Comments made before and after this loss:
Winning this tournament is one of the 3 big goals every year–no it’s like winning a Natty but it’s damn good
I REALLY thought the Terps would win this game which I said on the Maven Show this morning
Defensively the Terps were great–no one on MSU shot well in the 2nd half as Sparty was held to 23 POINTS
No one can figure out what is wrong with Melo 2-15 from the field–only 2 assists –BUT 0 turnovers
only 6 turnovers for the game and we only score 61
8-22 from the 3 point line, 81% from the foul line-17-21, 8 steals AND WE LOSE
Just my opinion but in the final 10 minutes, it just seemed like the Terps took so long to find a shot and never did–resorting to chucking it up as the shot clock ran out
RCJ had a great game with 18 points and 8 rebounds–should have touched the ball more
Turgeon post game:
COACH TURGEON: If you like defense, that was a heck of a college basketball game. Two teams that I thought really defended and tried to rebound and tried to execute. Obviously, I was really proud of my team. Talked about this morning that we couldn’t play the game in the 80s, had to play the game in the 60s. We learned a lot about ourselves today.
The best we’ve guarded in a long time. We competed on the boards. They still got us by 7. We were better on the offensive rebounds. We had 11, which is good. So just proud of our group. But in the end, the last three minutes, they were able to make one or two more plays than we were, than we could. And Davis had the big block in there, which is big. Would have put us up one. And they made free throws. We missed a couple down the stretch. But I was proud of my team. We had a chance. Melo got all the way to the rim. Robert had his hands on the ball. Just wasn’t meant to be.
Update on Lunardi’s Bracketology: Barring Major Upsets
1st game —UNC Wilmington
2nd Game—Duke
Sweet 16 Game—Carolina
Great 8 game—West Virginia or Villanova
Time to go to bed and forget Saturday
John
If Jake or Melo had an average game on the offensive side of the ball we win. Off to the NCAA tournament.
· 11/12/2019
Hal Mendelson
Watching this game, I kept thinking I have seen Turgeon’s offensive scheme before. Finally I realized where I had seen it. When I watched my grandson’s team play in the Pikesville Rec League, it was exactly the same. They had a guard who dribbled aimlessly while the other players at first begged for the ball and then finally just stood around and watched. This was one of the most aggravating games I have watched. Constantly the clock was down to 8 seconds before Melo even thought about looking to the basket. Melo has as much chance to be drafted in the first round by the NBA as Turgeon does of coaching the next Olympic team.
· 11/12/2019
freddy from boca
actually for those who remember richard feldstein playing ball at the j is a lot like the kid hal describes.
and melo will get drafted
· 11/12/2019
freddy from boca
melo has had hamstring issues. the only way you recover is complete rest. he had played 3 games in 3 weeks which gave him some much needed rest and relief and you could see the difference in the nebraska game. coming back and playing the next day…well you can see that doesn’t work. not enough time to recover to be able to play physically at the level needed. so that is what is wrong physically with melo.
however melo didn’t play with his head. he did not make adjustments in his game to counteract the poor shooting. he didn’t take control of the offense. he didn’t get others involved. maryland played undisciplined half court ball. rush shots, forced shots. didn’t move the ball well. didn’t make the extra pass. rarely were guys in a good position to do something when they got the ball. the lack of turnovers is good. the very slow pace of the game particularly in the second half helped that a lot. a lot less possessions contributes to less turnovers and melo took far too many shots so turnovers would be down because he’s shooting so much.
the reality is deaite 6 assists melo stunk yesterday. valentine shot poorly and had 10 assists.
md was in the bonus for the last 10 min of the game but could never take advantage of that because of a poorly run half court offense. something that has plagued the team all year.
a very winnable game but not to be
· 11/12/2019