Talk Terps

The Maryland Terrapins men’s basketball team got back from a long road trip in the state of Illinois to arrive back in College Park, Maryland to snow and an 11-7 record and 3-4 in the Big-Ten. With that Terps’ record, it is identical to Michigan State at tip-off for this noon start on Sunday. With the students still on winter break and classes starting back up this week, we will see how many of them show up on Lefty Driesell Day since none of them were born when Driesell came to Maryland in 1969 — and it is possible that their parents were not even born yet. Additionally, Maryland will wear a signature ‘throwback’ uniform representing some of the great Terp teams from the 1970s under Driesell’s coaching leadership.

This is the 105th season of Terps basketball and expectations have been high in year two of the Kevin Willard era. The Terps returned the “Big Three” of fifth-year seniors Jahmir Young and Donta Scott, along with junior big man Julian Reese and added some impressive freshmen like 6’5″ guard DeShawn Harris-Smith. Young is on a lot of “watch lists” for top players in the country, and he continues to step up. Over the last six games, the fifth-year guard has averaged 26.5 points in those games with two 30-point games (37 at UCLA, 36 at Northwestern). He also had 28 points in the win over No. 10 Illinois.

The Maryland Terrapins were not expected to be beat Ohio State or Penn State or even Michigan this season — but the Terps are supposed to beat all of the other teams. The Terps are already bowl-eligible with a 6-5 record going into this game against Rutgers. This game is the final one of the regular season in the 12-game schedule. Depending on what Maryland does today could determine a bowl game for them. A 7-5 record looks much better than going 6-6, agree? Both Maryland and Rutgers enter this game with identical records.

The Maryland Terrapins were not expected to be beat Ohio State or Penn State or even Michigan today — and with the win last week against Nebraska, the Terps are already bowl-eligible with a 6-4 record today. So this week against the No. 2 ranked team in the country, the Terps hope for a miraculous upset.

The Maryland Terrapins were not expected to be beat Ohio State or Penn State — but they were expected to beat unranked Illinois in College Park as well as Northwestern on the road — and the Terps failed to capitalize. After starting the season with a 5-0 record, the Terps have lost four straight games. Today they are in Nebraska with a 5-4 record to face a Cornhuskers’ team with an identical record. After this game, one team will be 6-4, and the other at 5-5. The Terps hope they are the team at 6-4.

The Maryland Terrapins are mired in an unexplainable three-game losing streak. You can lose to Top-10 Ohio State, and accept that loss — but losing to unranked Illinois in College Park and Northwestern is unacceptable. From the play calling to the lack of execution to the mind-boggling 15-yard penalties for unnecessary roughness and unsportsmanlike conduct — this starts to point back to head coach Michael Locksley. This has become an undisciplined team, and if this was a pro team, you’d be wondering what is going on inside the practices and the locker room. Today, the task is far from easy at No. 9 ranked Penn State is the opponent.