Maryland-Duke

It's been an absurdly good hoops week at Chateau Steelypips-- Syracuse won a big one to take over the (admittedly meaningless) #1 spot in the polls, and now Maryland beat Duke in a tough game to move into a tie for the top spot in the (admittedly down) ACC. If both Duke (home to UNC) and Maryland (at UVA) win this weekend, they'll split the regular-season not-a-title. Go Tar Heels!

Kind of a weird game. It was Senior Night for Greivis Vasquez, Eric Hayes, and Landon Milbourne, which is always a risky business-- especially for a player as volatile as Vasquez. They came out all fired up, with the crowd going nuts, and led by 14 in the first half, then went ice, ice cold. They scored something like two field goals in an 11-minute stretch, and let Duke all the way back. Duke led by three early in the second half, then the Terps led by three, and then they spent most of the last eight minutes trading one-point leads.

The final margin of 79-72 is entirely due to a weird spurt Maryland got in the final minute. The game was tied, then Maryland got a basket by freshman forward Jordan Williams. Duke missed two decent looks at a three, then Vasquez hit a completely ridiculous runner in the lane, and it was all over but the fouling. The Terps hit their free throws, and it ended up a seven-point game.

This was certainly an intense game, and the refs mostly let them whale on each other, but it wasn't really a brilliant display of basketball. The ACC is way, way down this year, and while Duke is clearly the class of the league, I don't think they're a great team. Both of these teams are heavily guard-oriented, and while Duke should've had a decisive size advantage, they weren't really able to do anything with it. They're both vulnerable to a team with good inside play, which they don't seem to have in the ACC this year, but I would expect most of the good Big East teams to take them apart.

The usual miscellaneous commentary:

-- Greivis Vasquez is third on the all-time scoring list at Maryland behind Juan Dixon and Len Bias, and second all-time in assists behind Steve Blake. Given that two of those three won a national title in 2001, and the third was one of the best player in the nation before he died from drugs, that's one hell of a career for the kid from Venezuela. He pretty much carried them for at least two of his four years, and it's nice to see him going out with a better supporting cast.

-- Vasquez had one of the classic games for a player in his last home game-- he was clearly pretty jacked up, and forced some really dumb shots (dumb even by the standards of his game, which is based on hitting ridiculous shots), and turning it over a bunch. Gary Williams actually sat him for a few minutes in the second half, which settled him down some. He rallied late, and hit some clutch shots for them, but while he ended up with 20, it wasn't a dominant game.

-- His back court mate, Eric Hayes, on the other hand, had about as close to a dominant game as he ever manages-- 13 points on 6-8 shooting, 5 rebounds, a couple of assists. He's almost completely overshadowed by Vasquez, but he's quietly been a pretty solid player for all four years.

-- The third senior on the team, Landon Milbourne, got two quick fouls, and didn't play all that much. He had one really sweet dunk, though.

-- Weird reffing in this game. They were wildly inconsistent about what was a foul-- the highlight-reel dunk by Jordan Williams from Vasquez was clearly a charge, while they later called Vasquez for a charge on a play where Greg Zoubek was clearly moving. And there were Big East style no-calls on a lot of plays under the basket, plus a phantom traveling call on Scheyer of Duke.

-- If Jay Bilas has a weakness as an analyst, it's that he's relentlessly upbeat. He finds some superlative to apply to just about every player in every game, which gets a little ridiculous at times.

-- Digger Phelps was talking up Duke as a dark horse title contender over the weekend, and I don't really buy it. Granted, I haven't seen them play a lot-- the only games I've blocked out time to watch have been Syracuse and Maryland games-- but what I have seen doesn't blow me away. Zoubek is improved, but that's not a high bar to clear, and he's about it for quality post play. Georgetown jumped on them pretty good, and they're a middle-of-the-pack Big East team. I have a hard time imagining them winning the whole thing (though they're likely to win the ACC tournament next weekend).

-- Maryland is a tough team to figure in the NCAA's. They've got a really good record, but three or four of their ACC wins have been in grave doubt in the final minute. That makes me nervous. And they have even less post presence than Duke does. Vasquez is a great player, though, and they've been less flaky this year than the past couple. I don't see them winning it all without a lot of help from somebody, but they might make some noise.

-- One final note on Vasquez: Boy, if this guy played for another team, I would hate his guts. Even when he plays for my team, the pro-wrestler "I can't hear you" thing to the crowd is a bit much...

Maryland needs to beat Virginia this weekend to have a chance at winning the ACC regular season-- which isn't a sure thing, as it's the final game of the season, and they often struggle at UVA. Then they'll likely go into the ACC tournament as the #2 seed, getting a first-round bye, which is always nice. And, hey, they're pretty much a lock for an NCAA bid no matter what, which is nice to have after sweating out a couple of seasons recently.

And I have once again stayed up far too late watching basketball, and basketball highlights. Curse you, ESPN!!!