Born Ready was in the house. Gary Williams came out of the tunnel with a full double fist pump. He almost pumped himself out of his jacket. The crowd went crazy.
The best national anthem singers in TerpLand were on hand. The Generics, a University acappela group, harmonized the anthem. They should be the house band of Terps sports along with the pep band.
The team wore the gold uni’s. Gary later, in jest, credited the uniforms for the victory.
Comcast Center was very pro-Gary tonight. It felt like an ACC game. 16,500 of the seats were filled; 17,500 were sold.
Hey, the team showed up as well. Played tough and smart. Only 7 turnovers and shot 50% in the 2nd half. Played man to man, 3-2 zone for a long time and finally a box+one near the end. All in an effort to keep Jack McClinton, the all-world shooting guard, in check.
The place was empty a 1/2 hour before the game and was rocking from that point forward. The students were there. With signs and dressed in red. Some wearing jerseys, even the new one’s from UnderArmor. The signs were good, not Duke or UNC game good, but rounding into shape.
One sign read ‘fire debbie’, another barked, ‘born ready for Maryland’. Others were pro-gary.
Ralph Freidgen was there rolling along the baseline. Offensive coordinator James Franklin and D-line coach Dave Sollazzo were shaking hands and slapping backs. A Saturday nite affair in the league.
Oh, by the way, the Terps won. With all the doom and gloom it is easy to forget that we are 3 wins and 4 loses in the ACC. The highlights of the game were (1) the return of Jin Soo, (2) Bowie dunking and (3) Dave Neal following the Greivis fastbreak with a two step layup.
Jin Soo is no longer suspended. That is great news. He had a two-handed dunk with 2 seconds on the shot clock. The crowd loved it. With about 12 minutes to go in the game he nailed a long three as the shot clock wound down. The crowd was chanting ‘Jin Soo Kim, Jin Soo Kim. It was fantastic.
Dave Neal. Can’t say enough about the effort. He is becoming a reliable 10 points 5 rebounds a game. Late n the 2nd half, he ran full out as Greivis Vasquez orchestrated the fast break. Dave filled the left lane as Greivis zigged and zagged from the Miami foul line all the way to directly in front of the Terps basket.
Greivis faked right and dropped the ball to his left. Dave caught the pass, took two steps and barely made the layup. What a sweet moment and great team play.
On the recruiting front, Lance Stephenson is know as Born Ready. Maybe he will skip college and play in Europe for a year. We are only his third campus visit. The other two are Louisville and St Johns. If he came to TerpLand, he would start at shooting guard. The thinking is that he would be a one and done.