Mike Burke
There are just some days it doesn’t pay to go to Durham, and yesterday was certainly one of those days for the Maryland Terrapins.
There are some days you just have to tip your hat to the other guy, admit that for one day he was the better man and then go about your remaining business. That, too, is what Maryland must do as Duke, looking more and more like Duke these days, was the better man on this day, the day of Mike Krzyzewski’s 1,000th game as the Duke head coach, not to mention his 63rd birthday. And actually, this might have been the day to catch the Devils as they were just 5-4 on Coach K birthdays entering yesterday’s game.
The Blue Devils simply prevented too many match-up problems for the Terps, and nowhere was it more evident than on the glass, and, in fact, the 44-37 rebounding edge Duke held yesterday is quite misleading. The Terps were beaten on the boards by much worse than that, doing a horrible job boxing out, and once again allowing Brian Zoubek, making his first start for Duke, look like Bill
Russell. Zoubek had 17 rebounds and scored most of his 16 points on uncontested follows.
And for the second straight year, Duke’s guards met Maryland’s guards close to halfcourt, taking Greivis Vasquez and Eric Hayes far from their normal shooting zones. And did anybody see Landon Milbourne or Sean Mosley? Not yesterday.
Bottom line is Maryland got beat to the glass and beaten on the glass and shot a horrible 2-for-13 from three-point range in a game that pitted the top two three-point shooting teams in the ACC.
All in all, it was a good day to be a Dookie as the Cameron Crazies serenaded Coach K on his birthday and Duke emerged as the sole first-place team in the ACC.
The Terps? The Terps were just never in it. They didn’t seem to be anything as a matter of fact, just there with glazed expressions, looking more like a team that was finishing a three-game in a five-day stretch rather than a team beginning one after having the last five days off.
Things will not get easier as Maryland will return home Monday to play its make-up game with Virginia (as of Saturday evening televised only on ESPN360), which promises to be a pain-in-the-arse game, giving them just one day of rest/preparation before they head off to Raleigh to play N.C. State. And the Wolfpack has to consider itself due, having never beaten the Terps in the four years
Sidney Lowe has been their head coach.
Coming in, it wasn’t unrealistic to think Maryland could have beaten Duke yesterday, but, really, it wasn’t likely. The fact is, the Terps entered this stretch needing to win two out of the three, and while that still applies they can’t be looking at any
picture bigger than the
Virginia game.
As for the Duke game,
yesterday’s gone, as the old song goes. The Terps need to snap out of it and make sure yesterday was an aberration, not a habit just beginning to take on a life of its own. With the senior leadership that is on this team, and with a guy like Mosley who might as well be a senior with two more years of eligibility, it’s difficult to believe that is going to be the case.
Contact Mike Burke at mburke@times-news.com.
