I don’t mean to disagree with my writing partner as everything he has said makes sense, except maybe for his lack of unbridled excitement about football.  There we digress.  I for one cannot wait for this season.   If for nothing other than the simple fact that it has GOT to be better than last year.  And if it isn’t well at least we will have plenty of Fire Anderson, Fire Edsall, Fire Loh posts ready to go.

But this year should be different, new coordinators, new schemes, and new talent.  Heck we have a chance for some of these young guys to come in and make immediate impacts.  Will we be bowl eligible? Probably not, but can we at least flirt with bowl eligibility, I say yes!  Okay, that last statement isn’t quite fair as it only takes 6 wins to go to a bowl, so just about every D 1 school has that shot (I refuse to acknowledge the various acronyms that now divide the college landscape, what was wrong with the old way).  But I do think we can reach 5 wins and at least keep the “we are getting better” mantra alive.

Keep in mind we HAVE to get better.  If you think for one second another subpar season will result in Randy Edsall getting fired, you are CRAZY.  To fire Edsall, Anderson would essentially be firing himself, so it isn’t happening.  And if that isn’t reason enough, we don’t have the money to pay anyone not to work.

But the main reason I’m excited about Football is the tailgating.  I have spent over 70 days of 2012 with my son in a Children’s Hospital.  That is 1,680 some hours with a lot of time to think about things, and  I am almost too embarrassed to say how many of those hours I spent thinking about tailgating.  Tailgating is our only real link to the University.  We will never be undergrads again, and most of my friends and especially me, don’t live anywhere near College Park.  Take away tailgating and our college years are just a memory of something we did many years ago (pause to reflect on how old I am getting).

With tailgating though, those memories are still being made, and we aren’t remembering Maryland, we’re standing on its campus!  It is a vital link in the alumni to college relationship.  And that is why I am excited about Football.  Basketball season is about basketball, but Football season is about our whole college experience.  If any school presidents are reading this (I’m going to assume no on that), they are either 100% with me, or eyeing up that patch of grass for another multi-million dollar building to squeeze in.

The smart ones are fostering tailgating and embracing it for what it is.  The dumb ones either don’t get it, or think it gives the school a bad name to have people drinking on campus 6 hours before the kickoff to a sporting event.

So far, Maryland has been smart.  We are still given a 6 hour window (I sometimes wonder if I’d be alive or still married if that window was 7 hours!), we still have nice places to park, and we no longer have cops hassling us over the most trivial of issues (so he blew a .38, it isn’t like he has to perform open heart surgery in 2 hours).  If that changes, then to me that marks the end of Football at Maryland.  A bad coach, a 3 win season, all that we can survive.  An administration that doesn’t see tailgating for what it is, we’ll that’s the death blow because having 7 blogs calling for various people’s heads isn’t a sign of a problem.  It’s when no one cares enough to write anything, that we have to worry.

Besides, when is the last time anyone lost a tailgate?

Looks like there might be a future for Maryland walk on’s after all.  The revolving door that is the Maryland Men’s Basketball team, took another spin as Ashton Pankey announced that he was leaving the University of Maryland in order to play closer to his home in New York.

Pankey averaged 4.7 points and 4.9 rebounds last season for the Terps.  This of course will open up more playing time the front court players like James Padgett and Alex Len.  And it will also mean more significant minutes for incoming freshman like Shaquille Cleare and Charles Mitchell.  Though I have nothing other than speculation to go on, seems like the thought is Damonte Dodd will be red-shirting, then again who knows what news is next for this team.

Though Maryland surely will survive the loss of Pankey, it is interesting that only Pe’Shon Howard is left from the 2010 recruiting class. Parker, Stoglin, Palsson, and Weijis have all moved on.  Thus the gradual transition from the Gary Williams era to the Mark Turgeon era is being expedited.

The only thing that does worry me, is that though talented, this incoming class is being throw right into the fire and will be putting in a lot of minutes.  Pankey was only going to be a Sophomore (though he did redshirt) so it isn’t like we lost a ton of experience there, but every bit would have helped.  Though talent wise this isn’t a loss that can’t be replaced, we are getting younger each week.  Maybe our goal of returning to the NCAA Tournament next season, is a little too ambitious.

Only time will tell.  Then again I can’t predict what will happen in Maryland Basketball in the next 24 hours, yet along next season.

The only thing certain in life is Death, Taxes, and each week a player will either be joining the Maryland Basketball team or leaving it.  OK, maybe there are more certainties than that, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that this basketball team is changing before our very eyes.

Now some of these changes are planned, and some not so much.  Today Terrell Stoglin announced he will not be returning to Maryland for his Junior Season.  First glance, you want to say “Is he crazy? He isn’t ready for the NBA.” But as more info comes to light, it appears this wasn’t anyone’s, what you’d call a “Decision”.  Stoglin per other sources has failed a drug test and would be suspended for a year.  And this of course changes everything.

It isn’t about what is good for Terrell, and for Maryland basketball, it is an unfortunate incident that happens when you center sports programs around 18-23 year old kids.  Stoglin made some bad choices and now we are all paying for it.  Us fans are paying because our chances of making the NCAA Tournament next year just took a hit.  Terrell’s paying for it in that he isn’t ready for the NBA, and could have used another year (or more) at Maryland.   And Turgeon is paying for it in that he now has to scramble to replace the bulk of our points from the 2011-2012 season.

But if you need to grab on to some good news, this just makes the mystery of next year’s Maryland Basketball season all the more intriguing.  We are going to be a completely different team.  Now in College Basketball when you see this kind of change it means “rebuilding” and that word can accurately be used to describe our situation, but whereas “rebuilding” is usually code for “Be patient, we are going to suck for a little while”, in this case, I think the team will emerge stronger.

Now is this good news, no not at all.  This team is definitely better with Stoglin on the floor, yet at the same time, how much were he and Turgeon butting heads?  Was Terrell really a great team player?  I don’t have the answers to those questions, but these won’t be questions to be answered come this fall.  We are now one step closer to having this team be guys entirely brought on by Mark Turgeon, and that is precisely why we brought Coach Turgeon in.  He is adapt at turning programs around, and this just speeds up the process.

If it doesn’t pay immediate dividends in 2012-2013, maybe it gives some of the other guys that much more experience for the following season, when our goal goes from making the Tournament, to getting the highest possible seed.  Regardless, Stoglin isn’t coming back.  In fact he CAN’T come back.  But those who can are pretty good, and are buying into the new system.  So despite this set back, our expectations can remain high….if only Stoglin wasn’t!

The Terps Baseball team continues their impressive season (in the historical sense for Maryland Baseball).  Last night they Walked Off the Dukies 4-2.  Michael Montville hit a two run shot in the bottom of the 10th to take game one of this crucial 3 game set against Duke.  Both Maryland and Duke are fighting to get into the ACC postseason and any win that comes at their expense can only help.

And if that wasn’t motivation enough, come on….it’s Duke!

Jimmy Reed got the job done on the mound scattering 9 hits for 2 runs over 9 innings.  It was his second start of the season, after he went 8 innings in his previous outing.  Overall all Terp pitchers are getting it done this year as the team ERA is 2.67.

The Terps will host the Blue Devils for Game 2 of the series tonight as they look to take their 2nd straight ACC series.  Coming up for the Terps after the Blue Devils leave town is a game verse James Madison, then a quick trip to Towson, and the the Clemson Tigers come to town.

The Terps are now 23-13 and 6-10 in the conference.

And if you can believe it, the last update I will be doing for the 2012 Tournament.  Is it because I’m lazy?  Well don’t get me wrong, I am lazy, but that isn’t the reason.  The reason is because this thing is over.  And for the second time during this school year, the Turtledroppings writers have come through.

Of course, this time it wasn’t me.  Unfortunately I trail Chris by one measly point and we both have the same picks remaining.  So the bragging writes for 2012 goes to…as you probably guessed by now Chris.

Kind of shocking that all Championship picks are gone except for those who picked Kentucky.  But it is the truth.  Anyway, these aren’t the final stats (ok, maybe there will be one more update), but they might as well be.

Chris 85 (Kentucky)

Bob Wev 84 (Kentucky)

John F 71 (Michigan State)

LeAnne 71 (Michigan State)

Alex 65 (Syracuse)

John U 64 (Kentucky)

Kristin 62 (UNC)

Bob Wim 59 (Syracuse)

J 58 (Missouri)

Jodi 49 (Temple)

Trish 46 (Kentucky)

Laura 27 (Duke)

Chris wins it since he has a Kentucky-Kansas final and no one can catch him.  He finished with 3 of the Final Four teams, so the win is well deserved.

I am just a point behind Chris, but as mentioned above, our picks match from here on out, so I can not make up any ground.

John F can still pick up points with a Kansas win, but that will also help everyone ahead of him, so there is nothing John can do to move up beyond 3rd.

Lee had a good bracket for a long time, but now only Ohio State remains.  And she has them losing to UNC in the Final Four, so 71 points is where Lee’s bracket comes to an end.

Alex looked good for almost all of the tournament, but the Syracuse loss sunk him.  He only had one other Final Four team and no one in the final.  He finishes at 65.

John U can still make a huge move up the ranks if Ohio State makes the Final (and for what it’s worth, I think they will), but at 64 points, even if John U can make up 16 points on Chris, he will still be behind.  And they both have Kentucky as the Champ anyway.

Kristin lead for most of the way this year, but then it all feel apart.  When UNC lost today, it sealed her bracket.  She can cash in some more points from Kentucky winning one more round, but it won’t be enough.

Bob Wim also suffered when the Orange got squeezed.  I don’t know if he could have caught Alex if Syracuse won it all, but we will never know.  He can also get a few more points out of Kentucky.

J is done.  He had 1 Final Four Team in Kentucky, but no teams in the Final.  He will finish this year with 58 points.

Jodi was pretty much done when she picked Temple to win it all.  Now she really is done.  She got ZERO Final Four teams and only 2 Elite 8 Teams.

Trish is next, though she is so far out of this, she can still move up with a Kentucky National Championship.  Granted it won’t be anywhere near enough, but it could help her pride some.

Laura, Laura, Laura.  All I can do is shake my head.  She finishes with 27 points.  She had 1 Elite 8 team and no Final Four Teams.  Oh and 3 Sweet 16 teams.  That is almost as hard to do as win it all!

So there you have it.  This year goes by without TD.com giving out a prize in either Football or Basketball.  Maybe we will save that money and put it into the prize pool for next year.  Then again, maybe we’ll just keep it.  Or maybe we should ban ourselves from participating to make things more fair!

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the pool and the updates.  Now it is back to focusing on Maryland Sports.

Oh and I would like to Congratulate the Lady Terps on securing their Elite 8 spot today.  Very exciting.  Congratulations, now let’s go on to the Final Four.

Though Syracuse held on, last night took some toll on many a bracket.  Michigan State losing certainly hurt a lot of people, as well as those who felt lucky they had Marquette beating Missouri.  That game obviously never happened, because Florida knocked them both off pretty much closing out a majority of the West Brackets.  At least that will make tallying points all the easier for me.

Here are the updated standings.  The biggest news is our leader, is now in a 4 way tie for 2nd place, and Lee has finally claimed the top spot in the contest…for now.  After tonight’s games end, I will include everyone’s championship pick, and also point out those who are mathematically eliminated, but for now we have point total’s followed by Final Four teams each person has left.

Lee* 51 (2)

Alex 45 (3)

Chris 45 (3)

Kristin* 45 (3)

Bob* 45 (3)

Jodi 43 (1)

Bob Wim 41 (3)

John F* 39 (3)

J 38 (2)

John U* 36 (3)

Trish 33 (1)

Laura 27 (1)

College Material

Lee has grabbed the lead, but that lead could be fleeting.  She lost her National Championship Team in Michigan State and is down to half of her Final Four.  Much like the British Victory at the Battle of Bunker Hill, sure they drove the Americans from the field, but at what cost……but at what cost??

Alex keeps circling the top spot, just waiting to pounce, like some sort of buzzard following a wounded animal.  Side note I bought a RC plane and flew it for the first time last night.  It crashed so many times (because of April not me) that vultures started circling over head thinking it was some sort of dying creature.  That obviously won’t be going on my resume when I apply for a job at TWA.  Anyway, Alex is married to Syracuse at this point, and though they looked vulnerable against Wisconsin, they survived, and that is the name of the game in March.  No such thing as style points.

Chris after a slow start has finally come back into the thick of things.  He picked up much needed points in the Syracuse and Ohio State wins, but lost a Final Four team when Michigan State bowed out.  That could haunt him, then again, who isn’t that going to haunt, so maybe it will have absolutely no effect at all.  Regardless, I love Chris’s chances, especially with UK as his champion.

Kristin has a bad day losing Wisconsin and Michigan State.  Though since she had Missouri coming out of the West, having Michigan State lose is probably more help at this point as a Spartan Final Four appearance would have given additional points to those following her.  Though she has lost the lead, like Alex she is now married to UNC.  If UNC goes deep, so will Kristin.

Bob spent last night cheering for Syracuse, not realizing he actually needed Wisconsin to win..whoops!  Anyway, my west is closed for Business with the Michigan State loss, and I’m hoping Kentucky can get deep.  My Final Four of Ohio State would also help me a great deal.

Jodi won’t go away yet, but trust me, she will.  She can get one more win out of Kentucky and Syracuse, and then it is all over.  Not a bad effort, and had she picked a more realistic final than UNLV-Temple she could have had a bigger say in this thing.

Bob Wim is still right in the thick of this, but he also has a bracket that may be cancelled out by someone in front of him.  So after this round we will have to see how realistic his chance is.  Still with 3 Final Four teams left, there is certainly nothing to hang his head about.

John F has been a wild card all tournament long.  Plenty of points left, but none of those potential points ever seem to translate into actual points.  John lost his Champ in Michigan State, but can still squeeze some more points out of his 3 remaining Final Four teams.  Look for him to make a run up the standings, but one that will ultimately fall short.

GED Material

J got a little bit of life when Michigan State went down, as he had Missouri going all the way, but without actually doing the math it is pretty apparent he is eliminated.  No Final Teams left and his remaining two Final Four teams are UK and UNC. He isn’t exactly going out on a limb with those two, meaning whatever points he can still get, so are most of the people ahead of him.

John U could still be alive as he has 3 Final Four teams left and both of his Finalist left, the only question will be, what do the people in front of him have.   He is behind the 8 ball as is, and any points he earns could go to his rivals as well.  We will know more about John’s fate in the next update.

Trish can squeeze a few more points out of Kentucky and NC State.  That isn’t going to cut it.  The good news is that if Kentucky wins it all, she will pass many people who don’t have UK, so if your goal is to avoid last place, that goal is alive and well.

Speaking of last place.  Like a three legged horse in the Kentucky Derby, Laura is limping to the finish line.  She can get 8 more points from Florida and then we put silver dollars on the eyes of her bracket, as in the distance a band plays Taps.  Thanks for trying Laura.  Lesson here being, that you get what you deserve when you pick Duke to win the National Championship.

So there we have it.  The fogginess of the pool will be much clearer tomorrow, and pretty much Caribbean clear come Monday.  Let’s just hope you find yourself still on land, and not walking the plank.

The field has been whittled down from 64 to 16.  Congratulations to all those teams who have advan….. you know what screw it.  I’m not being PC, I wish all teams had lost so that everyone would feel like me as a Maryland fan!  But I guess that is why God invented gambling, to MAKE you have to care about something.  So since I care about keeping a hold of the ITunes gift card, I will use that for my motivation.

So here are the latest standings, the parenthesis are for how many Final Four teams each person has left:

Kristin* 45 (3)

Lee* 43 (3)

Bob Wev* 41 (3)

Alex 37 (4)

Chris 37 (4)

Bob Wim 37 (3)

Jodi 35 (2)

J 34 (3)

Trish 33 (1)

John U 32 (3)

John F* 31 (4)

Laura 23 (1)

*=Eligible for $5 bonus

The Ritz Carlton

Kristin is looking to go wire to wire and may just indeed pull it off.  Take away the Missouri loss and her bracket only has 13 “Xs” on it.  The Missouri pick does leave the door open for all of us chasing her, but if Michigan State losses, that door could just as quickly shut.  All in all, still looking good.

Lee rises up into second place.  Her Duke pick could be her undoing, but otherwise everything looks pretty good.  Got a lift with the Cincinnati win over a much liked FSU team (based on everyone elses bracket).

Next up is me, I am pretty happy with my picks so far.  While everyone at work jokes about how bad their bracket looks, I just quietly stroke my beard and nod my head, all the while thinking “Sucks to be you”.  Unfortunately the time when I’m most confident is when the gambling gods decide to conspire against me, so don’t be surprised if this is my high water mark.  As of now, Missouri in the Final Four is the only pick hurting me.

Alex is fourth, but don’t let that fool you, he may have the best shot at winning this whole thing (and Chris too).  He has all of his Elite 8 left, which of course means he also has all of his Final Four left.  A ton of points remain to be had, but in order for him to win it all, Syracuse is going to have to get pretty deep.  Alex has to like his chances better after SU’s second game, than after their first.

Chris like Alex is looking great.  Sure he started out slow, but as long as you don’t kill yourself in those early rounds, you are never really out of it.  Chris proves that by bringing himself back into contention.  All Elite 8 teams are left making this bracket a dangerous one.  Unlike Alex though, Chris has hitched his wagon to Kentucky.  Can’t find much fault in that pick after two rounds.

Bob Wim still has an outside chance.  Like Alex he is banking on a deep run by Syracuse.  Bob Wim can also take pride in knowing that he had Ohio as a Sweet 16 team.  I doubt many outside of the Buckeye state can make that claim.

Knights Inn

Hard to believe that we have already dissolved into two groups, but here we are.  Jodi is in some serious trouble.  I can’t help but think where she would be if she hadn’t put Temple as her National Championship, because overall she still has a decent amount of points.  But if the Temple blow wasn’t enough, having UNLV come out of the South is the final nail in the coffin.  I don’t see enough zaniness picks for her to be able to re-pass those above her, so this could be all she wrote.

J could still make a climb, but the climb may not be big enough.  Oh wait, I didn’t cross off all the FSU’s he had picked.  J is now without both his final teams.  Well the good news is that you didn’t have to pay to get into the pool, so you can take some comfort in that.

Trish only has Kentucky remaining on the left side of her sheet.  And she only has NC State on the right.  I think we can all do the math for this one.  Oh wait, I take it back, she also has Cincinnati winning once more, so she has 3 teams left.

John U has enough long shots in the game that he may not quite be dead, but at first glance things look pretty grim.  If Ohio State can keep moving on, maybe so too can John.  If OSU does go down, then I think it is academic, as his remaining picks are pretty popular with the group of people he is trying to catch.

John F can still get a prefect Final Four, so there is that hope, but will it happen and will it happen in a way that allows him to gain on the leaders.  That is yet to be seen.

Oh Laura, this very well could be the worst bracket in the history of pools.  There were 48 games played and you were right on 20 of them.  That is 41% success rate.  If this was just straight up evenly matched teams that would have been hard to do, yet alone when you take seeding into account.  To pile on more, Laura now has as many points as Kristin had after Friday.

So that is where we sit while we wait for Thursday’s action to pick up.  Good luck to those of you who still have a chance in this thing.

Round One is halfway in the books, and it is nice to see 16 more teams that are just as miserable as us Maryland fans are, but in all honesty, whoever wins this tournament (as long as it isn’t Duke) is not the real issue here.  The real issue is which one of us will have bragging rights (and an ITunes card) when the nets are cut in New Orleans on April 2^nd.  So THAT is what we are here to talk about.

Looking at our contest it appears we have 12 entries.  A little light this year, but that does allow me to focus more on every performance, which depending on who you are, can be good or bad.  We will start with the good and work our way down.

Here first are the standings, then we will get into the story behind those numbers.  Just to explain, the first number is your point total, followed by how many Sweet 16 teams you have remaining:

Kristin* 14 (16)

Alex 13 (15)

Bob Wim 12 (15)

Trish 12 (14)

Bob Wev* 11 (16)

John U* 11 (14)

Lee* 10 (16)

John F* 10 (14)

J 10 (14)

Jodi 9 (14)

Laura 9 (14)

Chris 9 (14)

*Indicates they are eligible for the $5 Twitter Bonus

In the Driver’s Seat:

Kristin pretty much had just about a perfect day.  The East was pretty straightforward and taking the favorites turned out to be the right call, the Kansas State/Southern Miss “Toss Up” game also went her way keeping her bracket perfect in the East.  In the West Kristin gambled that Colorado State could knock off #6 Murray State, but it wasn’t to be.  Her only other miss was UNLV, though several people not only missed that one, but also had the Running Rebels knocking off Baylor in round too.  So as it sits, our leader not only has the most points, but still has her entire Sweet 16 intact, meaning there are plenty more points still yet to be grabbed.

Alex also had a pretty good day.  He backed the wrong pony in the Kansas State/Southern Miss match up, but was perfect in the West.  The big knock was buying into Wichita State, who he also had knocking off Indiana in the next round, so that may sting a little.  The other loss was UConn, which like the K-State/So Miss game was an 8-9  match up that could go either way.  Alex has 15 of his final 16 remaining.

In the Passengers Seat:

Team Wimbrow starting strong this year.  Bob Wim had a solid effort.  Missed on his call of Montana beating Wisconsin, but as long as Vanderbilt can move to the Sweet 16, that pick won’t hurt much.  The other misses were Colorado State, UNLV, and UConn.  Of those only UNLV was picked to win again, so Bob Wim starts with 12 points and 15 of his Sweet 16 remaining.  Not a bad place to be.

Trish reminds me of the March Daffodil.  I don’t know what the flowers are doing where you live, but where I live the daffodils are in full bloom.  They sure are nice to see, but in the back of my mind, I can’t help but think they will all be dead soon.  That Trish’s bracket.  Though Day 1 was pretty generous, having Temple advance to the Championship game, I believe is more of a call made by the heart than the head.  The good news is, it can still happen, the bad news is, it probably won’t.  Trish lost Loyola, Colorado State, UConn, and UNLV.  Both Col State and UNLV she had in her Sweet 16, so those could come back to haunt her.  Anyway, you know someone who will be watching each Temple game with baited breath from here on out!

Next up is Kid Handsome, better known as Bob W.  I’m not in first, but I am plenty happy knowing that it is Friday morning and all my Sweet 16 teams can still move on.  I will take that any day!  My losses were UNLV, UConn, Southern Miss, Harvard, and WVU (I was sure playing in Pittsburg would help the Mountaineers, but I wasn’t even close).  Anyway, I like my spot, but things can always fall apart quickly.

John U is up next.  He has 11 points, but just like in the fall of 1864, his South is burning to the ground.  John lost two Sweet 16 teams from the South, and only mustard points from Kentucky and Indiana.  He can still get his Elite 8 out of that Region, but there are an awful lot of “X’s” on the upper left hand side of his sheet.  Elsewhere it was smooth sailing as his West is perfect, and only the WVU no show hurting his East.

Lee is pretty much in the same boat I am, not a great start in terms of points, but all Sweet 16 teams are alive and well.  Hard to put a value on that.  Lee lost out on WVU, Southern Miss, Colorado State, UNLV, Wichita State, and UConn.  Sounds like a lot, but as mentioned above she didn’t have long term plans for any of those schools anyway.

John F is up next.  John is perfect in the West still, but the UNLV loss cut pretty deep, as he had the Running Rebels advancing to the Elite 8.  Wichita State was the other Sweet 16 that went down, leaving John’s south looking pretty much like John U’s south…in ruins.   Still plenty of time for John to get his act together.

J promised us that he had sent us the “Anti Bracket” and based on many of his picks, he is right on.  His ability to NOT predict the future is astonishing!  For example, Long Beach State will NOT be in the Sweet 16, neither will Wichita State simply because J said they would.   The good news for J though is that he is perfect in the East, but the South and West took some hits.  Unless J had a solid Day 2 he will be reduced to living and dying by his Championship selection of Missouri.  All things considered, I sort of like that pick.

Hanging on to the Bumper:

Jodi isn’t really that bad off, until of course Temple losses and she losses her National Championship pick.  Yeah, that’s right, she has Temple winning it all.  Look one day my children  will go to school somewhere too, but that won’t make said school the greatest basketball team in the land…unless one of my kids is Michael Jordan.  Anyway, things aren’t too bad for Jodi, but two Sweet 16 teams are gone and Temple has a lot of work to do.  Of course the beauty of the Tournament is that anything is possible.

Laura couldn’t catch a break in round 1, the East still looks good, but the West and South are in shambles.  Throw in a Duke-Gonzaga final, and if I’m Laura, I’m not making plans that involve a free Itunes card.

And bringing up the rear is my writing partner Chris.  Figures, when he can save the website money by keeping that ITunes card from being given out, he falls in love with such power houses as Long Beach State, and Wichita. I think Chris can still right the ship, but he better have at least a decent day two if he wants to remain relevant.

So there you have it.  I will say this, no one has suffered a mortal wound yet.  Some have set themselves up to receive one, but until that blow falls, they have just a good a chance as anyone, so if you don’t like what I have written about you above, just stay tuned, because things can change pretty quickly.  Good Luck to everyone (except those who picked Duke!).

Nobody incorporates 70′s songs into their Maryland Sports Blog Titles like me!!

I can’t quite put my finger why last night’s win has me so content.  It isn’t like we are now a bubble team, and it certainly doesn’t erase the 2^nd half of the UVA game.  But maybe it was the team effort.  The unselfish play of Stoglin, the competent play of Alex Len, and the continued emergence of Nick Faust.

Maybe it was James Padgett getting hot early and making what could be the play of the year on the “and 1” to give the Terps the lead.

Or maybe I’m focusing too much on individual accomplishments, when the answer really is that I’m content because this was the first complete 40 minute team effort of the season.  Yeah..I’m thinking that may be it.

All I know is that when Padgett made that basket, I jumped up off my chair and fist pumped.  Hadn’t done that much lately, and it felt kind of nice.  So maybe the 2012 NCAA Tournament is still a preverbal “Bridge Too Far”, but last night served as a reminder that things are turning around in College Park, and brighter days are indeed a head.  And if last night served as any sort of preview, I can’t wait.

Other News

Just to touch up on a couple things.  Danny O’Brien has been granted his release from Maryland, this we know, but know we also know he IS allowed to transfer to Vanderbilt.  I can’t help but think my post from yesterday had a little something to do with that!  Well….maybe not.  But still, I’m patting my back for doing my small part in the effort of promoting common sense. (AK beat me to this on the comments…damn him!!)

Good to see Johnny Rhodes getting his number honored.  Johnny was at Maryland the same time most of my friends were at Maryland and my favorite memory of him was after a big game (possibly beating #1 UNC), the next day I was in the South Campus Dining Hall and he walked in.  A guy stood up and yelled at the top of his lungs “Ladies and Gentlemen….Johnny Rhodes” and the whole place exploded in applause.  That was pretty cool.

And finally, had I known the night of December 28^th as the Terps hosted Albany and Alex Len was making his Terrapin Debut, that in a few months the sports world would be gripped in “Linsanity” (assuming I only heard the word and not seen how it was spelled).  I would have believed it.  And then of course I would have been hugely disappointed to hear it was really about some Knick.

I have done my best to put this whole Football season behind me, and to only think of the positives, and for the most part I feel that I have done a pretty good job.  Heck if accepting Randy Edsall was a race, I think I would be well ahead of a lot of people right now.  Of course many of you haven’t even left the starting line, so maybe my progress isn’t really saying much.

But then you come across an article like this one Here.  And I have to admit this one hurts.  I was so excited with the recent recruiting class, with the return of Mike Locksley, though at first I was more annoyed about the hypocrisy of hiring Locksley but not Mike Leach.  And as Stephon Diggs announced in College Park, his decision to stay in state and attend the University of Maryland, that was the all time high.  Things were finally coming together, the program was moving forward, maybe…just maybe we really all can get along.

Then comes the Danny O’Brien decision, and subsequent details of how he isn’t allowed to play for Vanderbilt.

So I guess it is becoming apparent this Randy Edsall issue is not going away.  Maybe if we can make a post season game in 2012, things will repair themselves.  But as of now, we still have a huge problem within Terp Nation.  What hurts the most is that for any change to be made, things will either have to go backwards, or not move forward and either one of those outcomes I can’t bear to take.  Which is why I’m so quick to dismiss 2011 and back our head coach.

But then something like this comes along and makes you wonder if anything will ever be right as long as Randy Edsall is at the helm.  Sigh.  I guess there are two sides to every story, but it’s one thing to have a HC who we don’t like, but to have a HC that the rest of the nation is starting to not like stings just a little bit more.  Like I said maybe some wins will bring everyone back together, because the only thing I am sure of is that Edsall won’t be going anywhere, anytime soon.  At least as long as Kevin Anderson is our AD.