CANCUN, Mexico — Photographer Adam Fried and I have ventured down to Mexico for the Cancun Caribbean Challenge MTA, a women’s basketball tournament where the Terps will face off against some of the toughest competition this side of the Rio Grande.

This place resembles paradise. Tacos, cerveza and balmy weather.

First up is South Dakota State. We got here about an hour before tipoff, and the place is clearly just a banquet hall converted into a makeshift basketball arena.

I’m trying to get some food now. I’ll keep you updated.

EXTRA NOTE - South Dakota State has a TON of fan support here. Maryland…I think I’ve counted 6 Terp fans? It’s such an oddity that’s probably in part because the SDSU men’s team is also participating in a tournament here starting Saturday.

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At his weekly press conference, Ralph Friedgen seemed to have recovered slightly from the disappointment he expressed after the Terrapin football team’s loss to Florida State last Saturday. Friedgen said he was pleased with his players’ demeanor and effort during their Monday practice, and that he felt his team would respond and play well, as they often have following dispiriting losses, against No. 20 Boston College this weekend.

Friedgen said his team would have their hands full with a Eagles squad that will be playing for a spot in the ACC Championship game. The Fridge seemed particularly impressed with the Eagles’ secondary, which leads the nation with 21 interceptions, and defensive line, led by senior tackle B.J. Raji, whose listed weight of 323 pounds fell under question.

“If he’s 323, I’m about 180,” Friedgen said.

Friedgen said he had spoken with his team about the implications this game could have. The Terps have no shot at the ACC Championship, but a win over BC would tye them with the Seminoles, who own the tiebreaker over the Terps, for the Atlantic Division’s best record and help secure a better bowl bid. Lose, and they risk falling into the middle of the ACC-pack, and drawing a lower-tier bowl game.

“I wish I could tell you what to expect from this team,” Friedgen said. “This is a special group of kids to me. I’m very disappointed for them. I really wanted them to win this thing. But like I said, that’s not going to help us against Boston College.”

Luckily for the Terps, they are playing a ranked team after losing to an unranked team. Going back to last season, the Terps have defeated their last six ranked opponents and followed their first three losses this season, all to unranked teams, with victories over ranked opponents. They’ll try it a fourth time this Saturday. The one difference: those losses came on the road, and the victories came at home. This time, they lost to Florida State at home, and will need to respond on the road in Chesnut Hill, Mass.

“Yea, I think we have noticed that trend now,” tight end Dan Gronkowski said. “Now that BC is ranked, the trend continues I guess – losing to an unranked team and playing a ranked team back to back. It’s what we’ve been doing all year, so we just got to keep it up now.”

But according to one, always-entertaining player, the Eagles might not be the Terps’ greatest nemesis this week. They might find that, oddly enough, on their Thankgiving dinner plates.

“The tough thing is probably not stuffing yourself on Thursday,” center Edwin Williams said. “Not eating too much so you won’t be able to perform on Saturday. That’s probably the first challenge.”

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For Florida State, it was the story of two halves. In the first, they were opportunistic, scoring touchdowns off a missed field goal, fumble and interception. In the second half, they were relentless, scoring on every possession until their last, when they ran the clock out on a hapless Terrapin team.

For the Terps, it was the same ol’ dance for sixty minutes, turnovers and sacks stonewalling an offense that on the opening drive seemed to be getting on track before a couple cute plays resulted in a punt.

The Noles didn’t really dominate a single statistic other than sacks (six to zero) and the final 37-3 score. They were simply better in the rest. Florida State finished with more first downs, rushing and passing yards, total plays, completions, completion percentage, touchdowns, field goals, average gain per play, interceptions, fumble recoveries and possession time. It’s hard to win the game without winning at least a few of those stats.

Florida State might have had the game in hand at halftime, but it was in the second half that they jammed in the stake. After holding the ball for 15:55 in the first half, they kept it for 20:07 in the second, giving the Terps only 9:53 to comeback in what began as a three-score and turned into a five-score game.

Florida State also didn’t lose one of its three fumbles and scored on all five of its red zone chances. “Thorough” would be an accurate way to describe the Terps’ defeat Saturday night. On more than one occasion this season, the Terps have dominated the box score only to walk away with a narrow victory. On Saturday, the Noles ruled the box score and it showed in the final.

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Some observations compiled during the Terrapin football team’s 37-3 loss against Florida State…

-This game didn’t exactly go as planned.

-The Seminoles did not tackle well early on the Terps’ opening drive. Lansford Watson would have been wrapped up after about a two-yard gain on 3rd-and-2, and he turned it into 32 yard gain. Interesting attempt at trickeration two plays after Watson’s catch. Quarterback Chris Turner threw a lateral to Danny Oquendo, who threw a pass back to Turner on the other side of the field. Turner was open but he couldn’t make the catch. The Terps were eventually forced to punt.

-Obi Egekeze missed a 45-yard field goal wide right on the Terps’ second drive. On a night as cold as tonight, kicking the football is probably like trying to kick a rock.

(The botched trick play and missed field goal turned out to be a sign of things to come)

-Dave Philistin saved a touchdown by making a diving tackle on Seminole quarterback Christian Ponder who was running an option late in the first quarter. The Seminoles had a lot of room to run up the middle on that drive, and eventually ended up scoring on a 7-yard pass to Preston Parker to make it 7-0.

-Chris Turner underthrew Darrius Heyward-Bey on the Terps’ first offensive play after Parker’s touchdown. Turner hasn’t looked as sharp as in recent weeks. He’s been rushed and knocked around by the Seminoles.

-Da’Rel Scott got stripped cleanly and Seminole linebacker Derek Nicholson returned it 22 yards for a touchdown to make it 14-0 early in the second quarter. It started looking then like the Terps were destined for another letdown. Turner throwing a pick on a tipped pass on the next possession didn’t instill any confidence either.

-Linebacker Alex Wujciak is playing an excellent game for the Terps. He’s making big tackles, knocking down passes, and keeping the defense fired up.

-Myron Rolle just trotted onto the field with about six minutes left in the second quarter. He won a Rhodes Scholarship earlier in the day. You may have read about that.

-It looked like the Terps were onto something when they were driving shortly before the half, but Turner threw into triple coverage and was picked off by Toddrick Verdell. Antone Smith’s 1-yard touchdown run a few plays later made it 21-0 and had several cold fans heading for the exit.

-An eight-minute drive ending in a short field goal to start the second half didn’t help the Terps’ attempt to come back.

-Da’Rel Scott’s 41-yard run late in the third quarter was the Terps’ first positive play in a long time, and it was probably their last hope to really get back in the game. They needed more than the 34-yard field goal they settled for.

-The crowd has seriously thinned out by the start of the fourth quarter. When Scott fumbled again with 13:19 left, thousands more poured toward the exits.

-This game was a disaster from beginning to end. What could have been a magical night turned into a depressing, premature end to anything meaningful in an up-and-down season. All that’s left now is another mediocre bowl game.

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The Terps’ 30 seniors were honored just now, about 20 minutes before kickoff against Florida State. The players were announced individually, and ran between two rows formed by the band, cheerleaders and dance team, then met with family members near midfield. Three highlights…

-Rashad Henry’s two brothers jumping up and down excitedly and mobbing Rashad, then mugging for the camera that took the family photos with an equally high level of excitement.

-Andrew Schmitt chest bumped one of the about 20 people who were on the field to support him, and knocked the guy over.

-Dave Philistin running out holding a grey winter coat, which he gave to his mom when he met up with her at midfield. I guess she’ll hold onto it for him until after the game.

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The assembling media crowded into the back row of the Byrd Stadium press box to watch the final minutes of the BC/Wake Forest game on TV, and saw Boston College come from behind to win 24-21. So here’s where we stand heading into the Terps’ game against Florida State tonight.

-If the Terps win tonight, the winner of next week’s game between Maryland and Boston College will win the Atlantic Division.

-If the Terps lose tonight, they are eliminated from division championship contention. Boston College would win the division with a win next week, and Florida State would win the division with a Maryland win next week.

An additional note: Eagles’ QB Chris Crane broke his collarbone today against the Demon Deacons, and likely will not play against the Terps next week.

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Some impressions from overtime of the Terps’ 89-74  win against Vermont…

-Landon Milbourne fouled out late in the second half, so you have Jin Soo Kim and Dave Neal as your starting frontcourt in overtime. They played very well on the Catamounts’ first two possessions, key in the Terps getting stops.

-Greivis hit a three to put the Terps up five with about three and a half minutes left, then pounded his chest and did a little shimmy. The Terps are in control of this period.

-Eric Hayes’ three to put the Terps up 9 with 1:50 left pretty much seals it.

-Adrian Bowie has three offensive rebounds in overtime.

-Good time for a 17-0 run only Blakely’s late layup prevented the overtime shutout. No double overtime necessary. If only the Terps had played this way for the first 40 minutes, everybody could have gone home a little earlier.

-3-0.

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Some observations compiled during the second half of the Terrapin men’s basketball team’s game against Vermont, tied at 72 after regulation…

-Greivis Vasquez got stuffed by Marqus Blakely during an early second-half possession, and Vasquez seemed to take offense to it. Despite being the one who got stuffed, cleanly, Greivis decided to stare down Blakely.

-Dino Gregory just scored on a putback layup. He’s playing much better today than he did against Youngstown State. Interesting to note that Jerome Burney didn’t get into the game until several minutes into the half, and he didn’t last long after he got beat deep defending on the full-court press.

-Catamount guard Mike Trimboli just hit a three to put his team up 47-43 with 12:41 left, forcing Gary Williams to call a timeout. Blakely decided it would be a good idea to clap obnoxiously in the direction of the Terp bench.

-The Terps trailed by as many as eight, but they picked up their pressure defense and went on an 8-0 run to make it 55-55 with about nine minutes left.

-Blakely might actually be the best player on the court. With about 6 minutes left in the game, he already has 20 points and 10 rebounds. Maybe Greivis was feeling a little jealous.

-This game is actually getting pretty exciting. Dave Neal hit a three to tie the game at 63-63 with about five minutes left, than Colin McIntosh answered with a three, then Adrian Bowie tied the game again with a third three in a span of fewer than 30 seconds. 66-66 at the four-minute timeout.

-Neal hit another three from almost exactly the same spot to cut the Catmounts’ lead to two with less than two minutes left. It must be his haircut.

-Questionable foul call against Vasquez with the Terps down two with the shot clock off in the final minute. Vasquez may have hooked his defender, but I’m probably not making that call in that situation. He redeemed himself hitting a game-tying three to send the game to overtime.

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Some observations compiled during the first half of the Terrapin men’s basketball team’s game against Vermont…

-The Catamounts are led by last year’s America East Player of the Year Marqus Blakely. I don’t know how I feel about that Q. I wonder if this is a Frese-Thomas situation and his father’s name is Marq. Either way he just dunked it two possessions in a row about five minutes into the game.

-The Terps started scoring points early tonight after stumbling out of the gate in their first two games. They made six of their first seven shots and led 16-11 at the first media timeout.

-As beat writer Mark Selig astutely points out, “Dave Neal got a haircut.” Neal also missed two wide open lay-ups.

-Greivis Vasquez just wasted two consecutive possessions trying to make a tough, unnecessarily fancy pass into traffic. Gary didn’t look pleased.

-The Catamounts are able to run with the Terps, and they’re keeping this game close. The Terps’ shooting is cooling off, and the Catamounts lead 26-23 at the eight-minute media timeout…

-…And the Terps rip off an 11-0 run to make it 34-26 at the four-minute timeout. They’ve picked up the intensity on both ends of the floor, making smarter passes and tightening up on defense. Dino Gregory just had a diesel block before the last whistle.

-The Terps picked up a foul with 2.6 seconds left in the half, and Blakely made two free throws. The Terps lead 37-35 at halftime.

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