Duke Outmuscles Maryland
Currently I’m trapped up here in Philadelphia going on week 3. My son is in the Philadelphia Children’s Hospital going through some lung treatments that are supposed to help his left lung open back up. It was a planned admission and nothing is wrong with him, but as our 1 to 2 week stay moves into week 3, I can only think of the theme song from Gilligans Island.
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.
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January 26th, 2012 at 10:56 am
Agree 10000000% about the crowd. Every ACC game needs to be like that. I thought the defense did pretty good. Bob Knight kept harking for a helper on Plumlee, but as you as you do that, someone is going to knock down a three. I thought the effort was great. Perimeter defense was about as good as we have seen all season. A couple of breakdowns/backdoor plays that hurt. I think the killer was the possession where Duke shot three for four times and we couldn’t get the rebounds. Then they nail the three. That took a lot of the wind out of the sails I think.
Not sure what is up with Stoglin at the line. He has been missing a lot of front ends of 1 and 1′s lately. Overall he was awful from the line, but missing the front ends are a killer. For the most part he played pretty well and didn’t force to many shots.
If they play with that intensity and effort night in and night out, I will be pleased. I said they would need to be perfect to win. They were pretty good, and came up short. Have to figure out a way to stop Plumlee though. And I think we need to not expect to much from Len the rest of the season. He has talent, but he has a lot of work to do. It will come, and I expect him to start to put it together next year, but he looks like he is thinking a little too much instead of just reacting and doing what he does best.
January 27th, 2012 at 8:35 am
That fellow Terp did a good job with his website. We shall see if the students show up. It’s sad they act like it’s a chore to go to a game. Probably have to make sure they don’t miss anything on facebook.
I liked how intense Turgeon was during the game. The Terps looked great in the first half but they just don’t have the experience or talent to compete with Duke this year. Another year and Len will be more comfortable as well as Faust, Parker, Pankey, Weis, and Peshon. Hopefully stronger too.
January 27th, 2012 at 10:32 am
Weis is a senior. Shaq will have some bulk if nothing else.