in response to all the people who replied to my comment in the MM nick faust dunk story, thank you all very much. never done a fanpost before, this is new to me. "the jump," i feel so official. and like I said, i'll be meeting Zach when I go down to CP in early march so if anyone has something they would like me to say to him or ask him, I would be more than happy to relay that. just leave it in the comments.

and nah i don't feel like there should be more women's bball talk, i mean it's women's bball. they're a great team but the reason they got us guys out there was cuz we were better. you don't get better unless you practice/play against someone better. they (the coaches) had to make rules to make it fair. for instance, on screens we weren't allowed to switch or hedge screens...makes it tough to play defense haha. the scout team would have kept crushing the girls. we were in the early part of the season...hence the rules to make it fair.

sorry to all you lady terp fans out there but there's only a couple hundred fans at the home games for a reason. women in general have great fundamentals (boxing out is a great example), but that doesn't make for exciting basketball. dunking is exciting. quick drives with circus-shot finishes are exciting. the vast majority of women are simply not capable of that. that's what the casual bball fan looks for. the diehard women's fans look further (that's why there are a few hundred fans at each home game-they're all diehards). you don't see casual bball fans at women's games, whether it's UMD or anyone else. but at least for me, i prefer the more exciting game too. and i would classify myself as a diehard men's bball fan.

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so today is their first scrimmage against bowie state, so i thought i'd give a little recap on the women so far...

first and foremost, they are very young. the early part of the season might be a little ugly, but i think this team could end up being really, really good. the freshmen all have a lot of atheticism and potential. the problem is they dont have a lot of experience. lynetta kizer is looking very good this year, and is the vocal leader of the team. she's always talking, always encouraging the rest of the players. she uses her body better than just about anyone ive ever played with. add in the fact that she's about 6'4", she could have another monstrous year.

lori bjork is looking very good too. she's the only senior on the team, but has not played a minute for maryland (she graduated in 3 years from a school in iowa, and is now in grad school here at umd. last year she had to sit out because she transferred).she is a pure shooter, one that you can't give any extra space or she will kill you with her quick release. lori is pretty quiet, so she tends to lead by example.

anj barrett is a sophomore pg/sg who is another leader on the team, always trying to help out a teammate. she grew up in new york city and plays like she's been playing against guys her entire life. she goes to the rack strong, and is a great finisher. she frequently takes it off the bounce against the scout guys, and is fearless when she gets in the lane.

yemi oyefuwa is big, but she is fast. i have never seen a girl her size with anywhere near the type of foot speed that she has. yemi has all the tools to be a dominant women's post player, she just needs to work on her coordination. her shot is kinda awkward, but she can get away with it because she is so big and strong. she'll contribute to the team this year, especially if she works on her coordination and shooting.

jackie nared is a small forward/sg who can play ball. brenda tends to get on jackie a lot because i think she sees a ton of potential with jackie, and is trying to get jackie to realize that potential. jackie can do it all, but is a good shooter. her shot selection is sometimes suspect, but if she can stay within her own game and take smart shots, i think she could become a great player here at UMD. she also redshirted last year, so she still has 3 more years after this one.

kim rodgers is a sophomore who, like lori, leads by example. kim is in the process of coming back from a knee injury, so she can't go all out, but the girl can shoot. every jumpshot she takes is a swish. she plays smart and is able to hold her own even though she can't move anywhere near full speed. i'm amazed that she is even out on the court, as it just looks like it hurts to watch her run. as she recovers from the injury, i think she could see a lot of playing time and really help the team out.

the freshmen are after the jump

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today i got a chance to check out the guys mid-practice up at comcast. they had split up the bigs and the guards, and being a guard, i focused only on them (yeah im an idiot). they were doing like a 3 on 3 drill, and i gotta say they looked damn good in every aspect. i only caught a few minutes, but they looked sharp. the whole time greivis, adrian, and cliff were on offense, with hayes, mosley and pearman on offense. cliff's handles looked real good and made a bunch of good moves to the basket, but pearman surprisingly stuck with him and made it real difficult for him. bowie looked ever quicker than he did last year, pretty much having his way with hayes, but missed his 1 jump shot (a 3)...surprise, surprise... mosley was playing great D on greivis, but greivis had this one ridiculous turn-around and fade-away jumpshot that he nailed at which point i walked out, completely satisfied.

i only caught a glimpse of the big guys when i first walked in, but i was surprised to see ersin down there bangin with the big guys. i talked to him the other day as he was finishing up doing some extra dribbling drills and post work, and he said he felt like he's been playing pretty well recently, and is earning more respect from the guys and coaches. only hope for the best with him.

if you guys want to hear about the girl's team, i can certainly put up a post (pretty in-depth one at that) on how theyre doing. preseason number 5, not bad

on saturday, while i was warming up for the womens practice (im on the womens scout team), the guys were winding down. a handful of people were in the stands, one of whom i thought was strangely familiar. turns out it was harris, just chillin at the practice. he was there with his family, and looked like he was having a good time the whole time. i wish i had recognized him immediately so i could have said something to him (that would have looked pretty impressive if some random kid knew who you were and was excited about to possibly coming to umd). anyway, i was pretty psyched by this, and i hope the rest of his trip went well!

i also talked to ersin levent a little bit and he said hes doing great. he really is a great kid, and was doing really well in the sprints, probably like top 5 every time. i hope the kid sees the floor this year. cant wait for bball!!!

[Ed's Note by bbroman, 10/20/09 - FWIW, it appears Tobias wasn't in College Park for the first practice.]