Bad sign

Maryland gave up the most points in its school history on Saturday, losing its first big ACC test 109-75.

"I was on the bench and I was looking at the scoreboard and (thinking), 'This game is on ESPN and it's a conference game," said Travis Garrison, who scored 13 points for the Terrapins. "It's a big game, and it's hard to look at a score like that."

The parallels between this team and the immediate two years following Joe Smith's move to the NBA when I was at College Park, are too strong for comfort. The things that those teams lacked were a leader and an assassin-type player, the guy who could kill you from long range. (The other parallel that frightens me is the Mike Mardesich/Will Bowers doppelganger.)

Regarding the team leader, every winner has that guy who pumps up the team and carries it on his back when the game starts to slip. Obviously that player is nonexistent on the current Terps, as evidenced by the 30+ point loss. The game slipped completely away. When does Duke ever lose by 30? Never happens. G John Gilchrist stated a couple weeks ago that Gary challenged him to lead the team, and he accepted the challenge. The result? 11 points, 3 assists. Gilchrist was a non-factor. Maryland's leading scorer had a mere 13 points. And they played selfishly, recording a grand total of 11 assists as a team.

The assassin role was typified by G Jason Williams of Duke's most recent national champion team. The kid would rain down the 3's in big situation, and almost never miss the critical shot. (His final season he went ice cold at the free throw line and cost the Blue Devils a longer run through the tournament, but at his best, he and F Shane Battier would take the reins and inevitably deliver a W). The best evidence the Terps lack the assassin, is their atrocious 3-point shooting yesterday. It is inspiring to shoot 10-20 from behind the arc as UNC did, but unforgivable and demoralizing to heave up 22 threes and only find the bottom of the basket twice (.091).

Finally, for kicks, the Will Bowers factor: a 7-foot tall white guy has never been an asset for the Terps, yet Gary keeps fielding these guys. Yesterday, Bowers spent 13 minutes on the court, shot 0-2 from the field, and even though 7-feet tall, grabbed only 2 boards. Surprisingly he recorded only a single TO.

You heard it hear first, Maryland is a bubble team at best. It's a tough ACC this year, and Maryland does not have the personnel to deliver.

DOOKIE V. BROADCAST NOTE: Dick Vitale has become the official driver of the Tar Heels Bandwagon for 2005. With Duke playing good but not great ball, Dookie V. has switched cars from the Blue Devils to the Heels. He couldn't have been more biased in favor of UNC yesterday, even in the early moments of the game when the Terps were playing well. All he could talk about was "Everybody Loves" Raymond Felton (yes, he repeatedly called him that), Sean May and his dad, and Coach Roy Williams who appears to be Vitale's new "greatest coach ever," replacing Coach K in a stunning turn of events. It will be a pleasure to leave the Midwest where I am confined to listening to whatever lame sportscasters are assigned to the national broadcasts, and return to ACC country where I can shut off Vitale and find a good radio crew.