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
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Saturday, December 5, 2009
REACTION - Maryland 66, Minnesota 45
It's always nice when a team shows they can win multiple ways. That's what Maryland did on Thursday.
The Terps played Big Ten style and out-grinded the Gophers for a solid 20 point victory in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. They won with defense, holding Minnesota to 45 points, 27.1% shooting and just 30% from three point range. They outfought and outmuscled the Gophers all evening long in a very physical game. No one player on Minnesota shot better than 4/10 from the field so that was well done defensively by the Terps. The most impressive part perhaps could be that the Terps only committed 13 fouls in the game and no one fouled out. To play that good of defense without conceding many fouls is extremely impressive. Minnesota only got to the line 14 times all game.
In an interesting twist, Kim Rodgers got the start and did well with the opportunity, scoring a career-high 14 points while also grabbing 8 rebounds. Brenda continues to start three guards, which is a luxury she can afford with Lynetta Kizer being such a beast down low and Diandra Tchatchouang also being able to be a force in the paint. And when you have this many good guards, why not start as many as you can? Dara Taylor had a nice rebound game, at least offensively, scoring 9 points on 4/8 shooting, but she didn't have a single assist and turned it over four times. She's been inconsistent to say the least this year, but the potential is most certainly there.
The shocker for me was that Tianna Hawkins only saw 8 minutes of action. But I suppose it sometimes works out that way from game to game and with a rotation that's far from set yet, sometimes players get more minutes and sometimes they'll get less. It's a testament to Maryland's depth, which is always an advantage.
The most impressive stat from Thursday, however? Maryland going 19/22 from the free throw line. When you do that, you're going to set yourself up to win a lot of basketball games. But this game was all about the defense and shutting down Minnesota's offensive attack. The Terps get Loyola tomorrow afternoon at 2 PM and I'll be on the broadcast of that one. I'll have a preview beforehand though so stay tuned for that.
The Terps played Big Ten style and out-grinded the Gophers for a solid 20 point victory in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. They won with defense, holding Minnesota to 45 points, 27.1% shooting and just 30% from three point range. They outfought and outmuscled the Gophers all evening long in a very physical game. No one player on Minnesota shot better than 4/10 from the field so that was well done defensively by the Terps. The most impressive part perhaps could be that the Terps only committed 13 fouls in the game and no one fouled out. To play that good of defense without conceding many fouls is extremely impressive. Minnesota only got to the line 14 times all game.
In an interesting twist, Kim Rodgers got the start and did well with the opportunity, scoring a career-high 14 points while also grabbing 8 rebounds. Brenda continues to start three guards, which is a luxury she can afford with Lynetta Kizer being such a beast down low and Diandra Tchatchouang also being able to be a force in the paint. And when you have this many good guards, why not start as many as you can? Dara Taylor had a nice rebound game, at least offensively, scoring 9 points on 4/8 shooting, but she didn't have a single assist and turned it over four times. She's been inconsistent to say the least this year, but the potential is most certainly there.
The shocker for me was that Tianna Hawkins only saw 8 minutes of action. But I suppose it sometimes works out that way from game to game and with a rotation that's far from set yet, sometimes players get more minutes and sometimes they'll get less. It's a testament to Maryland's depth, which is always an advantage.
The most impressive stat from Thursday, however? Maryland going 19/22 from the free throw line. When you do that, you're going to set yourself up to win a lot of basketball games. But this game was all about the defense and shutting down Minnesota's offensive attack. The Terps get Loyola tomorrow afternoon at 2 PM and I'll be on the broadcast of that one. I'll have a preview beforehand though so stay tuned for that.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
GAMEDAY - Minnesota (5-2) @ RV/# 22 Maryland (6-1)
Now let's try and do a little better the second time around against a major conference opponent.
Brenda Frese welcomes her old school in to the Comcast Center to face her current school in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. It's the third year of the Challenge and the ACC's ahead 2-1 in this year's edition coming in to tonight. The Terps definitely want to do their part for the conference by taking down the Gophers.
Somehow, Maryland is ranked in the coaches poll again this week despite getting pasted a couple Sunday's ago at Mississippi State and having done nothing but beat up on patsies since then. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, are in the "receiving votes" category in the same poll (due to wiping out in a holiday tournament against Texas and Rutgers.) Whatever. Pollsters never were accused of being the smartest group.
Anyway, back to tonight's game, which starts in like 3 minutes so I'd better hurry this up. Gophers are 5-2, best win is at a good TCU team, but they have losses to Utah (by 1) and, in their latest game, to preseason top 10 team Xavier. Kiara Buford and Ashley Ellis-Milan both average over 13 points per game for the Gophers. No one grabs more than 5.9 rebounds per game (Ellis-Milan's total) so the Gophers could be at a disadvantage on the boards tonight.
I think Maryland continues to defend Comcast Center and gets the ACC a valuable win in the Challenge tonight. Listen to the broadcast currently on LIVE on www.wmucsports.com; my friends Brian Kaufman, Daniel Baker, and Kevin Hannigan are on the call. I'll be back after the game with a recap that's much less rushed than this gameday post.
PREDICTION - Maryland 81, Minnesota 72
Brenda Frese welcomes her old school in to the Comcast Center to face her current school in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. It's the third year of the Challenge and the ACC's ahead 2-1 in this year's edition coming in to tonight. The Terps definitely want to do their part for the conference by taking down the Gophers.
Somehow, Maryland is ranked in the coaches poll again this week despite getting pasted a couple Sunday's ago at Mississippi State and having done nothing but beat up on patsies since then. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, are in the "receiving votes" category in the same poll (due to wiping out in a holiday tournament against Texas and Rutgers.) Whatever. Pollsters never were accused of being the smartest group.
Anyway, back to tonight's game, which starts in like 3 minutes so I'd better hurry this up. Gophers are 5-2, best win is at a good TCU team, but they have losses to Utah (by 1) and, in their latest game, to preseason top 10 team Xavier. Kiara Buford and Ashley Ellis-Milan both average over 13 points per game for the Gophers. No one grabs more than 5.9 rebounds per game (Ellis-Milan's total) so the Gophers could be at a disadvantage on the boards tonight.
I think Maryland continues to defend Comcast Center and gets the ACC a valuable win in the Challenge tonight. Listen to the broadcast currently on LIVE on www.wmucsports.com; my friends Brian Kaufman, Daniel Baker, and Kevin Hannigan are on the call. I'll be back after the game with a recap that's much less rushed than this gameday post.
PREDICTION - Maryland 81, Minnesota 72
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