Terrapin Nation can stop holding its collective breath... junior guard Greivis Vasquez will return for his senior season...eschewing the NBA Draft (one website had the 6-6 Venezuelan going 58th). Vasquez is fresh off a historic season--becoming the first Terp to lead the team in points, rebounds and assists (he's just the 6th in ACC history to do so). He also provides quite a bit of intangibles-- not only is he the most talented player on this roster, he's also the most dynamic-- your eyes can't leave him when he's on the court.
Vasquez' return means a major piece stays on the chessboard for coach Gary Williams-- instead of having to replace roughly 25% of his offense he now has 7 of his top 8 scorers returning...with Dave Neal the only player averaging more than 10 minutes a game not coming back to College Park. With the added size of incoming freshmen power forwards Jordan Williams and James Padgett (the one achilles heel of last winters team)-- Maryland's mindset goes from "maybe" to "definitely maybe". Whereas last fall there were hopes of finishing .500 in the ACC and stealing an NCAA Tournament berth-- this veteran bunch will be expected to contend in the conference and get to the tournament's second weekend (Maryland hasn't reached the sweet sixteen since 2003).
One last Greivis note--his name is one of the more ambiguous I've dealt with... pronounced by coach Williams and his teammates as "GRAY-vous" and "GRIEVE-us" alternately. Takes me back to when I covered Division II NH College and "Barish/Boris Kachar/Karcar"...
On the womens front--an offseason of transition hits the coaching ranks... assistant Daron Park takes the associate head coaching job at Louisiana Tech. Park was the interim gameday coach during the latter stages of Brenda Frese's pregnancy in 2008...and acquitted himself rather well as an x's and o's man over his two years in College Park-- he was a class act who will be missed. Erica Floyd also departs (leaving the profession entirely) after having been a part of coach Frese's staff since 2002--as the point-person in recruiting, I can only imagine the frequent flyer miles Erica's racked up.
Marlin Chinn and David Atkins join the program; with second-year assistant Tina Langley the only assistant to remain. Much is made about chemistry on the court...I think the chemistry on a coaching staff is just as important. For seven seasons Erica Floyd knew the type of player Brenda Frese wanted and how best to work with in tandem to recruit such players; one can only think there will be a learning curve for Chinn and Atkins as they assimilate themselves into the program that Brenda's built.
With the graduations of four-year starters Marissa Coleman and Kristi Tolliver there was already going to be quite a different world this upcoming season... now add in the coaching moves and the transfers of starter Marah Strickland (to South Carolina) and Dre Mingo (to Purdue)... there's going to be a completely different feel next winter at Comcast.
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