Ryan Mink
Saturday’s game was the Terps’ first overtime of the year. But until the last minute of regulation, it was also the most boring game of the season. It wasn’t a game that decided who was better, but rather who was worse – the young, dumbfounded Yellow Jackets or the old, mistake-prone Terps.
Gary Williams was more than satisfied with his team’s win, despite how ugly it was. But barely pulling one out against an ACC team that has now lost nine of its last 10 isn’t proving anything – except the Terps are a middle-of-the road team in a watered-down conference.
No matter how many times Williams guarantees six ACC teams will make the NCAA tournament, Saturday’s poorly played game was more evidence the conference deserves no more than five bids.
Don’t let Mike Jones’ thrilling block or the scrappy back-and-forth overtime cloud your judgement. Saturday was like watching a game at the Campus Recreation Center. It was 99 percent sleeper despite 10 lead changes.
Fans spent most of the game with their arms crossed making never-ending Ra’Sean Dickey jokes. The Wall was half-constructed and Testudo spent most of the second half trying to get any form of reaction out of the crowd.
The play on the court was even worse. There were 42 combined turnovers, including 26 by the Terps. Passes were thrown to numerous players standing out of bounds and to players who weren’t even paying attention.
Just look at one play, in which Ekene Ibekwe and James Gist fought each other for a rebound, leaving the ball open for Dickey, who missed a dunk, which was again muffed by Terp rebounders, leading to a wide-open three-pointer to give the Yellow Jackets a 64-63 lead with seven minutes, 54 seconds left.
That induced a few scattered boos from the already-tiffed crowd.
If Georgia Tech knew how to manage the last seconds of a game (and chose to drive the ball at the end of regulation or tried to extend play instead of tossing up a pathetic heave in overtime) the Terps would have likely lost.
Fortunately for the Terps’ NCAA tournament chances, they turned their poor play around with inspired play by Jones and Ibekwe. If they hadn’t, it would have been game over for the second-straight season.
The Terps feel they’re tournament-proven and persist they are in a good position. Yet Williams said in his opening comments that the Terps and Yellow Jackets are “close in ability.”
Close in ability! Georgia Tech was scrappy and never gave up, but they’re also 3-10 in the ACC and 10-14 overall. If the Terps are even in the same ballpark they don’t deserve to be dancing .
What’s sad are the teams the Terps are battling for the ACC’s fifth-place spot. The all-star list includes Virginia, Florida State and Miami. They’re a combined 43-29 overall and 18-19 in the ACC.
The Seminoles’ only noteworthy game is almost beating Duke in overtime. Miami and Virginia can only boast about wins against North Carolina. The Terps, in similar fashion, only have one quality win over Boston College.
There are only two dominant teams (Duke and N.C. State) and a few others have had solid years. Boston College doesn’t have any great wins to boast, but only one bad loss to the Yellow Jackets. North Carolina is all over the place with consecutive losses to Miami and Virginia, but wins against N.C. State and Kentucky.
Even if the ACC only gets five bids the Terps still could take the last spot.
But after what I saw Saturday, four teams should be just fine.
Contact columnist Ryan Mink at sports@dbk.umd.edu
