Fans often look back on past teams and decide where those teams fit into the program’s history. It’s safe to say this season’s Terrapin men’s basketball team won’t be remembered with the likes of the great Terp teams.
Despite a group of mostly likable players who behaved off the court, the 2007-08 Terps will leave an imprint of negative memories. There was only one true moment that will raise goosebumps – a road upset over top-ranked North Carolina – which will be completely overshadowed by the many bad losses.
Whether it be the terrible home losses in December to the unthinkable second-half collapses in late February and March, the Terps (19-15, 8-8 ACC) will be remembered for a season full of bad losses.
American. Ohio. Virginia Tech. Clemson. Boston College.
“I don’t think that our record is indicative of the type of team we are,” senior center Bambale Osby said.
Maybe not, but the 15 losses were the most since the 1992-93 season, and the Terps missed the NCAA Tournament for the third time in four years.
Coach Gary Williams admitted it was frustrating to look back on how the season ended.
“Oh yeah, it is,” he said. “Because we went from nowhere in December to put ourselves in position where we could be in pretty solid ground going into Selection Sunday. Hopefully for the guys coming back, everything’s a learning experience, and you learn just how tough you have to be for 40 minutes. Everything has to be done right in terms of preparation, things like that. So hopefully we get that.”
Williams’ “40 minutes” reference directly correlates with how the Terps almost always failed to play a complete game. Quite often, they would come out smoking hot and build a double-digit lead. And then, poof, it would disappear in a matter of moments.
They led Virginia Tech by 11 with 13:53 left; they led Clemson by 20 with 10:53 remaining (and by 13 with 4:31 left); they led Boston College by 11 with 18:15 to go. And they lost all four games. The loss to Clemson was the worst, as a win would have likely locked up an NCAA Tournament berth. Instead, the Terps were then blown out by Virginia and then lost to a terrible Boston College team in the ACC Tournament.
“We did a poor job this year of holding onto leads,” Williams said. “If we did a better job with the leads, we might not be in [the NIT]. But that’s part of it – you gotta play 40 minutes tough.”
The Terps beat Minnesota in the NIT before bowing out with a loss to Syracuse. A two-point game at halftime quickly turned into a Syracuse rout, as the Terps fell apart in the second half.
It seemed like a broken record.
“That was a microcosm of our season,” Williams said. “We played some great halves, but we couldn’t finish games
“It happened too many times. There’s gotta be a reason, so we’ll look at it and figure it out.”
Osby and forward James Gist were the only two senior starters on the team, but they will leave a huge hole in the frontcourt.
Prized recruit Gus Gilchrist will not be eligible to play until December, and when he is, he will join Dave Neal, Braxton Dupree, Jerome Burney and Shane Walker as the big men down low. None of those players made an impact this season.
Despite a crowded backcourt, a local recruit (Sean Mosley) and junior college point guard (Bobby Maze) will also join a team that is very young to begin with.
That inexperience could very well have been part of the problem with this season’s Terps.
“We’ve gotta have some guys step up,” Williams said. “We gotta get stronger physically. The young guys have to get stronger physically, and they have to commit to being basketball players for 365 days a year, and that commitment has to happen for us to be successful.
“It’s happened before.”
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