RALEIGH, N.C.–Some observations compiled during the first half of the Terrapin women’s basketball team’s Regional Final against Louisville.
-Maybe I’m just a little disoriented because a few of them are sitting behind me, but there can’t be more than 100 Louisville fans in the arena. Perhaps they are still smarting over their men’s team’s poor performance in the men’s elite eight yesterday and didn’t feel like making the trip.
-Cardinals star forward Angel McCoughtry is even skinnier in person than she looks on television. She is extremely athetic though. McCoughtry against Marissa Coleman will be a tremendous matchup.
-The Cardinals are coming out with a full-court press. The Terps have historically been known to struggle against full court defenses. Kristi Toliver is being forced to work extremely hard to get the ball up the floor.
-The Terps look anxious early. They are forcing passes and shooting early in the shot clock. It didn’t help them that the Cardinals made their first four shots. Louisville leads 9-5 at the 16-minute timeout.
-In the second four-minute segment the Terps are doing a better job against the press, relying more on quick passes than Toliver’s ball-handling to get the ball upcourt. As the Cardinals’ shooting is beginning to cool, the Terps are starting to settle in.
-The Terps are struggling with some tough rims. Open shots aren’t falling. It’s 16-11 Cardinals at the 12-minute timeout.
-I don’t like the soft zone defense the Terps are in. The Cardinals are able to find the passing lanes and turn quick passes into way too many open shots. The Cardinals are in a zone too but they are attacking the ball and making it difficult for the Terps to get their offense set up. 24-14 at the eight-minute timeout.
-The Cardinals are committed to not letting Coleman beat them. Every time she touches the ball she is swarmed by an extra defender who was waiting nearby to help. Other Terps, inlcuding a cold Toliver, need to step up and make shots.
-The Terps switched to man defense and it is definitely more effective. The Cardinals offense is starting to look out of whack, and each shot is more contested. Now the Terps just need to get their offense going, but things feel like they are starting to turn. 24-19 Louisville at the four-minute timeout.
-In the last few minutes of the half the Terps are starting to take control. They’re confidence is building and they finally look like the better team. A McCoughtry jumper at the buzzer made it 30-25 Cardinals at halftime, but I have a much better feeling about this game than I did a couple of media timeouts ago.
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This was the worst coaching job I have ever seen. Freese was totally out-coached by Walz. Here’s a memorable quote from Marissa:
“I think Kristi and I are so determined right now not to let our career end,” Coleman said. “I don’t think there’s a coach in this country that can devise a plan or have some defensive strategy that can stop that, because that’s all will and determination.”
Sadly she was wrong. And though Coleman showed plenty of determination, Toliver looked like she just wanted to go home. Maryland’s defense was non-existent. Rather then press Louisville, they just let them take time off the clock. Admittedly the women’s rules suck. It reminded me of watching North Carolina in their 4 corner offense under Dean Smith. Talk about boring games. But Maryland didn’t even try to steal the ball from Louisville. Again that is just bad coaching on the part of Freese.
To fail to get to the Final Four against a team with such little talent as Louisville (OK they have one star player) is just shameful. Coach Walz couldn’t believe the score at the end of the game. He said they hadn’t scored 70 points all tournament. What does that say about Maryland’s defense?
Toliver just couldn’t seem to wait to dish the ball off to someone else. What happened to her determination to win? In the second half with the clock ticking away, she lazily brought the ball up court and would back up to nearly half court just wasting time.
But the worst player in a MD uniform had to be Marah Strickland. Her defense of Byrd was just pathetic. She never got more than 5 ft. from her as she was dribbling the ball up court. She practically handed the game to Louisville single handedly. And then to top it all off, Marah made what must have been her first steal of the game with 3 seconds remaining and followed that up with a layup against an undefended basket. I guess the Louisville fans were too happy to boo. She must have been going for the Greivis Vazquez “I got no class” award.
The only player that can be proud of her performance in that game was Marissa Coleman. We will miss her. She broke down in tears at the end of the game. How is it possible that she only made it to one Final Four in her career at MD? Coach Freese let her team down big time.