Maryland Preview/Raycom Changes

By Kartik Krishnaiyer
Canes Rising Staff

9pm Wednesday
Raycom (WBFS/CH 33 in South Florida)
Steve Martin & Mike Gminski call the action

Miami's 77-71 victory over Boston College in Chestnut Hill was a breakthrough for the Canes against a team that has dominated Miami for the past decade. Now Miami must reverse course and play the single school they have dominated the most since joining the ACC.

Maryland's program has hit the skids since winning the National Championship in 2002. The Terps were never able to get the blue chip talent that North Carolina, Duke and Wake Forest get in the ACC, but instead relied on getting one or two top talents and mixing them with solid role players. Gary Williams is one of the best head coaches of this generation, but recently this formula has stopped working for the Terps.

Maryland has missed the NCAAs three of the past four seasons. During the same period the Terps have been dominated by the Canes. This season the Terps appeared to be on the way back with wins over Michigan State and Michigan early in the season. But a blowout loss to a mediocre Gonzaga team and a home court loss to Todd Bozeman's Morgan State club have the Maryland faithful openly talking about Williams retirement.

The Terps did win their ACC opener against lowly Georgia Tech, but the teams lacks a inside power game having failed to replace James Gist. Grevis Vasquez is the Terps leading scorer and has been one of the best shooters in the ACC the last few seasons. Eric Hayes had a big game against Miami last year and Landon Milbourne who plays the small forward position is also formidable. Adrian Bowie also provides a scoring punch. This will be the Terps first true road game of the season, but Maryland has already played three games in the state of Florida at Disney in November.

The suspension of Eddie Rios could have its affect tonight. Maryland will press and since Miami is lacking in ball handlers it will be imperative for James Dews and Brian Asbury in particular not to hesitate when in the open court. Last season Miami handled Maryland's press well, but this season the Canes looked completely lost against Clemson's press. The Tigers have better athletes than the Terps, and let's hope that is the reason why Miami executed so poorly that night.

On another note this will be the first Wednesday night Raycom game without Billy Packer in my memory. He is replaced by Mike Gminski for this season on the telecasts. Packer was often controversial but he knew the ACC like the back of his hand. For years I believed he was much better on the Raycom telecasts than on CBS. Gminski has big shoes to fill but is sure to do well.