Arriving in the Fall of 2010, Maryland added five freshman:

Terrell Stoglin

Pe'Shon Howard

Ashton Pankey

Hawk Palsson

Mychal Parker

Let's review, shall we?

Stoglin - I think we would all agree he is better than his ranking in high school, certainly the star of the class, but has clashed with both coaches, Turg even more than Gary.

Pe'shon - up and down freshman year, then broke his foot, came back for a few games, then ripped his ACL.

Pankey -- Missed entire freshman year to injury, then dissapointing sophmore year. Says he is coming back, but people said that about Parker as well, and at the very least his playing time looks squeezed in the future.

Palsson -- Better freshman season then we were probably expecting, then bolted for Europe.

Parker -- Hardly played freshman year, up and down sophomre searson, and is now gone.

I remember being excited about this class at the time, but now 2 are gone, who knows about Pankey, Pe' is an injusry question mark, and Stoglin is undoubtedly talented, but frustrates the hell out of his coaches.

I didn't think any group could top the Gilchrist/McCray/Garrison/NCM class for drama, but this class may have eclipsed it.

Like we always say, recruiting is a crapshoot, but this class is as good an example as any that you can't predict the future.

I really want the opinion of recruiting pros on this site. Obviously, Ben, Ben, Dave, Pete, Charlotte, bballpurist, word2bigbird, and everyone else. Right now, next year's team has 12 committed players. The seven returning players, plus the current 5 man class. We lose Padgett off of that team, which leaves us 2 scholarships for 2013. This allows us to get the twins, but only the twins.

My question is, are we all on the same page that "forcing" attrition is a no-no for the program to even consider? I feel like people don't acknowledge that enough in the comments in the different posts. You can't just toss out, "we need a point guard next year" without acknowledging that right now, we don't have room for one, unless one of the following two things are true:

1. The coaches KNOW that a player is leaving and it just hasn't been announced yet.

2. The coaches are willing to go into next year with 13 players and then pull a scholarship from someone if no one voluntarily leaves in order to make room for twins or any other 2013 recruits.

As a coach, you can't just bank on the idea, however likely, that "some attrition always happens". Maybe, but what if it doesn't? You are then in a position where you can't add the twins without forcing players to leave by rescinding their scholarships.

To me, forcing attrition is a terrible idea and should not be considered. And, we need to leave ourselves at least 2 spots in 2013. Therefore, by definition, we must be done with the 2012 class.

And if we do add anyone else, that is a sign to me that the coaches are willing to force people out, which is a very bad precedent to set.

What do you all think? Has Turg ever commented on this issue publicly?

I have watched all the games so far this year, but I just can't bring myself to watch the replay of the GT game on ESPN3. First truly bad loss of the season. Taking a step back, you have to give Turgeon and the rest of the coaches credit for keeping this team together, winning a lot of close games, and really getting the most out of their team coming into a pretty tough situation.

Would be nice to see this team stay together and play hard for the rest of the year. They will be the 8 seed in the tourney almost for sure now, so 1 win ACCT win is all we can hope for. Hopefully they make the NIT, but I am already on to next year. Biggest questions for next year are:

1. Do they add a fifth recruit? If they do it would HAVE to be point guard, and I'm not sure there are any worth adding left, except maybe the CA kid Charlotte posted about a few days ago. The Terps are currently 324th out of (http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/team/_/id/120/maryland-terrapins) 344 DI teams in assists. Yikes. Backup PG, better Pe'Shon, hopefully Seth Allen, I don't know, but that is scary stat. But, if they DO add a fifth, that leaves only 2 spots for 2013. We could ONLY add the twins. People take about attrition, and thay may happen, but Turgeon can't bank on it and then get caught without room for the players he wants without forcing out current players, which is a very bad move. Also, can we get a definitive answer on Len? Does he have 4 total years of eligibility or 3?

2. What to do at the three next year? Howard, if healthy at the start of the year, will start at the 1, and Stoglin will start at the 2. Do you go Faust at the 3 to start the game? Probably, but that leaves a your bench with Parker, Layman, and Allen in terms of perimeter options. Not a lot of proven ballhandlers. Ideally, Parker/Layman are good enough to play a combined 40 minutes at the 3, and Faust/Howard/Sotglin rotate all game at the 1 and 2, but I don't know if Parker and Layman will be able to step up. That is the most interesting position question to me for next year.

I am still optimistic about the future, but a tough year. Being a middle of the road ACC team sucks, and hopefully this does not last too long. Enjoy the Spring sports, football, yada, yada. I will check in for Bball recruiting news from time to time, and then back at it full force for the season next year. Great job, as always, with the site, this is a great way to follow the team and interact with other fans.

First of all shout out to myself, when I predicted 29 days ago in a post called "Stay with it" the following:

"Here is I how I see it playing out (VT - W, @MIA - L, UNC - L, @CLEM - W, @Duke - L, BC - W, @UVA - L, MIA - W, @GT - W, UNC - L, UVA - W). That means they will be 5-7 before winning 3 of 4 to close out the year 8-8."

Three to go, but spot-on so far. Really, all I did was predict they would lose the games they were supposed to, and win the ones they were supposed to with some optimism, but success either way.

Now, to finish, it is tough to project a win against UVA after they killed us, but maybe the Miami win finally allows this team to build some momentum. 8-8 and Turg should be COY, with Leonard Hamilton having the only other argument.

When you look at the schedule, I think it is quite possible that the loser of the NC State/Miami game next week will also be 8-8, and UVA could easily lose three straight and finish 8-8, playing UNC, FSU, and then us.

We are not dead yet.

First off, pack the house this Thursday for BC. The team needs the crowd to pick them up and help bring them back together. BC is no push over, they beat FSU and barely lost to VT after leading the whole game. We should win, but it will be a fight. I'd like to see Stoglin flip the script on the Duke aftermath, play the perfect Turgeon-style game and finish with 22 and 8 and only 2 turnovers on over 50% shooting. Turgeon and Stogling have a big man-hug at the end and Turgeon lavishes praise on Stoglin in the post-game ........

That'd be nice for the short-term.

I had another thought today, though, for the long-term. I came of age when Gary went to hist first Sweet Sixteen in '94. Going to the tournament 11 straight years, with 7 Sweet Sixteens, 2 Final Fours, and a National Championship, you come to think that it is our birth-right for Maryland to have a premier hoops program. Even when we have struggled in recent years, we have had enough success (04 ACC tourney, big wins during streak in 07, the whole 2010 season with Vasquez) that I always just assumed Maryland would be back on top soon enough. A second National Champion was a matter of when not if.

But ..... I know we have a few good recruits coming in next year, but is next year's team really going to be THAT much better? Cuse and Pitt are joining the ACC .... There are plenty of examples of programs that were won it all once and just never made it back to the top and went through long droughts. NC State, Louisville, Georgetown, Arkansas, Indiana ..... depends on how exactly you define success, but a return to glory is not guarenteed.

Depressing thought. What if we were a middle of the road ACC program for the next 10 years? It would have sucked to have been a Clemson or UVA or NC State fan the last 10 years.

Just finished watching the game. No question, Pe had rough moments down the stretch. And, the team in general could not handle the 1-3-1 zone, and that is on your point guard and your head coach, so Pe' and Turg have to take some blame there.

But did you see the first half? Sweet dime to Pankey, who is stuffed at the rim. Smart pass to Weijs when Wiejs was playing the four off a double on the pick and roll, bricks the 15 footer. Later, another beautiful pass to Weijs who fumbled it out-of-bounds.

Ben alluded to it in the summary. If Pe' was on a better team with better teammates that finished those plays, we would all applaud the plays. He does take the unneccesary risk for time to time, but you got to give him props for the plays he does create.

I will agree that he is not quite quick enough to be a top-flight starting ACC point guard.

But, let's remember the history. We only offered him a scholarship because Terence Ross de-committed. He was a backup plan. Let's not act like he was some 5-star who is dissappointing. He is who he is, he is the only guy capable of playing the point for us this year, and he is trying his ass off.

After watching tonight's team, I have one message for all of us. Stay with it.

First, for the current MD students. I had season tickets from 2000 -- 2006. Back then the Duke game was big, sure, but EVERY home game was loud, packed and a really tough place for opposing teams to play. You want to really honor Gary? Bring it every night, like he did. Show up, pack the house for VT this Saturday, and help will the Terps to victory.

Second, for all of us, and most importantly for the team themselves. Stay patient with the schedule. It gets tougher before a potential little run at the end of the year. I still see this team finishing 8-8 in the ACC this year, which may not be enough for the tournament, but it would be a hell of an accomplishment considering where we started. Here is I how I see it playing out (VT - W, @MIA - L, UNC - L, @CLEM - W, @Duke - L, BC - W, @UVA - L, MIA - W, @GT - W, UNC - L, UVA - W). That means they will be 5-7 before winning 3 of 4 to close out the year 8-8.

Stay with this team. They are making progress, they are getting better. The team needs to stay positive with each other, trust their teammates, they need rabid support every game from the fans, and we all need stay encouraging.

Who knows, at 8-8, they will likely be the six seed in the ACC tournamenet, and maybe two wins gets them in, depending on how things shake out. Stay with it, it's working.

Good win today, well played, but critical that we got it. The in-conference schedule this year does not do us any favors. We have to play the best three teams (Duke, UNC, UVA) all twice. At this point, we could win all our remaining games outside of those opponents and still only go 9-7.

The way I see the schedule we MUST win the five home games we have outside of those three teams. We are now 2-0 in those games, and then we play VT on Jan. 28th, BC on Feb. 16th, and Miami on Feb. 21st. We have to win those three remaining games.

From there it is about scratching out 4 or 5 more wins in the remaining 10 games to get to 9 or 10 ACC wins. Road games at GT and Clemson give us good opportunities, but the other 2 or 3 wins (@ FSU, Miami, Duke, UNC, and UVA and home against UVA, Duke and UNC) are going to be tough to come by. A win in any of those games would be an upset, outside of MAYBE Miami on the road, but we always suck there.

So I feel good about the win, but this is a tough conference schedule for Turgeon to play with a young team in his first year.

A lot of the pub tonight will be about Auslander getting minutes and hitting a few buckets.  Check out his profile:

http://www.umterps.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/auslander_john00.html

My question is, how does a guy who was averaging 1.4 points for a DIII college walk-on at Maryland in the first place, let alone put up these numbers?  It is one thing for a guy like Pearman who was a walk-on at Maryland to go and dominate DIII, but this guy didn't even play at Greensboro College.  What happened?  Who the hell was playing in front of him at Greensboro and do they want to transfer?  Did he really get that much better?

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Continue reading this post »

Haven't posted in a while, so two separate throughts.

1. In was mentioned in the comments section, but it deserves its own post.  Gary said, "I told Wilcox, Smith, Francis to go pro ..... those guys were all lottery.  Jordan's not.  And, I'm hearing that this NBA situation could be like hockey where the whole season is lost."  Truer words were never spoken.  I'm not hating on Jordan, its a free country, but there is no question Gary was right on the money.  "You are going to be drafted in the second round, and there is going to a long, painful lockout."  True and True.

2. Pankey's boasting about leading the leauge in rebounding and Turge's comments about him got me MODESTLY optimistic.  IF he really is healthy, then he has some skill.  He was a 91 on ESPN, same as new fav target Charles Mitchell.  I know its only ESPN and rankings aren't everything, but he was more highly regarded than Padgett coming out of high school.  I was expecting NOTHING from him this year, so I am somewhat more optimisitc about getting some production from him.

That is all

Anyone know how the visit went?  Interesting recruitment, I have come around on him a bit, not a bad thing to have a guard who can shoot available to play off the bench in a pinch.  But, if he does committ, that just about guarantees this is a 5 man class, right?  We have to take at least one more big.  Even if we miss on McGary, Upshaw, Carter or Macon, we will take someone at the 4 to get another big since Weijs graduates.

If we have a 5 man class, that leaves only 2 scholarships for 2013.  With the twins and Beejay, we want at least three.  I mean, Len or Stoglin may leave, or thay may be some other attrition, but 2 is not enough.

So, maybe I am overthinking it, but we have to take the scholarships into account.  Sanders seems like a good addition, but we need another big, and I don't want a squeeze for 2013.

I can't believe Vazquez is going to freaking beat Joe Smith ...... anyway, let's get back to something that matters.

I read on here a few days ago that Macon was visiting this weekend.  What happened, how did it go?  Anyone have an update?  Saw he was re-tweeting a bunch of Terps stuff but so was Grant .....   Are Terps fans just more active on Twitter than anyone else?

I think Macon would be a great addition to the class, face-up 4 that can RISE!!!!  If we added him, we have a solid 4 man class, and then we go super hard after McGary.  If we get him, we have an all-world class.  If we don't, we save the scholly, and still have two good big man additions in Macon and Shaq.  The two of them, plus Len plus Padgett and Pankey give us decent options next year and certainly we would at least enough legit big man.

Updates anyone?

First of all, I think the tournament is going to go according to seed, and it doesn't look like it is going to be close.  I think it would have been interesting to let us vote on the seeds.  I think virtually everyone would have Dixon, Smith, Vasquez, Walt Williams as the top Four in some order.  Who is #5?  Blake, Booth, Francis or Baxter?  We didn't get a chance to vote on that, but everyone is going to vote than any of them are better than the #12 seed, for example.

Anyway, here is my other idea that would take some research.  This is admittedly a pro-Gary methodology, but let's say we defined the core of his success as 1994 -- 2004.  What other program in the country was more successful during those exact 11 years?  What were the top ten programs during that period?

Gary was 114-62 in the ACC (65% winning percentage) with 2 ACC regular season championships, 1 ACC tournament championship, 11 straight tournament appearances, 7 sweet sixteens, 2 Final Fours, and 1 National Title.  Who was better than Maryland during those 11 years?

Well, Kentucky won 2 National Titles, went to 3 Final Fours, and went to 8 Sweet Sixteens during the same period.  Duke won 1 National Title, was 130-46 in the ACC, went to 8 Sweet Sixteens, 4 Final Fours, and won 7 Regular Season Titles and 5 ACC Tournaments.  So, um, yea, they were both better.

UConn, unfortunately, has to considered better too, as they got two National titles, only 2 Final Fours, but 8 Sweet Sixteens and 5 Big East Conference Titles and 7 Regular Season Titles.

MIchigan State may have been better.  They got a title, went to 3 Final Fours, but only 5 Sweet Sixteens.  They did win the Big 10 tourney twice and the regular season 4 times.  Sort of depends on how much weight you give the Big 10 track record vs. the ACC.  

Who else could be considered?  Arkansas, UCLA, Arizona, and Syracuse also won the National Title during this era.

Arizona had 3 Final Fours, and 7 Sweet Sixteens, but did have to vacate the 99 season.  They didn't have a conference tournament for most of this time, but they did win 1 and 4 regular season titles.  However, almost everyone would agree the Pac-10 was weaker than the ACC during these years.

Syracuse had 2 Final Fours, 6 Sweet Sixteens, 2 Regular Season Titles, and zero conference tourney titles, and missed the tournament in 97.

UCLA had 1 Final Four, 6 Sweet Sixteens, and 3 Regular Season Titles.  But, missed the tournament in 03 and 04 and had to vacate 99 appearance.

Arkansas had 2 Final Fours, but only 1 other Sweet Sixteen.

So, I would rank them:

1. Kentucky

2. UConn

3. Duke

4. Maryland

5. Arizona

6. Michigan State

7. Syracuse

8. UCLA

9. Arkansas

10. Someone who didn't win a title during this time (quick research would suggest Kansas, who had 7 Sweet Sixteens, and 2 Final Fours, or UNC who only had 4 Sweet Sixteens but went to the Final Four all four times.  In fact, both are probably better than Arkansas for this period, depends on how much weight you give the title.  OK State also had 2 Final Fours, but only 3 Sweet Sixteens)

So, thoughts?  This suggests Gary, during his prime, ran the 4th best program in the country.  And, yes, I know I am cherry-picking the years, and if you looked at Gary's entire career, Maryland is not close the 4th best program in the country.  

But, still, for these 11 years, not too shabby.  Not too shabby at all.  We will all be very, very excited if Turgeon has even close to the same success 2012 -- 2022.  How would you rank them?

Are we going to finish?  Last post was Saturday, let's get it going here ...... :)

Sorry nothing else to say ......

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I got no love in the comments section of the Smith/Gilchrist post, so I am starting my own. 

How is Laron Profit not only not on the list, but not even in the running for the play-in game?!?!?!?

Career Stats here:

http://terrapinstats.com/bb/profile.cfm?playerid=322

NCM:

http://terrapinstats.com/bb/profile.cfm?playerid=350

Strawberry:

http://terrapinstats.com/bb/profile.cfm?playerid=355

Simpkins is a different type of player, but here are his:

http://terrapinstats.com/bb/profile.cfm?playerid=310

And, Profit's teams were far superior, never missing the tournament and playing a key role in Sweet Sixteen teams his junior and senior year.

This is just no contest, he clearly had a better career than anyone on this list, nevermind Gilchrist and Massenburg.  Someone, give me the explanation of why he wasn't even considered in the play-in game?

I do like the contest, but I need some further explanation.  I did call Wilcox over Francis, btw, but I don't think that quite happened.  OK, someone, please hit me up with an explanation on the above.

I like this tournament deal.  Here is my prediction for how the rest shakes out.  Guess in bold

1. Juan Dixon 2. Joe Smith 3. Vasquez 4. Walt Williams 5. Steve Blake 6. Keith Booth 7. Franchise 8. Lonny Baxter 9. Johnny Rhodes 10. Wilcox 11. Drew Nicholas 12. Jordan Williams 13. Terrence Morris 14. Laron Profit 15. Gilchrist 16. DJ Strawberry
I would have given Gist, Rodney Elliott and even Ekezie a shot in the play-in game over NCM, Caner-Medley had no basketball IQ.
And Drew is way too high, can you really say Drew had a better career then Terence Morris, who started for three years and went to the Final Four as a senior, vs. Drew who started one and went to the Sweet Sixteen as a senior?  Drew probably deserves to be on the list, but 11 is too high.  I always liked him and thought he was under-rated, but you guys have him too high.
Please tell me Joe Smith is #2.  Vasquez was amazing, but Smith was the National Player of the Year.
The rest looks good.  
If the above is correct, I pick a 10-7 upset of Wilcox over Steve Francis, and the rest holding to seeding form. Dixon, Smith, Vasquez and Williams will all make it to the Final Four.  Smith will beat Vasquez, but had the Wizard been seeded #3 he might have upset Smith and made it to the Final. 
As it is, Dixon over Smith in the Final.   

We have discussed a lot the need to play four guards next season and the lack of inside depth.  (BTW, the only bright spot about Hawk leaving, at least now we will definitely find out if Parker can play.  There is no choice but to give him a lot of time now.  With 8 guys, everyone will get a lot of time.)

But, we haven't talked enough about the actual half-court offense we will play next year.  It will be weird not to see the flex, I could run that offense in my sleep now after watching the Terps all these years.  We know Turgeon will "want to run" (maybe less so now that, again, we only have 8 players), but that is not what I am asking.  Will he run a drive and kick like Duke?  A tight triple-post like BC used to under Al Skinner?  High-low?  A lot of pick and rolls?

What sets did he run at A&M?  Will we mimic that?  Will it be a hybrid?

Thoughts?  Or, better yet, and real, informed insights?

We are all excited for the recruits for 2012, but I wanted to take a stab at next year.  I think the only way we stay competitive is if we execute the four guard strategy.  My plan would be as follows:

Starters:

PG Stoglin (30 min.)

SG Faust (25 min.)

SF Mosley (33 min.)

F Palsson (21 min.)

C Padgett (18 min.)

Bench:

G Howard (25 min.)

F Parker (21 min.)

C Pankey (15 min.)

C Weijs (12 min.)

The above adds up to the 200 minutes available in a game. 

My rational:

You have to start Faust.  We are going to have to play at a very fast pace, and you have to have either Howard or Stoglin in the game at all times.  If we are running full steam, and both need a blow at the same time, we are screwed.  I think you have to bring Howard off the bench so we are sure either he or Stoglin are always fresh.

The only way we are going to come anywhere close on the boards is if Padgett/Pankey/Weijs go balls out for the time they are in.  I think we go four guards, have a three-headed monster at center, and they all better be dead tired after their shift.  Crash the boards, block shots, finish plays, etc.  They are going to have to play balls out for 5 min. stretches each, that will give us the best chance.

Best case, we are 7-9 with that strategy.  If we go traditional, and try and play 2 out of the 3 together, we are going to get killed.

First off, Ben, please don't delete this because I probably won't reach the required number of legit words.  I saw in one of the comment threads on here that Cleare has a tournament somewhere in the area and is expected to commit when he is there.  I don't have time to go hunt for it, can someone confirm this is the case?  When and where is the tournament?

I know there is a chance this is just heresay, but I wanted to find out so at least I mark that as the next possible time we get a bit of good news.

OK, so here I am.  I don't want to just type TERPS.  I think this is a legit use of the FanPost, because I am seeking real information.  And, Cleare is clearly a MD lean, so there may be more to this than the typical rumor.  So, yea, I'm OK, I don't think this willl get deleted. 

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/blog/_/name/katz_andy/id/6562855/a-smoother-transition-mark-turgeon

Couple of interesting points here:

1. He says , "we'll have nine bodies here."  Shit.  That is as good an indication as any that Breunig will not be back.  I have seen a number of people on here say this doesn't matter, but I think this is critical.  I never thought I would long for the days Dave Neal, Milbourne and Gregory, but those three look like Hall of Famers compared to Weijs, Pankey and Padgett.  You can't win if you can't rebound the basketball, and we are going to get murdered on the glass.  What happens when one gets in foul trouble, or worse yet, if one gets hurt?  Forcing Hawk, Mosley or Parker to play out of position and go 4 guards is a terrible solution.  The bigs were not going to be great, or even average with Breunig, but he was at least another body to keep things respectable.  Now, our front line is just embarrassingly thin.

2. I forgot what #2 is, I am just so pissed off they are letting Breunig walk and that our bigs are going to be such a freaking embarrassment next year.  MT has to keep the Terps respectable through this transition year, or a culture of losing will creep in.  Do you guys know that the WORST Gary ever did in the ACC post the probation years was 7-9?  From 1994 -- 2011.  18 straight years.  No one can say that.  Not Duke, not Carolina, not anyone.  All of them had at least one year of really sucking during that timeframe.  We never had one under Gary, and I don't want to start now.  Gary took a lot of shit, but our teams ranged from competitive to great year after year.  They were never bottom feeders.  If we aren't going to keep Breunig, please add a big from somewhere to get some freaking rebounds to allow Stoglin and Faust, et al. to do what they do best.  That way, we will at least be a respectable team.

According to ESPN, Breunig is not even considering the Terps anymore.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/recruiting/player/_/id/130016/martin-breunig

I don't know how true this is, but I find it odd, especially if you look at the other schools on his list.  There is no one else even close to MD in stature.  I hope he re-thinks it and comes back to give us another post presence.

I also think this shows how re-committed Gary was to recruiting.  Did he sleep on it for  few years?  yes.  Was it back on the upswing?  YES.  Wish he would have stayed around to enjoy it, and I hope Turgeon can keep momentum going.

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This may have been covered in comments in other posts, so sorry if this is repetitive.  Plus the question is certainly getting ahead of ourselves.

But, if Miller is hired, what about Arizona recuits?  The same rational that said we would let Faust/Gibbs out of their LOIs because of a coaching change would lead to those guys having the same choice, right?  I wouldn't mind adding Sidiki Johnson or Angelo Chol.  Ironic that Chol just signed his LOI today.  If we keep all our guys, and manage to add a good big because of a coaching change that brings players with him, that won't be so bad.

Won't soften the blow of Gary retiring, but it could make 2011 more interesting.  I am also starting to warm up to the idea of at least seeing a different style of play.  Williams' flex worked wonders, but I have always thought we would benefit more from some drive and kick.  Totally depends on who the coach is, though.

OK, I can finally react.  This is a complete and utter shock.  I am surprised, as we all are, that Gary is not staying for the coming upswing in recruiting.  I am surprised that he is not staying and going out relatively on top in two years or so.

Reflecting, I am reminded how identified Gary was/is with the University of Maryland.  There are more successful coaches and more well known coaches, but few coaches were/are as identified with their University as Gary.  Coach K, Boeheim, maybe Calhoun.  I always told myself that I would be much less of fan if the University forced him out (always unthinkable in my mind), but now that he retired on his own, I still think it will be tough for me to muster the same passion.

I didn't go to Maryland, I just grew up playing hoop in Baltimore without an NBA team to cheer for and started rooting for the Terps right when the sanctions were lifted and Smith/Booth made the Sweet Sixteen as freshmen.  I think I was more of a Gary fan that a Maryland fan.  I grew disinterested in the Orioles and Ravens and pro sports in general because the characters are always chagning and money governs all.  I am not naive enough to think that the same isn't true in college sports, but Gary always represented the antithesis of all that.  He was constant, he did things the right way, and he followed an ethos of how to win.  

I don't blame him for leaving, I just wish he got to enjoy a few more years of success which seemed like they were coming.  I am reminded of that image of Tarkanian from the recent HBO special (ironic I would think of that image considering how much controversary he got in when Gary was completely clean) where Tark kicked back with his hands on his head and watched his team dominate.  Gary never got to enjoy it that way.  But, maybe, he wasn't meant to and wouldn't have enjoyed it anyway.  He was a worker, defiant and proud to the end. 

Thank you, Gary.  Thank you for staying true to yourself, leading the progam back to prominence, and most of all, thank you for wonderful 22 years of Terp basketball.  Enjoy reteriment, you've earned it.

Did my post about Shaq Cleare visiting get deleted?  Just because it wasn't long enough to be a Fan Post?  I thought this was supposed to be a place where we could ask questions and discuss and chat about the Terps.  I have always been a responsible poster and followed the rules.

You guys do a great job with the site, sorry if I was bending the rules, but that seems a little Gestapo to me.  Just trying to get some conversation started on a recruit we all want.

Anyway, I will follow the rules from now on.  If anyone does get information about him visiting, please share.  I think he is a great recruit and hopefully add to what we all want, which is a return to greatness for our favorite team.  Gary is a Hall of Famer and deserves to go out on top.

And this post now officially has enough words.

I was thinking about the Jordan Williams situation, and the constant Gary recruting debate of one and done's vs. 4 year guys and I got to thinking about John Glichrist.  It could be argued that coaches like Calipari, Coach K, maybe Pitino do a better job of of managing players expectations of the NBA since they have lived in that world (coach K via the Olympics.

Gilchrist clearly focused more on his NBA chances than his Maryland team during his junior season, and it killed that season.  First year they missed the tournament since the sanctions were lifted, and it has been rocky ever since.

I don't know if that made Gary reluctant to recruit kids that could leave early, (seems crazy to say, you stil have to recruit good players) but that situation was not handled well.

Vasquez chose to come back, and that worked out great, but that is a little different because he was senior, so he was leaving either way, and they had a great relationship to start.

I think it is ultimately likely that Jordan Williams returns, but he is clearly going to test the process this summer.  I think the best we can hope for is that he returns, but he will have an eye on how he can improve his stock his junior year.  I hope he and Gary manage that situation a whole lot better than Gary and Gilchrist did.

Deserves to have the court named after him and deserves to retire when he wants to leave.  But, it really sucks that we are not in the tournament right now.  I remember after Maryland got handled by UCLA back in 2000 in the second round, I remember clearly thinking, "this is it, they have everyone coming back, they have to make a run next year or it might be time to turn the program over to someone else."  Well, the next year they went to the Final Four, and then obviously 2002, and that gave Gary legend status in my mind.

I think though this is another turning point.  We have things turning around, we are coming off a very disappointing season, and this is it, they got to make a run.  I am getting a similar feeling to the one I got in 2000.  Not saying we are going to go to the Final Four next year, but if Jordan stayed through his senior year (maybe unlikely) we would be legit title contenders in 2013.

I have been an avid Gary supporter since 2002, despite the down years, and I will be for the next two.  If we are still missing the tournament a couple of years from now ...... I don't even want to say it out loud.  You are a legend, just make one more run with a new group of players and you will walk away a Hall of Famer.

#Maryland #Terps #Let's Fing get it done!!!!!