Turtledroppings.com – Maryland Football And Basketball Blog

It must be hard for a coaching staff to know you have a big game set for a certain date, yet not knowing your opponent until 22 hours before the game.  For the Terps, that has been the case, but now we know they will be playing Georgia Tech tonight at 7 pm.  We all know Georgia Tech came the closest team in the ACC to knocking Maryland off at the Comcast Center.  Enter Cliff Tucker, and the rest is history.

When the upset bug hit the ACC tournament for the morning session, I got very optimistic North Carolina would be able to pull the upset as well.  For the first half it looked as if though that would be the case, but in the end Georgia Tech was too much for the Heels thanks to Derrick Favors and Gani Lawal.

Does that raise a concern for you?  It should, Georgia Tech is the one team that has to NBA quality big men.  The last time the two teams met, Derrick Favors showed us why he was going to win the ACC Rookie of the Year scoring 21 points and 18 rebounds.  If Maryland wants to advance to the next round, rebounding the basketball is going to be HUGE.  It can not be understated.  Bottom line, they have to compete on the boards.  Favors had 9 offensive rebounds in the last match up.

The problem Tech presents is two fold.   First Maryland has liked to double down on the opposing teams best post player.  With Georgia Tech you can’t afford to double both Lawal and Favors.  Secondly, if you do double, you have to be careful who you leave open on the wing, as they have several players who can knock down the three.  I have faith that the 5 day layoff was enough time for Gary Williams and staff to come up with a game plan for both Georgia Tech and North Carolina.

For Maryland, the 5 day layoff could not have come at a better time.  I heard quotes from both ACC Player of the Year Greivis Vasquez, and Landon Milbourne saying they were tired or worn out.  Sure it is nice to keep playing when things are going well, but if you look at the incredible run of games Maryland has won lately, you can certainly understand how they could be drained.  I know how I felt after some of those games, and I was sitting on a couch to watch!

I would expect to see Dino Gregory possibly playing a few more minutes this game has he been rebounding much better than Milbourne lately.  I also would not be surprised in the least to see James Padgett get 5 minutes or so as Tech will look to get the ball inside on Maryland.

With 3 of the 4 games seeing the lower seed losing yesterday, you can only imagine my thoughts about this game, but I can’t explain it.  This team has just been pulling out games they have lost in the past.  With Vasquez and Hayes in the back court and the potential fire power Adrian Bowie and Cliff Tucker bring off the bench, you have to think the Terps can pull this one out.  Another key to keep an eye on is turnovers.  Georgia Tech’s troubles this year have been when they turn the ball over at very high rates, and if the Terps can convert them into easy baskets, the game will go to Maryland.  If Tech can keep the turnovers down, and pound the glass it could be a long day for Maryland.  Still my gut says Maryland in a close game.  Go Terps!

This entry was posted on Friday, March 12th, 2010 at 5:54 am and is filed under Uncategorized. 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.