Inside Scoop

1. Pe'Shon Howard is terrible at basketball
2. We need a new point guard next year
3. Pe'Shon Howard sucks
4. I hate Miami
5. Pe'Shon Howard is not a good player
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The best way to win are miracle 35 foot three pointers and missed offensive goaltends!

Duly noted.

I think the more important point is what the Terps learned about themselves. They learned that if they play hard no matter the score, they can get back into any game. They learned, hopefully, that they cannot make an interior entry pass to Len over the top, even with a shorter defender. They learned that their press still can be effective when necessary. They learned that even when Stogs has a poor shooting half, that doesn't mean jack. They learned how to shoot free throws in the second half. They learned that they cannot just drive down the lane into contact without getting a charge called and that they have to pull up. They learned that they are physically in pretty good shape to play a double overtime close game on the road without cramping up and fouling like Miami did because they were tired. They learned that there is no reason to panic when their coach gets tossed and that Coach Spinelli is pretty good. They learned how to play in an overtime game. This team will be better in the future for having played this game. They now know that they have to fight, scratch, and claw to the buzzer to win in this conference on the road. It will happen and when it does, the victory will be sweet. With a young team like this, it is so easy to take these lessons for granted. But sometimes, players have to experience something before they internalize it. The coaches can tell them things, but until they see it for themselves, they tune it out. The little things are so important for this team.

If I could invent disposable tv monitors, I would have Kevin Plank money just from Terps fans who are watching the basketball team this season.

I still don't understand why Stoglin needed to take a 3 at the end of 1st overtime. Score was tied why not attack the basket and get a better shot. In the 2nd overtime he was covered and attacked and shot the reverse layup with english and made it. That seemed more appropriate. A 3 with someone in your face is not high percentage with the score tied...

I thought Len was pretty solid for the most part. Seems as though turge simplifying his assignments helped. He got quite a few good boards, had some huge momentum swinging blocks and finished well around the hoop and at the line.

Look, we didn't play well enough in the second overtime to win the game, but that 35-footer was such bullshit. That's killing me as much as our second-overtime fold up.

Len mightve come out because he was tired. He played a lot more minutes last night.

I agree. It is all about practice. I don't know if they practice throwing it in high to him. PeShon is a good passer, but they just need to get more familiarity out there. Personally, I do not like entry passes over the top like that because they lead to too many turnovers, but if the ball is truly high enough to where only Len can get, it could be a solid play. To me, I don't understand why they will not rely on Len's ability to shoot the jump shot. He has a mid range game and a three point game. They are feeding him in the post like he is Lonny Baxter or Jordan Williams, which he can do, but they aren't using like 75% of his skillset right now. He can kiss the ball off the glass with ease -- a shot that at his height no defender can defend. Look at the workout video below at about 1:30 and see how he is using the glass on the jump shot like Tim Duncan used to at Wake. From what I have seen on Alex, he is an excellent shooter with great form. The more shots he puts up (and the more minutes he gets), the more consistent his shooting is. His shot may be the best on the team. Why aren't we using it?????? And then once his defender gets pulled out to contest his shot, things will open up inside for him and the other bigs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLdhyxc8L9w

I understand why people are piling on Pe right now...he's regressed from last year, particularly in terms of his jump shot. But the fact is that this year's team is much better offensively with him than without him, eg, shooting 42% with 9 assists against FIU. Take Pe out of the MIA game and we have 3 assists and 14 TOs.

I still expect him to get it together and have a good run in the near future. He did that last year around this time. Doesn't mean he's our PG of the future, but he's not the only (or even primary) culprit for our mediocrity.

Seems to me like people set expectations too high with all the Len hype...if you told me in Nov that we'd be 3-4 at this point with competitive losses to Duke and FSU and a heartbreaker at Miami, I'd be ecstatic. A lot of people were saying we'd be worse than '11 Wake, which is clearly not the case.

Another thing I learned is if a team ever wants to get an easy bucket against the Terps, do a pick and roll at the top of the key when Pankey is defending, your pretty much guaranteed a wide open big rolling off, good thing Miami didn't learn that during the game.