Turtledroppings.com – Maryland Football And Basketball Blog

Maybe it is the newness.  Maybe it’s not.  Maybe the fact is he may very well be my favorite Terp of all time.  Sure Joe Smith is the reason I chose to attend Maryland.  Juan Dixon led the Terps to their only National Championship, but I can’t even begin to describe the way I feel now after knowing their careers were over.

Greivis Vasquez burst onto the scene for me in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge his Freshman year.  It was that game he appeared he was going to be a lot better than I ever imagined.  It was this play in particular that showed us he had a knack for the game, but this was the first of many big plays he would make for our Terps late in games.  Sure he scored 17 points, but it was the last two that sealed the deal for me.

There were ups and downs with Greivis, but inmy  mind there was never a doubt how badly he wanted to win.  Sometimes it was like he was trying to do too much, but this year, he really seemed to trust his teammates a little more and made this season all the more memorable.  They played as a true team, and seemed to really care about each other, but there was no doubt who the leader was.

His career numbers are pretty impressive, 2171 points (2nd all time at Maryland), 772 assists (2nd all time at Maryland), 647 rebounds (22nd all time at Maryland), 191 steals (7th all time), and finally 7th all time in free throws (530), and 5th all time in free throw percentage at .829 %.  He was the FIRST player in ACC history to score 2000+ points, 700+ assists, and 600 rebounds.  That is a pretty impressive list of accomplishments.

Sure he will have his detractors that the team never made it past the second round of the tournament during the Greivis Vasquez era.  I don’t care.  He didn’t have the team around him that other greats had.

What he did have, was the biggest heart of anyone I can remember, not name Juan Dixon.  He had a love of basketball, a love of his teammates, and more importantly to me, he loved everything about being a Terp.  Maybe it was because he was from another country and really appreciated his opportunity to play basketball in the US, but to me cherished every minute of his four years at Maryland.

Greivis, the pain is hard right now, because your time ended a little sooner than we would have liked, and in such a painful fashion after putting the team on your back for one final time.  You always gave everything you had, and for that you will never be forgotten.  Thanks for all the memories, and please come back often as you are a true Terp.  It has been a pleasure watching you and your team play, and I will never forget everything you did for our University.  You left us with a lifetime of great memories, and we will never let the Senior Night win over Duke be forgotten.  That was your proper Maryland send off.  Good luck where ever you wind up next.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 22nd, 2010 at 7:05 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.