Archive for June, 2009

June 18th, 2009 | 01:03 pm

Lance Sr. and Gary Williams need to talk

Call it a communication breakdown.

Two days after the Baltimore Sun’s Jeff Barker reported the Terps were done recruiting New York prep-phenom Lance Stephenson, Lance Stephenson Sr. apparently still thinks Comcast Center is a possible destination for his son in the fall:

“As far as we know Maryland is still an option,” the father said.

But if Maryland is out of the picture, the elder Stephenson vows that everything will be OK. “There are 20,00 schools out there. That’s just one,” he said.

Interesting point of view. Also consider that Gary Williams told WNST on Tuesday the 2009 recruiting class was “definitely closed.”

Maybe Lance Sr. needs to give Gary a call.

akrautdbk@gmail.com

June 17th, 2009 | 09:54 pm

Wrestling ‘09-10 schedule released

The 2009-2010 Terps wrestling schedule.

Before I dive into the schedule, I have to say the wrestling section of umterps.com has received a face lift. Now whenever one clicks on the “Wrestling” section, cue in an intense video of Maryland wrestling from this past year, ending with the team hoisting the 2009 ACC championship.

I must say, I do approve. Who knows, maybe it will attract recruits? On that note, Maryland also released its 2009 incoming recruiting class this past week as well. Leading the way is 157-pound Jimmy Sheptock out of Northampton High School in Northampton, Pa. Sheptock, who finished 148-28, is ranked 79 on InterMat Wrestling’s top 100 for the class. Interesting to note that no wrestlers from the state of Maryland were on the InterMat Wrestling top 100 recruiting rankings.

UPDATE: The class does includes three wrestlers from the state of Maryland (per Coach McCoy):

-Steven Gamble 165/174 Sherwood High School-Sandy Spring, MD
-Danny Orem 133 Mt. St. Joseph-Baltimore, MD
-Eric Beverly 149 Walt Whitman High School, Bethesda, MD

Now onto the schedule. The Terps start the season with the Red and Black Wrestle-Offs exhibition in Comcast on October 24. The Terps officially get going when they take on Drexel and York College at home on November 7.

The Terps will be going against former-coach Pat Santoro and Lehigh once again, when the team travels to Troy, New York to take part in the Northeast Dual. The first ACC match for the Terps will be on December 4 in rematch against North Carolina, who beat Maryland in the ACC opener last season.

One of the biggest non-conference matches will come on January 22, when the Terps travel to Annapolis to take on rival Navy.

Overall, the schedule is just as difficult, but as promising last year. In the end, 2009 should be a great year for Terps wrestling.

June 17th, 2009 | 07:31 pm

ACC TwitterWatch

Okay, so Gary Williams isn’t the only ACC coach on Twitter. And Virginia Tech’s Seth Greenberg — The “Head Hokie” — is currently leaps and bounds ahead of the Head Terp in the humble estimation of this Twitter addict.

For the most part, Gary’s tweets have read like a micro-press release or reluctant interaction. Not much enthusiasm save a few exclamation points or a plug for his camp. Hardly organic. Borderline worthwhile.

In the opposite corner we have Mr. Greenberg. And sure, he’s pimping his camps and even tweeted a fairly shameless US Cellular plug. I can live with that because he’s also delivering personality and insight.

If a celebrity (and we follow these guys because that’s what they are) won’t divulge any unique opinions or observations then it becomes fruitless to track their account. Sorry, let me get to the point.

Today, while Gary was busy spouting off about yet another more motivational quote, Greenberg was clowning Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology prognostication:

Really upset we didn’t make Joe Lunardi’s bracket! Not!i would rather earn our way into the dance, then make it in June!

Now there’s some personality. There’s some Chutzpah! Although I still want to know who is advising these coaches to load up on the exclamations.

For now, Greenberg is the class of the ACC in terms of basketball coach Twitter accounts. Hopefully Gary steps his game up —at least Williams has more followers (1,644-1,123).

Or perhaps Coach K will blow them all out the water. “Watching my state farm commercial on youtube. That coach J bit still make me ROFL!”

If only.

June 17th, 2009 | 02:55 pm

ACC Football Championship now at 8 p.m.

Should the Terps football team play for an ACC championship next season, it will do so in prime time.

Along with the change in time, the Dec. 5 Championship Game, held at Raymond James Stadium in Tamp, Fla.,will shift from ABC to ESPN.

The contest has not been shown in prime time since the inaugural championship game in 2005. That was the first year the ACC had 12 teams.

Virginia Tech has owned this day since the ACC adopted the championship game cash cow. But in 2009, ACC college kids won’t have to roll out of bed quite as early to see if the Hokies do it again (assuming, of course, they get there).

Aside, Terrapins Insider points out that the game will compete with the Big IX title game on ABC. As Terps fans, would you all rather watch another mediocre Boston College-Va. Tech matchup or watch some Big IX offenses shoot it out?

mkatzdbk@gmail.com

June 17th, 2009 | 02:15 pm

Baseball coaching search update…sort of

The search for a new head coach for the Terrapin baseball team is starting to narrow but could still be weeks from concluding, according to Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance/Baseball Supervisor Dan Trump who I spoke to via the telephone this afternoon.

Trump was vague when I tried to pry the details, as is the custom with anyone in charge of a coaching search for any sport. Nevertheless, I was able to narrow the parameters of the search a little bit. Here is what Trump had to say.

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June 16th, 2009 | 06:51 pm

Gary Williams TwitterWatch

I’m in love and I don’t care who knows it. The object of affection? Twitter.

Oh, stop groaning. It’s fantastic.

Naturally, I was thrilled when the media relations powers that be encouraged Gary Williams to join in on the latest in social networking.  And I have yet to be deterred by the curious abundance of exclamation points (“Great News! Greivis is coming back to school!”).

That’s why I’m pleased to roll out a new TerrapinTrail feature: Gary Williams TwitterWatch.

It remains to be seen if GWTW can become a sustainable, or worthwhile, endeavor. But let’s give it a shot.

Today, the head coach found and shared a particularly Gary quote:

Read a great quote this am. “Do things the right way, and sometimes the right way is the most painful way..BUT there is no shortcut.”

A quick Google search revealed no clues as to the origin of this message, but it coincides pretty nicely with the death of the Lance Stephenson saga. As we learned from last year’s “Gary can’t recruit” hullabaloo, the man will not stray from strong ethos for a quick fix.

So far Gary has used his twitter feed to boost fan moral, much the same way he uses on-court, postgame interviews at Comcast. Think: “We need you in the seats against Hampton!”

Can’t wait to see where this goes when we get closer to  the season.

June 16th, 2009 | 04:17 pm

Adkins officially in, Coleman hurt

As rumored for a couple of weeks now, the Terp women’s basketball team officially hired David Adkins as an assistant coach today, a week after bringing on former Seton Hall assistant Marlin Chinn. Adkins’ arrival means coach Brenda Frese has filled both vacant assistant spots left open by the departures of Erica Floyd and Daron Park.

Adkins was an assistant boy’s coach at Montrose Christian and Dematha, two perennial prep powerhouses in the D.C. area. But he’s perhaps most widely known for his personal training prowess. As detailed on Terrapin Trail before, Adkins has trained some of the area’s best players – Greivis Vasquez, Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley and Marissa Coleman among them.

Look for more on the Adkins hire and how the entire new women’s coaching staff as a whole will operate in Thursday’s print edition.

Speaking of Coleman, now in her rookie WNBA season with the Washington Mystics, it appears the Terps’ second-leading scorer and rebounder in program history will be out four to six weeks with a high ankle sprain.

That’s bad news for Coleman and the Mystics since she was averaging 12.7 points per game and had helped the Mystics to a 3-0 start. It also puts a damper on Saturday’s Verizon Center visit from the Chicago Sky and Kristi Toliver, which would have been a matchup between two of the greatest Terps of all time.

akrautdbk@gmail.com

June 16th, 2009 | 08:59 am

Born Ready will not be coming to College Park

UPDATE: In an interview with WNST’s Bob Haynie on Tuesday morning, Gary Williams said the Terps are done with the 2009 recruiting class, essentially confirming The Baltimore Sun’s story that the Terps’ pursuit of Lance Stephenson is over.

The Baltimore Sun’s Jeff Barker reports that according to two anonymous sources with knowledge of the program’s efforts, the Terps have stopped recruiting Lance Stephenson.

There are well-known issues surrounding the highly-hyped Brooklyn small forward: He has a court date scheduled for a misdemeanor sexual assault charge, there are concerns the NCAA might investigate Stephenson’s “internet-reality” show for eligibility purposes and a number of prep school basketball observers talk of Stephenson’s hard to manage on-court temperament.

The sources in Barker’s story said the Terps haven’t been pursuing Stephenson for several weeks. Yet in the past couple of weeks Stephenson’s father, Lance Stephenson Sr., has said twice, to USA Today and Adam Zagoria, that the Terps were still in the picture.

“I talk with Coach [Gary] Williams, Coach [Keith] Booth and Coach [Chuck] Driesell, they’ve just been there,” Lance Stephenson Sr. said last week. “Maryland is going through their process where they want to pick a player and they’re not putting any rush on us. They want Lance to be sure if he does want to go to Maryland, that he really wants to be there. Maryland has been really patient in working with the family.”

Apparently not.

akrautdbk@gmail.com

June 15th, 2009 | 05:21 pm

It’s official, Vasquez to return

Junior guard Greivis Vasquez has officially withdrawn his name from the 2009 NBA Draft.

Vasquez’s statement from the press release after the jump:

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June 15th, 2009 | 12:23 pm

Gary Williams is tweeting, but not about Greivis…

By now, most know that Gary Williams has his very own twitter account. It’s a lot of fun. So when I saw coach had posted three updates (or tweets) this afternoon, I got excited.

Was this the long awaited Greivis Vasquez NBA Draft decision? (Most of you also know the deadline to withdraw is today- 5 p.m.)

No, not even close. Here’s one:

“Our guys are working really hard this offseason. They are running and lifting weights every day pushing each other to get better.”

Really? That’s it? I mean that bit of information is fine and somewhat interesting. But on the day your best player and the heart and soul of your team is by all reports still deciding whether to leave school, can’t we get a little more?

Guess we’ll just have to wait it out. The Washington Times Patrick Stevens got hold of a Vasquez interview in Spanish. He even translates, sort of.