Just In Case

Just on the off chance you didn't see Blake Hoffarber's amazing game winning shot from the Minnesota-Indiana game last night....

Cardiac Kids

This Maryland team wants to give my heart a run for its money. Giving up large leads and almost losing the game late on the road is not conducive to sedate fans. But a win on the road in conference is still a big deal.

But some more Terps need to step up. You can't win too many games in the NCAA Tournament with James Gist and Greivis Vasquez doing the heavy lifty and having Bambale Osby put up a goose egg in the points column. The win is nice, but the team needs more consistent scoring from the rest of the team.

Still, the Terps are in better position for an at-large berth and a chance to finish the ACC season at 10-6...

Bubble Trouble

It's kind of amazing that we are even discussing the possibility of Maryland making the NCAA tournament considering where the Terps were back in December. But once again the team is looking like they are trying to find ways to prove once again that you can't spell Terrapins without N-I-T.

I think the most frustrating thing about this Terps squad is how damn talented they are. Boom Osby, Greivis Vasquez, James Gist are all outstanding ballplayers who have NBA talent. Landon Milbourne and Eric Hayes, despite being sophomores, ave made outstanding contributions. When this team is on their game, they can beat anybody.

And maybe that's what's so damn frustrating is the fact that they can beat anybody, but often lose games that they have no business losing. Blowing a 14-point lead to Virginia Tech at home on Wednesday is unconscionable. A 15-point road loss at equally bubble worthy Miami doesn't help either. In fact, the Terps have lost three out of four, and with only three conference games left (at Wake, home against Clemson, and at Virginia) the best the team can hope for is 20-11 overall and a 10-6 conference record going into the ACC tournament, and hoping that 10-6 is good enough to get a first-round bye.

Even then, the Terps are going to have to win at least a game or two in Charlotte to feel safe about their chances. The losses to Missouri, Ohio, Virginia Commonwealth, and especially American make it very difficult for the Terps to make a case for an at-large bid otherwise.

I hope that Coach Williams can keep the troops motivated and focused the last few weeks of the season, because as of right now, common sense and the RPI tells us that teams like South Alabama, New Mexico, Kent State, and even Stephen F. Austin might have a better claim on an at-large berth than the Terps. But this team is good enough to go a long way in the tournament....if they can get there.

What...the...hell?

American 67, Maryland 59

Seriously, American just beat Maryland...at Comcast Center, giving the Terps two straight non-conference home losses (losing to Ohio last time out). Losing to Patriot League and MAC teams is not a way to build your resume for the tournament.

Greivis Vasquez cannot be forced to be a one man band like he was today if the Terps expect to dance come March. Looks like a long year for Maryland this season...

Already?

Who knew that the college basketball season started tonight? Action tips off with scintillating games: Tennessee-Martin at # 3 Memphis and Richmond at Maine.

The Terps don't tip off in a game that counts until playing the juggernaut North Florida Ospreys on Sunday....

Big Fat Zero

I am as big a Maryland basketball fan as anybody, but this is not a good thing to hear:

The Maryland men's basketball team was the only one in the country that failed to graduate within six years any of its recruits who entered school between 1997 and 2000, NCAA statistics released today showed.

The program's graduation success rate, calculated by an NCAA formula, fell for the third straight year at a time when graduation rates are rising nationally for men's basketball programs. The number shows that none of starters and top reserves of Maryland's 2002 national championship team graduated within six years of entering school.

I think the tension between the academic side and the big business side of college athletics are well documented. And maybe it is too much to expect student-athletes to achieve at high levels on the high pressure stage of athletics and academics at the same time.

But the fact of the matter is that most of these kids are getting full scholarships to attend a state school. Perhaps they are attending this public school at the expense of other children who may not have the academic credentials to get it. They may be going at the expense of a student who had the grades, but not the financial means to pay for school. The point is that these student-athletes are getting an opportunity that somebody else is not. They are getting a free education. Many of these athletes have made the most of their time in school, earned degrees, and gone about their business.

As a taxpayer in a state spending itself down a hole, I wonder how much state money is going to fund the education of student-athletes who don't worry so much about the first of their responsibilities...

Stupid Coach Tricks

Why do things like this happen?:

Rich history wasn't enough to lure Billy Donovan away from Florida. In the end, it was just riches.

Donovan will have plenty of them after agreeing to a five-year deal paying $5.5 million annually to coach the Orlando Magic, an official in the NBA told The Associated Press on Thursday. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because the contract was agreed to but not signed.

Successful college coaches who have the opportunity to become living legends and have job security for life take the money and run off to the pros? The list of casualties is, in the NFL and the NBA.

Rick Pitino, Lon Kruger, Mike Montgomery, Nick Saban, Tim Floyd, June Jones, Dennis Erickson, Butch Davis, Leonard Hamilton, etc. and so forth.

Billy Donovan is going to be a very rich, albeit very unemployed, guy in a couple of years...

Here it Is

My 2007 bracket, for informational purposes.

Bracketed Thinking

So the additional bracket comments beyond this were not forthcoming last night. But I have had some time to think about the bracket, and here are some additional thoughts:

• I spoke of Davidson being underseeded. But there really was not a lot of wiggle room to move them if you look at the S-curve. They most reasonable move could have been to a # 12 seed, because they have a better profile than Illinois, Arkansas, and Long Beach State. And while Davidson's profile is better than George Washington's, Old Dominion clearly would have moved up to an # 11 had GW dropped down. The Terps just got unlucky in that the other # 13's (Albany, Holy Cross, and New Mexico State) aren't as good as Davidson.
  
  
• Bank on it; the Wildcats win the #8-#9 game in the West Region.
  
  
• I still can't understand how Syracuse, Drexel, and to a certain extent Florida State were left out of the field. both Syracuse and Florida State beat the best teams in their conference (Syracuse won 10 games in the Big East). Drexel played more road games than home games and went 14-5 in road/neutral games.
  
  
• That being said, who should have been left out? The only clear arguments can be made that Illinois and Arkansas should have stayed home. Arkansas had 13 losses and just got lucky that they made a run to the SEC Championship game. Regardless, since they did make it both teams should have been 13 seeds.
  
  
• The lack of respect for Drexel, Syracuse, and Florida State carried over to the NIT field as well, as all three schools were passed over as # 1 seeds. Syracuse and Florida State wound up as # 2's and Drexel wound up as a # 3, potentially sending them on the road in the 2nd Round to Oklahoma State. (Air Force, Clemson, Mississippi State, and West Virginia wound up as the top seeds). On top of that, they have to play a streaking NC State team in the first round.
  
  
• Don't cry for Air Force not making the NCAA tournament. When you lose you last four, you have nobody to blame but yourself, even if they did have the best RPI (30) not to make the tournament.
  
  
• Florida as the overall # 1 seed in the tournament is puzzling. Look at the losses the top 4 seeds had:
  
  • Overall # 1: Florida: Kansas, at Florida State, at Vanderbilt, at LSU, at Tennessee
  • Overall # 2: North Carolina: Gonzaga(N), at Virginia Tech, NC State, Virginia Tech, at Maryland, at Georgia Tech
  • Overall # 3: Ohio State: at North Carolina, at Florida, at Wisconsin
  • Overall # 4: Kansas: Oral Roberts, at DePaul, at Texas Tech, Texas A&M
    
    
• Ohio State loses to thee teams on the road all year, and they get stuck with the overall # 3. Meanwhile, North Carolina loses six games and winds up # 2 overall, presumably only because of the head-to-head win over Ohio State. And look at the RPI of those four teams:
  
  • Overall # 1: Florida: 6
  • Overall # 2: North Carolina: 3
  • Overall # 3: Ohio State: 1
  • Overall # 4: Kansas: 10
  Figure that out.
  
  
• Four games see mid-major teams taking on each other.
  
  • Midwest: # 5 Butler vs. # 12 Old Dominion
  • West: # 4 Southern Illinois vs # 13 Holy Cross
  • South: # 8 BYU vs # 9 Xavier
  • South: # 7 Nevada vs # 10 Creighton
    
    
• Niagara got completely hosed; they wind up in the play in game despite having a better RPI than three #16's and two # 15's.
  
  
• I wonder if Louisville is helped or hindered by the fact they have to play in the home arrival of their arch rivals in their first round pod...
  
  
• Is it just me or does Winthrop have a legitimate chance to get to the Elite Eight?
  
  
• Should Maryland be in the West region? Southern Illinois should have been (relatively) protected in the Midwest, but could not be assigned to that region since the Missouri Valley Conference is hosting the regional.
  
  
• On the top half of the East Region, every time but Eastern Kentucky has appeared in the Final Four at some point. (Even New Mexico State, in 1970 with two other juggernaut programs, Jacksonville and St. Bonaventure).
  
  
• For the first time in a long-time Gonzaga is actually an underdog team. The last time three times were as low as a # 10, they played the second weekend(1999, 2000, and 2001).
  

I'll post my projected bracket closer to Thursday...

Danger, Danger

Maryland gets a # 4....but has to play an incredibly good (and probably underseeded) # 13 seed in Davidson. This has shades of 1997 (an underseeded # 5 seed Terps lose to an underseeded # 12 seed Charleston) all over it.

More on the rest of the bracket later...

Bizzaro World

Maryland lays an egg against Miami. (Less said, the better about this one)

Cal knocks off # 3 UCLA.

NC State wipes out Duke.

Wyoming beats Air Force.

Louisville and West Virginia go double overtime.

They don't call in March Madness for nothing.

Tournament Ready

Maryland 89, North Carolina 87.

I think that my naysaying about the Terps' tourney hopes just last month is not a real concern at the moment...

Broken Record

Of course, deep down I knew that the Terps played their way out of the NCAA Tournament and into the NIT by losing four straight down the stretch. Had the Terps won one or two of those games, they make the tournament. Sure, they might have made it in had Utah and Pacific both won Saturday night. But the Terps received the tournament spot that they earned.
- Me, 3/14/2005

Barring a late run through the ACC tournament, the Maryland Terrapins will once again find themselves in the NIT...If the Terps do wind up in the NIT, once again they will have earned their spot.
- Me, 2/23/2006

Hi, remember us? We were ranked well into the season with hopes of making a Sweet 16 run. Now we're on the brink of planning an NIT road trip.
- ESPN.com's Doug Gottlieb, talking about Maryland and a few other teams, 1/22/2007