Terps Turn Retrievers into Puppies, 98-56

Sorry for the delay, was caught up in Redskins euphoria (we are going to the playoffs and the game is on Saturday!).

What a day in College Park, I wasn't sure which record was going to fall. First, KT makes five 3s in the first half and I think the career and game record will fall. Then Marissa heats up and I think she will break the game record. Then Drey, Kat and Marah get in the act and before you know it we hit 17 three-pointers for the ACC record. Wonder how many other teams will try to play zone on us this year? Overall, the game was not close as UMBC led twice and then we scored 18 straight and the game was essentially over. UMBC had no height and it showed as both Harper (9) and Langhorne (10) grabbed the same or more rebounds than UMBC's players (they finished with 11 but 2 were team rebounds). The second half let us rest players and give Drey and Kat more time. Drey finished with 7 points, 5 rebounds and a block (1 foul, after fouling out on Saturday).

Defensively, we could have played better as we still don't jump to the three-point shooters fast enough, but we have to pick our poison - play like Rutgers and not score or score a ton and give up more points than we should. That's my only real complaint, but I guessing more practice time will eliminate that.

Non-conference play is over and now it's on to ACC play starting with Wake on Thursday. Check out the new poll on the left regarding wins in the ACC.

Happy New Year to all my loyal readers and here's hoping it's GREAT in 2008.

Game 17: UMBC

Here we go again, another game, but as I mentioned yesterday this will be the last time until March when we play on back-to-back days. Today we play UMBC and chances are today's game should end up like yesterday's.

UMBC is 4-8 with losses to James Madison (74-61), Loyola (58-56), Northern Iowa (74-72), and Richmond (64-51). They score only 57.6 ppg, but allow 62.6. The only grab 33.2 rebounds per game and only shoot 38.6% from the floor. They have two players over 6'0, neither of which scores that much.

The Retrievers best player is guard Carlee Cassidy who leads the team in scoring with 16.1 ppg. She has taken the most shots on the team and on Friday took 20 shots (nine from 3), making only 8. Guard Kristin Drabyn is second on the team in scoring at 9.3 ppg and second on the team in shots. Chantay Frazier, another guard, is third on the team in scoring. Hatten, a 5-10 guard, is the team's leading rebounder at 7.0 rpg.

We should attack the post all night long and Langhorne should be able to post another double-double. Our guards just need to pressure their guards into trouble and not allow them to get off shots.

After today, it's all ACC play.

Terps Step On Spiders, 89-59

Well today's game went exactly as planned. We came out firing on all cylinders and never let Richmond get into the game. Even when they tried to creep back in we slammed the door shut with a 12-0 run to end the half and take a 21-point lead into half. The only shocking thing was that KT missed a shot at the buzzer. In the second half, the score was never closer than 16 and it was more of whether Crystal could grab 20 rebounds and if Marissa would get her double-double (she did!)

I really liked how Coleman shot the ball today and it looks like her three-point stroke is finally coming around. Langhorne had a nose for the ball and only committed one turnover. It seems to me that in the first half, Kristi has decided that if her shot isn't falling, she gets her teammates involved and then waits for the D to collapse and then shoots away. Mingo got in the game, but didn't do much as she was foul prone again (maybe this is why we don't see more of her when the games matter).

Jade needs to work on her free throws as she missed a bunch and it seems to affect the rest of her game. Still need to take care of the ball better as we tend to force things still, but all in all cannot complain with a 30-point win.

Tomorrow we play again, this time against UMBC (This is the last time until March where we play back-to-back games).

Don't forget to send in those baby names.

Game 16: Richmond

The holidays are over and it's time to play hoops again. This time it's Richmond in the Terrapin Classic, which for some reason is a three-day event instead of the typical two-day affair. I missed today's Richmond vs. UMBC game but it looks like there were 119 people that didn't miss it. Richmond beat UMBC 64-51 and now the leader for earning runner up honors (unless something fishy happens the next two days).

Richmond is now 7-5 on the season with losses coming against Georgia, Fairfield, Virginia, Montana and VCU. They haven't given up more than 86 points all year and haven't scored more than 81. The Spiders are averaging 64 ppg, grabbing 35.0 rebounds and shooting 40.1% from the floor. They like to shoot the three with five players having attempted more than 26 this year. As a team they shoot 61.7 % from the free throw line.

Richmond is led by Johanna McKnight a guard averaging 14.0 ppg and 4.7 rpg. She shoots 45.3% from behind the arc, but today went 0-for-4. Brittani Shells is second on the team in scoring with 12.4 ppg. The smaller guard shoots 39.5% from three, but doesn't rebound much. Kate Holzer is the leading rebounder at 7.5 per game and also averages double figures in scoring. She is the lone player who started today that doesn't shoot the 3. Christina Campion is the other post player and was on fire today making 6-of-7 three pointers after only making 3 all year. She rebounds at a 6.4 clip. Kara Powell is the team's PG, and also likes to shoot the 3, but only shoots 21%. They have three main bench players: Thomas, who doesn't shoot the 3, Goring, the sister of former NC Stater Gillian and Bell, who is more of a shooter and likes to grab the occasional steal.

The defensive match ups will be as follows, I think:
Powell - Toliver
Shells - Strickland
McKnight - Coleman
Campion - Harper
Holzer - Langhorne

I would love to see us put this game away early and get Drey some minutes with the main line up. You never know when Drey is going to have to play serious minutes in ACC play. We haven't played Maryland basketball for a a few games now - since the loss to Rutgers - and it's time to get back to that style.

Thursday's Tidbits

We dropped to 5th in the AP poll after Stanford beat Tennessee, but remained fifth in the Coaches' poll. Our game versus Carolina may determine the final #1 seed.

Harper was named ACC Player of the Week becoming the fourth Terp this season to accomplish that feat. Of course the ACC sucks and didn't put anything in it's release about how many other schools have had four different players win POW in a single season.

Charlie Creme did his first bracket of the year a few weeks ago and it looks like he has us playing Texas or Penn State in round two.

Mechelle Voepel did an article on Brenda's pregnancy and Coach Walz's newest Angel.

Mike Fratto previews the rest of the season for the Washington Times.

Milton Kent did a feature on Kristi last week.

I am working on a poll for Brenda's baby names, send me your suggestions and i will pick the best ones. Right now I have:
Boston and Albuquerque
Pat and Geno
Shay and Crystal

You can scout our next two opponents at 1 pm today if interested.

The Red Coat is Coming

Tomorrow marks Jeff Walz's official return to Baltimore as they play Coppin State University at 2 p.m. Louisville has turned things around since a slow start and I think is on the verge of hoisting the Commonwealth Cup after wins over Western Kentucky and Kentucky.

I may stop by depending on how holiday shopping is going. I will be the one with the sign:

Can't

Stand

U - Jeff Walz

(Daron is so much better)

Go Eagles!

Terps Keep Dukes From Streaking, 71-65

It was a great atmosphere for hoops in the MadiZone and luckily for us we came away with the win. The refs decided early that Kristi wasn't going to be allowed to showcase her skills for the captive audience and put her on the bench three minutes into the game. And that proved how valuable she was to the team. With her on the bench, Coleman couldn't guard Young and our offense had no rhythym.

I figured in the second half, Kristi would take over and put this game away early, but our recent trend (and harking back to last year) of coming out sluggish to start the second half reared its ugly head again. Then we decided to tease the fans by trailing by 10 with 9 minutes to go. The competitive switch went off and JMU scored 8 points the rest of the game, while we scored 24.

I think it's time to put an end to these homecoming games. The last three have not been fun: Middle Tennessee State (Ashleigh and Jade) - narrow win, Temple (Harper) - narrow win, UCSB and UCLA (Sade) - narrow wins, JMU (Kristi) - narrow win. The last easy win was against Monmouth (Crystal and Shay) and we need a second half burst to control that game.

Congrats to Ashleigh for making our lone three.

Harper gets Player of the Game honors for being ferocious all night.

I wasn't too happy with Langhorne taking maybe 7 shots last night, as natty06 told me practice would change this. Plus she needs to start making her free throws or the ACC season will become "Hang on Lang" to keep her from filling up the bucket. Disappointed in Drey not seeing more time and makes me wonder what next year holds with no post experience. Lastly, the refs were awful again.

See you all for Richmond on the 29th.

Game 15: James Madison

Well it's been a while, hasn't it? Are we sure the 08-09 season isn't starting today? After 14 games in 31 days, we play our first game in 11 days. Let's hope the layoff doesn't affect us that much.

If you aren't making the trip to the MadiZone, you can watch the game through JMU's site for $8, listen to WMUC and/or watch GameTracker via JMUSports.

James Madison enters the game with a record of 6-2 and riding a two-game losing streak. They have also won 30 games in a row at home including this season over Wake Forest and George Washington. They are another defensive-minded team with the most points they have given up being 79. Offensively, they average 73.9 ppg. The Dukes also love to work the glass averaging 48.1 rebounds while only allowing 33.2 to their opponents. They aren't great shooters with a FG percentage of .387.

Their offense revolves around Tamera Young, who leads the team in points, rebounds and turnovers. She has taken 27 three-pointers, but only made 2 on the season. She's a 6-2 guard, which means Marissa will be guarding her. Limit her touches, and I believe their offense will crumble. Dawn Evans is a 5-7 guard and their main three point threat, making 21 of 61 shots. Kisha Stokes is their post presence and is second on the team in rebounding with 9.6. Jennifer Brown is the other person in the post and the team leader in blocks. Jasmin Lawrence rounds out the starters and is primarily a shooter. I assume the defensive match ups will be as follows:
Coleman - Young
Toliver - Evans
Harper - Stokes
Langhorne - Brown
Lawrence - Strickland

We just need to put this game away early like we did at Northern Iowa last year. If we let the crowd get into the game, it could be a long night and long bus trip back.

A Little Holiday Dancing

From some Maryland Elves



And from some famous Scrooges

Wednesday's Words

With all the games in such a short time, I wasn't able to keep you all updated about the happenings with the team so without further ado:

The Rutgers loss saw us drop to 6th in the coaches' poll, but then we moved up to 5th this week and even picked up a first place vote (I am guessing the Pitt coach did that). In the AP we are fourth and we are finally able to access votes by visiting here. If you want to spit some venom e-mail Elliott Warnock at the Chapel Hill News who has picked us 10th.

The Diamondback did a feature on Marah Strickland

The Washington Post did a feature on Coach Frese and a day in the life of a pregnant coach.

Crystal was last week's ACC POW, giving us three thus far this season.

Kristi Toliver moved up to second on CSTV's weekly Wade Watch

Jeff Lippman wrote a scathing piece about how Toliver takes too many shots in losses

Terps win Boxing Match over Temple, 64-46

In the most physical game of the year and the last of a 14-game stretch, the Terps finally responded to being pushed around and sent a message to Temple and other teams of their ilk by winning by 18. In the past, we would have wilted due to being hacked, elbowed and pushed on almost every play, but yesterday we gave it right back and said enough was enough. The game was poorly officiated as the refs let it get out of hand and thus players fell all over the court.

I thought the defense was outstanding as we really limited Temple's looks and they were forced to take a bunch of bad shots. We also didn't rely on the three-point shot as much, as we only took two (and made them both), which shows that we can play on the inside when they pressure us from the outside.

Player of the Game: Kristi. Yes, she led the team in scoring, but I was more impressed that she played a true PG in the first half and didn't look for her shot. She took two shots and instead had 7 assists and four rebounds. She realized her shot wasn't falling and got her teammates involved. It was great to see.

Next Up: James Madison on Dec. 20 (yes, imagine that, no games for 11 days). God rested on the seventh day, the Maryland Women's Basketball team didn't get to rest until the 32nd day.

Game 14: Temple

For the fourth time this week, we have a game. Today will officially mark the end of the craziest schedule in NCAA history. The ladies just need 40 more minutes of energy and then they can rest their legs.

Today's opponent is Temple, which gave us quite the game last year at their place. Temple is 4-5 with their losses coming against Georgia, Georgia Tech, Duke, Stanford and NC State so they have played top competition and will not be intimated. They have beaten Purdue this year and were up 19 on Stanford before losing.

They are similiar to Rutgers as they play in your face defense and will hound you all over the court. They want to play the game in the 60s as they are averaging 61 points per game. The Owls give up 52.7 points per game and haven't given up more than 64 all season long.

5-5 guard Ashley Morris is the offensive star of the team. Last year she was a reserve and now has taken full advantage of playing all the time. She averages 17.0 ppg and will shoot both inside and outside as she has taken the most shots inside and outside the arc. Lady Comfort is their inside threat (she missed the game last year) and averages 11 and 9.4 rebounds. She does seem foul prone. Helping her out in the middle is Shenita Landry who leads the team in blocks and third in rebounding and scoring. LaKeisha Eaddy is their little pest of a guard who will help on the double teams to create the steal. She is turnover prone and isn't a great shooter. Their fifth starter Marli Bennett is averaging 1.0 ppg. She is not much of a factor. Off the bench, the Owls three-point shooters are Kimmel and Roberts. Nearly everyone of their shots have been threes this year.

If we attack the press and play our game this should be an easy win.

Terps Overcome Odds to Defeat Northern Iowa, 91-37

The only odds the Terps faced last night was whether or not they would all make it to the gym on time. The game was a complete effort as timely passes, key rebounds and very few costly turnovers led to the easy win. Crystal saw her streak of perfect first halves end in the first minute as she had her shot blocked and after starting the game 1-for-4, finished 7-for-10 (that's 6-for-6 for all the non-math majors). Emery (Jane) also saw her first action since her career outing and finished with 1 point thus knocking her scoring average down to 7.0.

No complaints today as Natty 06 (and team insider) stated in one of the comments that the team hasn't practiced in a while and once they get a chance to practice again we will be a wrecking machine. So until Dec. 31 I will reserve all judgement on the team unless I see a lack of enery out there.

Next up: Temple on Sunday at 2 to complete hell week and hell month. 40 more minutes ladies and then 11 days off (sort of).

Lastly, a moment of silence for the loss of a fellow women's Terp fan on Thursday. Fellow bloggers Eileen and Judith over at The Basketcases (your more fan oriented site) lost their beloved Ripley to the rainbow bridge. Ripley never made an appearance at Comcast (at least not that I know of), but I am sure would bark like crazy when his/her owners were watching Terps' road games. Here's hoping that The Basketcases make their return to Comcast on Sunday.

Game 13: Northern Iowa

Time for game three of four this week as well as battling a stomach bug. Will Coach Frese return to the bench? Tonight's opponent is Northern Iowa and hopefully we are healthy enough to put them away at halftime.(Then again, I thought the same thing about UCSB and MTSU).

Northern Iowa enters the game with a record of 4-2 with their lone losses coming to Minnesota and Iowa. They are averaging 62.0 points per game while allowing 55.7. They are a three-point shooting team, having taken 135 thus far this season (that's 22.5 per game) meaning we must step over the screens instead of under them. The Panthers are a small team with their tallest player at 6'2. If I recall correctly from my trip to the game last year, UNI likes to slow down the tempo and make it a low scoring game. We must attack the basket tonight.

The Panthers leading scorer, Nicole Clausen, comes off the bench and is averaging 12.3 points per game. She leads the team in three-point attempts, too. Jacqui Kalin is the team's point guard and second on the team in scoring at 11.0. She is the assist leader and shoots the second most three pointers. Erin Brocka is their main rebounder at 7.5 rebounds per game and third in scoring. She also will step out to shoot the 3.

We need to play our style of basketball tonight and watch for long rebounds.

Terrapins Fight Off Illness and Raiders, 74-69

We are somehow the unluckiest team in America. Twice this year the team has gotten sick as a whole and for the third time in three years. And not only do they sick, they get violently ill where they are sluggish on the court. It wasn't a pretty game, but we won and I will chalk it up to being sick. I assume no presentations were done due to Brenda being home sick.

Here are some things I have noticed and don't like 12 games into the season. Please note that I have never coached before so I could be completely wrong on some of these.

1. This is Crystal Langhorne: . She is a National Player of the Year candidate and since her return to the starting line up she has missed only 10 shots. Is there a reason she doesn't touch the ball in the paint every possession? It seems that we have gone back to the guard-based offense again. For the second straight game, she went perfect in the first half and then went missing in the second half.
2. Our defensive focus seems to be stopping people cutting to the lanes and neglecting the outside shooters. Many teams have dribbled to the middle and then kicked it out for wide open three-pointers. We are also going under screens instead of over them which gives a shooter an extra inch to shoot.
3. We don't adjust the gameplan to attack an opponent's weakness. My philosophy is to attack players in foul trouble, ours sometimes seems to neglect that fact. Case in point, Brandi Brown had three fouls in the first half and finished with four (which she picked up with 2:30 to go). She was going nuts behind the arc. Would it have hurt to just pound it into the paint and make Langhorne, Harper, Perry and Mingo attack her to get her out of the game? The same thing happened at Rutgers with Vaughn out and Ajavon with 3.
4. Our press break seems to go backwards instead of forwards and we dribble to corners instead of the middle. We like to play uptempo, why when a press happens we slow down? Attack the the middle of the court and expose the press.
5. It's great to see Coach Park has helped our defense, but I am worried about his coaching. In the three games he has gone solo, we have trailed late and needed superhuman efforts to win. It may be time to let Coach Floyd lead the way and see how the team responds, especially if Coach Frese plans on missing some ACC contests.
6. We look like we go to low in our stances on defense in order to prevent the drive by. Unfortunately, it gives us a slow first step and "shrinks" our players allowing the opposing team an easier look at the hoop on jump shots.
7. Will we ever get respect from the refs? We are the number 6 team in the country and the opposing teams get more closer calls on our home court than we do. You think Tennessee and Connecticut walk away from home games against lesser opponents saying "we got screwed again" Also, I am afraid the bench is going to get a technical this year because I think we have been warned at least twice this year by opposing refs. Not a good impression to make before ACC season even starts.

Game 12: Middle Tennessee State

We only had one day to rest after suffering from our only defeat of the year and tonight's opponent, Middle Tennessee State, should help us get back on the winning side of things. Tonight should tell us if this team is of National Championship caliber. Two years ago when they lost to UT, it made them hungrier. Last year, when they lost to Duke, they got down on themselves and it showed the rest of the year. I want to see a complete destruction of the Blue Raiders tonight, so much so that Emery AKA Jane Wallace has another chance to set a career high.

We should have two presentations today. One to honor Crystal as the all-time leading rebounder and one to honor Kristi as a 1,000 point scorer. You will also note that I have updated the records section on the left to give all my loyal readers a chance to follow along as the season progresses.

MTSU enters with a record of 3-3 with wins over Tennessee Tech, Houston and Arizona. They are averaging 70.2 points per game while allowing 66.7. Opponents are shooting 48.3% from the floor and 34.5% from 3. If I remember last year's contest, they like to play pressure defense the entire game, but who knows if that philosophy has changed. Amber Holt is their whole team. You may remember her from last year as she went off agaisnt us in her college debut and we escaped with a win. Coleman is going to have to lock her down like she did to Packer. Holt leads the team in scoring, rebounding, shot attempts and assists. Everyone on the team can shoot a 3, so we must step out on screens. Their tallest player is 6'2 and she only grabs 3.3 rebounds per game. We should win the rebounding edge handily.

To win today:
1. Guard Holt
2. Dictate tempo
3. Establish the Post
4. No stupid turnovers

Rutgers Ends Maryland's Perfect Season, 68-60

Kudos to Rutgers for playing one hell of a game. They came out and did exactly what I thought they would do. Their defense was outstanding and they never got rattled no matter the deficit.

Other the other hand, we got rattled and it showed. Kristi, Marissa and the rest of the team seem frustrated with Rutgers' defense and instead of playing Maryland basketball they fell right into Rutgers' hands. There was a stretch at the end of the first half where we played uptempo and got our shots, but for some reason we went away from that in the second half. On that note, I have three complaints about the second half gameplan.

1. Going small when Vaughn picked up her fourth foul. Vaughn picked her fourth foul at 16:07 and a little over two minutes later with a 9 point lead we went subbed in Ashleigh for Crystal. That gave us four guards and a post player. Rutgers cuts the lead to 2 before we go back to the dual post combination and with that Rutgers was back in the game. Why not put Jade in if you want to go small and let her continue to work her magic down low?
2. Not attacking the paint with Vaughn on the bench and Ajavon with three fouls and in the bonus. Ajavon had three fouls and there was no shot blocker in the middle and we were in the bonus, yet we never drove hard and tried to create contact and get to the free throw line. Plus, with our four guard line up we never reestablished our post game which should have been a gimmie. WHEN WILL OUR PLAYERS LEARN TO FEED THE POST?
3. Staying in the zone too long. The zone was a wonderful idea in the first half as it kept Rutgers from driving to the lane. In the second half, Rutgers made adjustments and we didn't. Once the zone was solved and the score got close we should have switched back to man-to-man to regain our advantage on the boards. One thing I have learned about playing a zone is that it is harder to grab defensive rebounds as there are no block out assignments.

Do I feel Rutgers is a better team than us? No, but I felt they played better than us last night and deserved to win.

Now we have to regroup and win the next 3. Last year that first loss to Duke was our undoing and we pressed the rest of the year. Let's see if a year later has had any impact.

Game 11: Rutgers (ESPN2)

For the first time all season we get two days off in between games and we need it as we head north to Piscataway, NJ to take on #5/6 Rutgers in the Jimmy V Classic. For some reason Rutgers continues to play in this game instead of giving other teams a chance to host it. Rutgers will be the fifth ranked team we have played in 11 games and third top-10 team. Last year, I don't think we played 5 ranked teams all season.

Rutgers is the media darling after being "mocked" by Don Imus last year after losing in the national championship game. Ironically, tomorrow is Don Imus' first day on the air and it would be fitting that his last and first days on the air centered around Rutgers losses. Vivian Stringer made a big deal about this issue in the spring, but now she wants to be known as the team that lost in the Championship. She is also insane as last week told a reporter that the NCAA was out to get her.

Aside from Don Imus Vivian Stringer also hates scoring, whether it be by her team or the opponents. Thus far this year they have scored only 57.6 points per game, while allowing 47.6 ppg. They haven't scored more than 67 all year and haven't allowed more than 60 (and that was because of free throws with no time left on the clock essentially). The last time they scored more than 80 in regulation was 88 last year against Florida. The last time they allowed more than 70 was against Connecticut last February. Opponents shoot 30.4 % and 24.1% from three. They will guard us from the time we walk off the bus.

They are led by sophomore Epiphany Prince, who is more famous for scoring over 100 in a high school game. Prince is a slasher and will occasionally shoot the three. Their dazzling backcourt is seniors Matee Ajavon and Essence Carson. Both are similiar players bu Ajavon may attack the paint more and more of a ballhawk on defense. Chances are she guards Kristi. Carson, which one paper calls their stopper, is coming off hip and groin injuries so whoever is being guarded by her (i'm assuming Coleman or Toliver) needs to make quick sudden movements to check out her range of motion. The key to the team is Kia Vaughn. She is their lone starting post player and if she can control the paint, the guards can play tough defense. Vaughn sometimes decides when she wants to play, but she tends to come alive in the big battles. We must attack Vaughn from the tip and get her out of the game. She can be foul prone. Rutgers' fourth starter is Heather Zurich, who is more of a wing player and will likely be matched up against Harper or Langhorne. She will shoot from outside, but is the team's fifth and final option. This is another match up we must exploit.

To win this game, we must take care of the ball. Rutgers wants to slow this game down to a snail's pace. I don't mind if we try to speed up the tempo, but we can't force passes that aren't there. Second, we must keep Rutgers' guards off the glass. Prince and Carson like to help Vaughn on the glass so we need to box them out on misses. Lastly, Vaughn likes to pretend she is loafing on plays and then dart to the paint for an easy bucket.

If we get to 70, I think we will win this game. Then we get ready for 3 games in 5 days.

Terps Stifle Buckeyes 77-53

Well looks like the extra day of rest paid off on the defensive end as Ohio State was held to 29.6 shooting from the field, the second lowest we have given up this year. I loved the defensive intensity we showed last night as we challenged every one of Ohio State's shots. There was hustle all over the place. We could have rebounded better but when one team misses 50 shots, it's going to be hard to grab them all.

It was great to see Jade rebound from thee subpar performances. She seems to relish playing against these All-American type players. The game also showed that you can try and shut down Kristi, season-low 9 points, but then the inside game with kill you as Crystal, Laura and Jade combined for 39 points. The turnovers are still an issue but we seemed to cut down on them in the second half. I noticed that the turnovers are primarily a result of Toliver trying to play faster than the game. She forced a bunch of passes because she wanted to get going quickly. My only true disappointment was that we didn't keep attacking Lavender (boy wouldn't she look good in Red and not Scarlet?). She picked up a foul at 18:43 on a charge and didn't get another one the rest of the game. She was great inside and we needed to get her out of there.

Player of the Game: Marissa Coleman. Much has been said about her lack of defense but here is the stat line for OSU's star player: 2-11 (2-6 from 3), 0-0 from the line, 6 points. Packer was averaging over 17 points per game and shooting over 50 percent inside the arc. She made no shots inside the arc and one of her three-pointers came when Marissa was on the bench. After Marissa was done shutting down Packer, she scored 14 points and grabbed a crucial last second rebound to keep us from losing the rebounding battle.

Things to work on: Resting again. We have 4 games next week.

Next up: Rutgers on Monday at the RAC at 7 p.m. on ESPN2 as part of the Jimmy V Classic. A win will almost certainly lock up a 1 seed in March and will make C. Vivian Stringer even crazier than she already is.

Game 10: Ohio State

For only the second time this year we get two days off between games. Today marks game 10 of 14 in the first month of the season. only 10 more days and five more games until the squad gets a well needed rest.

Today's opponent is Ohio State, the fourth ranked team we have played this year. They are 5-1 with their lone loss coming against Auburn in their last game. The Buckeyes are a defensive-minded team (as are most Big Ten teams) and haven't given up more than 68 points all year (and that was to BU). Auburn was the toughest opponent they have played to date.

OSU is led by National Player of the Year candidate #22 Marscilla Packer. She's a 5-9 guard averaging 17.7 points per game. She likes to shoot the three with 41 of her 72 shots taking place from behind the arc. Once inside the arc she has made 18 of 31 shots. She must be closely guarded. Second of the team in scoring and the leading rebounder is former Maryland recruit Jantel Lavender, who takes the place of departed All-American Jessica Davenport. She is 6-4 and averaging 16.7 and 9.3. She is also a freshman and has yet to go up against the likes of Langhorne and Harper. She is not a great free throw shooter. Helping her out in the post is Star Allen, a 5-11 forward who attacks the boards. We need to use our height to keep her off the boards. She is rotating with 6-2 forward Tamarah Riley. At the guards and lesser scoring options are Ashlee Trebilcock and Shaveile Little. Trebilcock is more of the outside shooter, while Little is more of a distributor.

We need to speed the game up and take care of the ball. Also, attack Lavender in the paint and force Jim Foster to play someone he is not comfortable in the paint. Whoever guards Packer must get tabs on her at all times.

Here's hoping the extra rest will keep us fresh the whole game and allow us to rest the starters late in the game to get ready for the showdown with Rutgers.

Tired Terps Roll Past Pittsburgh, 90-77

The score was a lot closer than the game should have been, but you could see the ladies were tired last night. Once again they came out early and put up a huge lead and Pitt was a little shell-shocked (no pun intended). Fatigue set in and Pitt rallied to make it a "game" (we can't let the fans leave early, can we?) before Maryland went on one last run to seal the victory.

Harper kicked off milestone week by scoring 21 points to go over the 1,000 point mark, thus becoming the the third current Terp to break that barrier and second this year. Next up is Langhorne breaking the rebounding mark and KT passing 1,000 points.

As for the game itself, I thought we played well in spurts but at times you could tell we were tired. Plus we were so worried about the dribble penetration that we left their shooters wide open. Still need to work on the turnover issue, but I liked the aggressiveness we showed. We also look a little ragged on press break, but the more teams press us the better we will get at it.

Player of the Game: Crystal. First real game action all season and all she does is put up 15 and 13 on 6-of-8 shooting. Glad to see her back.

Things to work on: Resting.

Next up: Ohio State on Friday. The Buckeyes are the last non-conference team to defeat us at home. That's 24 straight wins since 2005.

In other news: Maryland received a verbal commitment from 5-6 Delaware PG Dara Taylor

Game 9: Pittsburgh

Guess what Terps' fans? It's GameDay again! Don't you just love the schedule Coach Walz left for us? I think the announcer said it best when he compared our schedule to playing pick up - our ladies win the game, rest for a little bit and then say "Who's got Next?"

Next in this case is Pittsburgh, who comes in with a 3-1 record and not having played for a week. The Panthers are receiving votes in this week's poll and would still be ranked if not for stumbling against Penn State. They are averaging 80.5 points per game, shooting 45.1% and grabbing 47 rebounds per contest. They are led by fast guard Shavonte Zellous who loves to have the ball in her hands. She will attack the rim over and over and try to draw contact. She has yet to take a 3 all season. Marcedes Walker is their big person in the middle and she has more of a Jade build than a Harper build. She also doesn't shoot 3s and seems to be foul prone. Mallorie Winn is the team's main distributer and also 3-point shooter having taken nearly half of the team's long-distance shots. They play with 4 guards and a post.

My gut tells me that they will try to use their speed to disrupt us and then feed the ball down to Walker. We must contain Zellous and not let her get to the rim easily. Also, we can't sag down and leave them open for three. Again, control the ball and make the smart passes. Lastly, I would like to see Kat get in the game at the point before some of the media time outs so that KT can get some rest. She can't play 40 minutes every game.

Play for 30 minutes like we did the last 6 minutes yesterday and Pitt goes home with loss #2.

Toliver Featured In USA Today

Dick Patrick writes a glowing piece about Kristi in today's USA Today. Coach Frese makes a great point when she says she is surprised when she misses. I am too.

Terps Rally From 16-point Deficit To Defeat UCLA, 79-75

Well, that had to be the worst we have played all season. UCLA got the UCSB message that pressing and hounding KT is the way to keep Maryland's scoring down. UCLA was in our head for most of the second half and it resulted in sloppy play and trailing by 16 with 6:47 to play. Then UCLA went into a shell and Maryland scored 19 of the next 21 points to take a 1 pt lead with 2:03 to go. To repeat in a span of 4:45 Maryland scored 19 points and played stifling defense. So my main question is why did it take a 16-point deficit for us to play defense and run a decent offense?

Yes, we were tired and yes, UCLA was all over us, but I thought we had gotten past the foolish turnovers when the press goes on? I was impressed with the way we responded as last year we would have given up, but we can't have this type of effort against pressing teams.

It was good to see Crystal back out there, but her hands were not there tonight and she seems to be struggling with controlling the ball. She lost several rebounds that the last few years she would have never let get away.

Jade needs to reappear as does Mingo. When the posts are in foul trouble we have to count on them.

The guards need to attack the rim if the defense is going to play that tight. At one points Rogers was on Coleman. Coleman should demand the ball and attack the slower defender.

Player of the Game: Marah Strickland. 9 points, 2 rebounds and 0 turnovers. 6 of those points came down the stretch (two at the FT line with the game on the line)and she grabbed a key rebound when we will pulled within 1.

Things to Work on

Breaking the press

Attacking the paint - Rogers and Pluimer finished with 2 fouls apiece. Rogers didn't pick up a foul in the second half.

Playing physical. We tend to shy away from contact instead of using it to our advantage to draw fouls.

Next up: Pittsburgh on Tuesday night at home.

Game 8: UCLA

Well, we are back to our old schedule of a game every 48 hours and today at 5 we play on the court that John Wooden made famous at Pauley Pavilion. The game can be watched locally on Comcast SportsNet Plus. Click here to find out what channel it is on. For those without cable the game is on Fox Sports.

UCLA enters the game with a record of 3-0 with wins over Cal State Northridge, Rice and Cal Poly. They are averaging 89.0 points per game, while allowing 74.3. The Bruins are grabbing 50 rebounds per game and also turning the ball over 19 times per contest. It also seems like they don't enjoy shooting 3-pointers as Pluimer and Campbell are their only threats and the team has only taken 24 all season.

We just need to play our game and attack their post players as they tend to have more height than we do. Take care of the ball and play defense. I believe UCLA wants a track meet, we just need make several stops and put this game away early.

Some Notes about UCLA
- The highlighted C on their jersey doesn't mean they are all captains it is to show off the 100 National Championships they have won as an athletic department.
- UCLA features junior Chinyere Ibekwe - the sister of former Terp Ekene Ibekwe.

Terps Survive Scare from UCSB, 75-71

Last night's game showed the importance of Crystal and what happens when Toliver is hounded for 40 minutes. UCSB employed a press that many teams will now put on as well as we didn't handle it well. Jade is a good player in a stand alone offense but in a fast moving game she can't get going as was shown last night and may explain why she didn't play against Ole Miss last year in the tournament. Crystal opens things up for the team and gives us another scoring threat downlow.

Luckily for us, Marissa decided that she would attack the rim and went to the line 20 times. At any other school that would be a record, but Shay had to go out and shoot 27 free throws in her first collegiate game.

Other than that, the team looked like last year's version as we had a double-digit lead and we unable to put the game away. It took UCSB 3:49 into the second half to tie the game and then they later took the lead. We have to play better than that in the face of adversity.

Player of the Game: Marissa - career-high 30 points and 8 rebounds.

Things to work on for next game: Breaking the press, guarding the three-point shooters and hitting our own three-point shots.

Game 7: UC Santa Barbara

After their first long trip of the season, the Terps are back in action again today against UC Santa Barbara at the Thunderdome. The game is not on TV, but you can purchase it to watch it on the web for I believe $10. Otherwise you can listen to it on the radio and watch GameTracker.

Last year, Maryland stomped UCSB 105-44 at Comcast and UCSB finished second in the Big West for the first time in 12 years. This year UCSB is 2-2 with wins over USC and Loyola (Marymount). Their 79 points in their last game was the most all season. They are led by their 6-4 senior center Jenna Green, who is averaging 13 and 7.5. They have another 6-4 center, but they are being outrebounded 37 to 41. They are shooting .369 on the season and .281 from three.

Again we need to just grab the ball and go, so that the team can burn off that thanksgiving feast. The goal should be to get Emery Rookie of the Week honors with another stellar performance.

Then it's rest and get ready for a trip to LA for the Bruins.

Maryland Bench Nearly Outscores Greyhounds in Blowout

For the second time this season, Maryland's first half point total was enough to win the game. Against Delaware they scored 46, while the Blue Hens tallied 43 for the game and tonight versus Loyola, the Terps had 51 at the break and the Greyhounds finished with 50.

The story wasn't the starters though as for the first time since the Miami game last year, the leading scorers for Maryland were bench players. It's also the first time since Feb. 13, 2006 that two freshmen have led the team in scoring as Emery Wallace had 18 points and Drey Mingo had 16 points this evening.

Overall, I think we played a great game. We blew Loyola out early and gave some confidence to the bench players who haven't played in the last few games. Kat had 8 assists and made her first two 3-pointers. I think we need to work on our press as Loyola passed right over it each time we employed it. That's my only complaint though. I did like how it seems we have added new wrinkles to our existing plays.

Player of the Game: Emery Wallace - first real action in two years and she scores 18 points, shooting 3-for-3 from behind the arc. Who knows if this leads to more playing time for her, but maybe it will give her the confidence she needs when she does play. Now she just needs to work on her chest bumps.

Next Up: A cross-country flight to California for games against UC Santa Barbara and UCLA.

Game #6: Loyola

Make it 4 games in nine days and another home contest, this time against Loyola. I am hoping this game isn't as much of a struggle in the first half as the last two were. Tonight should give us a great chance to see more of Emery, Christie and Kat. Last year, we doubled up Loyola 110-55 and also gave the Greyhounds their first sellout. I think Coach Walz wife also gave birth to child number two that evening.

Loyola is 2-1 with wins over Villanova and Drexel. They average 57 ppg and haven't scored more than 50 in their last two outings. I will be disappointed if we give up more than 50 to them. They aren't a great three-point shooting team nor do they shoot well from the field. Their best player is Vika Sholokhova who is a 6-3 center and averaging a double-double.

We need to just run the ball down the court and play uptempo as ironically the greyhounds will not be able to keep up.

After tonight, a two-day rest before playing UCSB in California.

Kristi Toliver Named ACC POW

In the no-brainer move of the week, Kristi has been selected ACC Player of the Week. This makes the Terps 2-for-2 in ACC POW this year.

In other news, here are some links to articles regarding yesterday's win:

Baltimore Sun

Washington Times

Examiner

USA Today

Philly Inquirer

The Diamondback

Also, UT is offering students a chance to to win a year of free tuition just by attending games. Our marketing department is more concerned with getting students to show up at all 27 sports to care about the #3 team in the country.

Terps Use Second Half Run to Cage Tigers and win WNIT, 75-62

Four years ago in Colorado, an LSU team led by Seimone Augustus defeated a young Maryland squad by 13 points. Nearly four years later, Maryland exacted revenge with a 13 point win, 75-62. that's a 26 point swing in four years. One reason for that swing could be Kristi Toliver who went off for 23 and should be a lock for ACC POW. For the second-straight game, Maryland couldn't handle the defense of their opponent and made some foolish turnovers early on, while not forcing many themselves. Like in the ND game, the turnovers didn't affect the offense as Maryland led by as many as 10. In the second half, LSU looked like they were trying to take control, but a 13-1 run dashed those hopes.

I have been really impressed with Maryland's defense thus far in the young season. We have done our best to contain some of the post players in the country. I would like us to react better to the three-point shooters as Quianna Chaney was firing away with open looks.

Strickland seems to getting more comfortable as she was taking contested three-pointers.

Player of the Game: Jade Perry. She gave up as many as 8 inches to Fowles yet recorded a double-double and forced Big Syl to take several tough shots. If she can develop a more consistent outside shot, she may have a chance in the league.

Next up: Loyola on Tuesday at home. See you there.

Game #5: LSU (WNIT Championship)

For the fifth time in 9 days we play a game. For the third time in a week we play a ranked team. for the second time in a week we play a top 6 team. So much for a cupcake schedule this year. LSU may be a tougher game than Oklahoma. I would venture to guess that LSU is a combination of ND and Oklahoma - looming post presence and stifling defense. A win here proves to all the doubters we are back and may garner us some first-place votes in Monday and Tuesday's polls.

LSU plays with three guards, a forward and a center (a rather big center in Sylvia Fowles). They have made the last four Final Fours. Their goal is to slow the game down and make it a defensive struggle. Their PG White is small, but quick and due to an ankle injury may not be at 100% percent. Hightower (who comes off the bench) and Chaney are their three-point shooters and we must jump out on them. LeBlanc helps Fowles in the paint on rebounds.

The key to this game is handling the pressure and the traps. When we get in the offensive set, we must pound the ball inside to Harper and Jade and have them go at Sylvia, I don't care if we get a charge, draw contact on her and get her in foul trouble. She leaves the game, it opens it up for us.

Terps Shoot Their Way Past Irish, 75-59

Three streaks ended tonight: Kristi's double-double, Kristi's last bucket of the half and Notre Dame's WNIT winning streak. Two ranked opponents up, two ranked opponents down. Sunday we try to make it 3-for-3.

Kristi was on fire from long range, but also had help from Marah and Marissa as the team hit a school-record 12 three-pointers. The team played fluid on offense and handled ND's defense early on. I like how we responded each time ND made a run and then came out in the second half ready to slam the door on ND's upset thoughts. Harper continues to play with a purpose with Langhorne sidelined. I wish we would have put more pressure on ND to force them into more mistakes.

The officiating needs to be addressed. How many times does a player have to be slapped before a foul is called?

Game #4: Notre Dame (WNIT)

Finally two days off in between games. Maybe the extra day will heal Crystal's foot and we will be a somewhat full squad again (not that we have needed her yet). For the second time in four games we face a ranked opponent, but the hype is less for this game and it's not even on National TV.

Notre Dame enters the game 2-0 and won the preseason WNIT in 2004 so they are on a 6-game WNIT winning streak. This is the first time we have played them in 20 years. ND is also part of the "1 and done" crowd as far as other fans are concerned (Purdue, Baylor and Maryland as also on that list) thanks to their 2001 National Championship Run.

They have been known to be stellar on defense and like to play more of a 2-3 zone than man-to-man. They are outrebounding opponents by 5 per game, but when looking at their stats, it shows that Jade grabbed more rebounds in the last game than all but one of their players have in two games and only four players have more rebounds than Kat's output in the last game. A lot of their scoring comes from guard play so this will be a big test for Kristi, Marah and Marissa. Judging from the stats ND likes to take the ball to the hoop as of their 144 shots only 29 have come from outside the arc. (compared to us through two games where we shot 28 three-pointers out of 117 shots).

One familiar name on the Irish roster may be Devereaux Peters, who was a recruit last year but after Mingo signed on opted to go to ND instead.

One person who wishes he could watch the game is former coach Jeff Walz as it's his first chance to scout a future opponent.

If we control the glass and take care of the ball we should be able to run ND out of the gym and get ready for LSU or Michigan State on Sunday.

Be there tomorrow night to see which Toliver streak continues: last bucket of the half AND/OR Double-double.

Terps Double Up Blue Hens in Rout

Finally, a complete effort from the ladies in black who were without Crystal again (getting worried as she was wearing a boot tonight instead of sneakers like the first game). The team looked sluggish in the start without Langhorne, but then buckled down and went on a huge run. Jade continues to step up without Langhorne in the lineup which is great to see. We definitely played with more energy last night and I especially liked how we came out at halftime and put the game away for good.

The big question is: can Kristi's streak continue on Friday?


Player of the Game: Ashleigh Newman. The first couple of games looked like Ashleigh was just going to ride out her senior year and enjoy it, but last night, she looked like the Newman of old, hitting three-pointer after three-pointer from the corners. Looks like she felt the pressure from Kat. Would have been the leading scorer if not for the last few free throws by Kristi.

Looking at the checklist
1. Marissa, Kristi and Crystal combined for at least 50 points - NA -
2. Crystal at least 20-30 touches per game on the offensive end - NA
3. Crystal takes at least 10-15 shots per game - NA
4. Fewer than 15 turnovers per game - minus - too many sloppy passes in the first half against a team that doesn't press that much.
5. Shoot 70% from the free throw line - plus - Harper made all of hers, but Jade had a rare miss
6. Outrebound opponents - plus plus - Kat and Jade almost outrebounded them
7. Kristi to have more shots made than turnovers - plus - 5 to 3
8. Laura to take 5-10 shots per game. - plus - 5 shots
9. 5-10 steals per game - plus - 6
10. Fewer than 5 missed lay ups per game. - minus - I counted 8 of them two of which came on the alley oop play.
11. At least 10 drives to the basket by the guards. - minus - I don't recall more than 10. we need to start breaking teams down off the dribble more.
12. Getting opposing team in foul trouble. - plus - their posts were in foul trouble right away
Final Tally: 6 out of 9

Things to Work:
- Taking care of the ball.

Game #3: Delaware (WNIT)

48 hours later and another game, this time against a much easier opponent in Delaware, who is coming off a 54-47 win over Delaware State on Friday. The only thing I know about Delaware is that Chrissy Fisher played their the last few years. Also, Delaware's leading scorer broke her hand in the game on Friday and will not play tonight meaning someone will have to take over the scoring load. They are coming off an NCAA appearance, but lost two of their top scorers from a year ago.

Judging by their stats, they are a guard-oriented team as the leading scorers in the first game were guards. They start a 6-4 center, but their 6-1 forward grabbed 10 rebounds in game one.

You know the checklist by now, but I also think we need to force the tempo. We should press whoever takes at the point for DeHaven. Also, let's put this game away early so that the starters can rest and we can see more of Kat Lyons and Drey Mingo on the court.

Winner plays either Notre Dame or Western Kentucky on Friday.

Coleman Named ACC Player of the Week (and other links)

After a dominating performance against OU, Marissa Coleman was named ACC Player of the Week



Is it me or does it look like Marissa is above the rim and can dunk?

- Voepel writes a great article about the Terps' Return To Form

- Langhorne and Coleman were selected preseason All-Americans by ESPN

- Coleman was picked best at her position, while Langhorne was an honorable mention on ESPN.com

Maryland Sends a Message, Crushes Oklahoma

Oklahoma outscored Maryland 23-7 in the opening and closing 4 minutes of the game, unfortunately for the Sooners the game is 40 minutes and the Terps tallied 69 points to OU's 43 during that span en route to a 76-66 win over the sixth ranked team in the country. Our defensive intensity was great and despite Lang's 1-for-7 shooting and 4 rebound performance, everyone else stepped up which again gave me hope that I can start making plans for Tampa in April.

I think Kristi has made it her mission to make me eat my words after the USA performance. Back-to-back 10+ assist games, maybe Diana was right. Coleman took over like she should everygame and Harper was back in Final 4 form, but....

Player of the Game: Marah Strickland. 14 points on 5 of 8 shooting including 4 three-pointers, all of which came at critical moments. The frosh likes to shine in the big moments it seems.

Looking at the checklist
1. Marissa, Kristi and Crystal combined for at least 50 points - minus - 38
2. Crystal at least 20-30 touches per game on the offensive end - plus - her passes out of the post were great and she forced OU to change their game plan
3. Crystal takes at least 10-15 shots per game - minus - she seemed tentative tonight and with everyone else pick up the slack, it wasn't a hinderence.
4. Fewer than 15 turnovers per game - minus - the press killed us and we tried to get a little too fancy again
5. Shoot 70% from the free throw line - minus
6. Outrebound opponents - plus
7. Kristi to have more shots made than turnovers - minus - 6 to 7
8. Laura to take 5-10 shots per game. - plus - 9 shots
9. 5-10 steals per game - plus - 10
10. Fewer than 5 missed lay ups per game. - minus - lang missed a bunch as did harp, but I don't recall any easy lay ups blown
11. At least 10 drives to the basket by the guards. - minus - I don't recall more than 10
12. Getting opposing team in foul trouble. - plus - both Parises had 3 and 4 fouls
Final Tally: 5 out of 12 (sometimes great players cover up mistakes)


Things to work on for the next game
- handling the press.
- getting Crystal back in the flow
- putting the game away early so that the team can rest a bit.

Game 2 - Oklahoma (State Farm Tip Off)

46 hours after the season started and we are already onto game two of the season. This game should be a little tougher than the first as it is against #6 Oklahoma down in North Carolina. Need I remind you of the last time we played at Carmichael?
Let's just hope Ashleigh doesn't need to chuck in another long distance three to send it to overtime.

This is the first game for Oklahoma after winning their two exhibitions easily. The Sooners scored 110 points in each of those games with Courtney Paris scoring 19 and 25 in both. It seems the starters for OU don't do much for OU as the reserves have scored 127 points in two games. Last year, OU was a slow down the pace team and feed the ball inside to Paris. I have no idea what kind of impact the freshman have on their team.

In order to win today aside from the original check points we must:
- speed the game up. Grab the rebound and go with the ball force the Sooners to run.
- pressure them. Ole Miss used that to their advantage.
- Attack Paris. If the ball isn't fed into the post on every play today before Courtney gets in foul trouble, I will be annoyed. She is the strength of that team and if you take her out it makes the game more manageable. KT, Marissa, Marah, must drive the lane and create contact.

Terps Cage Tigers, 76-52

It wasn't really the opening game I was expecting as we came out flat early (maybe due to the lack of Crystal) and seemed to not really want to take it at Princeton. Part of that could be to not show Oklahoma anything or maybe nerves again. You can tell defense was stressed again the offseason and it's ironic that it hurts the team offensively. I liked the way we played on defense, but sometimes we were blown by on the dribble and couldn't get around the screens on the threes.

Player of the Game: Jade Perry - She missed the first game of her career at the end of last season and I think she wanted to prove to Brenda that she shouldn't do that again. 12 points and 11 rebounds is a great way to start her senior year.

Looking at the checklist
1. Marissa, Kristi and Crystal combined for at least 50 points - N/A - Marissa and Kristi combined for 30
2. Crystal at least 20-30 touches per game on the offensive end - N/A
3. Crystal takes at least 10-15 shots per game - N/A
4. Fewer than 15 turnovers per game - minus - sloppy TO's including a few showtime TO's. don't need three passes in the lane on a fast break.
5. Shoot 70% from the free throw line - plus
6. Outrebound opponents - plus
7. Kristi to have more shots made than turnovers - plus - 7 to 4
8. Laura to take 5-10 shots per game. - plus - 8 shots
9. 5-10 steals per game - plus - 8
10. Fewer than 5 missed lay ups per game. - plus - I think I counted four, two on the fast break
11. At least 10 drives to the basket by the guards. - minus - I don't recall more than 10
12. Getting opposing team in foul trouble. - minus - Cowher had 1 foul all night and she is their best player.
Final Tally: 6 out of 9

Things to work on the next game:
- 3-pt shooting. If we are going to stick the perimeter, must shoot better.
- Harper at the line. 0-2 doesn't cut it and be more aggressive
- Harper getting in foul trouble doesn't help if we are down a post player
- attack the paint more.

Game #1: Princeton (WNIT)

And now it begins for real. Unlike last year, where we started the season on a six-game winning streak, this year we start fresh at 0 with Princeton hoping to be our first victim. To be honest, I have never seen Princeton play basketball and with a new coach I doubt there would be anything to go off of. I know Bill Cowher's daughter plays for them and I am hoping "The Chin" makes an appearance at the game.

For games this year I am going to keep a "checklist" on things we need to do well in order win. Feel free to add some if I missed any

1. Marissa, Kristi and Crystal combined for at least 50 points
2. Crystal at least 20-30 touches per game on the offensive end
3. Crystal takes at least 10-15 shots per game
4. Fewer than 15 turnovers per game
5. Shoot 70% from the free throw line
6. Outrebound opponents
7. Kristi to have more shots made than turnovers
8. Laura to take 5-10 shots per game.
9. 5-10 steals per game
10. Fewer than 5 missed lay ups per game.
11. At least 10 drives to the basket by the guards.
12. Getting opposing team in foul trouble.

Obviously the more we accomplish the better chance at winning, but I think at least 9 check marks should result in victory every night.

The game is on WMUC and ACC Select for those that can't be at the Comcast Center. By the way, was it me or was there no promotion for the women's game last night at the men's snoozefest?

Wednesday's Weblinks

Charlie Creme breaks down each of the 64 teams he expects to see in March

The Diamondback writes the team has high hopes for the upcoming season

the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review gives us 5 Things for 2007-08

Tuesday's Tidbits

A few people said I was a little harsh on the team after Wednesday's loss, but according to the poll on the left 47% of you expect a championship this year and 23 turnovers is not great no matter the talent. The 23 TOs are the most thus far against the USA Team. There were three positives since that game. No one has scored more than 74 against the USA Team, we are the only squad to outrebound them and the only squad to have a lead that late against them.

The AP poll is out and we are ranked fourth. You can see who voted for who, by clicking here

Mel Greenberg blogged about his trip to College Park for the USA Game.

ESPN.com has started their season preview. First up, the experts weigh in. Beth Mowins previews the conferences. Graham Hays writes about Maryland being ready to move on. Lastly, Kara Lawson blogs about the season.

Terps Fall to US National Team, 90-73

For the first time in a while, the Terps lost an exhibition game. Granted this was against the Senior National Team. It was amazing to see them have an advantage at every position and the team looked a little shocked at the beginning. Midway through the first half, they seemed to settle down and actually led at one point. The second half was a different story as Maryland looked tired and the US Team started making their shots. Although we only scored 73 points, that is on par with what most of these group of players had been giving up in the FIBA World Championships. To get a true feel for the team, we have to see how UConn and UT do against the US Team in the next few days.

What I liked:

Our aggressive style on defense. We did the best we could to interupt passing lanes and cause turnovers and deflections. The team seemed more committed to defense last night than last year, but we have to see how long that continues.

Rebounding. The US Team had height at every position, yet we still outrebounded them by 6.

Mingo and Lyons. Mingo seemed to settle in after a few minutes and Lyons was not afraid to shoot the ball, making the first three of the game.

What I didn't like

Turnovers. I know Taurasi called Toliver the best PG in the country, but I didn't see it last night. Too many forced passes and attempts to do too much. She needs to let the game come to her. 9 TO's is a bit much, especially after a summer at PG camp.

Free Throw Shooting. Too many missed especially if we are going to attack the basket.

No new wrinkles in the play book. Obviously, we slowed it down because the US Team got back quicker than us, but we seem to still be running the basic, pick at the top of the key play and then try to get a shot off. I would love to see more clear outs or plays that get us into the paint. We can be more than a jump shooting team.

What worries me

Depth. With Langhorne, Barrett, Rodgers and Wiley-Gatewood in street clothes (Lang should be fine for Princeton) we were down to 10 players and Wallace looks like she has a prosthetic leg with all the braces and tape jobs. We the ladies needed a break, the back up guards Newman and Marrone looked lost in the offense.

Conditioning. First game of the year and we were out of gas by the time the second half rolled around. You could see it in the players eyes that they were spent.

Second half problems still exist. A trend from last year reared its head again - being outscored in the second half. We always tend to play great in the first half and then come out of the gate in half two and before we know it the game is tied or blown open.

What I want to see vs. Princeton

Better control of the ball.

More attacking of the basket.

two solid halves

Marah Strickland coming out of her shell.

Whether you agree or disagree, discuss it on the message board.

It's GameDay - Terps Take on US National Team

Tonight is our first and only chance to work out the kinks before the season opens next Friday night against Princeton. Unfortunately, the US National Team is a hard team to work out the kinks against. Almost every player on the team is a star on the WNBA level and I doubt they will rollover and play easier like previous exhibiton opponents have.

Just an FYI, Crystal has a sprained foot according to TerrapinTimes, so it would be a shock to see her play tonight as we need her healthy for 39 games this year.

Here's what I want to see tonight:
- Better defense by everyone.
- Better decision-making by KT, no need to shoot every time down the floor.
- More Aggression and attacking the hoop.
- Better handling of the pressure.
- Post players with outside shots.


What do you think?

Terps Picked 4th in ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll

The first real poll of the season came out this morning and the Terps start the season ranked fourth with 637 points. Tennessee was one, followed by UConn and Rutgers.

Looking at the preseason poll, the Terps will play the #3 (Rutgers), #5 (LSU - NIT), #6 (Oklahoma), #7 (UNC), #9 (Duke - at least twice), #16 (Ohio State), #19 (Florida State), #21 (Pittsburgh), #25 (North Carolina State) as well as the following teams receiving votes: Middle Tennessee State, Notre Dame (NIT), Georgia Tech, UCLA, and Temple. That's 15 games (at least) against teams at least one coach thought was worthy of being in the Top 25.

More Articles

More articles previewing the season:

Annapolis Capital
Off Court
CSTV's List of Top PGs
CSTV previews the ACC

Maryland Media Day

Yesterday was media day on campus and in case you missed it, you can either watch Brenda's Press Conference or read her quotes or the players' quotes.

Some of the news outlets covered it:
Baltimore Sun
The Diamondback
Washington Post
Examiner
Examiner




In other news, USA Basketball finally announced its roster for Wednesday with the one surprise being Lisa Leslie's return to the court.

Monday Musings

- Chelsea Lee and April Sykes chose Rutgers, which is a real kick in the pants.
- Dee Liles recommitted to Maryland, let's hope she finally gets to wear a Terps uniform in 2008.
- Still no word on who will be coming with USA Basketball, but from putting together bits and pieces from releases, chances are we will be playing many of the players on the USA Select Roster listed here.
- TerrapinTimes is reporting that we crushed Georgetown 90-52 on Saturday. No stats are available.

Maryland picked to win ACC; Crystal Preseason POY

Maryland received 27 of 37 votes and is the preseason favorite in the ACC.

Crystal was tabbed Preseason Player of the Year, while Marissa was a Preseason All-ACC selection.

Let's hope we live up to these expectations.

Tuesday was ACC Media Day, yet no poll

Judging from articles on the web, it was ACC Media Day down in Greensboro and all the coaches were in attendance, except for Brenda, who missed the event with back spasms (not a good sign with still 5 months before the twins arrive). The preseason poll was not released and is expected to be released today. Below are the links to articles regarding the event.

Examiner

Greensboro News Record

Raleigh News and Observer

Examiner

Washington Times

Charlotte Observer

Burlington Times

USA Today

Not a good sign that the Post nor the Sun bothered to send anyone down there. Somehow Heather Dinich was able to go cover men's media day.

In other news, the WNBA Draft Lottery was held yesterday and LA won the first pick, followed by Chicago, Minnesota, Atlanta, Houston, Washington, New York, Seattle, Connecticut, Sacramento, Detroit, Indiana, Phoenix, New York. I know the basketcases would want Lang in the Capital City. Atlanta would be ironic as she again would start with a rebuilding team. Anywhere but NY as they tend to let draft picks sit on the bench.

Monday Musings

-Sorry for the delay been having computer issues.

- It was great to see the team back on the court at Maryland Madness, but would it have hurt to let the ladies play more than 5 minutes? Here's hoping Harper's long-range shooting wasn't a one-time thing and she mimics what Gist would do on the break last year - spot up from three and can it.

- Almost all the preseason polls are out and we are ranked as high as #2 with Langhorne being an All-American in every mag. SportsPage.com picked Maryland fifth as did the Black Athlete Sports Network.

- Jessica Garrison picks Crystal as one of the top six centers in the country.

- ACC Men's Media Day was yesterday, which means women's media day will be just around the corner. Will Lang be preseason POY? Will Maryland be picked to win it all?

- Looks like someone taped the women's dance at Media Day:

Potential 2018 Recruit: Nicky Greenberg

According ESPN Radio's Mike Golic, Coach B may already be interested in seven-year old Nicky Greenberg from Westport, CT after learning about her last night at the Jimmy V Dinner. According to her father, she can dribble with her left-hand and is already working on her cross-over dribble. Her father believes she will develop "mad hops" as she gets older. Early competition seems to be Rutgers.

Monday Musings

Less than 5 days until the first practice as Friday will be the first time many of see Drey Mingo, Marah Strickland and Kat Lyons in a Terp uniform. Unfortunately, Anjale and Kim are not healthy enough to suit up.

The roster page on umterps.com has been updated! Here are all the new head shots

According to this release two preseason mags ranked us 4th and one picked us fifth. Crystal and Marissa were also tabbed preseason All-Americans.

Crystal gets a back handed compliment in this article by Jeff Lippman. Last I checked, Crystal was more of a POY candidate than Abby Waner.

The Rebkell boards have a poll about most anticipated games. Somehow the person created it thinks that Maryland-UCLA is a huge game and completely avoided our games vs. LSU, Oklahoma, Rutgers and Ohio State.

TerrapinTimes reported that top prospect April Sykes was on campus over the weekend along with 08 target Dara Taylor from DE and 09 target Maggie Lucas from PA. Sykes is rumored to be down to us, Rutgers and Illinois. Also sounds like Cierra Brevard is heavily leaning towards FSU.

Welcome Back

Summer is over and the football team lost a critical game to Wake Forest on Saturday, it's time for basketball season.

I hope you like the changes around here and there are still more to come! Among the changes: new message board for all the fans to chat on during road games, polls, countdown timer, links to the opponents' sites and message boards.

It's been quite a summer in College Park:

almost all the coaches minus Coach Floyd treated the team like the Titanic and jumped off

Brenda is having twins just in time for the tournament. (Yes, there will be poll about naming the kids)

Lynetta Kizer has agreed to join the Terps in 09. Right now, she's the only one, but Terrapin Times tells me weekly that the next could be very soon.

Two recruits are already out for the season: Anjale Barrett and Kim Rodgers, both with leg injuries (we should insure all our recruits' legs before they step on campus - that's now three recruits in two years that can't play a minute of their freshman season because of injuries.)

Shay is no longer on the team and thanks to the great coaching of Patty Coyle Shay's ass found a permanent spot on the bench. (as did Ivory Latta's, which was great)

Duke hired a coach who likes to play zone on defense and who we have beaten in back-to-back seasons.


If you haven't seen it yet here is the commercial for Maryland women's basketball season tickets.

Monday Musings

Brenda signed a contract extension meaning she will now be with the team through 2013.

According to TerrapinTimes.com, former Riverdale Baptist head coach Diane Richardson is taking over the post vacated by Mark Pearson.

Looks like the Official Shay Doron website is finally online.

Thursday's Trivia

According to Terrapin Times Maryland will play Ohio State, Temple, Middle Tennessee State and Pittsburgh at home next year. In addition they will play in the preseason WNIT featuring Notre Dame, LSU, Michigan State and TCU. Also, nonconference games include Oklahoma, Rutgers, UCLA and UCSB.

Duke is still searching for a coach. Boyle from Cal turned them down.

We are still on Della Donne's final 6 list. She recently replaced Duke with Texas. Also on the list: UConn, Tennessee, MTSU and Villanova.

Tuesday's Tidbits

I was lucky enough to score a ticket to last night's women's basketball banquet from a friend, so here are my observations:

1)The thing was too long. 3 hours is way too long.
2)Nancy was great as was the rebounder lady. Didn't really know what the rebounder lady was presenting.
3)Four of the girls are injured or will be injured: Newman had her knee scoped, Emery is having her knee fixed again, Sa'de had knee surgery and Christie has a stress fracture in her foot.
4)Coach Walz continued his "It was nice knowing you" tour by appearing at the banquet for possibly five minutes and then leaving. He's doing whatever he can to distance himself from the team.
5)Couldn't help but notice some disdain in Coach Frese's voice when introducing the players. She only talked about the positive first half they all had and nothing in the latter part of the season.
7)The highlight video was nicely done, but had too much rap music for my tastes and not enough of a tribute for Aurelie. It also made me mad as it showed how it was a wasted year.
8)Shay and Aurelie's speeches were both tearjerkers with Shay announcing her new official website. (For those wondering, Kalika and Alli Spence were members of their class too).
9)I felt bad for Sa'de as no one wanted a picture of her.
10)It would have been nice to have one of the girls grab the microphone and say a few words i.e. we too are disappointed in the season and we don't expect this to happen again.
11)Lastly, it seems like the guy in charge of the Rebounders forgot to mention a certain someone's blog yesterday. I was only the first blog about the team. Maybe I need to donate some money for the recognition.

Monday's Musings

Four of the five incoming recruits made the Parade All-America Team. Strickland and Rodgers made the second team, while Barrett made the third team and Mingo the fourth team.

Shay answered some questions after the Draft(Scroll more than half the way down).

Thursday's Tidbits

Sorry for the delay again, it is tax season.

I didn't get to see Drey or Marah play due to the game being on ESPNU, but reports are that Marah played well.

Congrats to Crystal for being a Kodak All-American. A year too late if you ask me.

Congrats to Marah for being named MVP of the WBCA Game.

The coaching search continues. For the Terps' fans hoping to get the LSU assistant, it may be a futile attempt as Van Chancellor wants the job and I think he will retain the old staff.

Bye, bye Gail. I can't wait until we get a crack at Texas in the near future.

Lastly, congrats to Shay, the 16th pick of the WNBA Draft to the New York Liberty. Great pick for the Liberty except they traded away her idol, Becky Hammon.

Articles

Baltimore Sun
Ynetnews
Jerusalem Post

A week later and some tidbits

It's been a week since we treated the basketball like a hot potato. I apologize for not updating the site earlier. The first few days I was in remorse. Not that we lost, but the fact that we didn't care how bad we looked. The next few days I was just swamped with work.

As far as how I felt with how we played: we flat out sucked. I give credit to Ole Miss who played the game of their lives and continued to bring the pressure whenever we made a run. Aside from that, what happened last Tuesday was a reflection of the whole season: we had this air of superiority all year that we could turn it on and off when we wanted too, unfortunately the bounces never went our way. We continued to flirt with falling behind hoping that our superiority would carry us to victory. The only way we won games was by blowing teams out early and then coasting to victory. In my mind, no one improved from last year and in fact I think we regressed as a team. Too many quick shots, not enough confidence to try something else. I saw the pictures of the team crying after the game, it's too bad it took a tournament loss for the team to show any emotion whatsoever. I hope for the team's sake, the loss makes each player hungrier and they stop taking winning for granted. November is a long ways away and it will be interesting to see how things unfold since then.

Coach Walz has left to take the head coaching job at Louisville and is taking Becky Bonner with him. Good riddance to both as instead of helping right the ship and take us to title #2, they decided to jump off now so that they didn't sink any further. (just kidding Coach, good luck and take care of Geno for us)

Marah and Drey will be playing in the McDonald's game tonight at 5:30 on ESPNU. Once again ESPN has decided that despite being the home of women's college basketball, a high school all-star game is not worth ESPN or ESPN2 coverage.

Game 34: Mississippi (NCAA Second Round)

Time to move on to our second course, which will be nothing like the first one. In fact, we first sampled this course back in November over in the Bahamas. Things have changed since then. Ole Miss may have developed some more scorers and turned the D, but we also added a faster point guard who can dribble through pressure. It should be a high scoring game.

Of course another win puts us four steps away from another National Title, while Ole Miss tries to play the spoiler.

The game is on ESPN2 at 7 p.m.


Interesting note: Right now only two of Maryland's opponents have been eliminated from the tournament and they were both knocked out by another Maryland opponent.

Ole Miss

Record: 22-10, 4-3 (Neutral)

Common Opponents: Miami (W, 82-64)

Most Points Allowed: 110

Fewest Points Scored: 46

Team Information - Stats

They like to create off their defense. Not a great half-court team. Would rather create turnovers and score easy buckets.

Scores 77.4 points per game and allow 65.5 ppg.

Allow teams to shoot 40.4% from the floor and 29.0% from behind the arc, while they shoot 41.1% and 26.5 % from 3.

They are not a 3-pt shooting team. They like to get in the lane and attack the basket.

Outrebound opponents 44.2-40.6

They generate 24.6 turnovers per game, while only committing 16.1 per game.

Shoot 62% from the free throw line.

The first time we played them all five starters scored in double figures including 19 from Laura Harper. It was basically a track meet and we used our height advantage.

The tallest player they start is 6'1 and they bring a 6'3 player off the bench.

Players to Watch - Roster

Armintie Price. Their 5-9 do-it-all senior. Leads the team in points, rebounds, steals, assists and turnovers. Essentially as she goes, the team goes. in the first game, she was held under 10 points and shot terribly. Likes to drive the lane and initiate contact and get to the line. Only shoots 57.7% from there. Has only taken 42 three-points, making only 7.

Ashley Awkward. 5-6 senior guard who is second on the team in scoring, steals, assists and turnovers. Another guard who loves to shoot the ball, although she will step outside the arc for 3 as she leads the team with 99 attempts, but only 27 makes. Doesn't rebound and doesn't foul.

Alliesha Easley. 5-8 freshman guard who is third in scoring and assists. Also shoots a ton of three pointers but rarely makes them. Can get in foul trouble.

Shawn Goff and Danetra Forrest. Essentially the team's post presence, although neither takes the same amount of shots as the guards. Goff is the better scorer, rebounder and shot blocker. Neither one shoots the 3.

Carla Bartee. the team's other three-point threat off the bench.

Keys to the Game

Take care of the ball.

Attack the press smartly.

Make Ole Miss run some sort of offense (usually it's give the ball to Price and let her create)

Keep throwing fresh bodies at Price, keep her off the boards and frutrate her to no end.

Control the Paint. No reason for Langhorne, Coleman and Harper not to all have at least 10 rebounds each.

Don't rush shots just take them in the flow of the game.

Doron Sends Harvard Packing Again, 89-65

Four years ago, Harvard's coach dreamed of having a young Jewish girl from New York play for her in the NCAA Tournament. That dream never came true and today in Hartford it became her nightmare. Shay showcased her freshman year form today as she hit a variety of shots from all over the court and led the team in scoring with 21 points. The win moves us on to a rematch with Mississippi on Tuesday and extends our non-conference win streak to 31. Fourth straight year of advancing to the second round of the tournament (only one other ACC team has done that - Duke).

The team came out tentative and with a new starting line up. Sa'de started over Kristi to help Toliver relax and not feel some much pressure. In case you haven't noticed Kristi has been down on herself the last few games and it was affecting her play. Sa'de's insertion wasn't the cause for the tentativeness, just a long lay off.

In the end, we saw the return of the running game. Remember that? That was back in November and December. I thought we lost that part of our game.

Time for the second course - some Rebels from Mississippi.

Recap|Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery

Positives

The line up change. Toliver needed to know she wasn't invincible and that she was hurting the team. Sa'de brings emotion and speed and doesn't look for her shot.

The running game. We took the ball off the rebound and attacked Harvard before they could set up. Fast breaks equal easy points.

Shay. She's playing like she doesn't want to lose again as a Maryland player.

Coleman. She went after rebounds and played with fire. Shorts were a bit short from further away, but she will fix that.

Jade and Aurelie. With Harper struggling again, both filled in amicably in the post.

Neutral

Sa'de. I like how she ran the ball up the court and showed emotion, but I want her to drive to the hoop more and create her shot.

Langhorne. Seemed frustrated with the double teams and was forcing shots. Rebounded tough though and made some great outlet passes to start the break.

Toliver. Took the benching in stride, then tried to shoot her way back into the starting line up. The second half she played more in control and wasn't just firing up shots.

Negatives

Harper. Where have you gone 2006 Laura Harper? Another game of little offensive production. She has to be more than a shot blocker and foul collector. Maybe it's time to start Jade.

Lack of rotation on the zone defense. we left the far corner open for skip passes and wide open shots.

Half-court offense. No spacing and a bunch of people standing around watcing Crystal get double teamed. Also we stood around and settled for jumpers instead of attacking. Are we afraid to get hit? Did the lack of calls in other games make us shy?

Doron Sends Harvard Packing Again, 89-65

Four years ago, Harvard's coach dreamed of having a young Jewish girl from New York play for her in the NCAA Tournament. That dream never came true and today in Hartford it became her nightmare. Shay showcased her freshman year form today as she hit a variety of shots from all over the court and led the team in scoring with 21 points. The win moves us on to a rematch with Mississippi on Tuesday and extends our non-conference win streak to 31. Fourth straight year of advancing to the second round of the tournament (only one other ACC team has done that - Duke).

The team came out tentative and with a new starting line up. Sa'de started over Kristi to help Toliver relax and not feel some much pressure. In case you haven't noticed Kristi has been down on herself the last few games and it was affecting her play. Sa'de's insertion wasn't the cause for the tentativeness, just a long lay off.

In the end, we saw the return of the running game. Remember that? That was back in November and December. I thought we lost that part of our game.

Time for the second course - some Rebels from Mississippi.

Recap|Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery

Positives

The line up change. Toliver needed to know she wasn't invincible and that she was hurting the team. Sa'de brings emotion and speed and doesn't look for her shot.

The running game. We took the ball off the rebound and attacked Harvard before they could set up. Fast breaks equal easy points.

Shay. She's playing like she doesn't want to lose again as a Maryland player.

Coleman. She went after rebounds and played with fire. Shorts were a bit short from further away, but she will fix that.

Jade and Aurelie. With Harper struggling again, both filled in amicably in the post.

Neutral

Sa'de. I like how she ran the ball up the court and showed emotion, but I want her to drive to the hoop more and create her shot.

Langhorne. Seemed frustrated with the double teams and was forcing shots. Rebounded tough though and made some great outlet passes to start the break.

Toliver. Took the benching in stride, then tried to shoot her way back into the starting line up. The second half she played more in control and wasn't just firing up shots.

Negatives

Harper. Where have you gone 2006 Laura Harper? Another game of little offensive production. She has to be more than a shot blocker and foul collector. Maybe it's time to start Jade.

Lack of rotation on the zone defense. we left the far corner open for skip passes and wide open shots.

Half-court offense. No spacing and a bunch of people standing around watcing Crystal get double teamed. Also we stood around and settled for jumpers instead of attacking. Are we afraid to get hit? Did the lack of calls in other games make us shy?