185 replies to this topic

[Mike B]

Good contributions from Emilien and MArtinez off the bench were a big help.  Both work incredibly hard on defense and have begun to make plays on offense.

Carey only had a few baskets but played good defense and helped move the ball around.   

Reese, Young and Hart were all big,

[Mike B]

Also thought Willard using his timeouts pretty liberally in the first half helped prevent a Purdue run and possibly getting buried.

The man can coach.

[BSLZackKiesel]

"I was trying to get out of there, man. Everyone was trying to rub my head." -Kevin Willard

Love this guy lol

[hallas]

Edey really doesn’t have anything but height, free throw shooting, and a halfway decent hook shot. He doesn’t throw his weight around at all, has no jumpshot, and is an extremely bad passer. He got lost defensively underneath the basket a bunch tonight.

He’s a fine college player, and can dominate at times against less physical opponents. But will have no NBA career to speak of.

 

I kind of disagree.  He's played well against other good college players (Drew TImme, for example against Gonzaga) and we couldn't do anything in the paint because of him in the first half and the beginning of the 2nd half.  The run was mostly because we knocked down jumpers and scored in transition, and their entire team kind of broke down offensively.  He's only 20 and doesn't have much basketball experience, so he has a lot of room to get better.

[BSLMikeLowe]

I kind of disagree.  He's played well against other good college players (Drew TImme, for example against Gonzaga) and we couldn't do anything in the paint because of him in the first half and the beginning of the 2nd half.  The run was mostly because we knocked down jumpers and scored in transition, and their entire team kind of broke down offensively.  He's only 20 and doesn't have much basketball experience, so he has a lot of room to get better.

 

I think he'll have a tough time getting minutes in the NBA. In today's game you don't find many bigs whose entire game is that close to the basket. And he seems heavy-footed, even for a 7-4 guy, so he'll likely struggle defending pick-and-rolls and he'll really have trouble defending bigs with range.

 

Offensively he does have a nice shooting touch near the basket, but he doesn't seem to have great hands and NBA defenses might force a lot of turnovers off him. And again with what looks like very limited mobility he might not be of any use running pick-and-rolls, especially with nothing resembling a jump shot.

 

He's probably a 12/13 on an NBA depth chart.

[You Play to Win the Game]

This is what we do!

https://twitter.com/...BOOXTuyXhwZRnIA

This guy is the polar opposite of Mark Turgeon.

[You Play to Win the Game]

[BSLZackKiesel]

I feel so awesome for the students who were freshmen when COVID hit, and are now experiencing XFINITY Center at its fullest for the first time in their junior years. Feels like all that pent up energy is being let loose now, and you’re seeing how much it affects the results on the court.

[hallas]

I think he'll have a tough time getting minutes in the NBA. In today's game you don't find many bigs whose entire game is that close to the basket. And he seems heavy-footed, even for a 7-4 guy, so he'll likely struggle defending pick-and-rolls and he'll really have trouble defending bigs with range.

 

Offensively he does have a nice shooting touch near the basket, but he doesn't seem to have great hands and NBA defenses might force a lot of turnovers off him. And again with what looks like very limited mobility he might not be of any use running pick-and-rolls, especially with nothing resembling a jump shot.

 

He's probably a 12/13 on an NBA depth chart.

I agree that he's probably a backup and a role player in today's NBA unless he learns a jump shot in a year,  But he definitely has a career in the NBA as is, and he has the potential to be a starter if he learns how to pass out of the paint.  Saying he has no NBA career is a bit much IMO.

[glenn__davis]

Had to watch on DVR as I was coaching my daughters team last night. And then right as I'm leaving the gym I hear one of the dads tell another dad that MD won. Was still a great watch.

If you recorded the game watch Reese before the tipoff. I'm almost certain he's singing along with RNR part 2.

[glenn__davis]

And last post for me on the subject and then I'll leave it alone, the student section was great last night and provided an awesome hostile atmosphere without any vulgar chants, or at least not any that I heard on TV.

[glenn__davis]

So happy for Reese and his turn around of late. He has been a bonafide X Factor tonight so far.

 

Yeah I was pretty down on Reese, happy to have been wrong about him at least in this past month or so.

 

Wish I could get excited about him improving more next year but with the portal it seems like you almost expect him to leave.  College ball in 2023, it is what it is.

[Mike in STL]

Just awesome to see XFinity rocking again. Turgeon drained every ounce of excitement and energy out of the place. Had expectations at an all-time low for my generation. I'm glad it's back, better late than never. 

 

Some recency bias going on but seeing a handful of comments about MD being the toughest venue to play in in the Big Ten. That is some high praise. 

[You Play to Win the Game]

Just awesome to see XFinity rocking again. Turgeon drained every ounce of excitement and energy out of the place. Had expectations at an all-time low for my generation. I'm glad it's back, better late than never.

Some recency bias going on but seeing a handful of comments about MD being the toughest venue to play in in the Big Ten. That is some high praise.

I was telling my fiancée last night, there’s no way there aren’t studs at DeMatha and other DMV schools watching this game that aren’t thinking how they’d love to be apart of this.

I don’t want to revise history on Turgeon. He was a respectable caretaker of the program after Gary left. And he had his moments here and there at Xfinity too. Some nice accomplishments numbers wise.

But there’s something to not knowing deep down there’s a ceiling. That’s how I feel now, I don’t know how far Willard can take us. I’m excited to find out (not this year to be clear). With Turgeon, you just always knew in your gut the team was solid, but had no real shot (with the exception of 2020 IMO). The tournament performances sucked too.

That said, it’s a new day, and this is fun. Kudos to KW for not being afraid to embrace expectations (knowing you could fail), and go for it. More than anything, I love his mindset. As it turns out, the guy can coach too. Now, let’s see him recruit.

[BSLZackKiesel]

Just watching on TV last night, that game was the first time I really felt the sort of energy I felt as a student during that 2015-16 season. That was super special.

[Mike B]

I was telling my fiancée last night, there’s no way there aren’t studs at DeMatha and other DMV schools watching this game that aren’t thinking how they’d love to be apart of this.

I don’t want to revise history on Turgeon. He was a respectable caretaker of the program after Gary left. And he had his moments here and there at Xfinity too. Some nice accomplishments numbers wise.

But there’s something to not knowing deep down there’s a ceiling. That’s how I feel now, I don’t know how far Willard can take us. I’m excited to find out (not this year to be clear). With Turgeon, you just always knew in your gut the team was solid, but had no real shot (with the exception of 2020 IMO). The tournament performances sucked too.

That said, it’s a new day, and this is fun. Kudos to KW for not being afraid to embrace expectations (knowing you could fail), and go for it. More than anything, I love his mindset. As it turns out, the guy can coach too. Now, let’s see him recruit.

Good Post.  I think Willard has done a terrific job adjusting both his offense and defense to make this team better than a lot of us thought it was going to be.  I really like the upbeat style of play.  I think Maryland's fast pace style, and the atmosphere and soon to be update facilities will help the recruiting.

 

I think the future is very bright.

[You Play to Win the Game]

Obviously I'm still in geek mode so maybe it's a nothing, but I was wondering if moments like last night might help get boosters more engaged in the NIL campaign.

[Mike B]

Just watching on TV last night, that game was the first time I really felt the sort of energy I felt as a student during that 2015-16 season. That was super special.

It was a late arriving crowd, 6:30 start times suck, but the noise in the second half was very noticeable.  Good job keeping it clean.

[Ravens2006]

My very uninformed feeling with Turgeon was that he lost some fire / intensity himself after COVID pulled the plug on the year they were sorta starting to ramp up expectations again a little. Like he came back out of that a lot less driven / more apathetic than before, and never really flipped the switch back.

[BSLMikeLowe]

Good Post.  I think Willard has done a terrific job adjusting both his offense and defense to make this team better than a lot of us thought it was going to be.  I really like the upbeat style of play.  I think Maryland's fast pace style, 

 

I'm impressed that he and the team have sustained that kind of tempo, especially on defense, when they really only go 7 deep. Maybe I just got so used to the late season fades that I thought this team wearing down was inevitable. I wonder if Willard, knowing early on he'd have a shallow bench once conference play started, has done a better job over the course of the season in practices of not putting too much wear and tear on the players...whereas maybe Turgeon might have worked his teams harder in practices and it eventually wore them down, even ones that were much deeper than this squad.

 

Or, maybe I'm just overthinking it and this is simply the difference that better all-around coaching makes.