the scholarship guards.  They have the talent and experience to really help the Terps be among the ACC’s elite teams this year.  I think the starters are pretty well set, the question will be how will Gary use the guys off the bench.  There are only so many minutes and Vasquez is not going to leave the court for expended periods of time.

Check back tomorrow for a look at the big men.  There will be a look at the walk-ons at a later time.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 8:49 pm and is filed under Maryland Terps Basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.