VA TECH....

I don't normally post on here, but it's been tough to watch this year.  Sometimes you can just see the young talent poking through the inexperience, but five minutes later you wonder what the heck you thought you saw!  Stoglin is a great talent when his shooting stroke is on, but he rarely passes and thinks he needs to do everything.  Howard is solid.  Padgett has some good moments and plays hard.  Len will be better in coming years.  Pankey and Faust to me are two of the guys who will be the most talented on the team over the next few years.  Mosley has saved this team more than once this year.  His experience has been invaluable.

I think Turgueon is doing just fine with the inexperienced team he was handed.  I'm sure it's not very easy trying to deal with Stoglin either.  It must be so frustrating for him sometimes to stand at the sideline and watch Stoglin force things.  As for the timeouts, it's not that big of a deal to me this year.  We already know they're not going to make the dance and to me this year is more about getting experience.  And if he calls timeouts every time they're dealing with a tough situation, they won't learn how to get through those kind of situations on their own.  Just my humble opinion.

I live in Ohio so I can't follow the team as closely as I would like.  Fortunately I was able to catch today's game on theacc.com and of course several of their games have been on the ESPN family of networks.

Go Terps and here's to hoping we see a Terrapin revival over the next decade!  Fear the turtle!       

ok jd. where are the wins you predict? you post the schedule but ai only see the BC game at hi=o,e as a real win

Skin81, I was thinking "BC, a split with Miami and a road win with either Clemson or GT" for three more.
I agree the BC game is the most promising.
A split with Miami as a good chance and stealing one of the road games against Clemson or GT as "an everything on the road goes right" game .
If we leave 3, 4 or 5 minutes on the court then we could easilly come away with only one.  I just think those teams are close and none seem as run away favorites.
 

And if he calls timeouts every time they're dealing with a tough situation, they won't learn how to get through those kind of situations on their own.  Just my humble opinion.

Solid post, Osfan, but I can't agree with this opinion.  Turgeon should be trying to teach these kids how to win games and all that doing so entails.  It's all too obvious that this group can't get it done on their own at this point (especially late in the game), so what's the harm in calling a timeout, helping the kids gain their composure, and discussing what needs to be done to stop the bleeding before they've completely given up the lead?!?  That's how most coaches who expect to win approach those situations.  Given the mediocrity of play in the ACC this year, Turgeon should be playing to win each and every game in order to instill confidence in this young team.  Moral victories from losses only go so far with kids this age.  I agree that the Big Dance is out of reach this year, but if they can win enough games to garner an NIT bid, that experience would be invaluable for these kids going into next season and they can look back on the current season with pride after far exceeding everyone's expectations.

If we were getting blown out every game and winning was simply out of reach, I would care less about such a thing as well.  But this team, as ugly as they play at times, has proven they can play competitive basketball with quality teams and I don't think simply taking the learning approach to the season is the most beneficial way to go.  My not-so-humble opinion ;)


LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, MARYLAND!!

I won't argue with your opinion Mac, but if Turgeon calls a timeout the rest of the year every time he needs to stop the bleeding and the opposing team's run, he could be out of timeouts well before the final whistle.  Especially for the future visit to Cameron!  Solid opinion from you though.

I agree there a reno runaway fovorites among the teams you mention, and there certainly could be an everything goes right game against one of them on the road, but we are barely winning these games at home because the team is not deep and by the end they are just that step slower. Len is not giving them the minutes he needs to, and none of the secondary players has distinguished themselves either, so that means even more minutes for the starters. That just gets magnified on the road, with the travel and the uncomfortable venue that many of our players are seeing and experiencing for the very first time. Let's not forget that some of these kids have a whole 3 games of true road experience, as there were no true road games until ACC play. I know the court and the hoop is the same size, but the rest is like two different worlds. I also give the other teams some credit for getting better and defending their own home court.

Probably the terps are hoping for a 17-13 record or so and a possible NIT bid. If that happens then Turgeon should be the confrence coach of the year in my opinion, but realistically if they finish 15-15 or better it will have been a pretty solid performance with what the team has had to work with, and in my opinion with experience and some new highly graded players, a 5 game improvement to at least 20-10 next season completes the turnaround in a very quick time frame, and a few of the players that opted out of their scholarship last year will be regretting that decision.

By the way neither of our defected recruits, Breunig and Gibbs are getting much playing time, and neither is averaging above 2 in any stat except splinters from the bench. Just maybe they would have been better off at MD than Texas and Washington

I agree Mac about the timeouts. He might not be calling them because in a way it looks like panic and he wants to put out a we're still in control vibe, but in reality the team has gone out of control as the double-dig lead goes to 2-3. By not calling the time out he's allowing the other team to gain immense momentum and confidence. You have to interrupt that, or sooner or later it's gonna cost us a game. Earlier in the year against one of those cupcakes, he said he didn't call the TO because he wanted the team to pull out of it on their own, and that he was confident that they would win the game anyway. There's no way he could/should have felt that way against VT, so there has to be some other reason, so I'm just speculating, but whatever the reason it's not good. Post-game he said it was their best game yet. I don't see it that way, but he's the coach and see's a lot that we don't.....