In-terp-o-late

Being a Maryland Terrapins fan is frustrating. It's funny how, despite a new group of players cycling every four years, that the team's personality doesn't change much. Most people would point to the coach. After all, Bruce Pearl came into Tennessee, with players wanting to jump ship, and still turned in a very successful first season.

This year's routine goes something like this. The Terps race out to a lead in the first half. In the second half, the other team chips at the lead, and the Terps can't make shots, and then, they lose. It happened with Clemson. It happened with Virginia. Last night, it happened with Boston College, a team Gary Williams coached many years ago.

This time, the Terps had a 15 point lead, and blew it. When the game was tied, they decided that the other team needed the ball more, and gave up one ball after another. In one stretch, there were something like 4 turnovers in a row, leading to 8 points, cementing the lead that BC had built up.

The final score showed the Terps lost by 4 points, but it was never that close at the end. BC was holding leads of 10 points with a minute to go.

Gary Williams likes interior play. He wants a big bully of a guy to take up space. He doesn't care much for three point shooters. The Terps are always middling when it comes to three point play. The one time they had a star player that had a pretty good three point shooting range, they had one Juan Dixon. He was backed by a big body in Lonnie Baxter and another big body in Chris Wilcox. And Steve Blake handled the ball as well as anyone, and had a respectable 3-point shot himself.

Duke, for example, usually has three good 3-point shooters, all of which are typically better than Maryland's three point shooting.

So each year, fans either see the Terps rushing to a lead and blowing it, or falling back early, and spending the rest of the game trying to catch up. They never seem to be like Roy Williams' teams or Mike Kryszewski's teams that can beat you by 30. Maryland plays up and down to its opponent, and usually more down than up.

And it's dam* aggravating.