After the Terrapin men’s basketball team beat N.C. State last March, Greivis Vasquez called me out.
The immodest guard had just scored 33 points in a win that went a long way toward earning the Terps a surprise bid in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, and it was as good a time as any for Vasquez to speak his mind.
I, like many others in the media, had been highly critical of the Terps during their early-season struggles last year, and I really didn’t expect last season to amount to much of anything.
Apparently, Vasquez had read some of my columns.
When a reporter in the horde of media members gathered outside the visiting locker room at RBC Center asked Vasquez whether there was any extra motivation to win games because the NCAA Tournament was so close, Vasquez had this to say.
“Yeah, definitely. I want to prove him wrong,” Vasquez said, looking and gesturing directly at me. “After I prove him wrong, I’m going to talk to him about how to talk to me, but right now he’s winning.”
I’m still not exactly sure what he meant by the second part, but I absolutely believe the first part of Vasquez’s statement, and I am happy I could help.
The Terps’ unwavering us-against-the-world defiance was a defining characteristic of last year’s team and was certainly a major reason for their late-season success.
But this year, starting with the regular-season opener Friday against Charleston Southern, Greivis and his boys are on their own.
Because I, Capt. Pessimism, actually think the Terps are going to be really good this season, and I am sure I’m not the only converted doubter.
The Terps have the talent and the experience to accomplish some pretty special things this season. They just need to keep the competitive fire burning within them to get it done.
“Having people against us definitely helped us out a lot last year,” guard Sean Mosley said. “Now we just know we have to go farther than we did last year. That’s definitely going to be one of our motivation things for this year.”
Everything is out there for the Terps.
The Terps became an ACC Championship contender the minute Vasquez decided to withdraw his name from the NBA Draft and return to school for his senior season.
Defending National Champion North Carolina lost four members of its starting five from last season, and while the Tar Heels, along with Duke, Clemson and Georgia Tech, are all very good, there is really no ACC team on paper that is far-and-away better than the Terps.
Vasquez is arguably the most valuable player in the league, and forward Landon Milbourne and guard Eric Hayes will help him provide the senior leadership the Terps didn’t have last year — beyond Dave Neal.
Mosley and guard Adrian Bowie should be impact role players — if such an oxymoronic thing exists — and it will be very interesting to see if freshmen Jordan Williams and James Padgett can give the Terps the frontcourt presence they severely lacked last season — beyond Dave Neal.
If those guys can play, it will let the Terps match up against other teams’ big men with a more conventional lineup on defense while still creating some offensive mismatches with Milbourne playing against slower defenders at the power forward position.
Even the hazy team rule violation situation that forced probable starting center Dino Gregory out of the Terps’ exhibition game last week should not be too much to overcome.
If Gregory misses extended time — and it’s still too early to tell if he will — the thing the Terps will miss the most is his defense.
But one would think the freshmen should be able to contribute on the defensive end right away, even if their offensive games need some time to develop at this level.
Ultimately, the Terps have the pieces to be successful, and they can control how far they go this season. They just need to remember to stay hungry.
Coach Gary Williams showed everybody at the end of last year he knows exactly how to get the most out of his players, and he is preaching a good message so far this season.
“Nothing’s automatic,” Williams said. “Just because you return a lot of guys, that doesn’t mean we’re just going to walk out on the court and all those things are going to happen that sound really good this time of year. We have to make it happen.”
It sounds like the Terps know what they have to do this year, so starting Friday, let’s see if they can do it.
And hopefully, for his sake, Vasquez doesn’t have to call me out this year for my predictions.
schimmel@umdbk.com
