This should be another easy one.
The 43 game home winning streak (which I haven't mentioned nearly enough in this space) is put on the line once again later today against an in-state rival out of Baltimore. The Greyhounds, however, shouldn't provide much resistance. They certainly didn't in last year's meeting at Reitz Arena, a game I called that the Terps won 83-52. Expect a similar scoreline tomorrow.
Loyola's just 3-4 with wins over La Salle, Army, and Mount St. Mary's and losses to Navy, Tulane, Bucknell, and, most recently, Towson. So Maryland is the first big conference school they're playing and the first ranked team they're playing. They're likely in for a rude awakening.
If there's anything resembling a superstar on the Greyhound roster, it's Miriam McKenzie. She's averaging 17.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game on the young season and she also has 17 assists. All of those are team highs. Kaitlin Grant has 12.7 points and 6.6 rebounds per game and has dished out 15 assists. All of those are second to McKenzie. So I guess it's clear who the # 1 and # 2 players are tomorrow. McKenzie in particular will be an interesting matchup. She's no Alexis Rack but if she goes for 17.4 points a game, she's obviously no joke. It'll be interesting to see if Maryland can lock her down.
Like seemingly every other mid major, Loyola is undersized. No one who plays is taller than 6'1 so that'll be a challenge against the much bigger Terps later today. Kizer and Tchatchouang should be able to do whatever they want and I expect more playing time for Tianna Hawkins as she could thrive in a game like this as well.
Maryland doesn't really face tough competition for the rest of 2009. This next run of games needs to be when Brenda starts to shake out her rotation, define roles, and basically get all of her ducks in a row before ACC play. Start working out the kinks now because before you know it, it's gonna be time to travel to Raleigh and kick off the conference schedule with always-pesky N.C. State before heading to Charlottesville four days later to face # 14/# 15 Virginia. There are six games between now and and the Wolfpack game and they should all be easy wins, so it's time to start getting everything worked out.
Not sure when I'll get the recap up. I will TRY to do it tomorrow afternoon before I head to D.C. for the men's basketball team facing Villanova in the BB&T Classic but I'm not sure if I'll have the time. I'm on the broadcast so I definitely won't be able to do it until at least a half hour or so after the game goes final. If not tomorrow night then I'll get to it sometime Monday or Tuesday (it's the last week of classes, it's getting busy around here.) And be sure to tune in to the game itself tomorrow at 2 PM on www.wmucsports.com.
PREDICTION - Maryland 74, Loyola (MD) 51
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