This is the time of year when covering Maryland Sports gets a little tough.  Actually Summer is probably the toughest, at least until Spring Ball begins, but lets face it, Football and Basketball drive Terp Sports.  Lacrosse and Baseball are interesting, but most alumni don’t live and die by how these teams do.  Especially with it looking like a down year for Lacrosse.

So I just wanted to touch on a couple things.  First, some good news.  Can’t put much stock in this, but I did see an early pre-season ranking for Men’s Basketball which had the Terps at like #13.  The comment which followed said that this was a tad on the optimistic side and relied heavily on Len and Faust making big jumps.  But hey after this season, I would take that in a heart beat.  Of course the poll wasn’t all good news as it had NC State at like #5 and Duke at #25.

Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see the  Blue Devils start out that low, but them being 25th sort of took some of the credibility out of the rankings!

In Football, spring practice continues.  There is some shuffling going around, and it appears Kenny Tate is now married to the LB position (A fact we all knew, but still have a hard time accepting).  If you follow Randy Edsall or UM Terps on Twitter they are sending out short You Tube videos each day with practice highlights.  So you can look for those.

On to baseball, things have gotten a little tougher for the Terps lately.  They still hvae a winning record at 18-12, but are only 3-9 in ACC play. They also lost a tough one last night to George Mason, despite out hitting Mason 14-7.  Since being swept by Wake Forest, the Terps are 7-8.

The good news is that the Terps are 9-3 at home, and are in the midst of a 10 game home-stand.  That home-stand will end with a day trip to Towson on April 18th and then it is back to CP for four more.

Tonight they face Bucknell who many moons ago had a lead off hitter with the exact same name as me!

Speaking of nepotisms, congratulations need to go out to the other half of the Turtledroppings family as Chris won the NCAA Contest…OFFICIALLY, I had already noted his win, but now it is in the books.  I will do a final standings once I get reunited with the brackets.  Unfortunately for the time being they are on my dresser 120 miles south of where I will be sitting for the next 5 or so days.

So that is a quick look at some loose ends.  Hope everyone is enjoying their spring and getting ready for the return of MLB.  I know I am excited, though as an O’s fan should probably know better by now.  Still it is good knowing 6 nights a week, I can watch my team try to knock off the much more fortunate franchises.

There is a lot going on for Maryland Athletics right now.  Of course all 95% of really care about is the Men’s Basketball team, but there is still a lot going on for the athletic department to be excited about.  Just not for a our flagship program.

First, we have to congratulate the Womens Hoops team.  They advanced to the Sweet Sixteen with a win last night against Louisville.    Laura Mincy lead the way with 24 points and Tianna Hawkins added 15 points and 14 rebounds.  It was a nice win.  I wouldn’t say it was a great game, but they fought it out and escaped the friendly confines of Comcast Center with a 72-68 win that came down to the wire.  Thanks to a late 13-4 run the Terps move on to face defending National Champion Texas A&M on Saturday.  I have not seen a game time as of yet, but it will be televised by either ESPN or ESPN2.

The next sport deserving some attention is Wrestling.  As a team the Terps finished in 31st place at the NCAA Championships.  Individually All-American Josh Asper finished in 6th place.  Also worth mentioning, the Terps won the ACC Championship for the second consecutive season.

After the hot start, we took a big interest in the baseball team.  While they are still having a good season, they have hit some bumps since starting ACC play.  They currently are 14-6 with a game tonight against George Washington.  Over the weekend though, the team was able to get their first ACC win in Sunday’s game against #4 UNC.  Brett Harmen struck out 8 in 8 scoreless innings.  The Terps were able to hold on for the 1-0 victory.  Though the Terps are only 1-5 in ACC play, they have been very competitive in most games.  There is no doubt this team is building something here.  The only problem is getting past the top teams in the ACC still seems to be a little bit of a dream, but the gap is narrowing.

If it is Spring in Maryland, it must be Lacrosse season.  So far this year the Men’s team is ranked #6 in the country with a record of 5-1.  There are still several tough games left starting with a visit to UNC this weekend, followed by games against Virginia, Navy, and Johns Hopkins.  The women’s laxer’s are currently ranked #5 with a 7-2 record.  Needless to say, barring a complete collapse, both teams should be a factor in the NCAA Tournaments.

Last, but not least, spring football has kicked off.  I don’t know if it is the lack of interest, or if it is Randy Edsall keeping a tight lid on all things Maryland Football, but there hasn’t been a ton of news to report in regards to the team.  I think everyone is ready to put last season behind them, and if things are going to get any better, it has to start now.  Still this program has a long way to go to build some interest again.  Anything short of a winning record, and Randy Edsall might want to start thinking about looking elsewhere before he is run out of town.  The number of people in his corner is much smaller than last year, and another loosing campaign after having so many key players want out of his program will make that number of supporters even smaller.  They are currently off for Spring Break, but will be back in action on the 27th.

One final thing to mention is an article in the Sun about Steve Blake.  It is on that hit close to home for me since I lost a cousin to childhood brain cancer.  Blake lost a cousin to cancer and has partnered with the Children Cancer Association to raise money for the fight against Cancer.  It is hard to believe it has been 10 years since the Terps won the 2002 Tournament, but it is great to see that Steve Blake is taking an active role in trying to help defeat cancer.

So, there you are.  A nice little wrap up of all the going ons in all things Maryland sports.  It was a long fall and another winter without and ACC tournament birth, so it is nice to get a look at some teams who have had and are having some success on a national level.

It’s that time of year again, time for the absolutely free 2012 NCAA Tournament Pool, brought to you by Turtledroppings.com.  Just like years past the winner will receive one $15 Itunes gift card.  Scores will be kept via the standard 1st round is worth 1 point, 2nd round is worth 2 points, 3rd round is worth 4 points, etc.  Play in games will not be counted, therefore the deadline will be noon Thursday.

To enter, download the attached 2012 NCAA Bracket and email it to contest@turtledroppings.com (please remember to include your name on the entry).  Also if you follow us on Twitter and you win the contest, an additional $5 will be awarded.  Consider it a bounty to encourage participants to follow us on twitter.

We would like to have as many participants as possible, so feel free to pass this contest along to anyone who is interested, but we do ask that there be only one entry per participant.  Updates will be provided as time permits, which will hopefully be often.

So good luck to everyone and remember, it’s FREE.

Yesterday I got a text from my writing partner here at Turtledroppings that “Maryland Baseball swept”.  I being the optimist wrote back “Awesome”, which he probably took as sarcasm or just another WTF moment from his writing partner.

Unfortunately the text was misinterpreted and our baseball dropped 3 in a row to Wake Forest.  So despite the hot start, we are now 0-3 in ACC play.  Suddenly everything feels right in the world again.  But I’m not giving up on this team, and until I decide otherwise, I will keep doing a weekly review of Maryland Baseball.  I still think this team could have a special season, and I want to be there from the beginning to the end.

So let’s do just that, when last we discussed Maryland Baseball they were coming off a sweep of Manhattan and getting ready to host the University of Delaware Blue Hens.  The Terps lead by another strong pitching performance held the Hens scoreless.  Michael Boyden (2-0) pitched 5 innings of 1 hit ball, and Jimmy Reed pitched the last 1.3 innings for his 4^th save of the season as the Terps earned  a 2-0 victory in College Park.

Next up was Navy.  Sander Beck pitched 5.1 innings and gave up 2 runs over 3 hits and 4 walks to improve his record to 2-0.  Jimmy Reed also picked up a save (his 5^th) in this 4-2 win in Annapolis.  Offensively, the Terps had a 2 for 4 performance from second baseman Kyle Convissar who also drove in 2 runs.  This win was Maryland’s 10^th in a row.

Then on to Wake Forest, apparently there are things “Finer” than being in “Caraliner”.  Not to dwell on the negatives but the Terps got swept in Winston Salem, 10-5, 9-6, and 4-3 to fall to 11-4.  The good news is that the perfect home record remains intact, which is important because the Terps will be spending the next 5 games in College Park.  Hosting a double header verse St. Peters, and then a three game set against UNC.

Stay tuned next week for another update, which hopefully includes the Terps first ACC win of the season.

Extra Droppings:

I know it is sad to be doing a baseball post the day after Selection Sunday, but we still have March Madness here at Turtledroppings.com and in the next day or two will be announcing our annual FREE NCAA Pool.  Winner will get the Standard $15 Itunes card, unless of course Chris or I win like in Football, in which case you all get nothing!!  Stay tuned for details and remember it’s FREE!!

And with this post, I believe Turtledroppings.com has now brought their total baseball posts # up to 3! But that could soon be changing.

Terps Head Coach Erik Bakich has the Terps men rolling. They are now 9-1 coming off of a 4 game sweep of Manhattan. Now I’m sure many people are saying “Well it’s the Jasper’s how good can they be at baseball?”. Well that is a valid point, but they did win their conference last year, so they aren’t exactly pure cannon fodder. Brett Harman (2-0) gave up 3 hits over 7 innings to complete the 4 game sweep, and received a little help from Left Fielder Matt Bosse who drove in 4 runs while going 3-4 with a double and a triple thrown in for good measure as the Terps claimed a 9-0 victory in the finale.

If the Terps can continue this turn around, you have to really start giving credit to Coach Bakich. Which is awesome, but also makes me a little leery. Bakich appears to be a rising star among young baseball coaches, and one can only wonder how anxious he may be to head off to a more baseball friendly climate if given the chance. At this rate, that chance will be coming sooner rather than later.

The Terps host Delaware today, then hit 50 East for a one game set against Navy, then spend the weekend in Winston Salem playing 3 against Wake Forest. That series will open up ACC play, and will serve as a pretty good indicator of just how good this team could be. Keeping in mind, just making the ACC Tournament would be a huge step in the right direction for this historically 2nd tier program.

So as basketball season fades off into the sunset this weekend in Hotlanta, it may be time to give a little bit more attention to the action on the diamond. And after this fall and winter, I’m more than ready for a feel good story!

I have never been a big College Baseball fan, yet that doesn’t keep me from watching the College World Series each season and wishing how our Terps might one day represent us there.  Call me biased, but I have always believed we live in a state with fertile baseball soil, after all we produced such talents as; Cal Ripken, Harold Baines, Jimmie Foxx, Al Kaline, Mark Teixeira, and that guy named after the candy bar, Babe Ruth I think?

The point is, turning Maryland into a baseball power isn’t like asking Southern Methodist to become a hockey Mecca.  Granted the states south of us in the ACC have a better climate for early season baseball, which college basically is, but UVA has had success, and Charlottesville is about as south as Salisbury is, so why not us?

Fast-forward to the hiring of Erik Bakich (who I like to think we traded James Franklin and a QB to be named later to Vanderbilt for) and maybe….just maybe this dream is starting to become a reality.  Why just this past weekend, Maryland Baseball went undefeated in the Keith LeClair Classic, beating East Carolina #20, and Purdue #26.  The Terps also upended the #19 UCLA Bruins taking two of three from them during the opening weekend of the season.

As a result, and hold on to your seat here, the Terps are now ranked 20^th and 27^th in two National Polls.  They are also off to a 5-1 start, their best since 1987.

The keys to their success, well how about a pitching staff with an ERA of 1.24?  That’ll do!

So maybe it is time to shake out of our basketball melancholy dream and climb aboard the College Baseball Bandwagon.  As it looks now, seats are filling up fast, so don’t get left out.

My wife’s aunt recently bought my daughter a statue of a Maryland themed Santa with a little girl in a Terps Cheerleading outfit sitting on his lap.  On her list is written “Beat Virginia”.  Though I totally agree with the little girl, I also have a few other things I would like to add to that list.  So with that, I give you a Terps Christmas Wish List: 

-I wish this Locksley Hire was official. The more I read about the local high school coaches reactions, the better I feel about it, and I crave closure in my life.  Having this up in the air just drives me nuts. 

-I hope Alex Len is as good as everyone is expecting him to be.  I am VERY apprehensive about a big European guy coming to America.  I’m worried we are setting the bar to high too soon.  But I’d be more than happy to be wrong, in fact I’m wishing for that very thing to happen.  

-Look I can write a million things about the Football team that I want, but you all have been reading those thoughts all fall.  But for now just a small concession by Randy Edsall would be nice.  And all I’m asking is to put the players names back on the Jersey’s.  That is a Maryland tradition, we started it.  In most of these cases it takes a family to get a kid to this level, put the family name on the Jersey. 

-I really like Mark Turgeon and I feel the long term outlook for the Basketball Program has no ceiling.  Dear Santa, let me be right. 

-I want people outside of the State of Maryland to stop making fun of the “Pride Uniforms”.  This is our flag, it’s different, but we love it, it has a story.  75% of State Flags are the state seal slapped on a blue background, but our flag symbolizes the unity of the state.  The Baltimore Colors (Red and Black) symbolize the Union soldiers in the Civil War and the Crossland Colors symbolize the Marylanders who fought for the Confederacy, the flag is the “sewing back up” of the state after the war.  We know the uniforms were ugly, but they got people talking Maryland Football, so in that regard they were a complete success (about the only success we had on the grid iron). 

-I want the ACC to do well in the Bowl games.  I may be alone on this one, but I do pull for, in most cases (Certainly not Duke Basketball though) the ACC school in out of conference match ups.  Besides what else am I going to cheer for this Bowl Season? 

-That we get a verbal commitment from the Harrison Twins. Oh how sweet would that be.  If so I won’t have to waste a spot on this wish list for #4! 

-I want to see Comcast FULL this year.  Not for Duke games, not for Carolina games, but for all ACC games (I won’t waste my time calling for a sold out Albany game, though I will be there that night doing MY part).  There is no reason for this not to happen.  Things are on the upswing people, now is the time to buy in! 

-Oh and I want a suite at Byrd Stadium.  No reason I can’t materialistic too. 

With the football team floundering around, I thought it would be a good idea to take a look around the rest of the cash strapped athletic department since there was so much going on over the weekend.

We might as well start with football since it is the least interesting.  The Randy Edsall era seems to be hitting new lows each week, and this weekend was no different.  UVA went up on the first play from scrimmage when Perry Jones busted one open.  I am going to say I was busy all weekend with a wedding and visiting my inlaws  in Pittsburgh, so I haven’t seen the game yet, and I am not sure I am going to bother watching it.  Suffice it to say football made another point of why they should be the program that gets cut.  While I was waiting to board by plane back to Dallas I saw some interesting quotes:

• When asked about improving Danny O’Brien stated “In certain areas, we’re getting better,” and “I don’t know if we’re getting better or not”.  Well it’s about time someone inside the program noticed because Randy Edsall Tweeted this:
• “I want to thank all the fans that came out to Byrd this year and showed your support. We will keep moving forward and keep getting better.”   Is his idea of getting better losing 5 in a row against some perceived lesser quality teams.  If by getting better he means having one win against a D1 school, he has a warped sense of improving.

The University of Maryland Men’s Lacrosse team isn’t exactly a high flying production with jaw dropping goals and lightning quick attacks, but man can they play some suffocating defense.  In fact, how appropriate was it that the game was played in M & T Bank Stadium, where 11  years ago the Baltimore Ravens won their first championship based, just about solely, on their ability to shut down opposing offenses?

The Terps took down the hated Duke Blue Devils yesterday 9-4.  Even despite the big lead late, I was getting anxious watching the time click off the clock.  Then it hit me.  Even if Duke scored every shot they took, there still wouldn’t be enough time for a comeback because Duke couldn’t get any shots off to begin with.

Despite being down and desperate, the Blue Devils continued to work the ball around the net waiting for that patch of daylight to show, which never did.  On the other end, the Terps walked the delicate line between holding the ball too long, and being lured into taking questionable shots.  In hindsight, the Blue Devils never had a chance.

The Terps will take on rivals UVA in Monday’s show down.  Though the ACC doesn’t have but a hand full of lacrosse programs, you would have to think the Conference Office is pretty happy with 75% of the Final Four, and 100% of the Championship.

On the other side of the gender coin, the Terps Ladies will be playing Northwestern today.  I don’t think you can find a better example of a “Clash of Titans” like game as these two schools have won (after today) 14 National Championships in 17 years.  Holy Cow!!

Good luck ladies, let’s see if we can’t claim both trophies for the University of Maryland.

Don’t forget to check in at 6:30 to watch the Maryland Men’s Lacrosse team try to do what the woman’s lacrosse team did last night…..which was beat Duke.  As a Marylander from one of the poorer counties who did not have Lacrosse growing up (though they now do), I can’t claim to be any kind of expert, but I do like to tune in for the big games, and since 2006, none have been any bigger than this.

Maryland has always had the reputation as a lacrosse school, however, success has been few and far between lately.  Sure they are constantly ranked (but in Lacrosse who isn’t?) but can you believe it has been 30 some years since they have taken home the crown?  The Orioles have won more recently than that!  The unseeded Terps who reached the Final Four by knocking off #1 Syracuse will rely on their defense to take down the defending champion Blue Devils.

And though Duke is the reigning champ, this is hardly a Blue Devil team that can’t be beaten.  Duke themselves are a little surprised to find their squad in the Final Four as they were a 5 seed who had lost 5 times during the year, including once to Maryland.  Heck the whole Final Four is wide open as the University of Denver (which sounds like a made up school from Mork and Mindy) take on UVA on the other side of the bracket.  So for those keeping score, the Lacrosse 2011 Final Four is 75% ACC schools.  And not just ACC schools, but the two most hated rivals of the Terps.

The Terps today will be leaing on their defense and Freshman goalie Niko Amato to get them to the Championship on Monday.  In the NHL it is well known that a hot goalie can carry a team to the Stanley Cup, let’s hope the same holds true for lacrosse as Amato has only allowed 11 goals in two post season games. 

So if you hate Duke, and Love Maryland, and enjoy lacrosse, there is no where else for you to be tonight than in front of the TV.  Let’s cheer for our Terps as they try to bring one more National Championship home to College Park.  We don’t want just the lady’s to have all the fun!!