FRISCO, Texas- Good morning from Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas, home of this afternoon’s NCAA Tournament championship game between your Terps and the surprising No. 13-seed North Carolina Tar Heels.
You may not be able to notice while watching the game on TV (ESPN2) but it gets pretty windy down here in North Texas. It’s been gusting consistently at 30+ mph for the past two days, and shows no sign of stopping. Some Terps definitely noticed it when they stepped out on the field just a little bit ago to start warm-ups. The wind gusts could affect corner and free kicks- an important part of the Terps’ game- so it’s something to watch out for.
Meanwhile, the Terps stuck to the same pregame routines they’ve been going through all year and at yesterday’s press conferences everything seemed pretty normal. Coach Sasho Cirovski, midfielder Graham Zusi and defender A.J. Delagarza were calm and composed, making sure to praise the Tar Heels ability and skill whenever they could get a chance.
But the Terps have already beat the Tar Heels twice this season- 2-1 at Ludwig in the final regular season game of the year and 1-0 less than a week later in the ACC tournament quarterfinal- and they did so while controlling the pace of the game. They are the favorites.
More later…
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