Zagged sounds like it should be a verb, right? The undefeated dream season is no longer– the Terrapins men’s basketball team has finally been beaten. Gonzaga 81 Maryland 59. The four game win streak had to end some time, and it ended against a pretty darn good team. Gonzaga’s starting five is probably one of the top five in the nation, and the Zags simply had too much size for the Terps to contend with. Greivis Vasquez was the only Terp who had a game up to par offensively. He scored 16 and was the lone Terrapin in double figures. Vasquez drew inspirtation from a pair of Michgan State fans who taunted him Thursday and supported him Friday. The fans–who continually told Vasquez to shoot the ball and actually drew numerous responses from the Terps guard– wanted the Terps to knock off Gonzaga so Michigan State’s Thursday loss wouldn’t look as bad. But unfortunately for said fans, for Vasquez, and for the Terps, the Zags were too much to handle. Bulldogs forward Josh Heytvelt led all scorers with 22 (on 9-10 shooting), and looked unstoppable against the shorter Terp defenders.In the earlier semifinal, Tennessee nipped Georgetown 90-78 in a game that was much closer than the final score indicates. Volunteers point guard Bobby Maze (ever heard of him?) had 14 points, nine assists and zero turnovers, while forward Tyler Smith led the way with 21, and freshman guard Cameron Tatum added 17 on five threes and a huge dunk.The Terps will play Georgetown in a consolation game on Sunday at 5:30. The Tennessee/Gonzaga final will follow it. Interestingly enough, the Vols and Zags will play again in Knoxville on January 7. When’s the last time two teams from seperate conferences played each other twice in a season, not including the NIT or NCAA Tournament? I’m not a college basketball encyclopedia, so I have no idea. If you’ve got the answer, post away. The Terps/Hoyas game will be sort of ironic too. For years the metro-area teams haven’t played each other because of a failure to agree on where a game would be hosted. How about in Florida? Whether they like it or not, that’s the destination, and Sunday we’ll see the first Maryland/Georgetown regular season game since 1993–when Joe Smith and Keith Booth led the upstart Terps to a huge upset over the Hoyas.The last time the two teams played was in the 2001 Sweet Sixteen in Anaheim. The Terps also won that game, 76-66.  mseligdbk@gmail.com 

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