Doing the Hokie Pokey

Okie Dokie, the Terps beat the Hokies at Comcast tonight, 61-48. That's the good news. But this wasn't the game the BCs were expecting. Hardly.

When the last place team in the conference comes into your house sporting a 1-11 record, and your team is the #15/17-ranked team in the nation, you really don't expect the game to be tied with fewer than 12 minutes left. But it was, 33-33. (From where we sat, across the court, it looked like Coach B's ears were getting a little smokie at her team being tied this late in the game with the Hokies.)

We don't know if the Terps were looking past VT to Boston on Sunday or Greensboro next week, but they definitely came out of the blocks . . . well, a little pokey. Fortunately, a late scoring surge and some defensive stops allowed Maryland to avoid what would have been an exceedingly embarrassing and costly chokie.

Again playing all but one minute of the game, super frosh Alyssa Thomas (and the BCs' odds on favorite for ACC Rokie Rookie of the Year) led all scorers with 15, while Lynetta Kizer notched another double-double (11 points and 12 boards). Oddly, for a team that has struggled all season with its long range shooting, tonight, when just about nothing else was going right, the Terps managed to light it up from beyond the arc. Laurin Mincy, off the bench, nailed four three-pointers, firing up the crowd -- as well as her teammates -- and providing the much-needed scoring separation that Maryland required to put this game away. Laurin (who finished with 12 points) got long-distance help from Natasha Cloud and Kim Rodgers (who didn't play the first half) . . . they each also hit a long ball tonight.

That's about it for the highlights. And while there were plenty of seniors in Comcast tonight -- all of us card-carrying AARP members -- there was not a single senior on the Terps bench. So the final home game of the regular season -- traditionally "Senior Night" -- lacked some of the special emotion that might have helped redeem this otherwise mostly-painful, seemingly interminable, evening.

But Maryland got the win, ugly though it was. The Terps now head to Boston, where they play the Eagles in the last game of the regular season on Sunday at 1 PM. After that, it's on to Greensboro and the ACC Tourney.

It's still too early to tell who and when the Terps will play first in Tournament Town. If Maryland can beat the Eagles on Sunday (not an easy assignment, if you recall the loss to BC at Comcast), then Maryland will still have a chance to finish fourth in the ACC standings and receive a bye on Thursday. But that will depend on the outcome of Miami's game at Georgia Tech (also on Sunday). If the Terps win and GT loses, then Maryland will jump to fourth (by virtue of the tie-break), earn the bye, and not play until next Friday. But a Terps' loss or a Yellow Jackets' win would result in a 1st round game for Maryland on Thursday.

But what the heck . . . it's ACC Tourney time! So whatever, whomever . . . Go Terps! See ya in Greensboro!

Put your right foot in, put your right foot out....

Go Terps . . . Beat the Eagles!