Since I’m not heading down to Chapel Hill today for the game, I figured I would post some pessimistic thoughts about it while passing the time until tip-off.
For me, the wins against North Carolina were the most exciting moments in each of the past two seasons for the Terrapin men’s basketball team.
Gary Williams may have been proud of losing by three in the 2007 NCAA tournament to Butler–the team that “gave Florida the best game that year in the NCAA tournament”–but the Terps’ come-from-behind 89-87 win at Comcast in February was easily the best game I have seen as a student here.
And the win at Chapel Hill last season doesn’t really have much competition from other 07-08 moments.
But don’t look for any miracles this time around.
The Terps’ 06-07 team, you may remember, was actually quite good and was in the midst of a seven-game winning streak when they knocked off the then-No.5 Tar Heels. D.J. Strawberry had 27 points, Mike Jones (Who?) had 18, and the Heels blew two double-digit leads.
Last year, James Gist and Bambale Osby were the offensive and defensive MVPs, respectively, in the Terps’ 82-80 win.
While the Tar Heels return all of their leading scorers from last year, the Terps are missing the key players from both of their previous matchups.
The gap between the teams has grown even more since last season, and it’s just not going to happen again.