Following Maryland’s 73-48 victory over Holy Cross on Tuesday, the men have finished the out of conference portion of their schedule 10-6. Some wins have been good, some losses have been bad. I am going to break down the 16 games into 5 categories. Great Wins, Good wins, Disappointing Wins, Understandable Loses, and Bad loses.

Great Wins: None

Good Wins: North Florida (79-50), Lehigh (72-51), Illinois (69-61), Morgan State (85-69), Delaware(76-46), Savannah State (75-48), Holy Cross (73-48)

Disappointing Wins: Hampton (70-64), Northeastern (74-72 OT), Charlotte(76-72)

Understandable Losses: #1UCLA (71-59), Missouri (84-70), VCU (85-76), Boston College (81-78)

Bad Loses: Ohio (61-55), American (67-59)

As you can see, no Great Wins yet. A victory over UCLA, Missouri, or a big victory over BC would have qualified, but none happened. There are also two bad losses; Ohio and American. Under no circumstances, should a program like Maryland be upset at home by these teams. Those losses are unacceptable and could come back to haunt the team in March. The loss to UCLA was understandable and predictable. UCLA is great and it is tough to beat great teams, especially if you do not play them at home. The Missouri loss was disappointing, but with the game being played in Kansas City, it was also expected. Boston College got help from the refs in that game so its a wash. VCU was a beatable team, but Maryland played poorly and suffered a loss.

This brings us to the wins we have. North Florida, Lehigh, Morgan State, Delaware, Savannah State and Holy Cross were all big wins over lesser talented teams. Big wins were expected in all of these games, and the Men were able to dominate those games like they should. The Illinois loss was good because it was the ACC/Big10 challenge game, unfortunately, Illinois now sits at 8-7, and the victory does not look as impressive as it did in November. The Hampton and Northeastern wins at the beginning of the season were big struggles and despite being only the second and third games on the schedule, should not have been so close. Lastly, the Charlotte win was disappointing only in the sense that they blew a 20 point lead and held on to win by only 4. The game was a positive though because it was a win against a decent opponent(they just beat #19 Clemson as I am writing this) and it was Maryland’s first true Road game of the year. It’s been an interesting first half of the season, and sitting at 10-6, the Terps certainly aren’t out of the NCAA tourney picture, but they did hurt themselves with some of the losses and close wins; the Ohio and American losses at home, and their close escapes from Hampton and Northeastern could come back to bite them.

There are a few things that have defined this team so far. Some players have played good this season, while others have struggled. After a very slow start, Vasquez has improved his 3 point % to over 35 %. Hayes is shooting about 37% from three. The problem with Maryland is, these are their only good three point threats who are taking shots. Cliff tucker is 7 for 18, but doesn’t shoot often enough to be considered a big threat. James Gist is shooting a terrible 24% from three which is really hurting the team. He essentially turns the ball over by missing three’s, and the team was probably expecting three pointers from him that he just isn’t giving them. He shot 43% from three last year and Gary even said he had the best shot on the team. With his poor 3 point shooting this season, combined with a team that doesn’t have many threats from deep, it certainly has been a huge problem. Hopefully this can be solved with the improved play of Vasquez, more shoots from Tucker, and hopefully an improving Gist.

Lastly, turnovers are still a problem. The situation has gotten better, but the team still consistently is in the high teens in turnovers. The team has improved from the numbers they were posting in the beginning of the season with turnover numbers in the twenties, but in ACC play, this is a recipe for disaster. At least the team is on the right track.

One final thing to look at is who is going to step up and be the 2nd big man off the bench in ACC play. Braxton Dupree is back to the bench, but he is Gary’s first option down low. However, between Shane Walker, Dino Gregory, and Jerome Burney, none of them has proved that they are better than the other two. All have shown glimpses of promise this season, but for the most part they have struggled. If one of them steps up, it could be a huge help to the team. Dave Neal is a nice story, but he shouldn’t be your second big man in the game against a team like North Carolina.

Well, Its time for ACC play to really start. I think this team can do well and post an above 5oo record in ACC play; but we have all seen how bad the team has looked at some points, and a 3 or 4 win ACC season is a very real possibility. Hopefully this Saturday at Virginia Tech will be the first of many ACC wins. If the Terps lose to VT, which is probably the worst team in the league this year, its going to look very dim for any NCAA tourney aspirations the team may have.