My take on Coach K’s opinions and many other Big Ten related issues–(This is part 1 of a 5 part series on Maryland raw deal with the ACC)–As we wait for probably the final showdown at Comcast between Maryland and Duke this Saturday night, be aware on the following –the ACC led by the Bosses in Durham is absolutely infuriated with Maryland. To think anything else is naive. Nothing made this more evident then the insulting chants of the Duke crazies that reached new lows. At the same time much of the Carolina press still believes Greensboro is a neutral court. That just shows you how warped the minds are in Carolina. My problem is that the paychecks and assignments for officials are based in the Carolina strongholds of the ACC. I would never speak conspiracy because that just isn’t happening. However it’s the little things that scare me. Are the officials hearing what I heard down in Durham. Does it work on their inner mind? Virginia played an extremely physical brand of basketball against Maryland—Alex gets body checked slapped, pushed, and decked almost every game. Maybe it’s my imagination but is it time for the Terps to step up their physicality. Should their be an enforcer when Alex gets pushed around. Just watch how he gets mugged every game. Does that happen to Plumlee? What makes this worse is we have another year left in this Carolina Conference. How will calls go for us in football. I tell all the woes of the ACC are being placed on the Maryland’s shoulders. SATURDAY NIGHT IS MOST LIKELY THE LAST TIME DUKE WILL EVER PLAY AT COMCAST. THERE SHOULD BE A SENDOFF PARTY THAT ONLY MARYLAND COULD PRODUCE.
From Coach K’s Sirius show
“A lot of these decisions are based on college presidents, chancellors and athletic directors who do not have a depth of understanding of the tradition of the institutions that they are leading. … If you’re running a business for a long time, you would be interested primarily in what is your brand. … And when you give that up, what price is that? What does that do? The fact that there’ll never be a Duke-Maryland game again. There may never be a Texas-Texas A&M game again, a Syracuse-Georgetown game again. Those schools aren’t gonna schedule one another. I mean, that’s not gonna happen. And in Maryland’s case, that’s the only conference they’ve known. And they’re right in the middle of the ACC. And now their fans, they don’t have a place. They’re outsiders. They really are outsiders. What price? What price is paid for that?
…
“They didn’t get public opinion from their alums, from the people there. All these things are secret. It’s not out there. Some of it gets leaked, but in Maryland’s case it was never leaked. I’m really worried about that type of thinking. … It’s like throwing a rock into a pond. There’s this big splash. They make a big splash, like we’re gonna make all this money, and then there’s all these ripples. And what are those ripples? Well, I don’t care about the ripples. They’re not even thinking about the ripples.
…
“This is an assault on tradition. What sets us apart from the pros? What sets us apart from the rest of the world? Intercollegiate sports is really something that only the United States has. No other country has that. And our thing is based on all the right values: loyalty, honesty, tradition. The branding that you have gotten from doing that has elevated the academic institutions that those athletic programs represent. And doing things the way we’re doing it now, based on money, I think it takes away from the academic missions and the innocence that an academic institution has.
FROM THE WRITER OF THE ARTICLE—“If you’re wondering, Duke and Maryland play each other twice more in the regular season before the Big Ten’s coach car carries Maryland away. The first game is at Cameron 11 days from now, on Jan. 26; Duke heads to College Park on Feb. 16. In light of K’s sentiments again here, I’m guessing things will be as angry and heated as we’ve seen in some time when Duke heads up to the Comcast Center. There’s a hovering irony in that.
Jose
We are going to get our tail whipped on Saturday.Im kind of glad this is the last time we our playing Duke.Coach Turgeon gets dominated by K.Not saying Turge is a bad coach but he ain’t no Gary Williams.Turge got alot of Roy Williams in him.Only as good as his Recruits.Coach K is right we did sell out.But we never belonged in the ACC or B1G.Maryland was a basketball school we should have been in the big east for years.We will always be outsiders in The BIG or ACC
· 11/12/2019
freddy from boca
k is entitled to his opinion and there wasn’t any real public discussion and the decisions were made by a school president who has been at md for about 5 minutes. i like the move but can understand why someone like a tom mcmillen had a lot of questions that went unanswered. the fact that mich and osu and penn st want md in their division doesn’t mean md won’t be treated like an outsider. it means those schools have a lot of alumni in the area plus it’s a good place to recruit players and any exposure helps those schools. like to hear from fans of penn st and nebraska and how they feel their schools have been welcomed by the big ten.
· 11/12/2019
Bruce
What Coach K doesn’t get is that we have always been an outsider in the ACC. If for no other reson then for years the single biggest event in the ACC has been the Basketball tournament. Year after year with few exceptions the tourney has been in “neutral” Greensboro. Might the greatest ACC game ever played had a different outcome if there weren’t NC State fanes outnumbering maryland fans 7-1. Might one call had gone different. Why hasn’t the ACC Championship game in football been scheduled at Fed Ex or M&T –they are good neutral sites. Goodbye and good riddance to the ACC–All Carolina Conference.
· 11/12/2019
brian2580
Let’s not forget this decision was 100% driven by $$$$ and not perceived disrespect. All shots at MD related to complete disregard for history and tradition are 100% valid.
· 11/12/2019
Bruce
Brian
What history? Maryland has always had to fight the ACC with 1 arm tied behind its back. The way Duke and Carolina have been coddled in the ACC makes me sick to my stomach.
· 11/12/2019
brian2580
Enough with the inferiority complex it’s time to grow up. Do you hear Miami complaining that they aren’t given a fair shake in the ACC?
MD is a founding member of the conference, that is history, that is tradition. Next time you’re at Comcast take a look at the banners hanging from the rafters they all represent MD’s ACC legacy. None of those past players will be able to relate to the program and to future players in the same way again.
It will take years to establish the kind of in conference rivalries that MD currently has in the ACC. Forced rivalry games don’t work (see Skins vs. Ravens), no current Penn State fan is going to care more about the MD game each year than the Ohio State or Michigan games. So that leaves MD vs. Rutgers, can’t wait for that.
At least the football stadium will be filled most weekends albeit with the visiting teams fans.
· 11/12/2019
freddy from boca
to brian2580…when you talk about md and its acc rivalries you need to understand all these so called rivalries are short lived. the duke-md rival started in the late 90’s and peaked in 2002. for md the rivalry has more meaning than to duke because duke is always a highly ranked team but you can’t compare it to the nc-duke rivalry. the intensity if duke md in the late 90’s-early 2000’s is equal to the the short lived rivalry of md-ncst in the david thompson-tom mcmillen years. md doesn’t have any real rivalry in the acc. md va is a border state rivalry but it’s not very intense. as for miami, they have strong in state rivals with fl st and fl. and as to miami caring about where the acc tourney is played, you have to understand miami doesn’t have a lot of passionate fans. usc may be the only university located in a major city with a passionate fan base and remember there isn’t a pro football team in l.a. as far as players relating or not relating to the program. players relate to their school first and foremost. acc basketball was much stronger 10 years ago 20 years ago 30-eo years ago so games then took on more meaning than games today. acc basketball is far from the best today. and acc football despite adding va tech, miami, fl st. is lousy and acc football has never been very strong historically. everyone knows the acc was and is still considered a basketball conference. it’s highly unlikely acc football will never be on par with the big 10 and currently the big ten is a superior basketball conference. md has always been an outsider in the acc despite being a founding member of the conference. for many years balt-wash sports writers didn’t even participate in media voting because of the absurd “north carolina” based teams/media bias. md penn st will become a strong rivalry in football providiing md can actually win a few games from the nittney lions and i can see md mich st, md indiana becoming good rivalries in basketball. you would never call md-wake, md-miami, md va tech upcoming md pitt, md clemson any rivalry in any sport. and as long as there is a duke nc rivalry any other game against those 2 schools is a second rate rivalry
· 11/12/2019