Only an hour away from their showdown with No. 7 Duke at Comcast Center, word has come down that Terps guard Sa’de Wiley-Gatewood has left the team.

A week ago, the senior guard did not play in the Terps’ win against Rutgers. She was sick, according to a team spokesman. On Tuesday, two days before the Terps’ win last Thursday, coach Brenda Frese said Wiley-Gatewood was “working through some things” and was day-to-day. She did not travel with the team to Atlanta.

According to the press release, Wiley-Gatewood, who had proved to be a reliable starting two-guard for the Terps so far this season, averaging 4.2 ppg and 3.2 rpg, will remain enrolled in classes and is on schedule to graduate at the end of this semester.

Sophomore Marah Strickland, who started last season and off and on this year, will step into the starting two-guard position. The Terps now have only nine eligible players remaining. Strickland had perhaps her best game of the year against Georgia Tech on Thursday, scoring 15 points. She’s averaging 9.2 ppg and 2.7 rpg.

More on this ASAP.

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Some observations compiled during the second half and improbable overtime of the Terrapin men’s basketball team’s 88-85 win  Saturday against UNC…

-Solid moment after Landon Milbourne got fouled hard going up for a fast break layup in the half. Greivis Vasquez ran over to help Milbourne up and then slipped and wound up on the floor himself. Greivis pointed at a manager and yelled “Hey, it’s wet right here,” laughing as he got up.

-Jerome Burney has worked his way back into the rotation for the Terps, as Gary Williams said Burney probably would during his pregame press conference on Friday. If he can give the Terps some quality minutes it would provide a major boost in the frontcourt. Still no signs of life from Braxton Dupree, by the way.

-Wayne Ellington just hit a three. The Terps are doing a much better job against the Wynnewood, Pa. native than they did in Chapel Hill earlier this month when he dropped 34.

-A quick 10-2 run for the Terps has breathed some new life into Comcast Center at the 12-minute timeout. You have to be impressed with how long the Terps are hanging around. They’ve avoided a Clemson-like collapse to this point.

-Some suspect refereeing today. It was favoring the Tar Heels early but it’s starting to even out a little bit. Even so, there’s an excellent chance Gary will bring up the officials after the game.

-The Terps are continuing to close the gap and trail by three at the 8-minute timeout. It’s starting to feel a little like 2007 in here. It’s almost a little creepy.

-Shades of ‘07 into the final minute. The Tar Heels keep trying to pull away and the Terps keep making it close.

-While the end of regulation was ridiculous and the Terps were able to force overtime, it almost didn’t happen. Sean Mosley clearly was trying to call timeout before the Terps’ last possession, even though the Terps didn’t have any left. Luckily the timeout wasn’t granted and the Terps avoided a Chris Webber moment (which I just realized also happened against Carolina).

-Greivis Vasquez’s three-pointer early in overtime gave the Terps their first lead since the first half. He finished with 35. He also got that triple-double he’s been clamoring about all season.

-The court storm is on! I can admit when I’m wrong, and this was one of those rare cases. I didn’t see any way the Terps could beat North Carolina, (again) but they did (again). Good for them.

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Some observations compiled during the first half of the Terrapin men’s basketball team’s game Saturday against No. 3 North Carolina…

-The video montage with scenes from the Terps’ weight room, which they played on the big screen at Comcast before the Terps came onto the court, was a little questionable.

-Two fouls on Dave Neal in the first 1:33 is not going to help the Terps already massive size disadvantage. What’s especially troubling is one of his fouls was offensive and the other happened when Neal was unnecessarily pressuring the ball on the other end of the court from where the Tar Heels are shooting.

-I don’t know if it’s just me, but Tyler Hansbrough appears to travel pretty much every time he touches the ball. He almost always gets away with it. Dino Gregory has done a good job on Hansbrough after checking in for Neal.

-Good to see James Gist sitting courtside.

-The first 7-plus minutes is Greivis Vasquez’s best offensive performance I can remember. He scored the Terps’ first 16 points, single-handedly keeping the Terps in the game. So of course Gary decides to take him out of the game so his shooting gets a chance to cool off. Greivis didn’t score any more points the rest of the half, and the Terps were outscored 22-14 after he came out.

-Gary Williams nearly gave himself whiplash demonstrating to officials how he thought Hansbrough flopped on a charge called against Eric Hayes. I agree with Williams, and Hansbrough traveled on the next possession. As former Tar Heel Rasheed Wallace might say, “The ball don’t lie.”

-The Terps are hanging in there even though they aren’t shooting especially well. They’re playing much better defense than they did in Chapel Hill a few weeks ago and are still within striking distance. It’s 39-30 Tar Heels at the half.

schimmeldbk@gmail.com

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In a mild upset, the third-ranked Terrapin men’s lacrosse team fell at home today to No. 8 Georgetown.

The Hoyas ratcheted up the attack in the second half to pull away from the Terps for a 13-10 win.

Georgetown outshot the Terps 11-4 in the third, scoring five goals and turning a 6-5 halftime deficit into a 10-7 advantage after with one period to play.

Some other stats that jump out:- The Terps won 65.3 percent of the draws, led by Bryn Holmes (12-for-16, 75%). However the Terps success at the faceoff X was partially mitigated by their 21 turnovers.

- Another area the Terps owned was groundballs, where they held a 36-25 edge. Usually ground balls are a great indicator of who is dictating the play, so it’s interesting to note that the Terps were held scoreless for an 18-minute stretch spanning the third and fourth quarters.

- Junior Transfer Will Yeatman, who led the team with 10 points entering today’s contest, did not record a point. Yeatman was covered by Preseason All-ECAC defenseman Barney Ehrmann, who at 6-foot-6, 220 was able to check the Terps’ giant attackman. Ehrmann played primarily at long stick midfield last season and may have been assigned to Yeatman today just for this reason.

- Fans came out to enjoy the sunny weather, official attendence at Ludwig field was 2,530 or 30 more than the officially listed maximum capacity of the stadium.That’s all from Ludwig field today. Be sure to check out the Monday’s print edition of The Diamondback for the full game story.

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Today’s Starters for the Terrapin Men’s Lacrosse team against No. 8 Georgetown.  Attack:- Junir Will Yeatman- Sophomore Grant Catalino- Sophomore Ryan Young Midfield:- Senior Jeff Reynolds- Senior Jeremy Sieverts- Senior Dan GrootDefense:-Sophomore Brian Farrell-Sophomore Max Schmidt-Senior Mike GriswoldGoalie:-Jason Cartermkatzdbk@gmail.com

With most of Terrapin sports fans fixated on today’s basketball game at the Comcast Center, it’s easy to forget that the best contest in College Park — or at least the most evenly matched — is taking place at Ludwig field. 

 That’s where the Terrapin men’s lacrosse team is squaring off against Beltway rival Georgetown.

 The recipient of considerable off-season hype, the No. 3 Terps (2-0) get their first real test today against the No. 8 Hoyas. Georgetown is eager to make a statement after a disappointing 2008 in which it missed the NCAA tournament.

One key area will be the midfield where the Terps will have their hands full as Georgetown boasts a towering first middy line. Dan D’Agnes (6-foot-2), Andrew Brancaccio (6-foot-5) a pair of big boys who could pose some problems. But the Terps players seem to take great pride in their short-stick defense and this should be an dogfight all day. 

It’s a beautiful day for a matchup midfielder Jeff Reynolds called “the real start to the season.” And the Terps are sporting new unis to boot. Should be a fun one here at Ludwig, and unlike over in Comcast, the Terps have a great chance to come away with a W.

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We’re 3/4 of the way through at the ACC Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships, and after 14 events, the Terps are still in fifth place. Virginia owned the pool once again tonight — the Cavs are now almost more than 200 points of the second closest competitor (North Carolina).

Jen Vogel, who’s been atop the ACC standings in the 100 Fly all season and at one point held the number one spot, finished second in the race with a 52.95 time. UVA’s Megan Evo, one of the conference’s best swimmers, beat out Vogel by just 0.35 seconds.

Meanwhile, Annie Fittin lived up to her reputation as having one of the conference’s best backstrokes, finishing third (53.22) behind — surprise, surprise — two swimmers from UVA.

In other noteworthy performances, Ginny Glover earned ninth place in a performance actually good enough for eighth in the 200 free, and Alisa Kurbatova took seventh in the 3-meter diving finals.

Here are the complete standings going into the last day:

1. Virgina — 581
2. North Carolina — 384
3. Virginia Tech — 312
4. Florida State — 270
5. Maryland — 225
6. Clemson — 222
7. Duke — 217
8. Miami — 158
9. Georgia Tech — 115
10. NC State — 110
11. Boston College — 52

Gary Williams seemed irrationally optimistic in Mark Selig’s story Thursday about the Terrapin men’s basketball team’s situation for the rest of the season.

Here’s an excerpt:

“We’re 5-6, we have five left, everything’s still there for us,” Williams said in his opening statement after Tuesday’s loss. “We play enough good teams coming up that, if we can win some games in the stretch, it can put us in good shape. That’s what we’re going to talk about, and go from there.”

But what Gary seems to fail to consider is the Terps most likely aren’t going to be able to beat those “good teams coming up.”

North Carolina, the Terps’ next opponent Saturday, is arguably the best team in the country, and nothing in the 108-91 loss against the Tar Heels a few weeks ago made me feel like an upset is even remotely possible.

The Terps have been playing a little better recently, and have established themselves firmly in the lower part of the middle of the pack in the ACC. But a win against UNC, Duke or Wake Forest in any of the next three home games is just not realistic this season.

The best the Terps can hope for is to avoid any more embarrassing games like the debacle at Duke or the second-half collapse at Clemson.

North Carolina has the potential to embarrass the Terps on Saturday. Gary should just hope his team can just keep it close.

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