The loud popping noise you heard from Charlotte last night was the bubble bursting for Maryland. All the elements of the stretch that saw the Terps lose five of six were there: Maryland tallied 21 turnovers and allowed BC to shoot 51% in the second half. Once again the Terps couldn't hold a double digit lead, wasting a 15 point advantage in the first half while letting an 11 point second half edge slip away. In what stands as a microcosm of the season, Maryland played well for stretches but couldn't put together a complete 40 minutes-or 32 games to make a statement worthy of advancing to the NCAA Tournament. Look for coach Gary Williams to use the NIT to his advantage with a very young team (six freshman and three sophomore scholarship players); practice for the 2008-2009 season actually begins next week instead of this October.
Georgetown plays West Virginia (thanks Mountaineers for beating my BOLD pick UConn... my GOLD pick Louisville also lost--thank goodness FOLD pick Notre Dame fell as Luke Harangody is still trying to take Brenda to the prom) in the Big East semifinals-- the Mountaineers an odd cross-breed of styles as the players John Beilein recruited have adapted to Bob Huggins' brand of basketball. One additional plus for the Hoyas: guard Chris Wright played for the first time since December 31st yesterday--the freshman provides another shutdown defender on the perimeter as well as a solid ballhandler against the press.
American plays Colgate for the Patriot League championship today-- (making me wonder if there's a Crest University or an Aquafresh State) the Eagles swept their regular season series with the Raiders, taking each game by eight points. Colgate is even hotter than AU entering the finals- having won six straight (and just one regulation loss since January). Can the Eagles contain guard Kyle Roemer (22ppg during the streak and 21-32 over the last two games) while compensating for the loss of starter Bryce Simon to a knee injury? One of the major factors during AU's recent run (nine wins in ten games since a 3-3 Patriot League start) has been chemistry, and Simon's been a huge if underrated part of that.
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