I also noticed the melt down. We have to accept his reputation, and hope he makes big strides next year. Do we now believe there will no transfers? If that is the case, we will haves too many guards and small forwards and too few quality big men. we have too many need major step-ups.

Clips of Mosely on the last post looked good. It looks like this kid can play. Definitely looks like a 2. Even though the clip was not the best quality, he appeared similar in build to Cliff Tucker. If this kid can shoot the way people have been saying he can, Mosely at the 2 and Tucker at the 3 might be a heckuva scoring combo two years from now.

Good post Jeremy. I have another observation of Braxton.

It must have become apparent, early on, that Gist & Boom were going to play mucho minutes. Same went for GV, Hayes, Milbourne.

Point is…. whether it was Tucker or Bowie signing in for GV or Hayes….or Dupree or Walker in for Gisst/Boom….the offense almost always “stalled” and the TO’s emerged. This was especially true against ACC teams. Not only did the offense stall,
it seemed as though the subs were first deferring to a “pecking order” and there was no way they were going to do anything except pass the ball.

Defenses picked up on this right away and sadly this scenario never changed much. We did see Bowie and Tucker finally show flashes of offensive prowess that was more encouraging for next year than any sustained contributions this year.

This same affliction also seemed to grab hold of Milbourne. I believe he’s got moves and shots we havent’ seen. There were times he made nearly unstoppable moves to the hole and jammed it home. However, it always seemed as though it was “after” the options to pass to Gist, Boom or GV in particular were exhausted.

Back to Dupree. It seems almost unanimous that Dupree has all the tools to be a “force” down low.
Despite the fact it didn’t happen this year doesn’t mean it won’t. The dynamics next year are going to change. The influx of some solid recruits seemingly making their way to Comcast will like create a “competitive environment” the likes of which we haven’t seen in awhile.

There’s only one guy that will definitely be in the starting rotation and that’s GV. Those remaing players, who know or realize this, should already be in the weight room and be gym rats from now to Midnight Madness.

This is a real nice problelm for MD to have. Think about it….there’s virtually four (4) starting positions up for grabs. That’s also unusual.

GW would do well to put the following sign in the locker room now.

“2008/2009″

BE GOOD OR BE GONE

How about this sign?

The Final Four is up to YOU!!!

Uh…stay tuned for GV news.

Maze looking more and more like a long shot.

Baxter came back as a sophomore with a completely different upper body than he had as a freshman. Dupree needs to do the same. Getting muscular and stronger not only helps him battle in the post in the ACC but especially for big guys it gives them a lot of self-confidence. It seems our big guys have been getting softer and softer since Patsos left.

DBR, what’s the GV news, going pro or transfering? Something else?

I can’t see GV sitting out a year to transfer but would not be surprised to see him play professionally somewhere. If Maze doesn’t qualify & GV leaves, Gary’s going to need to spend half the practices on how to break a full court press. I can live with EH running the half court offense and Bowie pushing the ball up court on fast breaks but they need to prove they can break the press, unlike the end of this season.

If GV announces he is leaving, he is crazy. That is all I have to say.

Not crazy, stupid.

Thanks for the updates DB-Russ. If we don’t get Maze that would hurt. As a Juco he will be more ready to play than Mosley. I bet this is why you still see some of the kids talking about coming to UMD even though there doesn’t appear to be any room.

For the life of me I cannot understand how some of these kids can’t get the grades/test scores to attend. The impact it has on their life is just too big.

On the Dupree situation, I don’t fully understand the approach GW takes with his freshman. I know you guys have explained it many times in the past on this blog, but I still can’t come to grips with it.

Take this past year for example. IMO Dupree and Burney were his best backup 4-5s. They should have been seeing significant minutes from the get go backing up Gist and Boom. Would there have been growing pains? Sure enough. Would there have been times they might have cost us a game? Possibly. However, by the time we reached Feb-Mar they would have been solid backups, gaining valuable ACC level confidence.

Its the approach a lot of teams seem to take with their Freshman nowadays. GW seems to have this incrementalist approach to playing time, and they get yanked after the first mistake or two. I don’t see their confidence growing as the season wears on. Other teams freshman seem to be more integrated by the time their teams are deep into league play, but not ours. If the other teams have a star freshman (a Kevin Love, E. Gordon, D. Rose) they are utilizing them from the start. I’m afraid if GW had an uber talented freshman, he’d go through the same crap developmentally the others go through.

Same reasoning can be applied to how Tucker and Bowie were utilized last year. I realize GW has this upperclassmen first mentality, as well as the “PT is earned in practice” mantra of his, however I see it hurting, not helping our young players.

GWs been successful with it in the past, however I think times have changed and freshman PT and the way you develop them needs to be relooked by GW and his staff. If we do the same crap with Mosely and Gilchrist that we did with Dupree, Burney, Walker, Bowie and Tucker, its going to be a downer.

I’ve said before in some of my posts, if Mosely is the best 2 from the get go, start him. If he is that much better than EH, then EH needs to be backing up Mosely. Same thing applies to GV and Maze. If Gilchrist is as advertised, he better not be sitting behind Dupree and Burney, or god forbid Neal, because he is a freshman. If GG is the best big man, start him. Comments?

Man, if Vasquez goes pro, he’s insane. I’m not sure what his family’s financial situation is. That can factor in big time on a kid’s decision to stay in or leave school. Unless his family really needs it, I can’t see him going pro in Europe for the money. You know he wants to be an NBA player.

I hate to speculate on GV’s family situation, but Venezuela’s per capita income last year in US dollars was $12,800. How many times could his parents afford to fly to the US to see him play last year? I think I recall at least 2. Unless Hugo Chavez sponsored the trips, it leads me to believe that his parents, relative to the average Venezuelan, are doing alright.

I know, I’m a bastard.

If you’ve been wondering what was in Braxton’s waterbottle last season………?

what else - as soft as he played - it had to be ……GRAVY.

I think Gilchrist is a sophomore next year because of rules regarding in-conference transfers.

Regarding Dupree - It’s way too soon to call him a bust, but he needs to drop a few pounds and develop more muscle. Fundementally, I’d also like to see him play more with his legs and less with his arms. When he gets under the basket, it’s like his feet are planted…no jumps, no shuffles. Players go by him on D, and instead of moving his body he tries to wave his arms and gets a cheap foul. He needs his feet to move more.

It’s tough for a frosh to get compared to Lonny B, but it’s just like Hayes getting compared to Blake. LB is the standard barer. For Dupree, it might be better to take it in steps. First point of comparison would be Ryan Randal…if he gets to that level, then we can see if he will compare with LB.

Can Dupree get ‘most improved’? Yes, he can. But there will be lots of competition for that award next year. The terps seem to have LOTS of players with raw talent. Which ones will do the off season work to hone their skills? Maybe none and it’s back to the NIT. But I want to believe that they all will —-> back to the top 25.

The bigger news on this thread is some apparent news with GV. I hope he’s not signing with an agent (because that would mean there’s no turning back). Call me crazy, but part of me thinks the team dynamics (and the team) would improve w/o GV.

Stevend…
Let’s hope the competition is high and tough for the Terps Most Improved Player. There would be nothing better than to have that battle be a good one since the by product would be a much improved team (most likely).

On Mosley…I saw the Capital Classic yesterday and was pretty impressed with Mosley. His game and skills appear real solid. I was impressed that he didn’t play an “All Star” type game, meaning he didn’t let the type of game he was in effect how he played. In those games that almost seem to require no defense and ball hoggin, he played a team game and filled up the stat sheet. He’s a strong kid with an already basketball ready body. We’ll benefit from his strength all over the court. He canned two from long range (thought that’s not the strongest part of his game), played solid defense, passed very well and finished at the basket with power and touch.

Hoop season can’t come soon enough.

I am a big Terps basketball fan, but I never played organized basketball at any level and I am pretty ignorant on basketball fundamentals. I would like to learn more. Any suggestions?

This website looks pretty good for learning bball fundamentals:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/fundamentals/basketballfundamentals.html

Well leave Braxton alone he has probably not had such good food growing up in Bmore. I cannot believe that Mosely is still not eligible with a SAT/ACT score. Not a good start. If GV does leave it will mean 15 less points plus 15 less points given up off turnovers. This Terp team could be good or just plain awful. I hope they stay in the gym this summer and workout and practice. UNC is looking to be hell along with Duke, Wake, GT, Clemson, and even Miami. Hope they all return and in better shape.

PT, who did Mosely remind you of when you were watching him during the Captial Classic? From the clip posted earlier on the Soup, Mosley looked similar to Cliff Tucker in body type, but his game looked to be more of scorers-type game. A bigger, stronger version of Juan Dixon maybe? Not trying to be presumptious or anything comparing him to the great Juan, I’m just trying to get a better idea on what we’ve got in Sean. He looks like a legitimate, potentially bigtime ACC 2 guard to me on the clips, but those little things can be deceiving. Comments?

I was just reading in the Washington Post how a Dook recruit dominated the Capital Classic. Mosley is written about toward the bottom:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/04/14/ST2008041400046.html

Baltimore Sun talks about Tyree Evans also.

Scout has him as a 4 star and 96th in the top 100 in 2005.

http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=9&c=4&cfg=bb&pid=88&yr=2005

Rivals has him 60th in the top 150 of 2005.

Dang, we’re already in the NIT next year, according to Joe Lunardi; one of the Last Four Out.
UNC and Dook are #1 seeds. The World-Wide Leader keeps rubbing salt in the wound.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/bracketology

Turtle Waxing has lots of nice things to say about Mosley, based on watching the Capital Classic, and dismisses the hype that Josh Barr gave to Czyz.

http://turtlewaxing.blogspot.com/

This is an excerpt from the Recruiting Insider from the Washington Post:

“Also, plenty of buzz about what Maryland’s roster might look like. Mosley said he took the ACT on Saturday and is scheduled to take the SAT again in May. There also is plenty of speculation that former Suitland guard Bobby Maze, now attending Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College, won’t end up in College Park, perhaps replaced by another junior college player, Tyree Evans of Richmond. And while Greivis Vasquez and the rest of Maryland’s players took in a few minutes of the game before heading to the practice court to scrimmage, there was rampant speculation that Vasquez will declare for the NBA draft.”

Comical.

is it possible that the “rampant speculation” is coming from this blog? I swear I have seen nothing posted about it anywhere except what Diamondback Russ said a few days ago.

Goodbye Mosley, Maze, and Vasquez…oy. I’m begining to have a loath-hate relationship with this team and it’s still 7 months before midnight madness!

Test.

This is the 6th time since Sunday I’ve tried to post this comment:

As for Dupree, he got a shot early in the season. Then Christmas break came and he allegedly added ten pounds of fat. When GW saw that, Dupree stopped getting PT.

GV’s parents live in Venezuela. Don’t know their standard of living. Perhaps he’s a ‘hardship’ case.

Based on an email I got Saturday night, I’m no longer expecting Maze to come running out of the Comcast Center tunnel in a Terps uniform.

Meanwhile that same email said, Tyree Evans, one of the nations best JuCo SG’s was shooting lights out at Comcast Center on Saturday. Really filling it up (he shot 44% from three point land this past season).

Evans is a former All-American from Richmond, VA. He completed his high school career as the all-time leading scorer in AAA (highest level) Virginia history with 2251 points. His 884 points during his senior season placed him 3rd all-time in single-season scoring behind only NBA All-Star Allen Iverson and NBA Hall of Famer Moses Malone. Originally part of the class of 2005 when he committed to Bob Huggins at Cincinnati, Evans was ranked by some as a better SG prospect than Jessie Sapp and Chris Douglas-Roberts.

We’re currently in a recruiting dead period that ends on April 17th. GW is out of the country currently. When he comes back and the dead period ends perhaps there will be some significant news. Although, next weekend GW is going to visit Frank Barnes and his family. Barnes is the Westlake Prep ‘big’ who is listed at 6-9/260 (sound familiar). Allegedly he is very athletic for a guy his size.

Evans cancelled his visit to Arizona and could announce his commitment as soon as the dead period ends.

I’m told that Bobby Maze’s grades are such that he needs to take summer classes and it could be the end of August before the Terps would know if he’s qualified or not.

The interesting thing about Tyree Evans is that he plays the same position as Mosley. Hmmm.

IF Evans comes and Maze doesn’t, you’d have to think this would result in Hayes moving back to PG. Hayes played against Evans in HS and knows what he can do. He’s probably already thinking ‘pass it to Evans and get out of the way’. Did I mention Evans is a 44% three point shooter? Have the Terps ever had a 44% three point shooter? Even with the line moving back one foot, you gotta think that some of his three point shots came from more than the length of his shoe behind the line.

Things don’t necessarily add up now but once the dead period ends (17th), the deadline for underclassmen to declare for the draft comes (4/27 I think), and the semester grades are final the pic will become much clearer. Remember, if an underclassman declares for the draft but doesn’t hire an agent he withdraw from the draft by June 16th. Thats almost 2 months of wondering about the roster. I hope that doesn’t happen to the Terps.

How cool would it be if the Washington ComPost was checking out this board and getting their “rampant speculation” from here!

Of course all I posted was “stay tuned for GV news”. The news could be that he’s returning for his junior season.

He has been participating in workouts and scrimmages. He was also hung out with teammates Gus Gilchrist, Cliff Tucker and Adrian Bowie and recruit Tyree Evans Friday night.

JohnE…Tough to answer your question in terms of who Mosley reminds me of. The Cliff Tucker body comparison is way off though. I can’t remember who posted that a few threads back but it’s off because Mosley is ahead of the curve physically. I think on this years team the only player who would have out matched him physically is Osby. The kid is built. From what I saw, there was no other player in the Capital Classic as physically mature as him.

He’s not the same type player as Juan. He’s a 2 guard but with a mix of strength and quickness. He doesn’t look blazing fast but got where he wanted to and by no means looked slow. I think he’s deceptive athletically because his game is very understated. But it’s certainly effective. And he’s a worker. Everything he did looked solid and polished. This isn’t to say there aren’t holes in his game but he’s very well rounded. He shot it well, showed touch, passed effectively and finished at the rim. He’ll bang inside a bit too. Even at just 6′4″ he’ll help on the boards. While watching him I thought of Caron Butler. He’s smaller in height and not the same athletically but he looks like a difference maker in several areas. That’s how I see Butler for The Wizards. He does several things well and I can see Mosley doing that for MD.

A word on the Duke recruit. Over hyped as far as what he did in the game. I think the guy over on Turtle Waxing said something similar. The kid worked hard and banged around but a lot of his points were garbage points. Those are valuable, yes, but he didn’t flash a lot of skills. Just more media hype for something Duke. Blah…

They had to name that kid MVP simply to justify Duke recruiting him LOL

If Maze doesn’t qualify, does Hayes get the PG slot? Do you mean assuming GV leaves? If GV stays and Maze doesn’t come, GV is the PG right? All we need is half of the season with a stalled offense while Hayes is getting seasoned at the position. The best option is GV “maturing” and adjusting his game over the summer. Kristi Tolliver did it between her soph and junior years. Became a pass-first PG over the summer and she can light it up better than GV. If even a girl can do it…….

Well at least the off-season is exciting anyway :)