Maryland-Longwood

Here's a quick look at the game. All I really have to say is Longwood is ranked below 320 for RPI and that should tell you everything you need to know about this game. Expect triple digits and hopefully Mychal Parker can get some, or a lot, of playing time in this one. Go Terps!

Duke gets in on 2012

Alex Murphy, the No. 15 overall player in the 2012 class, has committed to Duke and coach Mike Krzyzewski over Florida, Boston College, North Carolina, Kentucky, West Virginia and Villanova.

"I've had a feeling in my gut for a long time now and when I went down to Duke for my unofficial [visit] last month it just kind of solidified things," said Murphy who shortened his list earlier this fall. "When I talked to Coach K at the end of that trip I knew that was where I wanted to be. The reason I didn't do it right then and there was that I wanted to come home and talk to my family and the people close to me."

Well it's never good news when Duke gets another top 20 commitment, it's just to be expected because it's Duke though.Hopefully we can pick someone up for 2012 soon! I'm looking at you Justin Anderson!

Recent News and Notes

*Madieu Williams won the Walter Payton man of the year last night. Not surprisingly he wasn't able to attend the Super Bowl because he was in Afghanistan meeting with troops.

*Maryland hired Andre Powell for the RB coach job, he's the former Clemson RB coach, his most notable "achievement" is C.J. Spiller.

* Justus Pickett committed to Maryland today, possibly providing the home run threat that we have all wanted.( he ran a 4.32 40 yard dash apparently)per Terrapintimes.com

*And apparently, Randy Shannon is interviewing for the DC job.per Bruce Feldmen at ESPN. IMO this would be a good hire, has Florida ties and while he was at Miami he made sure his players graduated, something that was unheard of for Miami before him.

Maryland handles Wake easily, 91-70

Not so suprising that Maryland got this win, it was a game at home against one of the worst teams the ACC has seen in a while and for much of the game the score wasn't as widely spread, with Wake hanging in the 10-12 point range for most of the game. Jordan Williams was his usual double-double self, posting a statline of 27pts, 15reb, 2ast, 1stl, and 3blk. That's a pretty nice game in case you didn't notice. Hauker Palsson had 9pts. Wake's leading scorer was C.J. Harris with 17 points. J.T Terrell picked up a technical at about the 11 minute mark in the 2nd half and the game wasn't the same after that. Maryland picked up their three point shooting today, with Ersin Levent even hitting one at the end, the Terps went 8-17(47%) from behind the arc. All in all a good game and a much needed win. Next up Maryland plays Longwood and after that a crucial matchup with Boston College next Saturday, more on our tourny chances later.

Maryland-Wake Forest

Today the Terps try to bounce back from the home loss against Duke with a home game against Wake Forest, which really shouldn't be that hard. The only good thing this game gets us is an ACC win, but it probably hurts our RPI a little bit. The game is at 1EST but it's at 12 for me. For those of you that don't live in the D.C area, like me, ESPN gamecast is always an option. Lets go more into the game, WFU has a pretty good three point shooting team. Travis Mckie is their leading scorer with almost 13ppg and their leading rebounder with about 7rpg and he's only a freshman. J.T Terrell is WFU's 2nd leading scorer at 12ppg and he is a lot like Iman Shumpert in that he is really streaky and inconsistent. Jordan Williams should be able to handle Mckie and I would expect Mosley or Howard to be on Terrell. I see Maryland winning this game fairly easily, well really easily, 97-63. Jordan will have another double-double and I see Terrell Stoglin getting 15+ points and 5+ assists in this game. Go Terps!

Torrey Smith

Turn it too ESPN 2 if you can, Torrey Smith is about to show his skills in the hands competion!

More on Brown

Edsall says he talked to Brown this morning and Brown said "he just wanted to be closer to home." per twitter. Sounds intriguing and I kind've understand the move just a little bit now, not a lot. If family was the issue why accept the job in the first place? Maybe just to try it out? Not to bash on him or anything it was his first "big" coaching gig though.

Confirmed

Dan Brown has taken the DC job at Uconn. This according to insidemdsports and the Washington Post.

Don Brown Leaving?

According to Insidemdsports.com he is. Will have more on this later, but for now he's apparently taking the DC job at Uconn.

The Thin line the Terps are Riding. (or not?)

As you all know, Maryland recently lost to Duke. At home. By 18 points. Not really the score you were expecting huh? Well that loss has put Maryland in a very..well not a very good situation. As of now the "marquee" win that the Terps currently have is @Penn State by 23. This win actually looks pretty good considering Penn State is a top 50 RPI team, although that may not hold. Now most people are saying that the Terps need to go 7-1 or 6-2(IMO 6-2 would have to happen for us to get in). Now look at this, Penn State is receiving 14 votes in the top 25 poll, but Maryland is receiving none, Maryland has the better record and beat them by 23 at there home gym, yet they're rated higher then us. I know that Penn State has some good wins but Michigan State was considered one of their best wins and Michigan State just lost to Iowa by 20, yes the same Iowa that lost to Long Beach State.According to Kenpom, Maryland is ranked 21st in the country. Kenpom uses a variety of factors to determine the rankings and have had good results in the past. Also according to Kenpom we have a 35% chance of getting 10 wins and a 17% chance of getting 11 wins. We have the 53rd SOS and a projected record of 10-6 in the ACC, which may get us in but a win or two would probably get us into the tournament. We are also rated ahead of other bubble teams such as Marquette,Vanderbilt, St. Marys, and Florida. Kenpom isn't one of the items the selection commitee looks at but it is a good indicator for what they may look at. I know the first few games to start our run look pretty easy(well, the Longwood game is a gimmie)but the Wake Forest game may be a trap game, especially with all the talk that we may have to win out just to get in, it's not like the players aren't hearing this stuff because they are. I think this Wake Forest game will be a tougher game then the Boston College game, BC just got destroyed by North Carolina. The VaTech and UNC games are obviously tough but another tough game has to be the Miami game, their record is deceiving. Even through all of this i see the Terps going 7-1 and reaching the final in the ACC tournament, which more than likely would get us in. In Gary I Trust.