It's another great day for Terps fans. You know it is when DJ Strawberry makes his, well, DJ Strawberry face.
Maryland went into Durham and beat their rivals, Duke, 85-77, to complete a sweep of the hated Blue Devils. The win etches in stone what most people already figured: Maryland will be in the 2007 NCAA Tournament.
Again, the Terps just slapped Duke from the outset....building a 6 point halftime lead. It went to a dozen in the 2nd half before Duke made a run that came up short. The win is the 6th straight victory for Maryland, who clinches a winning ACC record and still has an outside shot of getting a first round bye in the ACC tournament next week.
Mike Jones, the Terps hoops star [the rapper is in the video above], was "tearin' up the lane"....dumping 25 points on Duke on 9-of-15 shooting, including hitting 4 of his 5 three point shots. Four Terps scored in double figures.
Duke is just 8-7 in ACC play....and still has to travel to North Carolina, the highest ranked team in the ACC. The loss clinched Duke's worst conference season since 1996....which was also the last season that Duke lost four times at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke finished the regular season just 4-4 at home in ACC play.
This is also the 2nd straight season Duke has lost on their Senior Day.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-01-2007 @ 11:03AM
Dave's Football Blog said...
If you have a Senior Day and there are no seniors around to enjoy it, does it make a sound?
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3-06-2007 @ 8:42AM
leeluciano said...
Below is a response to an aritcle by Heather Dinich of the Baltimore Sun that I found. Finally someone makes sense of what I have been saying all along about Mike Jones wasted potential by sitting on the bench.
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Re Article:Terps' Jones grows into senior moment
http://www.topix.net/forum/source/baltimore-sun/T2QJVM0KVHUG53EP9
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Was thrilled to finally see an article about Mike Jones, but your article is full of the same knocks and digs that have been so common throughout Mike’s career. Even my mother said of your article,“It’s damning with faint praise!” How right she is. The press and Gary Williams have waxed and gushed over the stellar play of other Terps, but when Mike is complimented there’s often a sharp barb attached.
Here’s an example of the kind of barbed praise Mike receives:"Only recently has Jones become more consistent." We've heard the consistency critique for years. But isn't it difficult, if not impossible, to become a consistent, complete player when you're on the bench? People forget that Jones was on the bench for most of his first two and a half years at Maryland. Very few people asked the question,"Why did Gary play a 5-star recruit only 10 minutes a game as a freshman?" Oh, that's right, because he "couldn't play defense," the coach and critics said. As a sophomore, Mike only averaged 13.7 minutes a game. The bottom line: it's very difficult for a player of such high caliber to demonstrate his excellence when the coach decides he's better as a bench warmer than a sharp shooter.
And how about this "praise" for Jones:“It just happened to take about three years to develop” his game. This is one of Gary’s favorite lines these days. It’s good of you to parrot it. But analyze the stats, particularly Mike’s playing time. When McCray flunked out last season, Mike finally started to get some real game time. That’s how players develop. Unfortunately, Mike has been on such a short leash with Gary. Even in his senior season, Gary still plays him like a yo-yo. He's often in and out, in and out of the games. If he takes a bad shot or commits a turnover, he’s often yanked. So everyone speaks of how his numbers (particularly his points) are up and down and inconsistent.
When Mike gets the playing time he contributes. In the 19 games this season (as of March 4) that Mike played 25+ minutes, he averaged 15.4 points. Hardly a shabby stat, considering we play in arguably the best conference! By comparison, in the 26 games that Strawberry played 25+ minutes, he averaged 15.0 points. Better yet, in the 12 games that Mike played 28+ minutes, he averaged 16.8 points per game! This doesn’t include his 29 point performance against Mount St. Mary’s, or his 27 point performance against UMKC. It may come as no surprise that DJ has played well over 30 minutes in most of the games this season, and for a good chunk of his career. In fact, he's played 30+ minutes in ALL but 8 games this season. Mike, on the other hand, has played 30+ minutes in ONLY 6 games this season. If Mike had been getting this kind of playing time consistently throughout his career, his numbers would be through the roof."Still, his career numbers at Maryland are a far cry from what earned him the title of McDonald's All-American," you write. You mention how he averaged 8.9 points in 124 games. Now after the NC State game, it’s 9.0 points in 125 games. But you fail to mention how our McDonald’s All-American (as of March 4) averaged ONLY 18.3 minutes per game over his entire career at Maryland! The fact that Mike was able to score 9 points for every 18 minutes of play is remarkable. Imagine what he could have done if he’d played 30+ minutes a game.
As for Mike’s inconsistency, following the NC State game he has more career points (1127) than even DJ (1093), DESPITE having played almost 600 fewer minutes! How inconsistent of him to lead this group of seniors at the end of the regular season with the MOST CAREER POINTS. If Mike had been given the kinds of minutes reserved for Gary’s favorite players, he would have broken record after record. And rather than criticize his so-called inconsistency and late blooming, we’d be talking about his prospects in the NBA draft.
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