Sunday, February 24, 2013

White Out Wiped Out

There's no way to sugar coat today's game.  Duke was the far better team this afternoon.  The Blue Devils played very well, and the Terps did not.  Duke won, 75-59.  It wasn't much fun for the BCs and the nearly 16,000 other Maryland fans who packed Comcast on a beautiful afternoon.  We were hoping for a different kind of game. Sigh.

If the stars align, the Terps might get a third shot at Duke this season in Greensboro, and perhaps the third time will be the charm.  The second certainly wasn't.

Next up for the Terps is their penultimate regular season game, on Thursday against Florida State at 7pm.  The game will be shown on ESPN3.

Go Terps! . . . Beat the 'Noles!

22 Comments:

At 8:05 PM, Blogger vmaione said...

I wonder if the Terps are just getting tired. The season gets harder towards the end. They seemed to lack energy today, when you would think they'd have been the agressive team -- could it be fatigue?

 
At 11:28 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

A lost to Puke to start the week and the possibility of a sequester by the end of the week. Not so good to be a gov't contractor Terp fan.

Team lacked energy but refs sucked the life out of them and me. Even CP mentioned some ticky-tack fouls during her broadcast.

Great crowd at game. Section 114.

 
At 12:31 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

So tough for the young Terps as they learn what it is like to play at this level of basketball. Tierney is coming back from injury and Chloe and Malina are improving. I thought Alicia played well today - showed a lot of heart.

 
At 8:14 AM, Blogger BasketCases said...

Dear Anon/Sec. 114 at 11:28pm,

Let's be honest here. Maryland was outplayed, and whining about the officials doesn't change that. The Terps weren't making their shots, and the Blue Devils were. That wasn't the officiating. It was on off day for Maryland.

-- BC

 
At 10:46 AM, Anonymous GCM said...

Agree, BCs. Duke shot 50% from 3 pt range; the Terps shot 16.7%. Duke was 11/12 from the free throw line; the Terps were 4/7. The most telling stat is down at the bottom of the stat sheet: Duke outscored the Terps in the paint 38-26, and the paint is supposed to be the Terps strength.

Still, our Terp women have been inspiring to watch this year, given the injuries to our starting guards. The year isn't over yet, but the limitations of our roster are clear. Alyssa is wonderful, but you need more than one wonderful player, viz., Britney and Odyssey.

 
At 11:35 AM, Blogger fr mike said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

 
At 11:37 AM, Blogger fr mike said...

PEACE! It was on off day for Maryland. I have really enjoyed the rivalry. I hope it can somehow continue in the future.

 
At 12:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Maryland players and coaches would never use it as an excuse, but the grind of this season with such a small active roster must be weighing on them! Having to limit practice time because of injury doesn't help either. I think, considering all that, they have been amazing this season.

 
At 2:40 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Not sure if you have seen the news - http://www.wnba.com/dream/news/dreamsecuresveterancoachingstaff.html

 
At 4:18 PM, Blogger BasketCases said...

Dear Anonymous 2:40 PM,

Thanks for the link!

No, we hadn't seen it, but we are really pleased to learn that Julie is back in the WNBA.

--BC

 
At 5:50 PM, Anonymous Sue/Durham said...

Thank you BC's for pointing out to Sec.114 that your team was outplayed. Also not pleased to have our team name perverted as it was. We are all stunned by the Duke players performance yesterday. Of course, as a DUKE fan, I'm stunned in a good way.

I'm hoping we can play again in the Tourney, after your players get a little time off to rest up and Pfirman gets more in game shape.

We both played our starters the same amount, but ours haven't shouldered the load the whole season like yours have. I LOVE Alyssa! (not as much as Chelsea, though). Both are awesome.

Cheers! And hope the Team Tyler fund cashed in yesterday! Go Tyler!!!

 
At 10:21 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Duke's backup PG played great. I'm not sure why Coach JPM played up the loss of Gray so much in her post-game comments; Duke clearly has more depth than Maryland, and notwithstanding the loss of Gray, has suffered fewer significant injuries than Maryland (sorry Dukies, but losing Mincy+Moseley+Pfirman>losing Gray). JPM has always struck me as a bit of an odd duck (witness her bizarre deleted tweets from last week).

 
At 12:04 AM, Blogger dcsportsfan said...

If the Terps didn't have the early injuries to Mincy, Moseley, and Pfirman, they'd have a much better chance to win all these games vs. other fellow top 10 teams. That said, no one's going to feel sorry for Maryland, but there's still the ACC and NCAA tourneys to play.

 
At 8:55 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

giveing Duke all the credit for a great game plan our coachs were not ready for the defense to trap AT at the top forceing other players to play above the ability at this time we are short of players but wheb your star must give up the ball on a trap you must move better without the ball and hit your open shots or you lose as to which player is better if Chelsy had to play all five positions for Duke would she be as efftive as AT the no she is"nt strong enough

 
At 6:26 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why the heck isn't brenda frese on the espn poll for coach of the year? Ridiculous she isn't. But holly Warwick is... Makes no sense.

 
At 2:45 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just wanted to point out that "Mincy+Moseley+Pfirman" should be "Mincy+Moseley+Townsend". Especially now that Pfirman is playing again.

 
At 10:51 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Clearly Pfirman isn't back in the groove yet though. She has played poorly since her return.

 
At 5:11 PM, Anonymous GCM said...

Alas, she wasn't very efficient before the injury either, meaning that her shooting percentage was pretty low--although not as low as it is now. I would guess that rehabbing one's confidence in the wake of a knee injury is just as much if not more work than rehabbing the knee itself.

But the question shines a light on Maryland's primary vulnerabilities: the absence of balanced scoring. I ran some stats a few days ago (before the FSU game) and at that point, Tianna and Alyssa were accounting for 47.6% of Maryland's total points. I checked the stats for a few other teams and none of them relied so heavily on just two players, not even Baylor.

Consider Duke, for instance: their two top scorers have been Elizabeth Williams and Chelsea Gray--yet the two of them have accounted for only 37.5% of Duke's points.

What this unbalanced scoring means for us is that our better opponents can focus their defenses on Tianna and/or Alyssa and not pay much attention to everybody else because they know that nobody else is going to beat them. So they clog the paint, prevent the interior passes and the drives, thereby shutting down our inside game, and shutting us down.


 
At 12:25 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yep GCM, I think you hit it right on. As we all know having Mincy and Mosely would have brought that 47 percent down considerably. Plus, AT wouldn't be playing a position that she clearly can't play--PG.

 
At 11:45 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Last I looked, AT is 2nd in the ACC in assists.

 
At 4:32 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

it;s not always the stats that say how a person is playing, although she has played well she will play much better with less responsibilty like next year GO TERPS

 
At 9:21 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

AT is 2nd in assists--yes. But, she has 119 turnovers. Chelsey Gray (leading in assists) has 66. AT is no PG. not knocking her...she's a 3 having to play out of position due to injuries. Incredible player no doubt. I'll just be happy next year for her when she can get back to her natural position.

 

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