It’s been well-established: Terp fans either love or hate Greivis Vasquez.
Considering the junior guard’s recent performances and the booing he received at Comcast Center on Jan. 10 against Georgia Tech, I’m going to say right now more fans are on the hate side, an unfortunate consequence of shooting slumps.
But I have a bone to pick with those fans. First, let’s take a look at the Terps’ plus-minus on the season as calculated by Patrick Stevens of the Washington Times, a Diamondback alumnus himself. Specifically, I’m talking about the inverse of Vasquez’s +8 number in ACC play.
So the Terps have outscored their three conference opponents by two points total. Yet with Vasquez in the game, they’re outscoring opponents by eight. Vasquez has played all but 10 minutes of those three games.
Do the math: The Terps fall behind by three points for every five minutes Vasquez is on the bench.
In this past Florida State game, in the three minutes Vasquez was off the court, the Terps had a six-point deficit. That’s ridiculous and unacceptable.
Most of the time, plus-minus numbers are arbitrary. Such numbers are only a good indicator of a player’s success rate when they are either a.) Consistent and dramatic over a reasonable stretch of time, such as the production of Adrian Bowie, or b.) they indicate the value of a player who touches the ball on nearly every possession and rarely leaves the court, as with Vasquez.
No one would argue Bowie’s value to the Terps. But it’s Vasquez, who is likely to play 36-40 minutes per game for the rest of the season, that may be truly underrated by fans.
The Terps need the junior because he’s the only player capable of making defenses truly worry, the only guy able to create for himself and his teammates equally.
It’s your choice whether you love him or hate him. But, if you’re rooting for the team’s success, you better recognize you need him.
ajosephdbk@gmail.com