The majority of college basketball fans and media have felt all year that the ACC was experiencing a down year. My response to this every time has been that ALL of college basketball was experiencing a down year, not just the ACC.

The Duke Blue Devils carried the torch for the ACC, and cut down the nets in Indianapolis to win the 2010 National Title over Butler, 61-59. Even though Butler was less regarded as the the Horizon League champion, they were ranked #8 in most preseason polls, and proved to a national audience that they were no Cinderella.

The game was tight for 40 minutes, and could have been won by either team. I am sure that the ratings were excellent for CBS, as the game was close and featured a nail-biting finish. However, it was clearly evident that these were not GREAT basketball teams. This game was indicative of the entire 2009-2010 season: there were a number of very good teams, but there were NO great teams.

Normally the formula to win a national championship requires that you carry three NBA prospects on your roster. For this reason, Kansas and Kentucky were the pre-tournament favorites. Even though they are not all NBA prospects, Duke did bolster a Big Three: Scheyer, Singler, and Smith accounted for 47 of Duke’s 61 points in the win over Butler.

Butler carried a 25 game win streak into the Championship game, and had not suffered a defeat since losing at UAB on December 22nd. Ironically, UAB was a solid team that recently had their own 45-game non-conference home unbeaten streak ended by North Carolina in the NIT. ACC anyone?

Before the tournament started, NOBODY thought that the Terps had any chance of making it to the Final 4. Now that the tournament has ended, would it really have been so improbable? All year there seemed to be an asterisk next to the Terps accomplishments, because the conference was “down”. In hindsight, maybe the Terps and Duke were actually legit relative to the current landscape of college basketball. Yet the conference was down relative to the great players and teams of the past. The ACC lost 13 of its top 15 players from last season, yet featured a team that won the national championship.

If there was ever a year for David (mid-major) to beat Goliath (power conference), this was it. Butler had great perimeter defenders in Nored and Mack, a legit NBA caliber combo guard that could get to the rim in Hayward, and a solid big man in Howard. This was not a team that overachieved with inferior talent. However, it was a team that shot only 30% from the floor in both games at the Final 4 — Butler won one game by a point and lost the other by two. What if they had shot 40%?

Duke had underachieved in the tournament recently because they lacked size, and were victimized by physical teams that were not intimidated by the Duke pedigree. Purdue, Baylor, WVU, and Butler all tried to impose their will on the Blue Devils, but this Duke team accepted the challenge and responded with uncharacteristicly aggressive play. Scheyer, Smith, and Singler attacked the basket and made shots, while Zoubek was a beast on the boards. I hate Duke, but i will give them credit for overcoming some physical, defensive-minded teams.

Duke may have won the national championship, but they were probably not the best team in college basketball. The New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl, but I will never believe that they were the best team in the NFL. Parity can lead to results like last year, when North Carolina won all six games by double digits; or it can lead to this year, where you could argue that 10 teams could have cut down the nets.

Duke has had far more talented teams come up short in March Madness. Maybe they were overdue to have a Cinderella run of their own.

Seeing how the tournament progressed and ended, you just have to wonder: what if Korie Lucious hadn’t hit that game winner against Maryland?

One last thought: Dayton (NIT champ) could beat 55 of the 64 NCAA tournament teams on a neutral court, and it wouldn’t be an upset. When the tournament expands to 96 teams and incorporates the 32 NIT teams, you will not get the drop off in play that many critics will be expecting.

Woodman – Can’t wait for next year to live and die with my beloved Terps

Another hot topic of discussion this morning is the expansion to a 96 team tournament.  I realize that the sole driving force behind this is money, which is an extremely strong motivating factor.  I’m convinced that logic will be thrown out the door and the tournament will needlessly be expanded to 96 teams…it’s just a matter of time.  This will dilute the significance of the regular season and the overall accomplishment of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament.  The tournament is great the way it is, if anything I’m a subscriber to the Gordon Southard theory that the tourney should be downsized.  Well maybe that’s a bit extreme, but I’d be in favor of contraction over an expansion.  I would be open to Andy Katz’s idea of expanding to 68 to get those final three majors in the dance, but again, I don’t think it’s necessary. 

That’s my take as a casual fan of college bball, weigh in with your biggest gripes about the bracket.    

~ Pat Cary

This time last year the Terps were coming off a humiliating road loss at Charlottesville in a game they needed to win to get into the NCAA tournament (or so we thought). The Terps had just beaten #1 North Carolina, but this loss to Virginia pushed their record to 7-9 in ACC play.

Maryland fans were calling for Gary’s head as it looked like the Terps would make their third straight NIT appearance. The fans were tired of terrible recruiting classes, tired of failing to make the NCAA tournament, and tired of letting Gary off the hook because of back to back Final 4 appearances. Maryland went to the 2009 ACC tournament in Atlanta needing two or three wins to have any chance of saving the season. They beat N.C. State, Wake Forest, and gave Duke all they could handle to secure their selection into the NCAA tournament. A beleaguered Gary Williams and Greivis Vasquez were able to ice the cake with an NCAA tournament win over Cal 84-71.

The 2009/2010 season got off to a slow start as Maryland failed to beat a credible out of conference opponent. Maryland got worked over in the Maui Invitational by losing to Cincinnati & Wisconsin. The Terps proceeded to lose to Villanova in the BB&T Classic and dropped a miserable game to William & Mary in Comcast Center. Maryland was once again in danger of missing the NCAA tournament and there was no margin for error in ACC play.

I always believed the Terps would get it going and turn the season around. I knew that having two seniors in the back court would pay dividends. I knew Greivis would improve on his poor early season form and ultimately look like a 1st team All-ACC player. I knew they could finish Top 4 in the ACC and make a run to the Sweet 16.

I never expected or thought that the Terps would win 13 ACC games. I never expected Gary Williams to be the ACC Coach of the Year. I never expected Greivis to win ACC Player of the Year. And, NOBODY thought Jordan Williams would finish second for ACC Freshman of the Year.

I remember writing on the website that the Terps were “steamrolling” through the ACC. I got murdered for this headline as people couldn’t believe I would make this statement about a mediocre team that just beat three other mediocre teams. In retrospect, I wasn’t that overzealous with that statement. Not only did Maryland win 13 ACC games, but they covered the spread in 13 ACC games as well.

What a long strange trip it has been over the last 365 days of Maryland basketball.

Maryland will likely a face a hungry Georgia Tech team on Friday in the ACC tournament quarterfinals. Georgia Tech currently sits at 7-9 in the ACC after losing their ACC finale at home to VA Tech. The shoe is on the other foot this year and Maryland will be the #2 seed who will try to beat a 7-9 team on the NCAA tournament bubble. The Terps nipped the Yellow Jackets at the buzzer in Comcast Center less than a month ago, and you know they will be out for revenge.

If Maryland can get by GA Tech or North Carolina in the quarterfinals, I expect them to beat Clemson, NC State, or Florida St. in the semifinals. As always, the Blue Devils are sure to cut down the nets on Sunday with the help of some tobacco road officiating.

Every person who took time out of their life to call a sports talk radio show and bash Gary Williams last year, needs to take the same time and write him a letter of apology. Also, do you think Greivis made the right decision by opting out of the NBA draft in order to play his Senior season at MD (sarcasm)?

Woodman – extremely worried about Friday

I know….the ACC is terrible, Duke isn’t that great, and all of the Terp wins this season are tainted etc. etc. etc. If you didn’t graduate from Maryland you still think the team is mediocre, and one win at home on Senior night isn’t going to change your perception. Even if Maryland beats Virginia to garner its 13th conference win, naysayers will just say the Terps took advantage of a weakened ACC.

I didn’t get to watch the first 30 minutes of the game because I was at the Alice in Chains concert, and haven’t had time to watch the game on DVR. My analysis is pointless anyhow because anything I say will be construed as “I am biased homer who can’t assess Maryland objectively.”

After starting the game 1-9 from the field and digging a 14 point deficit, Duke played like the #4 team in the country for the remaining 30 minutes (only 8 turnovers for the whole game). Even Coach K admitted the Dukies played well, so Maryland didn’t win because Duke laid an egg. Once again Maryland played a team that brought the heat into the Comcast Center and the Terps were able to weather the storm. The final 5 minutes of the game provided a dramatic theatre as each team made a number of clutch shots. I will admit that Vasquez made some difficult running one-handers down the stretch (which seem lucky to non-MD fans), but Terp fans know that these are his trademark. I was proud the Terps were able to execute in the half court offense and finish their sets under extreme pressure on national television. Success breeds confidence and you can see the change in this Maryland team from where they were two months ago.

Once again Greivis (20 points) and Jordan (15 points) supplied consistent contributions on offense, but the Terps also got double digit scoring from Hayes & Mosley, along with 9 big points by Adrian Bowie. An emerging theme over the last 10 games has been the secondary scoring for Maryland. There are a number of players who have stepped up recently and given scoring support to Greivis and Jordan. This balance gives me increased hope for Terp success in postseason play.

I initially thought the Terps would choke and lose in Charlottesville on Saturday, but I have changed my mind and think Maryland will find a way to win by 1. Maryland has an opportunity to share the ACC regular season title and hang a banner from the rafters in Comcast. I don’t think they came this far blow it against VA. I know this isn’t a Final 4 team and am very realistic about the Terps chances in the NCAA tournament. But, it has been an improbable journey that most Terp fans couldn’t have expected in their wildest dreams.

Gary Williams will win ACC Coach of the Year, Greivis will have a chance to win ACC Player of the Year, and Jordan will compete to win ACC Freshman of the Year. Oh, but I know….it is only because the ACC is terrible. Please keep diminishing this team’s accomplishments and put an asterisk next to every win. I am sure if North Carolina was 12-3 in the ACC this season, it would be because they were a great team. But because the Tarheels can’t win with 7 McDonald’s All-Americans, lets minimize the accomplishment of the whole conference. I love it.

Woodman – haters can kiss my ass.

The Terps were able to take the Yellow Jackets’ and Tigers’ best shots and answer the bell with difficult back to back victories. Both teams had garnered only one ACC road win and were desperate to add a quality road win to their NCAA tournament resumes.

The Terps have gotten consistent play from Greivis and Jordan Williams, but have also received contributions from a number of other players during their four-game win streak. The Terps have won 9 of their last 11 games and have moved to 10-3 in ACC play, sole possession of 2nd place.

I know the ACC is down and that Maryland has a number of flaws, but at what point can we give Maryland their due? Cliff Tucker’s buzzer beater was the most exciting moment in the history of the Comcast Center. Aside from Drew Nicholas’s game winner against UNC-Wilmington in the 2002 NCAA tournament, I can’t ever remember another Terrapin buzzer beater in my life.

Greivis is the only player in the history of the ACC to have 2,000 points, 700 assists, and 600 rebounds. Seriously, there have been some pretty good players to play in the ACC in the last 50 years. Eric Hayes just passed the 1,000 point mark in his Terp career. Not bad for an unheralded recruiting class that was heavily criticized by most Terp fans.

Who knows what will happen in the ACC and NCAA tournament, but it has been a pretty good ride so far this season. I wrote an article before the season guaranteeing that Maryland would finish top 4 in the ACC and would make the Sweet 16. One prediction down, one to go.

The Terps play in Blacksburg on Saturday against a desperate Hokie squad that was hammered by BC today. It will be a hornets’ nest and the Terps will have their work cut out for them. The Terps return home and will play the Dukies on Senior night next Wednesday. When the Terps played in Cameron it was Coach K’s 1,000th game at Duke and his 63rd birthday. Hopefully the emotional story of Greivis/Hayes/Milbourne’s last game at Comcast will give the Terps a similar emotional advantage.

Hopefully the Terps can make a run in Greensboro.

Woodman – Terp alum and fanatic

Cavalier fans should not be discouraged, because when the Terps roll down to Charlottesville on March 6th, they will surely hand the Terps a loss. They always do. Maryland shot 70% from the field in the first half last night establishing an 18 point halftime lead. The Terps were led by Greivis Vasquez, who came out scorching hot, scoring 25 points the first twenty minutes.

I still don’t understand why the Terps struggled so much handling the ball at Clemson and Duke. I would understand if they shot poorly, but bad turnovers and the inability to establish any offensive continuity, leads me to believe they will be an early exit in the NCAA tournament. The Terps have benefited from a lack of quality guard play in the ACC, but most NCAA tournament teams will boast a decent back court.

The one note I wanted to make regarding Maryland basketball is the development of freshman Jordan Williams. There isn’t a single fan or basketball expert who could have anticipated how quickly Williams would acclimate to Div I. and ACC competition. Jordan has been a revelation, and is exceeding every expectation for a freshman who just finished his first rotation through the ACC. It just goes to show you that Gary Williams is one of the best coaches in the nation in developing post talent. Jordan was the Gatorade Player of the Year in Connecticut, and averaged 35 points a game his senior year of high school. However, he was not highly recruited by major Div. I schools. The ceiling of potential for Williams may be higher than initially thought, and he may be the anchor of the team when Milbourne, Vasquez, and Hayes graduate in May. Terp insiders seem to feel that Mosley will be the team leader next year, but I don’t see it. Mosley has a lot of heart, but he cannot hit the broad side of a barn from the field. Unless he drastically improves his shooting, I don’t know how he can lead the team in 2010-2011.

I think the Terps can win at N.C. State on Wednesday, and hold home court against Georgia Tech and Clemson. This would push the Terps to 10-3 in the ACC with three games remaining.

Woodman – last night does not erase the bitterness of the Duke debacle

Not to make excuses, but it was Coach K’s 63rd birthday and 1,000th game at Duke. Do you think any team in the country was going to march into Cameron and get a win under those circumstances? I love it that the Terps were on the schedule trying to overcome those emotional hurdles.

I don’t understand why we couldn’t handle Duke’s defensive pressure. This is a team full of white guys that may be long, but they are not very athletic. Duke extended their defense, overplayed the passing lanes, and ruined any offensive continuity the Terps were trying to establish.

Needless to say, when the Terps come to town somebody on the home team has a career night. Brian Zoubek, an absolute bum, looked like a first team ACC juggernaut with 16 points and 17 rebounds.

If you visit the Library of Congress, you will see that the Terps have the patent on going two full TV timeouts without scoring. I thought the Terps were going to weather the initial onslaught when they took a 6-5 lead. Needless to say, the Blue Devils rattled off a 15-0 run to take a 20-6 lead, and never looked back.

The Terps were abysmal on offense in every facet of the game. Mr. Steady Landon Milbourne was 1-5 from the field with two points. Eric Hayes had four of the teams 14 turnovers, and the ACC’s leading three point shooter came up empty from behind the arc. The Terps came into the contest leading the ACC in assist/turnover ratio, but managed only seven assists for the entire game. The Terps were 23-60 (38%) from the field and shot 2-13 (15%) from behind the three point line. With four minutes left in the second half, Greivis was 5-6 from the field, and the rest of the team was 1-14. Amazing.

The Terps had zero defensive intensity and displayed very little desire to win the game. I loved it when Duke came out after halftime and immediately rattled off six unanswered points to stretch the lead to 20. The only spark occurred when Greivis went on a personal 10-0 run to cut the lead to ten with eight minutes left in the game. Duke answered that run with nine unanswered of their own.

The officiating was not the reason the Terps lost the game, but it was horrible as usual. Zoubek came over the back numerous times, and Scheyer was sent to the line three times on ghost foul calls. Duke dominated the Terps from the inside-out, but the officials didn’t help the cause one bit.

Fortunately, the Terps will not have time to stew over this horrific performance, as they get back at it tonight in the make-up game versus Virginia. The Terps will travel to Raleigh on Wednesay to take on the Wolfpack in a very winnable game. Hopefully the Terps will rattle off two victories and head home this weekend against GA Tech with an 8-3 ACC record.

So much for thinking that the Terps deserve a Top 25 ranking. Also, I think I hate Scheyer less than Hurley, Wojo, Redick, Paulus, and the other Duke whities of the past.

Woodman – still bitter as hell

This is an open letter to all Notre Dame fans:

YOU DON”T MATTER

Stop acting like you are this elite program who is better than anyone just becuase you have the clover, touchdown Jesus and the Golden Domes on your side. Brian Kelly? With all due respect, you fans have been high on every coach that’s sat at a press conference stating “7-5 just isn’t good enough here at Notre Dame” and where has that landed you?

Here are the cold hard facts…you just lost to a horrid Rutgers Basketball team and you haven’t won a big football game since George Bush was in office (I ain’t talking dubbya). It stuns me that you have the audacity to taunt any opponent.

Do you think that Cincinnatti really cares about the fact that they lost a college basketball game to Notre Dame last night or that they lost Brian Kelly? The answer is no with the reason being, they realize who they are…a middle of the pack college sports program. The irony lies in the fact that you don’t seem to realize who you are Notre Dame…a middle of the pack college sports program.

Will you ever realize that with your elitist standards, 7-5 is good enough. That’s as far as you are going to go in this day and age. Accept who you are which, at best, is a 7-9 win football team and a 15-18 win basketball team year in and year out.

I apologize to Lou, Digger, Montana, Tim Brown, “The Rocket”, Ryan Grant, the kid from the Goonies etc…but, Notre Dame is not a top tier program anymore and, will never be again. You are not the Yankees, Lakers, Patriots, Steelers, Red Wings. You aren’t even the Twins, Suns, Chargers or Philadelphia Eagles. At best you are that 8-8 NFL team that backdoors your way into a wild card spot in a down year.

That being said…beautiful campus folks.

Sincerely,

Tim Rescigno (Realist)

Artsiom Parakhouski, a 6’11” 260lb beast from Belarus, a country smaller than Idaho arrived at Radford University last year as a Junior and immediately made an impact on the school and the team. Pronounced art-SEE-um pair-uh-COW-ski, Art has only been playing basketball for the last five years — and learning English for less than three.  His quiet yet stoic demeanor made him an instant hit with the fan base. His intensity and dedication to the winning made opponents rethink their game plan. In just a year he lifted a team that was near the bottom of the conference to an NCAA appearance. So far this year he is tied for 2^nd in the nation in rebounding and 4^th in the nation in points scored per game.

Before Big Art started basketball in 2005, he was being groomed to play soccer in Belarus. Soccer is his first love, but coaches back home told him he was very literally ‘growing’ out of the sport.  He still wanted to compete so his coached introduced him to basketball. Imagine how he will be 5 years from now. He already has more accolades than most players that have been playing 4 times longer.

Now I know the criticisms, I have heard them all: ‘he isn’t in the ACC’ or ‘level of competition’, but let me tell you this, he can stack up with anyone. Maybe you saw his double double against Kansas that included an excellent block on Cole Aldrich? No one in the Big South Conference can stop him and even Duke’s coach Mike Krzyzewski said, “He will be a first-round pick, easy, in the NBA,” “he would play for anybody in our league.”

I generally can’t stand the NBA, but what that attention can do for a mid-sized University is incredible. Art Parakhouski is a guy you can pull for too. He has no off-the-court issues and he isn’t flashy during the game. He simply hustles and plays hard. So as we get closer to the conference tournaments, keep your eyes out for Art and Radford because with any luck, the Belarusian will carry the team on his shoulders back to the NCAA Tourney.

~ Gordon Southard, Big South Enthusiast

I have been on numerous message boards, and the 100% consensus is that this would be a terrible idea. Every college basketball fan is opposed to the change, feeling that it will water down the tournament product and diminish the importance of regular season games.

I can understand if NCAA football officials decided to move to an eight team playoff, that an SEC/elite team may feel like it has a margin for error in the regular season, and would possibly take the pedal off the metal. College football teams only play 11 or 12 games under the current BCS format, so every regular season game is of vital importance. If college football moves to a playoff format, yes, it may diminish the importance of regular season games.

College basketball teams play 35 games in the regular season/conference tournament. Within the 35 games there are ebbs and flows, peaks and valleys. I don’t think that Gary Williams would tell his Terps: “Hey, let’s mail in this game tonight at Florida St., so we can save our energy for Sunday at home against Carolina. Heck, we can lose a bunch of extra games now and still get in the NCAA tournament.”

Basically, the extra 32 teams that would be invited to the Big Dance would be the NIT field. Honestly, the teams in the NIT are not as bad as you think. Everyone thinks that the major conferences would be rewarded, and that all of their bubble teams would get in undeservedly. So what? They won’t have any chance of winning it all, so who cares if they are in the field of 96?

What about the MAC, MWC, and MVC teams that go 14-2 in the regular season and lose their conference tournament? These teams often times do not have a strong enough RPI’s to get into the NCAA tournament because there are not enough at large bids available. Is it a terrible thing that they would now be invited into the field of 96? I love seeing the little guy make a cinderella run to win their conference tournament and get in the NCAA tournament. But, why punish the team that dominated the conference in the regular season?

Honestly, I don’t care if the tournament stays 65 teams or moves to 96 teams. I just don’t understand why anyone would be against the change. We all know that only a handful of teams every year have a chance of winning the whole thing anyhow. Seriously, there are very few underdog runs to the Final Four (yes, I remember George Mason). You may think that the N.C State team in 83 or the Villanova team in 84 were underdogs, but go back and dig a little deeper. They were actually elite teams that simply underachieved at times in the regular season. However, the pedigree and talent was there and they both turned it on in the second half of the season. Most of the time you can look at the college basketball preseason rankings and isolate the half dozen teams that have a chance of cutting down the nets. One of those teams accomplishes this goal 90% of the time.

If the tournament field expands to 96 teams you have more David vs. Goliath. You would have mediocre teams from major conferences, and non-noteworthy teams from smaller conferences, getting destroyed by the top dogs all for the sake of the NCAA generating additional revenue. More TV money, more stadium ticket sales, more vending, and more revenue for the host cities. So what? It would mean more games for us to hook work and watch! More games to gamble on in Vegas with our crew.

Who cares if the bracket is harder to fill out? That is a ridiculous argument. Just shrink it down and jam it on to the page, because in the end we are all taking two #1 seeds, a #2, and one darkhorse. There could be 300 teams in the tournament this year but 90% of America will have Kansas winning it all. Everyone knows that if you do not have three NBA prospects on your roster, you are not cutting down the nets in early April.

Everyone that complains will embrace the change as soon as the tournament starts. And please, don’t argue with me like I am an advocate of the 96 team format. I just don’t care!!! I will watch the tournament and love every minute of it regardless of how many teams start out in the field. And yes, for all of you that will say, “you are just happy because it gives your crappy, mediocre Terps more margin for error”, so what? I love Maryland basketball and want them in the tournament every year! I am always realistic of their chances. People act like Maryland can go 6-10 in the ACC and still get in the tournament. NO! The margin for error increases slightly, but not as much as you would think. I wonder what America’s #1 sports fan, President Obama thinks of this possibility?

I know this topic is a hot button, so please hammer me and tell me I am an idiot.

Woodman – if only Len Bias had lived, we would have been the UCLA of the east