Before I get into the meat of this post, Maryland has three triple-doubles in school history. The other two were in 1987 and Derrick Lewis achieved the feats using points, blocks and assists against University of Maryland - Baltimore County (UMBC = U Made a Bad Choice) and James Madison. Tonight Greivis Vasquez accomplished it against #3 UNC. That poses a pretty good argument for best single-game performance ever by a Terp.
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The gist (not James) of the post, however, is to point out something that we probably fail to notice as Dook-centric Terps fans. Gary Williams has done very well against North Carolina over the years. Since 1989-90, Coach Williams is 18-25 against UNC.
Yes, that's a losing record, but let's see where UNC was ranked for each win...
1/10/90 - NR
2/17/90 - NR
3/1/92 - 10th
2/7/95 - 1st
2/6/96 - 12th
1/8/97 - 13th
1/14/98 - 1st
1/13/99 - 9th
2/13/99 - 12th
2/26/00 - NR
1/9/02 - NR
2/10/02 - NR
1/22/03 - NR
2/22/03 - NR
1/14/04 - 9th
2/25/07 - 5th
1/19/08 - 1st
2/21/09 - 3rd
blblablahblahhblahblahblah I'll ride with Gary.
Just getting 18 wins against UNC would be impressive enough. Factor in that EIGHT of those wins came against top ten teams, and you'd start to think Gary knows the antidote to NBA-ready Tarheel teams. Throw in that he's beaten FIVE top-five teams and THREE #1 Tarheels' squads, and you'd wonder why anyone would talk about getting rid of him.
And lest we bought into the whole "Maryland is done" or "Gary is done" recent talk, some of which came from certain bloggers here, let's not forget that the 2nd through 10th spots in the ACC are still up for grabs here in late February.The same bounces that caused Wake Forest to beat UNC before losing to supposed ACC bottom feeders Va Tech, Miami, Ga Tech and NC State could go the other way for Maryland in the homestretch.
The same people who said "Gary can't recruit, just look at Georgetown!" might be trying to find a better argument now that Georgetown is 5-9 in conference with the only 2009 wins coming against Providence, Rutgers, South Florida and Syracuse.
Let's take a deep breath and prepare to get back at Dook.
16 Responses:
Great point about Vasquez. Kudos to the Terps, yes including Gary, for yesterdays win and shame on UNC for choking that lead away. But that doesn't change the main point, Jason. How does a program that won the National Championship in 2002, that plays in Comcast and has the best private league (and best county period for HS basketball).....how does that type of program find itself on the bubble year after year JUST TO MAKE THE TOURNAMENT???
Forgive me as I make a few more points here......
-----Since I have blogged on this the topic of Maryland basketball many times in extensive detail, I would like to re-clarify my position. I have never said Gary is done, from a coaching standpoint. I haven't said he should be fired, from a coaching perspective. What I have said is that the off the court dealings with his own Athletic Department and with the press, need to stop. Regardless of whose fault it is. Just coach your team. I have no problem with his "recruiting approach" (ie: refusal to cheat) either. Actually, that's one of the things I love about the program. We don't just take one and done guys, with five felonies. That's why I hope we DON'T get Lance Stephenson. The dude's a headcase. However, if you want to make it to another Final Four, then you can't let all these good players get out of the area.
-------What annoys me sometimes is his defensive, feisty, f-ck you, mentality sometimes gets to be too much. Yes, its important to remind fans of what he has accomplished over the last 20 years. I understand that. But sometimes, its get to be too defensive.
-----I also believe he may be one of the MOST INSECURE people in all of sports .
-----That being said, J-Red makes valid points. Maryland deserves much credit for what they did yesterday and have done over the last 20 seasons.
Oh one other thing. 75% of the time, the man is a flat out d*ck to his managers. All coaches are like that to some extent. But none as bad as him. I speak from personal experience.
No offense, but aren't managers there for the coach to have a non-player non-coach on whom to take out his frustrations? I mean, that's how I'd use them. I'd rather humiliate an 18-year-old manager than my 18-year-old point guard.
If Gary never pimp slapped you just for fun just because he felt like it consider yourself lucky. At least you don't have to worry about him trying to stick his hand down your pants ala Coach K.
Big big win. Can you imagine how geeked Jordan Williams must be about being a Terp after being at the game yesterday? I hope he has born ready on speed dial...
All the Greivas haters can suck a bag of d's today after what he did yesterday. And UNC choking? Nope. Not even a little bit. They made their free throws when they got bailed out by the refs down the stretch. They didn't really turn the ball over. MD came back the old fashioned quality way, playing sick D and trading 2 for 3. Big ups to the Terps winning a big game and winning it by outplaying the number 3 team in the nation down the stretch. UNC didn't give that game away MD TOOK it.
J-Red beat me to the post, so I'll comment with one thing that I think was left out.
Every year we get a marquee win against UNC or Duke down the stretch, just enough to make people talk about us getting off the bubble. Then, inevitably, we choke against a team that in eminently beatable and a game that we should win, and we play ourselves right into NIT contention. That said, based upon our game yesterday, now, if we win our two games against eminently beatable opponents, UVA (on the road) and NC State, we should be tourney bound at 8-8 and wins over Michigan State and UNC. However, if this year bodes like years past, we'll choke one of those games away. Bottom line is we can ill afford to play like we did in the second half against Clemson for even one minute of any of our remaining games. If we can avoid that, we should be in the tourney.
Greivis was simply awesome last night. Sports Center posted a stat that he had the most points in a triple-double against a ranked team in over 10 years. Cliff Tucker was great down the stretch, too. I love this quote of his from the ESPN recap:
"Before the game, Coach wrote on the board, 'Someone nobody knows needs to step up tonight," Tucker said. "I just got it in my mind the whole night that I wanted to be that guy."
Big big ups to Cliff Tucker. He was getting on the boards, playing good D, moving the ball, knocking down shots. Glad to see he stuck with it after riding the pine for a month.
Wow, Jeremy, that's an unbelievably negative thing to say in the wake of the biggest win of the year.
I give Gary all the credit in the world for that win. He had a plan to control Hansbrough (with DAVE NEAL covering him!) and knew that we needed to bomb some 3-balls since we couldn't pound it down low. He made the best of the personnel he had and made sure that no one quit when things looked bad. Coming back from 16 down is huge, but I'm more impressed with the 9-point comeback in the last 1:55. That's quitting time for most teams, but the Terps kept fighting to force OT.
That's just an amazing, amazing win, and no matter what happens the rest of the way (Jeremy), I'm excited to see what Greivis, Gary, and the rest do next season.
I adopt Brien's post as my own.
Except Greivis is going pro.
Jeremy, I wouldn't say losing at NC State (if they do that) would be a choke. NC State is playing very well recently. But I think Jeremy's larger point is that this win, while nice, is not enough.
If GV is thinking about going Pro he made himself some $$$$ Saturday afternoon. Didn't think anyone could top Meeks going for 50 or Griffin for 40 and 20 but considereing what was on the line that might have been the game of the year right there...
Unnecessary (and quite overused) jab at UMBC!
Lee,
"Choking" in the sense that when you have a lead like UNC had, you have to close out. It's like a baseball team having a 2 run lead in the 9th inning. Sure, the hitter may make a great play. But if you're a UNC fan, you have to play defense in the last 3 minutes. I give all the credit to Maryland's players but I thought UNC's defense in the last 3 minutes was terrible.
Nikhil
Lee,
"Choking" in the sense that when you have a lead like UNC had, you have to close out. It's like a baseball team having a 2 run lead in the 9th inning. Sure, the hitter may make a great play. But if you're a UNC fan, you have to play defense in the last 3 minutes. I give all the credit to Maryland's players but I thought UNC's defense in the last 3 minutes was terrible.
Nikhil
Lee,
"Choking" in the sense that when you have a lead like UNC had, you have to close out. It's like a baseball team having a 2 run lead in the 9th inning. Sure, the hitter may make a great play. But if you're a UNC fan, you have to play defense in the last 3 minutes. I give all the credit to Maryland's players but I thought UNC's defense in the last 3 minutes was terrible.
Nikhil
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