Maryland vs. Duke

One-sentence review of this game: I don't think I've ever seen so many two-foot shots missed in a Division I game.

Maryland played Duke last night in the overhyped confines of Cameron Indoor Stadium, and for the way Dick Vitale talked about it, you would've thought that they were playing for first place in the conference, rather than to break a tie for fifth. Of course, the players went at it like it was a title game, so I suppose we can cut the bald idiot a little slack. This was a very intense game, though the intensity led to a lot of sloppy play at points-- ill-advised extra passes, reasonable passes thrown way too hard to handle, and lots of rushed and missed shots.

Despite that, Maryland wound up shooting 52% for the game, probably because all of their shots were from right next to the basket. Duke, on the other hand, opted to bomb away from long range for most of the game, and shot 41%, though they missed their own share of lay-ups. And that's pretty much your ballgame right there. ESPN had a graphic at one point showing the two teams as near-perfect mirror images: Maryland with 19 "points in the paint" and 9 points from three-pointers, and Duke with 18 points off three-pointers, and just 6 "points in the paint."

I'm not delirious enough to call the Terps a three seed, but they're playing really well right now. Duke's down this year, but they're still a decent team, and Maryland handled them pretty well, fending off a late run that tied the game to push the lead back up to 11 in the final minute. Of course, this means they'll probably honk their home game to NC State this weekend, but for the moment, they're fun to watch.

Miscellaneous comments:

- Huge game from Greivis Vasquez, who finished one rebound short of a triple-double (13 points, 12 assists, 9 rebounds). He also had what might've been my favorite hustle play of the game, stretching out to bat a loose ball ahead to Strawberry on the break. He has the occasional lapse of judgement, and I could do with less chest-thumping, but he's played really well for the Terps this year.

- The announcers kept going on about how good D.J. Strawberry is at getting out on the fast break. And, well, they're right-- he does the run-out better than just about anyone, and he does it without sacrificing defense, which is really impressive. He finished with 17 points, and maybe 5 of those came in the half-court set.

- Bambale Osby had a good game as wll, in limited minutes. He only had two points, but he got 9 rebounds in 13 minutes, and anchored the middle for a key stretch in the first half.

- Mike Krzyzewski looked a little bit lost in the second half. They had a bunch of shots ofhim just sitting and looking dyspeptic, like there was nothing he could do. Given his fanatical devotion to man-to-man defense, that may be true-- Maryland is a team that just screams to be played zone-- but it was a little odd.

- Mike Patrick and Dick Vitale continue to be the worst announcing tandem in sports, and Doris Burke isn't helping anything. They go on and on about other teams in the conference, other teams in the top 25, and other teams in completely different sports and fail to do the job of actually reporting what's happening. And now they'll cut to Doris Burke in the middle of game action for stupid little human-interest sidebars, and skip telling you anything at all about what's going on on the court.

The only time they approached doing a good job last night was in the last five minutes when ESPN lost the video feed for a while, and Patrick had to attempt a radio-style call. That was actually halfway reasonable-- he wasn't very good as a radio play-by-play guy (basketball is a terrible radio sport, anyway), but he was a reasonable approximation of a good tv play-by-play guy. I wish they hadn't told him when the picture came back.

Anyway, a very good win for the Terps. They're playing as well as anybody in the conference over the last six games, and like one of the better teams in the country. They have one game left, hosting NC State, and then the ACC Tournament. It'll be interesting seeing just how long they can sustain this run.