Maryland Picked To Finish 5th In ACC This Season

First of all, an introduction. My name is Andy Gripshover and I'll hopefully be posting a lot on this blog throughout the year. You may or may not remember me from Courtside Banter, last year's WMUC Sports women's basketball blog that seems to be a thing of the past because we at WMUC Sports overhauled the blogging system this year. But now we're here and I'm here so in the words of the Black Eyed Peas circa 2004, let's get it started.

The reason I'm writing this post isn't just to introduce myself but to inform you that the Maryland Terrapins women's basketball team has been picked to finish in fifth place in the ACC this season by the Blue Ribbon Panel, a contingent of national and local media, as well as school representatives. The Terps earned three first place votes from the panel.

The panel tabbed North Carolina, who returns three starters and five of the top six scorers from last season's 28-7 squad that earned a # 3 seed in the NCAA tournament, as the preseason favorite with 30 out of 45 first place votes. Duke, who returns two starters from last season's 27-6 side that earned a # 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, was picked to be runner up and garnered 10 first place votes. Florida State, co-ACC regular season champions along with Maryland last season and a # 3 seed in the NCAA tournament, was picked to finish third and got two first place votes. Virginia, anchored by preseason ACC Player of the Year Monica Wright, was picked to finish fourth. After Maryland, the predicted order of finish is Boston College, Georgia Tech, Miami, N.C. State, Wake Forest, Clemson, and Virginia Tech, respectively.

If you ask me, fifth might be generous for this Terps team. As Brian noted in the previous post, four of five starters from last year's Elite Eight team are gone. Kristi Toliver and Marissa Coleman, who absolutely carried the team at times, are in the WNBA. Marah Strickland transferred. Demauria Liles is academically ineligible. So it's a mess in College Park right now, especially when one factors in the transfer of reserve Drey Mingo, the fact that everyone on the roster not named Emery Wallace or Lori Bjork is an underclassman and the perception that the incoming recruiting class is not as highly touted as previous Frese recruiting classes. There's talent on the roster to be certain but it's never been placed under the kind of pressure it will be this year. Anjale Barrett, for example, played very well last year as one of the first players off the bench but there's a huge difference between being Kristi Toliver's backup and being asked to fill her shoes. Lynetta Kizer will go from being, at times, the fourth best option on the court to the absolute undisputed superstar who everyone looks to to carry the team. And remember, these girls are almost all young and largely inexperienced at the college level.

Boston College, the team picked directly behind the Terps who returns six of its top seven point scorers from last season including preseason All-American Carolyn Swords, could be in better shape than them. The Eagles might just be this year's Florida State, a team that shocks everyone by contending for a conference title. They don't have the cushy soft conference schedule that the Noles did but they certainly have the talent, potential, and experience.

It's hard to say after that but I wouldn't be totally shocked if N.C. State surprises people as well. The Wolfpack return a lot of experience from last year's team who will no longer have to deal with the tragic circumstances of Kay Yow's death like they did last season so that could make a dramatic difference. Are they going to finish ahead of the Terps? Let's not go that far but I wouldn't say it's out of the realm of possibility if the Terps are unable to handle the transitions they're going through.

The point is that I don't know what the heck those three people were thinking who tipped the Terps to win the ACC. I will be absolutely stunned if that happens. In fact, I'm not even sure if they can finish their modestly-projected fifth in the conference with how good BC looks beneath them and with all the turmoil and question marks the Terps have, it could be even worse than that. On the other hand, maybe Florida State falls off or Virginia underachieves with nobody helping Wright or Duke can't replace Waner and Black and Gay. Or maybe the Terps underclassmen don't act their age and instead step it up and surprise us all (well, most of us.) We'll see. Put a gun to my head and I'm saying Maryland finishes in sixth in the ACC this season.

We'll have much more Maryland women's basketball coverage in the near future on here but for now it's goodbye. And welcome to the 2009-2010 women's college basketball season.