Dave Preston is an AP Top 25 voter. See his ballots online.
Maryland Hall of Fame men’s basketball coach Gary Williams once claimed that Maryland felt like “Siberia” in the old ACC days, when the Terps were the northernmost school.
“Cold January” has taken a new meaning lately: Wednesday’s 84-66 loss to Indiana was the team’s second 0-4 league start in five years, while the three other seasons in that stretch saw the Terps tip off with 1-3 marks.
We knew this winter might be one of discontent with a completely new roster ushered in after the March departure of coach Kevin Willard, but, right now, Maryland (7-8, 0-4 Big Ten) is in danger of a third losing season this decade.
Buzz Williams has rebuilt programs in the past and has a great recruiting class coming in next year, but the Terps’ current limited offense (16th in the Big Ten in scoring, 18th in shooting, 15th from 3-point range) is even more limited thanks to Pharrel Payne’s absence due to injury.
There is hope, though.
Maryland got off to a solid start against the Hoosiers and was within a point two minutes into the second half, before Lamar Wilkerson went on a tear by scoring 16 straight points for IU in the Hoosiers’ 22-6 run that put the game away.
“In some ways I think we’ve stopped losing and we’ve had momentum in the process of all of this, we just haven’t had momentum in the results,” coach Buzz Williams said.
The offense that leads the league in turnovers committed needs to pass better. And the unit that allows the most points per game in the conference needs to defend better.
“It’s like my grandmother used to tell me, ‘Hey, this is wrong … and this is right, but there’s a lot of times you’re right in the middle. And it ain’t right, and it ain’t wrong,'” Williams said. “We’re making progress, but the scoreboard doesn’t say it and Buzz Williams in his first year at Maryland is 0-for, and I have no justification for that other than I got to do better.”
Four of the Terps’ next five games are on the road, with a trip to Los Angeles this weekend for games at UCLA and USC.
Starting five
Up top: Arizona stands atop the AP Top 25, one point ahead of Michigan. I voted for the Wolverines this week after having Iowa State No. 1 in my previous ballots. This week I voted the Cyclones No. 2 and the Wildcats No. 3.
Biggest discrepancy between my ballot and the finished poll: I ranked Saint Louis No. 21 and the Billikens are 32nd overall. Small school shoutout: unbeaten Miami (Ohio) checks in at No. 25.
Going inside: Georgetown (9-6, 1-3 Big East) has accomplished a rare feat: losing to DePaul four times within a calendar year. And this time it was painful, as Georgetown shot 1-23 in the second half of a 56-50 defeat. Tuesday’s loss was even tougher to stomach because the Hoyas won’t face a sub-.500 team in conference play until they visit Providence on Jan. 24.
Saturday, they host a Seton Hall team that’s off to a 13-2 start after winning just seven games last year, thanks to a defense that leads the Big East in turnover margin while allowing the second-fewest points per game in the league.
Perimeter pass: No. 23 Virginia (13-2, 2-1 ACC) and Virginia Tech (12-4, 1-2) met in Blacksburg on New Year’s Eve, with the Hokies prevailing in triple-overtime 95-85 thanks to 30 points from Ben Hammond.
Unfortunately, early season momentum in the ACC is often 40 minutes away from being undercut. Coach Mike Young’s Hokies turned the ball over 19 times and fell Saturday at Wake Forest 81-78, and then a 3-pointer by Stanford’s Ebuka Okorie — with three seconds left — delivered a 69-68 defeat Wednesday.
The Cavaliers recovered with double-digit wins at NC State (despite the hockey-induced 11 a.m. tipoff) and against Cal at home. Saturday, the commonwealth couple trade west coast ACC foes, with Stanford coming to Charlottesville and Cal dropping by Blacksburg.
Who’s open: American beat Navy in the Patriot League Championship last March, and both teams picked up where they left off this past March in the early conference season. While the Eagles (9-7, 2-1 Patriot League) stumbled Wednesday 64-62 at Colgate by going scoreless over the final 3:43 of regulation, AU remains the league leader in scoring and turnover margin.
Meanwhile, the Midshipmen (11-5, 3-0) currently lead the conference in field goal defense, stopping the 3, and fewest points allowed as well as rebounding margin. Both schools have home games this weekend (AU hosts Holy Cross while Navy meets last place Lafayette) before they reunite next Monday at Bender Arena in D.C. in what could potentially be a game for first place.
Last shot: George Mason (15-1, 3-0 Atlantic 10) meets VCU (11-5, 2-1) Saturday for the first time since the two played in the Atlantic 10 Tournament Championship, and both schools have gone through a major transformation since that 68-63 Rams win.
Coach Ryan Odom’s departure to Virginia wasn’t the only exodus from the program, as new head coach Phil Martelli Jr. has restocked the Rams with transfers such as Lazar Djokovic (Charleston), who’s averaging 13 points with five rebounds per game for his new team.
Tony Skinn is back in Fairfax with 12 new players (nine transfers and three freshmen), and Mason’s off to a program-best 15-1 start with transfer Kory Mincy (17 points and five assists per game) making a major impact. The Rams come to Fairfax off a 71-62 loss to Saint Louis where they went scoreless for the final 2:30 of regulation. I’ll see you courtside.
