ACC Summer Recess: Maryland Terrapins

Posted by mpatton on July 19th, 2012

Over the next four weeks we’ll be taking a step back and looking at each team in the ACC to assess where each program — and the conference as a whole — stands before we totally turn our attention to the 2013-14 season later this fall. Today’s target: Maryland.

Where They Stand Now

Mark Turgeon’s Second Year Doesn’t Look Any Easier Than His First.

Unfortunately it appears to be “two steps forward, two steps back” for Mark Turgeon’s Terrapins. Last season Maryland became a darkhorse contender on the backs of a solid coach, Terrell Stoglin, Alex Len‘s improvement, and a very good recruiting class. Then Stoglin was suspended for violating team rules, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the sophomore guard who had many public confrontations with Turgeon last season went pro rather than sit out next year. Maryland also suspended Mychal Parker, who took his talents to Loyola though he probably won’t be academically eligible there. With a disappointing 17-15 season in the rearview mirror, Turgeon’s Terrapins need immediate improvement to keep the suits in College Park from getting nervous. Speaking of suits in College Park, keep an eye on athletic director Kevin Anderson, who was reportedly headed to Stanford before everyone denied the claim and leading to this tepid retraction.

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Terrell Stoglin Will Actually Enter the 2012 NBA Draft

Posted by mpatton on May 1st, 2012

It was only a few weeks ago that some were (optimistically) projecting Maryland as a Top 25 sleeper out of the ACC next year. Sure the Terrapins lost Sean Mosley to graduation, but the combination of Terrell Stoglin‘s return, Nick Faust‘s development and a very promising recruiting class brought plenty of hype. But some reports suddenly connected the ACC’s top scorer with the NBA Draft again earlier this week. Since the initial release, more details have come out: Stoglin was suspended for the year for violating the University of Maryland Student-Athlete Code of Conduct. In essence, the suspension tied his hands and forced him to sit out next year or give the draft a try. Patrick Stevens’ source provided background on the suspension, saying it was connected to failed drug tests. The “code of conduct prescribes a one-year suspension for three failed drug tests.”

Terrell Stoglin Will Not Be Returning To College Park Next Season.

Stoglin’s departure is obviously a huge blow to Maryland’s prospects next year. Specifically, the Terrapins will need to replace his 20 points per game and face defenses that no longer have to focus extra energy on stopping one player. The silver lining for Maryland fans is that Stoglin had a rocky relationship with Mark Turgeon, which couldn’t have helped team chemistry. With Stoglin and Mosley now gone, I expect the torch to be passed to Faust and (possibly) Pe’Shon Howard to act as team leaders. I also expect Maryland to struggle a lot offensively, especially early in the season. But this team will be more talented than last year’s version and significantly better on defense. The question is how much Mark Turgeon can develop his young frontcourt.

It should also be noted that sophomore wing Mychal Parker was also suspended for a full season and will transfer elsewhere. Parker averaged four points and three rebounds in 18 minutes a game last season.

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ACC Morning Five: 01.25.12 Edition

Posted by mpatton on January 25th, 2012

  1. Baltimore Sports Report: Patrick Guthrie offers his three suggestions for Mark Turgeon going forward. First, play Mychal Parker more. Parker was Gary Williams’ prized recruit coming into last year, but never really found a spot in the line-up. This year, he’s shown sparks of greatness and been more effective than freshman Nick Faust in particular. Second, get the ball to James Padgett. You never would’ve heard anyone say those words last season, but this year Padgett has shown flashes of developing a little like Richard Howell did over the last season for NC State. Finally, Guthrie asks Turgeon to pump the brakes on Alex Len. Here I’m a little more wary, as Len could be a crucial building block going forward. And his major “needs work area” seems to be adjusting to the physicality and athleticism of ACC play.
  2. Bright House Sports Network: Newly elected baseball Hall of Famer Barry Larkin sat down with Tiffany Greene to talk about his son at Miami. Shane Larkin has served the invaluable role of spark plug (think very poor man’s Nate Robinson) off the bench this year. Most people expected him to see very limited playing time because of Miami’s depth in the backcourt, but his strong play seems to earn him more and more minutes.
  3. Washington Post: Dorian Finney-Smith came to Blacksburg as the most touted recruit of Seth Greenberg’s tenure. He started the season off on fire, dominating the Hokies early opponents with double-doubles. The majority of his work was on the glass, but he was a capable scorer too. But the rigors of conference play have undermined Finney-Smith’s play. Having to guard Harrison Barnes certainly didn’t help, but based on all of Greenberg’s praise I expect Finney-Smith to end up just fine.
  4. Washington Post: Virginia‘s newest addition, Teven Jones, said the transition to college wasn’t too bad. Jones reclassified to join the Cavaliers this month. He won’t play (except on the scout team), but the time should give him the chance to learn Tony Bennett’s offensive system as well as get in some valuable academic credits. Luckily, Jones’ postgraduate school, Fishburne Military School, employed the pack-line defense. Probably the most interesting part of the article was Steve Yanda’s point about midyear classification becoming more popular in football (it basically gives you extra practice time), but not as much in basketball because it would take recruits away from their high school coaches midseason.
  5. Morganton News Herald: Roy Waters’ “Birth of ACC Hoops” is back for its third installment. This one is a little more local in taste, but I think it’s a good reminder of how regional sports used to be. To be fair, Roy Williams was born and raised in North Carolina. But none of the other conference coaches hail from their schools’ respective states (though, one interesting potential trivia nugget is both Brian Gregory and Jeff Bzdelik are from Mount Prospect, Illinois).
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Summer School in the ACC

Posted by Brian Goodman on September 7th, 2010

Steve Moore is the RTC correspondent for the ACC and an occasional contributor.

Around The ACC:

  • Encore, Encore: Duke won the national title by toppling Butler in a hard-fought final, but unlike recent championship squads, there’s no major mass exodus of talent from Durham (unless you’re related to Jon Scheyer or Brian Zoubek), so the Blue Devils will have a legit chance to repeat.
  • New Faces, New Places: Former Cornell head coach Steve Donahue, best known for elevating the Big Red from NCAA Tournament floormat to the Sweet 16, takes the lead for Boston College. Another import is former Wright State general Brad Brownell, who will lead Clemson after the departure of Oliver Purnell. Brownell previously served at UNC-Wilmington, so it shouldn’t take long for him to reopen that pipeline. Lastly, Jeff Bzdelik comes to Winston-Salem, hoping to provide Wake Forest with long-term stability.
  • No News Is Good News: Rumors came and went surrounding conference realignment, but in the end, the ACC held steady amongst the national wave of teams changing conferences.

McDonald's All-American Kyrie Irving looks to complement an already-stacked Blue Devils squad on their way to a repeat.

Power Rankings (last season’s conference and overall records in parentheses)

  1. Duke (13-3, 35-5): The Blue Devils don’t rebuild, they just reload. Losing Jon Scheyer and Brian Zoubek hurts, but when Coach K gets back from Turkey, he’ll be happy to see familiar faces in Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith and Mason and Miles Plumlee. College basketball fans everywhere can also rejoice in another season of Curry, as Stephen’s brother Seth is eligible to play after transferring in 2009, and Kyrie Irving (West Orange, NJ) makes his long-awaited debut. The frontcourt will have to pick up for the loss of Zoubek, but with this much talent to being with and Josh Hairston arriving in Durham, I don’t think it’ll be a problem.
    BETTER OR WORSE?: If you can believe it, I think Duke might be even better. They can’t top last year’s national title, obviously, but I don’t see any other ACC team touching them for the regular season title.
  2. Virginia Tech (10-6, 25-9): The Hokies lose no one. I repeat: NO ONE. Find me another team in the nation that doesn’t lose a key contributor. With one of the ACC’s most exciting players, Malcolm Delaney, coming back, Tech also learned its lesson from NCAA snubs in the past and scheduled at least a couple interesting nonconference games, including Kansas State (away), Purdue, Penn State, Mississippi State and possibly Oklahoma State, depending on how the 76 Classic plays out in Anaheim.
    BETTER OR WORSE?: Better, at least by enough to not be sweating it out come Selection Sunday. Whether they can make noise in March, no one really knows, but the Hokies will dance this season.
  3. Boston College (6-10, 15-16): Experience, experience, experience. No one has more of it in the ACC than the Eagles. BC’s new coach, former Cornell boss Steve Donahue, has more Sweet 16 experience than most coaches in the ACC. Don’t underestimate the Eagles this season (this coming from a Boston University grad and card-carrying BC hater). With so much youth all around the ACC, BC’s experience will be invaluable, and Donahue was an absolute no-brainer to replace Al Skinner.
    BETTER OR WORSE?: Better – much better. With Corey Raji, Joe Trapani and others leading the way, BC will join NC State as the league’s most improved teams, and should get an NCAA invite. Now if only they’d man up and put my alma mater back on their schedule. Read the rest of this entry »
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