Meanwhile The Maryland Whining Jag Continues

[RockyMTblue2]

Maryland as a No. 3 seed doesn’t make much sense

Can these people not get behind the game and talk basketball. Is it all to be how Maryland got shafted for producing the worst SOS in recent memory for a top 10 team? Lazy sports "journalism" ... aka gossip. Talking game takes work. Does Maryland have one this weekend?

 

[oldude]

After reading the article, they make several good points in comparing MD's season this year vs last, but they completely gloss over the most relevant point IMO. Last season MD lost their 2nd round game to 7th seed Washington at College Park. So whatever they did last year, the Terps clearly didn't deserve to be a 2 seed then. If they basically produced the same results this year, they probably deserve a 3 seed at best.

The Terps do need to stop whining and focus on playing well or WV will insure they never make it out of College Park this year.

 

[HardHatGuy#2]

Tired of listening to all the whining. Tomorrow things get rolling, so hike up the BGPs, lace up yer chucks, and PLAY.

 

[JordyG]

Oh boo hoo. I haven't heard this much whining since Princeton got their 8th seed in 2015. Then of course they struggled against a 9th seed Green Bay and got crushed by (surprise) Maryland in the next round. That sure shut them up. For good. Hopefully Frese will meet her new Maryland clone this year in Duke. Or sooner.

 

[CTyankee]

Weak rebuttal... FoGetAboutIt!!!

 

[Plebe]

Oh boo hoo. I haven't heard this much whining since Princeton got their 8th seed in 2015. Then of course they struggled against a 9th seed Green Bay and got crushed by (surprise) Maryland in the next round. That sure shut them up. For good. Hopefully Frese will meet her new Maryland clone this year in Duke. Or sooner.

I don't recall it as a "crushing." Maryland only led Princeton by 4 at the half, and they were playing at College Park.

But I agree with your underlying point that both Princeton 2015 and Maryland 2017 have been given the seed they've earned, and the comparison is instructive. Princeton that year had gone undefeated but their best wins were over bubble teams. When you haven't beaten anyone better than a bubble team, it's hard to justify a seeding higher than #8. Similarly with this year's Maryland: when your best win is over a #3 seed, and you have a somewhat lopsided loss to a #5 seed, it's tough to argue that they earned anything higher than what they got.

 

[JordyG]

I don't recall it as a "crushing." Maryland only led Princeton by 4 at the half, and they were playing at College Park.

But I agree with your underlying point that both Princeton 2015 and Maryland 2017 have been given the seed they've earned, and the comparison is instructive. Princeton that year had gone undefeated but their best wins were over bubble teams. When you haven't beaten anyone better than a bubble team, it's hard to justify a seeding higher than #8. Similarly with this year's Maryland: when your best win is over a #3 seed, and you have a somewhat lopsided loss to a #5 seed, it's tough to argue that they earned anything higher than what they got.

I pretty much agree with your premise. But 15 points is a crushing to me. Anything more is an annihilation.

 

[Plebe]

I pretty much agree with your premise. But 15 points is a crushing to me. Anything more is an annihilation.

Hmm, interesting categorization. Is 10 points also a crushing? Because Maryland then beat #4 seed Duke by 10 and #2 seed Tennessee by 10 as well. And that was on a neutral court, which statistically would equate to a roughly 12- to 15-point margin of victory at home.

 

[1-of-the-6]

Two points.

1. When claiming that the B1G isn't much worse than last season, the authors fail to mention Nebraska, who in 2016-17 did not have former Honorable Mention All-American Rachel Theriot, sharpshooter Natalie Romeo, or ex-coach Connie Yori. They were pretty much a disaster.

2. This isn't Maryland publicly whining, it's two journalists. I'm not a fan of Brenda Frese but she has no control over articles such as these. Plus, while I do believe that Maryland got what they deserved thanks to their weak schedule, I still feel that on the court they might well be the second-best team out there. Rethinking what I've said in earlier posts, it might be a good thing that UCONN will (possibly) get them in Bridgeport, at the edge of their home turf.

 

[JordyG]

Hmm, interesting categorization. Is 10 points also a crushing? Because Maryland then beat #4 seed Duke by 10 and #2 seed Tennessee by 10 as well. And that was on a neutral court, which statistically would equate to a roughly 12- to 15-point margin of victory at home.

I don't know. I thought I said 15. Maybe I should go back and review what I said.

Yep. I said 15.

Home court isn't always an advantage. Yet I'm interested, since you want to parse words, what differential you consider one team being crushed by another. Clearly my numbers and yours differ. I'm also sure someone would disagree with your parsed numbers as well.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

After reading the article, they make several good points in comparing MD's season this year vs last, but they completely gloss over the most relevant point IMO. Last season MD lost their 2nd round game to 7th seed Washington at College Park. So whatever they did last year, the Terps clearly didn't deserve to be a 2 seed then. If they basically produced the same results this year, they probably deserve a 3 seed at best.

The Terps do need to stop whining and focus on playing well or WV will insure they never make it out of College Park this year.

The nail just got hit on the head. Why would anyone care to say out OOC strength last year was worse and no we are worse off??

 

[triaddukefan]

Hopefully Elon or West Virginia will put them out of their misery.

 

[Plebe]

I don't know. I thought I said 15. Maybe I should go back and review what I said.

Yep. I said 15.

Home court isn't always an advantage. Yet I'm interested, since you want to parse words, what differential you consider one team being crushed by another. Clearly my numbers and yours differ. I'm also sure someone would disagree with your parsed numbers as well.

I was mainly just being playful with the numbers thing. If 15 is a crushing, but 10 isn't, then I guess the dividing line between a crushing and a non-crushing is somewhere from 11 to 14?

I don't put a lot of stock in final margin of victory per se as a measure of one-sidedness. Sometimes the winning team is up by 20+ points for most of the game, and then the losing team puts on a gratuitous burst in garbage time and cuts the final MOV to single digits. Other times, it's a nip-and-tuck battle until the last few minutes, when the MOV opens up to double digits. I would consider the former game more one-sided than the latter, notwithstanding what the final MOV might indicate.

 

[JordyG]

I was mainly just being playful with the numbers thing. If 15 is a crushing, but 10 isn't, then I guess the dividing line between a crushing and a non-crushing is somewhere from 11 to 14?

I don't put a lot of stock in final margin of victory per se as a measure of one-sidedness. Sometimes the winning team is up by 20+ points for most of the game, and then the losing team puts on a gratuitous burst in garbage time and cuts the final MOV to single digits. Other times, it's a nip-and-tuck battle until the last few minutes, when the MOV opens up to double digits. I would consider the former game more one-sided than the latter, notwithstanding what the final MOV might indicate.

It's all good as long as the Dukies give them the butt whuppin' Frese deserves. I remember how Frese said before the season started that winning a championship is easy when you get the best players. Well this year they had the best recruiting class. I said at the years beginning that we can all sit back and let her show us how it's done from an easy chair. We never did get the full Lexie Brown story and now I hope it all comes home to roost.

 

[TerpWomenFan]

The article was done on Tuesday so this is not continue whining. Anyone who believes that all the 8 seeded teams ahead of them had a better season than Maryland despite their OOC and Big 10 schedule, I have land in Western Sahara for you to take a look at.

As far as Maryland deserving a #2 seed last season, did Notre Dame and South Carolina deserve #1 seeds even though they lost in the Sweet 16? Upsets happen. Everyone who know about WCBB knows the committee did a crappy job this season. California in the NCAA with a 6-12 conference record is a joke.

Maryland will take of their business and we'll let the chips fall where they may.

 

[oldude]

My general sense is that MD, Syracuse and even UAlbany would be fine with their seeds if they didn't have UConn standing in front of them.

Listening to Coach Mac (UAlbany), she was convinced the Great Danes wouldn't be matched with the Huskies in the 1st round because they'd be a 15 seed at worst, despite the fact that they had a bunch of losses to mediocre teams this season.

In Syracuse there is general disbelief that the Orange are an 8 seed headed to Storrs, but frankly after making it to the finals last season and returning 4 senior starters from that team, the Cuse underperformed all season. The final nail in their coffin was the beat down at the hands of Duke in the ACC qtrs.

MD is the most interesting case. Yes they won all but two games, with the losses coming against ranked teams, but the committee has been sending a message to the Terps since their 1st reveal that their SOS made their seeding questionable. Perhaps the criteria had changed since last year, but it's not like MD didn't have fair warning. For MD to secure a high 2 seed and avoid UConn's bracket, they needed to win out. The Terps were hurt by their loss at OSU and then hurt further when OSU couldn't even make it through the BIG conf tournament for a rematch.

To quote a wise little Italian, "every team thinks they got the toughest road in the tournament. The team that wins will be the team that plays great for six straight games."

Let the Games begin!!!

 

[Zanzman]

Old dude is right if they weren't in UCONN's bracket no one would be crying

 

[TerpWomenFan]

My general sense is that MD, Syracuse and even UAlbany would be fine with their seeds if they didn't have UConn standing in front of them.

Listening to Coach Mac (UAlbany), she was convinced the Great Danes wouldn't be matched with the Huskies in the 1st round because they'd be a 15 seed at worst, despite the fact that they had a bunch of losses to mediocre teams this season.

In Syracuse there is general disbelief that the Orange are an 8 seed headed to Storrs, but frankly after making it to the finals last season and returning 4 senior starters from that team, the Cuse underperformed all season. The final nail in their coffin was the beat down at the hands of Duke in the ACC qtrs.

MD is the most interesting case. Yes they won all but two games, with the losses coming against ranked teams, but the committee has been sending a message to the Terps since their 1st reveal that their SOS made their seeding questionable. Perhaps the criteria had changed since last year, but it's not like MD didn't have fair warning. For MD to secure a high 2 seed and avoid UConn's bracket, they needed to win out. The Terps were hurt by their loss at OSU and then hurt further when OSU couldn't even make it through the BIG conf tournament for a rematch.

To quote a wise little Italian, "every team thinks they got the toughest road in the tournament. The team that wins will be the team that plays great for six straight games."

Let the Games begin!!!

Great post.

 

[CocoHusky]

The article was done on Tuesday so this is not continue whining. Anyone who believes that all the 8 seeded teams ahead of them had a better season than Maryland despite their OOC and Big 10 schedule, I have land in Western Sahara for you to take a look at.

As far as Maryland deserving a #2 seed last season, did Notre Dame and South Carolina deserve #1 seeds even though they lost in the Sweet 16? Upsets happen. Everyone who know about WCBB knows the committee did a crappy job this season. California in the NCAA with a 6-12 conference record is a joke.
Maryland will take of their business and we'll let the chips fall where they may.

Since the Western Sahara includes Morocco, I might be interested in taking a look at your land. .
Maryland has been in the FF in two of the last three seasons. Maryland had the number 1 recruiting class last year.
Maryland has played UCONN closer than any other program (even ND) in the last two year.
Maryland's OOC schedule this year was fugazi! Looking for a significant improvement next year.

 

[Geew1992]

Question..........Is the OOC schedule already done for next year? If so, I hope Frese put more than 1 quality game on the schedule. Can't use the freshman excuse again. Maybe she can say her "best" players graduated, so she wants to be easy on the rest of the crew. My 2 cents, the freshman thing is crap. At the end of the day, they are beinging prepared for the NCAA tournament. How do they prepare if they aren't playing against the best during the season?

 

[Bigpetunia]

Well, call me obtuse, but I read the article and, frankly, I find it hard to see what gets people so upset. Brenda didn't write it, but it seems like fairly well-reasoned thinking to me. The fact of the matter is that if we took a poll, an honest one, the overwhelming majority of teams and their respective fans would aver that they got "screwed" by the committee, including some on our Board with respect to UConn. MD has, as all teams have, one, and only one way to advance its cause...do it between the lines. If the Terps defeat our favorite team, which I strongly doubt will happen, more power to them. Failing that, all this bloviating nonsense is just hot air filling the vacuum that inevitably accompanies waiting for the real action to begin.

Finally, help me, but with so many more deserving targets out there, why do folks get so riled up over Brenda? Yes, I'd like to see her follow Geno's example and schedule a tougher OOC lineup of opponents, but she seems like a pretty competent coach to me. I especially can't understand folks pulling for someone like Coach P (someone truly deserving) to whip up on Brenda. I'd certainly go the other way on that one!

 

[oldude]

There are a couple other factors that contributed to MD's seeding. If OSU had swept Stanford in the Pac12 championship game, the Samuelson family could have all been together in the Bridgeport region.

Now that would have still left MD in Bridgeport as the top #2, so either Duke or MS St would have had to be upset early in their respective conference tournaments.

 

[1-of-the-6]

Well, call me obtuse, but I read the article and, frankly, I find it hard to see what gets people so upset. Brenda didn't write it, but it seems like fairly well-reasoned thinking to me. The fact of the matter is that if we took a poll, an honest one, the overwhelming majority of teams and their respective fans would aver that they got "screwed" by the committee, including some on our Board with respect to UConn. MD has, as all teams have, one, and only one way to advance its cause...do it between the lines. If the Terps defeat our favorite team, which I strongly doubt will happen, more power to them. Failing that, all this bloviating nonsense is just hot air filling the vacuum that inevitably accompanies waiting for the real action to begin.

Finally, help me, but with so many more deserving targets out there, why do folks get so riled up over Brenda? Yes, I'd like to see her follow Geno's example and schedule a tougher OOC lineup of opponents, but she seems like a pretty competent coach to me. I especially can't understand folks pulling for someone like Coach P (someone truly deserving) to whip up on Brenda. I'd certainly go the other way on that one!

I gave you a like because you used the word "aver" in your post. I've never seen it in a post before, or on the internet, or anywhere. Akin to Albany winning the NC.

As to Brenda, the best that I can say for her is that I like her less in the last couple of years than prior to that. Her teams used to play somewhat on the dirty side and that seems to have been cleaned up.

 

[CocoHusky]

Question.....Is the OOC schedule already done for next year?

No the OOC for next year is not done, but most often teams agree to play each other in at least back to back years home and away.
Three of the weaker teams on the questionable MD 2016-17 schedule (UMASS Lowell, Maryland Eastern Shore, & Loyola (Md)) were the same teams that MD played during the 15-16 season.
Maryland's Average Margin of Victory against these three teams in '15-'16 was 58.3 points, & there should not have been a rematch in '16-'17 because none of these teams are in MD's conference.
Three different weaker teams on the questionable MD 2016-17 schedule were ( Mount St. Mary's - MD, Saint Peter's, & UMBC).
Maryland's Average Margin of Victory against these three teams in '16-'17 season was 55.3 points -there should be no rematch in '17-'18 if Maryland is to have any credibility.
Three of the teams that were on MD's schedule this year (Saint Peter's, Towson, & UMASS Lowell) finished dead last in extremely weak conferences and you don't just stumble on to those schools unless you are trolling for an easy schedule.

How do they prepare if they aren't playing against the best during the season?

MD's answer: "The best? What do you mean, We played UCONN. Played em close too. Two years in a row now".

 

[oldude]

The "Bad for Women's Basketball" issue is often thrown at the Huskies, without merit IMO. What is bad for Women's basketball is a school like MD getting fat eating up a bunch of cupcakes. Women's basketball needs more big games which generate national interest.

UConn has clearly shown the way to every other big-time WBB program in the country. I will also give credit to Karen Aston at TX for similarly challenging her team in their non-conference schedule, but the rest of the top women's teams all need to pick it up, and MD is at the very top of the list.