Mar 15, 2013; Greensboro, NC, USA; Maryland Terrapins guard Nick Faust (5) and guard/forward Dez Wells (32) react. The Terrapins defeated the Blue Devils 83-74 during the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament at Greensboro Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

Yesterday former Memphis guard and Baltimore native, Antonio Barton, decided against finishing his career at the University of Maryland and will be attending the University of Tennessee. After a month long recruitment process that was kept under wraps, Antonio announced yesterday via his brother, Will Barton, twitter account. Maryland was believed to be the leader throughout the process especially after his visit to College Park. However, Tennessee presented the younger Barton with more playing time for his final year.

The loss of Antonio Barton’s one year of eligibility hurts Maryland’s back court depth. Graduate student Logan Aronhalt is no longer eligible and rising senior Pe’Shon Howard is transferring to be close to home. Coach Mark Turgeon does have Roddy Peters, a 4 star combo guard from Suitland, MD, to add to the back court. But with Peters lack of experience, Antonio Barton was seen as the ideal fit to help Maryland for the 2013-2014 season. Maryland has an open scholarship, but adding an incoming freshman hurts future playing time with high profile recruits Coach Turgeon is looking to add.

While many believe that Coach Turgeon will still look to add another guard to the Maryland line-up, the Terrapins are not and should not view themselves in a desperate situation. There were many growing pains throughout the 2012-2013 season, but the young Terps appeared to have found themselves at the end of the season. They made a run to the ACC Semi-Finals and to the NIT Final Four. Along the way they beat Duke (with Ryan Kelly back), used a 5 guard line-up to knock off Denver, and were one of the few teams to beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

The loses of Alex Len and Pe’Shon Howard hurt the Terps, but both of their departures were expected. Maryland maintained their expected roster and coaching staff. We saw a good jump in player progression from Coach Turgeon’s first year to the second year, and with many players returning we can expect to see another jump as well from last year to this year. Most of the team is used to the routine, and what the staff expects of them. This should also help incoming freshmen Roddy Peters and Damonte Dodd transition easier. Last season Maryland was adding more players than they were returning, this year is the opposite. The locker room is not only more stable, but there is stronger leadership within the locker room. Players, such as, Nick Faust and Dez Wells, have shown the ability on the court to be leaders and players that are counted upon by the staff. Heading into last season, Maryland was searching for players to fill this role.

The loss of Logan Aronhalt and Pe’Shon Howard hurt Maryland’s depth, but their production can be made up for. Logan Aronhalt’s 43% three point shooting will be difficult to match, but his 6.0 PPG can be made up for. Michigan Transfer Evan Smotrycz is known for his ability to shoot from deep, and his high major experience should help him transition better to the ACC. Logan Aronhalt was a great addition for one year, but his experience at Albany didn’t have him completely ready to handle the ACC. While it is tough to place high expectations on a freshman, the role of replacing Pe’Shon Howard should not be too difficult for young Roddy Peters. It is has been well documented how much Pe’Shon Howard struggled last season, but Maryland was still able to be successful despite often playing 4 vs 5 on offense. Pe’Shon averaged 3.3 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 3.6 APG, 1.7 TPG, while shooting 29% FG and 24% 3FG. Asking Roddy Peters to surpass these figures shouldn’t be asking too much, even for a freshman.

Next season is a big season for Coach Mark Turgeon. Him and his staff have done a great job on the recruiting trail so far of selling their vision of Maryland basketball. Eventually there will need to be results to back up their plan. The addition of Antonio Barton would have helped, but he would not have been the savior of Maryland basketball. The added depth and experience he brought would have been great, but he wouldn’t have arrived on campus and transformed himself into an NBA caliber player averaging over 15 PPG in the ACC. The core of Maryland’s basketball team is still in place and the roles of the players are also more defined. The players know each better and they know how to play with one another. The coaching staff also has a better idea of how the players work together then they did before. Maryland is returning more players then adding players this year, while maintaining the same coaching staff, those are more important then a one year rental player. It is still May, but buckle up because this season will be another roller coaster ride for us Maryland fans.

Nov 12, 2012; Baltimore, MD, USA; Maryland Terrapins head coach Mark Turgeon tosses a ball to the referee during their game against the Morehead State Eagles at the Comcast Center. Mandatory Credit: Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports

The NCAA Rules Committee voted yesterday on rule changes for the 2013-2014 college basketball season. There was nothing ground breaking, or anything completely new that will be added. The committee has recognized the trend of low scoring and is working to fix it, but they don’t want to change too much to quickly. Many are surprised to see that the 35 second shot clock will still stand for next season. The rules committee did not vote on any changes to the shot clock, citing that there was not enough support to even consider a change.

As noted, there will be no major changes coming next season. There were slight changes to the block/charge, and we will see more use of replay in late game situations. The rules committee wants to make a stronger push to have the rules already in place enforced more frequently. This is in response to the cry for less hand checks and arm bars, to allow more freedom of movement on offense. These rules already existed, but are not called as frequently, which means next season we could see more off-ball touch fouls called.

Charging has now been amended to mean that a defensive player must be set guarding position before the offensive player begins his upward motion. Put in other terms, a defensive player can not slide over once an offensive player has started his upward motion. The hope behind this change is that more blocking fouls being called, will lead to more players going to the free throw line for either 2 shots or an And-1 situation. Art Hyland, secretary editor of the men’s rule committee, said, “If that happens two or three times a game thats seven or eight more points a game.” Not sure if this is the increase in scoring people wanted to see, but its a step in the right direction. Changing the charging rule could also lead to less players attempting to take a charge, and more open looks at the rim for driving players.

The use of replay was something I believe everyone saw coming. Once the door is open to using replay, it tends to lead to more opportunities to use it. Officials can go to the monitor in the final two minutes to review out of bounds and shot clock violations. In the final four minutes of the game, officials can stop play to review two and three point shots. The rule before was that they would signal to the scorers table and review the play at the next media timeout. The four minute mark is the final media timeout, and in close games it is even more important for coaches and players to know what each basket was. A foot on the three point line in a six point game, for example, has great impact on a coaches play calling for the next possession.

What does this mean for Maryland next season? Not much at all on the defensive end. Charges taken are not an official stat kept in basketball, but with 7’1″ Alex Len protecting the rim, Maryland did not take many charges during the season. Alex Len will be missing from the team next season, but I don’t think that will change much in the defense. The wide body of Dez Wells and Seth Allen’s quickness will still make it difficult for guards to penetrate, and the length of Jake Layman and Evan Smotrcyz will help protect the rim from small forwards and power forwards. The discipline and athleticism of Maryland allowed to switch on many ball screens preventing driving opportunities for the opposing team.

Maryland’s guard could see a positive impact from the changes to charging on the offensive end. Seth Allen, Dez Wells, and Nick Faust have shown the ability to get into the lane and attack the rim. With less players taking charges, they could see more open opportunities to finish their attacks on the rim. The focus on calling more blocking fouls could also lead to them getting more free throw opportunities as well. Improving free throw shooting was always going to be a point of emphasis with this team, but now it is that much more important.

Around the ACC, I see Maryland being one of the teams that benefits from this change. Teams with attacking guards like North Carolina, North Carolina State, and Miami should also see some added benefit from the changes to block/charge. The Wolfpack worked more inside-out last season, but with the departures of Richard Howell and C.J. Leslie, we could see them look to attack more with their guards. Virginia Tech’s fast pace style offense could also reap some benefits as well, but given how poor their defense was last season, any focus on improving the offensive game could hurt them more than help.

Teams like Virginia and Boston College who don’t attack the rim often, but instead use their offensive sets to generate open looks could benefit from the focus of allowing more freedom of movement. An emphasis on preventing hand checking could help their players coming off of multiple screens. They lack speed, but use work within their sets well to create open opportunities for jump shooters. While teams like Clemson and Wake Forest, might just need a complete overhaul of the rule book to help them.

Then there are our friends in Durham, the Duke Blue Devils. Duke’s more aggressive style of defense could be toned down slightly if the emphasis on hand checking is enforced. Not enough to drastically change their defensive style, but we could see a call or two a game go against them for it. There is the potential for them to adjust to it slightly during the course of the year, but as I said don’t expect this to change how Duke plays defense. For our acting fans on the page, you guys will lose out the most. There is no focus on calling players for flopping, but if the changes to charging fouls does lead to less players attempting to take them, then we could lose out on such moments as these.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0upQDkY-pg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eosDRPYhfAY

It is great to see the rules committee focusing on improving the offensive game in college basketball, I wouldn’t expect these changes to sudden lead to more games in the 80s. Don’t expect Wisconsin and Virginia to start scoring in the 70s or even the 60s on a consistent base. These are slight changes, but a step in the right direction for the rules committee and the game of college basketball. When I say that teams will benefit from these, I by no means mean that Maryland will go from middle of the ACC to first place or Duke will drop to last place just because of some slight rule changes. The benefits will be subtle and like all sports will come down to if teams choose to exploit them for an advantage or not. The rules committee will not meet again until the 2015 season ends. Until then lets hope to see an improvement in the offensive game and more awesome Dez Wells dunks.

July 23, 2012; Greensboro, NC, USA; Maryland Terrapins head football coach Randy Edsall talks to reporters during the ACC media day at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro NC. Mandatory Credit: Sam Sharpe-USA TODAY Sports

The Maryland Terrapin’s football program did not contribute many new players to the upcoming NFL season. However, that doesn’t mean that there weren’t some signs for a positive future for Maryland football. The shortfalls of the football program over the past two seasons have been well documented. But there were still positives that emerged from last season, and we can even pull some positives from this years NFL Draft.

Roger Goodell, commissoner of the NFL, might not have said, “… from the University of Maryland” often this past weekend, but one school, which was mentioned 3 times in the third round, was the University of Connecicut, former home of Maryland coach Randy Edsall. The third round saw two CBs and an OLB from UConn get drafted, and two more players were drafted in the fourth and sixth round.

The signifcance is that these five players were all former recruits of Coach Edsall, and that they started their football careers under Coach Edsall. While Randy Edsall was not there for the end of the careers, he still saw the talent and believed in these five players to recruit them, and they all trusted him to get them to this level.

Most recruits, in fact, probably all recruits, didn’t think of Coach Randy Edsall and the Maryland Terrapins when they heard UConn players being drafted. For us, as fans of Maryland football, in dire need of some positive news? Maybe some of us did think of Randy Edsall when those player’s names were called this past weekend. Maybe we recognized that he actually might be a pretty good judge of talent after all.

Last season, Maryland featured 14 true freshman on the two deep depth chart heading into week 1 vs William & Mary; that many true freshman was the third most in Division 1-A. Maryland football’s recruiting class ranked 33rd overall for the Class of 2013 and 38th overall for the Class of 2012, according to 247 Sports. Given the youth of Maryland football, and the talent that is coming to College Park, soon enough Roger Goodell will be annoucning, “… from the University of Maryland” more than once to the Radio City Music Hall crowd.

The freshman and sophomores are getting valueable experience now, and when they are seniors they will be putting their talents up against the likes of Michigan, Ohio State, and Michigan State (among others). They will be doing so in not just bigger stadiums, but in front of a larger television audience. With a strong staff, and ample playing time, Maryland football players will have the tools necessary to get themselves from Saturday kickoffs to Sunday afternoons.

Admittedly, I am reaching with this post. UConn players being drafted does very little (if anything) to help Maryland. But with the upcoming move to the Big Ten, and the recent annoucement of the Big Ten Divisions, many in College Park are nervous about the future of Maryland football. But this recent draft showed us that Coach Edsall was able to recognize NFL potential in previous recruits, and with the playing time that freshman and sophomores are getting at Maryland, hopefully they can reach the big stage soon. Do I think that we are suddenly going to find ourselves playing in the Rose Bowl every year? Absolutely not. I do, however see Maryland being more competitive sooner rather than later.

As was the case at Connecticut, Randy Edsall knows how to build things up. And as evidenced at the NFL draft with the amount of “his players” taken, he’s a pretty good judge of talent.

Jan 26, 2013; Durham, NC, USA; Duke Blue Devils guard Quinn Cook (2) drives past Maryland Terrapins center Alex Len (25) during the second half at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Dolejs-USA TODAY Sports

Editor’s note: Pick & Pop, for those who are unfamiliar with the format, pegs two of our writers against one another to gauge their opinions on a variety of game-time subjects. In this case, we have Chris Bengel (@DurtyPuckHead) and Michael Bohlin (@TerrapinStationMD, among others) going head-to-head on the heated Duke-Maryland matchup this Saturday at 6PM. Give them a follow and enjoy their banter.

1.) Your starting five for the Maryland Terrapins against Duke, and why?

Chris Bengel: With Pe’Shon Howard now suspended for the foreseeable future, the ideal starting five looks a little bit different. Howard would’ve been a nice insertion into the starting lineup. He is the lone floor general on the roster and has experience. Now that all goes out the window. My ideal starting five would be Nick Faust, Dez Wells, Jake Layman, James Padgett, and Alex Len. A case can be made for Seth Allen and I wouldn’t be surprised if Mark Turgeon started the freshman guard over Faust. However, Allen is much better off the ball and is more of a scorer. He also is more suited to come off the bench to give the offense a spark, which is something that the Terrapins may need if they fall behind Duke early.

Jan 23, 2013; Coral Gables, FL, USA; Duke Blue Devils forward Mason Plumlee (5) reacts against the Miami Hurricanes in the second half at the BankUnited Center. Miami won 90-63. Mandatory Credit: Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports

Editor’s Note: This article was written by Chris Bengel, another talented staff writer who hates Duke equally as much as any Terrapin fan. Follow him on @durtypuckhead for some great Terps insight.

The Teams: Maryland Terrapins (15-4) vs Duke Blue Devils (16-2)

The Time: 1 pm ET

The Location: Cameron Indoor Stadium. Durham, NC

TV/Radio: CBS, 105.7 FM

The Backstory: After being absolutely embarrassed on the road against North Carolina, the Maryland Terrapins rebounded with a nail-biting win against Boston College. The Terrapins shot the ball better than they have in recent games. Maryland shot 42.4-percent (25-for-59) from the floor and every player, except for Pe’Shon Howard, made at least one field goal. The Terrapins had three players that scored in double figures. Alex Len had a very strong game as he scored 16 points and pulled down 13 rebounds. In a starting role, Jake Layman netted 15 points and grabbed five rebounds in 28 minutes. Layman was also strong from beyond the three-point line as he made two of his four attempts from long range. Maryland stands at 3-3 through six games of ACC play and will travel to Duke for their toughest challenge  yet on Saturday afternoon.

On the contrary, Duke is coming off its worst loss since 2009. The Blue Devils were absolutely dismantled by Miami on Wednesday night by a margin of 27 points. Nothing went right for the Blue Devils as they only made nine shots in the first half and trailed the Hurricanes 42-19 at the break. The hole proved to be too deep to climb out of and Duke went on to lose 90-63 on the road. The Blue Devils have been struggling as of late. They have lost two of their last three conference games after going 15-0 to start the season.

Keys to the game

1.) Slow down Mason Plumlee

It is absolutely paramount that the Terrapins attempt to slow down Mason Plumlee right out the gate. Len will certainly have his hands full with the Duke forward and will have to be physical and aggressive. Plumlee is averaging 17.3 ppg and 11.4 rpg this season. Despite Duke getting throttled by Miami on Wednesday, the Indiana native still got his as he scored 15 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. Plumlee is a great athlete and is excellent in the low post. He abused Len a season ago but that was the soft Len. Len is having a great season and has shown how physical and aggressive he can be at times. He’s going to have to be on top of his game if the Terrapins want to have a shot to pull off an upset at Cameron.

2.) For the love of all that is holy, don’t turn the ball over

If you’ve watched any Maryland basketball this season, then you know that turnovers are a sore subject around here. Despite shooting the ball pretty well against Boston College, the Terrapins still turned the ball over 14 times. Through six ACC contests thus far, Maryland is averaging a shade over 15 turnovers a game. The Terrapins just downright struggle early in games and make bad passes and just look disjointed at times. If Maryland can cut down on the turnovers, they have a puncher’s chance to upset the most-hated team in all the land.

John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats will be retaining the services of two young twin stars, much to the chagrin of the Maryland Terrapins. As both the Wildcat and Terrapin Nations waited in anticipation for the decision of the twins, which they decided to announce at 5:30 PM on Thursday on ESPNU, no one really had any idea about where this one was headed; the twins were essentially on lockdown by their parents for the entire week leading up to the event. Of course, this led to fervent speculation on with both teams.

First, there were reports that Andrew and Aaron Harrison had decided they wanted to attend Kentucky, but there was a little in-house fighting going on as their father, who has strong ties to the Maryland area, desired them to attend the University of Maryland. While those reports were largely lambasted among other media members (Adam Zagoria, in particular, unjustly took quite a hit as he broke the story),  those reports don’t seem so far fetched upon hearing the news today. There may have been an inkling of truth to them, and the writing may have been on the wall for a long time coming.

Then there was the last ditch effort by Mark Turgeon, who decided to fly straight to Houston a day before the announcement, to try and sway Andrew and Aaron Harrison in the direction of the Terrapins. No one wanted to admit it at the time, or perhaps were in complete denial, but the fact that the twins decision was moved forward so much and that Mark Turgeon headed all the way to Texas on such short notice, should have become a red flag for everyone who was following the story. While John Calipari was off suiting the 2014 class in Massachusetts , Turgeon was trying to make up ground lost to one of the best recruiters of the modern era on an ER trip to Houston. It should have been obvious then who the Terrapins were going up against. Coaches who are confident that they have a commitment locked up don’t take last minute trips. They go elsewhere and check out other prospects. In the words of Jay-Z, they’re onto the next one.

Which, by the way, is exactly what the Terrapins should be thinking right now. Onto the next one. It’s what coach Cal would be doing, and it’s what the Terrapins should be doing as well. While we may have lost the battle, we haven’t yet lost the war. This one stings; hell, I’m legitimately upset that I cannot watch these two go at it in a Maryland uniform. It would have been a win like Maryland has never experienced since the 2002 National Championship. But it isn’t. And that is a truth we all have to live with. So as Jay-Z would say, onto the next one. That next one would be Roddy Peters.

Turgeon and his staff need to deliver to Peters, who just took a trip to UCLA, the same treatment given to the Harrison twins (our spurned lovers). As is widely known by anyone with a television set who has seen a Coke commercial in the past ten years: you can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, then you might find you get what you need.

So fear not, Terrapins. We’re going to go hard after Roddy Peters and we’re going to go very hard in the paint next year with Len, Shaq, and Mitch against whoever Calipari and crew throws up against us. And we’re going to win at both.

Fear The Turtle

July 23, 2012; Greensboro, NC, USA; Maryland Terrapins head football coach Randy Edsall talks to reporters during the ACC media day at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro NC. Mandatory Credit: Sam Sharpe-US PRESSWIRE

Head coach Randy Edsall held his weekly press conference with the media Tuesday, getting into a bit of the specifics on the team and their opponent, William & Mary.

These things tend to be filled with lots of coach-speak, but I’ll gladly give you some of the highlights.

On William & Mary:

“Extremely well-coached. Defensively, they create a lot of problems for you in terms of their scheme.”

“DW Webb, their corner and return guy stands out on film.”

“When you watch William & Mary on film, they’re going to run the zone, power, play action on offense. They’re gonna move the pocket, use three step, five step. They’re multiple in terms of what they do. They’re gonna take their shots down the field.”

“Defensively, they’re gonna fire zone you. Bring outside LBs, inside LBs, safeties. I’m sure they’re gonna bring ‘em more with a freshman quareteback.”

On Nick Ferrara’s Injuries

“Nick is really kind of a day-to-day situation. He’ll probably do some kicking today…10 field goals.”

“We’ll see how Nick plays out the rest of the week.”

On Brandon Ross beating Pickett for the starting RB job:

“He was the most consistent guy. That’s why he ended up being number one. W have some backs that have different qualities. We’ll probably play three guys in the game in terms of running backs.”

On Perry Hills, the freshman quarterback:

“Any time it’s a first year guy going out and playing nobody knows he he’ll react or how well he’s going to do but all signs point to him going out and playing well.”

“He just needs to execute the offense and do the things that he needs to do from the quarterback position….I’m not going to lose any sleep during this week knowing that we’re going in with a true freshman because he doesn’t conduct himself as a true freshman.”

“I think the biggest thing is that we as a staff, we don’t go in with too much. We go in and do the things that he can handle. Let him know that he has ten guys around him…. Perry has to make first downs…Every play doesn’t have to be a big play. His job is just to move the chains and get the ball into the end zone. He just needs to go out and play the game.”

“I just think he’s a cool, very easy-going customer.”

“We saw film on him but we also had him here in our camp and had a chance to work with him while he was here in our camp… Being able to make all the throws….It’s the poise and command and presence that he had was what really impressed me and the rest of the staff.”

“I’ve always had pretty good luck, with guys who are wrestlers who ended up playing football…I really like guys that wrestle and play football…what wrestling brings from a mental toughness standpoint.”

On the defensive line rotation:

“We’ll have six to rotate in there in terms of Joe and Quinton at the ends. Aj and Justin Anderson, and Darius and Alex at the nose guard…Isaiah won’t be ready.”

On the toughest thing about playing freshmen:

“Probably the toughest thing in terms of the freshmen is getting them to go full speed….They’re thinking instead of going and playing. We have to tell them, “You’re going to make mistakes, but make the mistakes going full speed.” We can’t have them tentative…What they might lack in experience, they’re going to make up for in ability.”

——–

So there you have it, some nice little tidbits from Edsall’s presser. I like that he has so much confidence in Perry. It gives me a good feeling heading into Saturday that Hills is going to perform well. He also said some things about limiting the offensive package to things that Perry was sure to excel in, and other guys stepping up around him, which is a good thing. The onus won’t fall on just Perry, as Maryland has plenty of backs and good receivers to help him out.

Go here to watch the full press conference.