SPOKANE, Wash.– There’s been a bit of a media-generated controversy out here in Spokane regarding the Michigan State-New Mexico State match-up that tips today before the Terps’ game.
Earlier this week, New Mexico State guard Jahmar Young said said he had never heard of Michigan State star Kalin Lucas. Reporters gave Lucas and several other Spartans ample opportunities to weigh in on the remarks, and Lucas called Young’s comments “disrespectful.”
Well, there’s no such lack of respect in the No. 4 seed Terps’ match-up with No. 13 seed Houston. Right after the match-up was announced on Selection Sunday, all the Terps seemed to know who Cougar star Aubrey Coleman was and guard Greivis Vasquez even talked about watching the Conference USA Tournament championship game in which Houston punched their Big Dance ticket with a win against UTEP.
That’s a little bit of a refreshing change when you’ll recall the mini-controversy over Vasquez’s comments last season about the Terps’ second round opponent, Memphis.
Yesterday, I gave Coleman and Lewis a chance to weigh in on the Terps. They too lavished praise and avoided giving the Terps any extra motivation.
Colemans take: “I always watch TV. I watch games. I study the game. I watch Duke and I watch Maryland play. And the point guard from Maryland, he just plays like an unbelievable player. He got swagger, and it’s just the way he plays. So we always keep an eye on the team because you never know who you’re going ot face and luckily we face Maryland. It’s, you know, just going to be a sight to see, I think.”
Next fellow senior and Conference USA Tourney MVP Kelvin Lewis weighed in: “I’m always watching TV, too, and I’ve seen Maryland play a couple of times. They play with tremendous energy and they feed off of Vasquez and they have a great team and especially a better team when they play at home. So they’re an exciting team to watch. I’ve seen them.”
Later, coach Tom Penders continued the Terp love fest when he called Vasquez “probably a lottery pick” and said Coleman has a long way to go to reach Vasquez’s play-making ability.
In other words, not much for the bulletin board this time around although the Houston players did appeal to local fans to rally around the underdogs and back them tonight.
“I think tomorrow people are going to be behind us because we’re going to do some big things tomorrow,” Lewis said.
We’ll find out if that happens soon enough.
Eric Detweiler is The Diamondback’s Terrapin Men’s Basketball Team beat writer. He can be reached at edetweilerdbk@gmail.com. You can follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/edetweiler.