Yeah, This Is A Maryland Blog, But I Mean...

This is really just ridiculous.

Is there any way anyone beats them? You have to think the Terps are the team best positioned to...but I mean, come on. Think about what Maryland did this weekend. Think about how hard they had to battle to win the ACC championship this past weekend and then think about what kind of war the title game with Duke was. Just think about all the fight, all the effort, and all the hard work that had to be exerted to pull off what the Terps did.

Now consider the following things about UConn's Big East tourney final tonight and their tourney as a whole. All of these are just copied and pasted from the recap that is linked at the beginning of the post.

1)

Maya Moore scored 28 points and UConn cruised to its 15th Big East tournament championship with a 75-36 victory over No. 5 Louisville on Tuesday night.

2)

When [Moore] walked off the floor with eight minutes left, she had single-handedly outscored Louisville 28-27. Moore was selected the tournament's most outstanding performer, and the Huskies won their three tournament games by an average of 35 points.

3)

All-Big East forward Angel McCoughtry was held to nine points to lead Louisville (29-4). She averaged 33 in the first two tournament games and 24 for the season.

4)

Tina Charles added 21 points and 15 rebounds for UConn for her ninth double-double of the season.

5)

UConn's tournament dominance was just a carry over from the regular season. The Huskies have won by an average of 31 points and been especially good against ranked teams.They demolished No. 3 Oklahoma by 28 at home in late November, routed No. 11 North Carolina on the road by 30 and took care of Louisville by 28 the first time they met in late January. Throw in victories over Pittsburgh and Notre Dame and the Huskies have beaten Top 25 teams by nearly 30 points a game.

6)

No team has come within single digits of the Huskies all season and their biggest deficit has only been six points.

7)

UConn didn't give Louisville a chance, scoring 18 of the first 22 points as the Cardinals missed 11 of their first 12 shots. Charles' three-point play on a putback made it 16-4.McCoughtry, who hit the only basket during the drought, then missed a shot on the other end. Louisville coach Jeff Walz, whose team had already committed six fouls in the first seven minutes, thought his star player had been bumped on the shot and he promptly let the official know it.Walz was assessed a technical and Renee Montgomery hit the two free throws to extend the advantage to 18-4.Becky Burke hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 11, but then UConn went on a 15-2 run to make it 33-9 with just under eight minutes left.By the time the half ended, Connecticut was ahead 50-24 and Moore had 19 points. She was 7-for-9 from the field, including hitting four 3-pointers. The 50 points matched a Big East record for points in a half of a championship game. Charles added 13 points and nine rebounds by the break as UConn shot 59 percent (17-for-29) from the field.

8)

It didn't get any better for Louisville in the second half as they were held scoreless for the first eight minutes. Deseree Byrd finally ended the drought with a free throw with 11:57 left that made it 65-25. Monique Reed's layup with 9:46 left was the Cardinals' first basket of the second half. They missed their first 14 shots.Louisville ended up shooting just 22 percent (12-for-57) from the field and set a record for futility for points in a title game.The Huskies fell just short of surpassing their own championship record for margin of victory set in 2002 of 42 points.

I realize that that's like 85% of the AP recap which is kind of the point. ALL OF THAT is just so staggering. It's absolutely unprecedented. Not only might UConn be the most dominant women's college basketball team of all time, they might be the most dominant team in recent memory in major American sports.

Then again, people were saying the same things about the Patriots a couple years ago, but right now, UConn looks absolutely unstoppable.

UConn 50, Louisville 24. That's...that's at halftime.

Good god allmighty.

I hadn't gotten that great of a look at UConn before tonight. Having watched this first half though and having watched the # 5 team in the country who's 28-3 (28-2 against non-UConn teams) with one of the five best players in the country in Angel McCoughtry just look completely and utterly totally helpless...it's truly stunning. UConn hasn't even been on its game on offense for the entire half (there was a stretch where they turned it over a few possessions in a row) and yet they've still got 50 and they're still just rolling.

Maya Moore has 19. Tina Charles has 13 and 9 rebounds. UConn's 17/29 from the floor. Renee Montgomery's 1/6 from the floor and having a horrible game and it doesn't matter at all. Meanwhile, McCoughtry is 3/12, mostly because she's the only one on her team who doesn't look 100% outclassed (the Cards are 7/28 from the floor as a team) and she's just chucking. You can tell that she's really good just by the fact that she's actually able to put up something resembling a fight against the stifling Husky defense. Her teammates just have no chance.

You really have to see this UConn team to appreciate how good they are. Box scores and game recaps are nice and all but they just don't show you how much the Huskies are absolutely suffocating the Cardinals on D and they don't show you just how easily they're scoring on offense. It's truly unbelievable.

I still think Maryland's good enough and playing well enough to beat UConn right now, though it would still be a large upset and would still take a Herculean performance from the Terps, as well as a bit of an off night from the Huskies.

I don't think anyone else in women's basketball stands a chance of beating UConn unless the planets align.

REACTION: Maryland 92, Duke 89 - ACC Tournament Champions

When I woke up yesterday, it didn't take me too long to get pumped up for the ACC championship game between Maryland and Duke. In fact, I basically woke up with an adrenaline rush, looking forward to getting to studio host and produce such a huge game. I got ready, headed over to the station, and called Rob Dawson to coordinate connecting the broadcasters in Greensboro to the studio here at South Campus Dining Hall in College Park. Even as I was doing that, I was getting excited. As soon as they connected and I started talking to them, I got even more pumped. I'm not sure I had ever been more excited for a women's basketball game before or since and that includes the national championship game in 2006 since I wasn't nearly the fan of the sport back then that I am now. During my pregame show, I was practically shouting in to the microphone.

It got to the point where at one point just before the game began, I just thought to myself, "...I've hyped up this game so much. John, Hal, and Rob have hyped up this game so much. Is there any way, and I mean any way it lives up to all of our expectations?"

Yes. Yes, there was a way.

"Maryland 92, Duke 89 (OT)" will go down in history. It will go down as one of the greatest wins in Maryland Terrapins women's basketball history. It will go down as one of the greatest games in ACC tournament history, men's or women's basketball. And it will go down as one of the greatest games in recent women's basketball history. It was one of those games where anyone who watched it, listened to it, or just witnessed it in general would be sold on women's basketball. It was one of those games where the real winner was the sport because of how good the game was.

I honestly don't even know where to begin. I think we have to go all the way back to Friday where I wrote the following after the 72-70 survival over Wake Forest:

Now maybe I'm wrong but after gutting out a game like that, I feel like it's [Maryland's] destiny to win this whole thing.

After that comeback (down 12 with 9:53 to go, more on it here), I just got this feeling that it was going to be a special weekend.

Boy, was it.

Saturday was still a huge concern. North Carolina had only won four straight ACC tournament titles. But the Terps simply out-gunned them in a 95-84 victory, holding them at bay multiple times after being up double digits. Marissa Coleman led the way with 29 points and Kristi Toliver had 24. Senior leadership.

Meanwhile, Duke was stifling Monica Wright and Lyndra Littles (and the rest of Virginia) on Friday and then they were shutting down Jacinta Monroe and Florida State on Saturday. That set up yesterday.

I've already said just about everything that can be said about yesterday. What else is there to say? It was amazing, Coleman went off (28 and 15), Rodgers stepped up, what a job by all 9 players, number 1 seed in Raleigh is all but locked up, etc. I spent literally five hours straight covering that game; producing it, doing pregame, halftime, postgame, and then a special edition of the Terrapin Rewind. I am completely and utterly burned out from talking about this game and this weekend and I'm going to have to do it again tonight as there's another Terrapin Rewind at 7. Regardless, here are some varied, random, almost stream-of-consciousness thoughts "the day after."

--Despite the men's team almost completely blowing its season down at Virginia in a crushing loss, The Diamondback put the women's team's triumph on the front page. I was shocked (and of course pleased) to see it. Just goes to show you how important women's basketball has become here. It's so great to see the game making progress.

--Unfortunately, there's still a ways to go. This game was not on ESPN. It was on FSN. The problem with FSN is that regional FSN's can pre-empt the game. For example, our regional FSN, CSN's main feed didn't even carry the game. And it's not like a men's ACC game took precedent. Freaking ARMY AND AMERICAN took precedence. ARMY. AND. AMERICAN. I mean, it was a good game (won 61-60 by AU; they're in the men's Patriot League finals on Friday) but honestly, come on CSN. A men's Patriot League semifinal (not even the final-the game for the NCAA tournament bid-the semifinal) takes precedence over Maryland and Duke in the ACC women's basketball championship? Seriously? That's more embarrassing than when you let MASN usurp you of Orioles games.

--Also, for all the good things that this game did for the sport as a whole and the perception of its quality, the Big Ten title game between Ohio State and Purdue undid about 75% of them. Good lord that was a poorly played game. Purdue is just terrible and Ohio State's a joke aside from Jantel Lavender. Once they face someone who can neutralize her (or at least contain her), they're going out. Remember that when you're looking at some big first weekend upsets once the brackets come out. Sorry, that's not really related to this game at all, but it just goes as a reminder of how lucky we are to witness such an exciting and high-quality team in Maryland and conference in the ACC. Makes you realize just how much more special yesterday's game was. It would take a lot of games in women's basketball four or five overtimes to get to 92-89.

--Going back to The Diamondback (which is excellent today on the whole), it didn't even hit me that Maryland had just beaten North Carolina and Duke in two consecutive days until I saw Toliver's quote about it in there. That's unbelievable. Has any other program done that, ACC or otherwise? Incredible.

--Not only did Maryland just beat North Carolina and Duke in two consecutive days, they beat North Carolina and Duke in two consecutive days on Tobacco Road. Throw in Wake (a Wake team playing for its NCAA tournament lives in all likelyhood) and the Terps beat the three best teams in N.C. in their own backyard over three days. My mind is blown. I'm honestly getting more amazed by this run than I was yesterday. I didn't think that was possible.

--Is this more epic than the men's ACC tournament run in 2004? Off the top of my head, I can think of arguments for both sides. That might require its own blog post sometime between now and Selection Monday. Yeah, that's definitely happening. I literally cannot wait to do that post. Give me a few days because I've got tests tomorrow and Wednesday but it's coming.

--By all accounts, Kristi Toliver was completely drained and dejected after Chante Black sent it to OT. I have to wonder: was she just upset that her team had blown the lead, or was there a little "oh so this is how it feels!" creeping in to her head. Remember, "The Shot" capped a similar comeback to send the game to OT. Now that she was on the other side, now she can sort of know how Abby Waner, Chante Black, Carrem Gay, and everyone else on that Duke team felt. Sort of. Unlike them, she also knows what it's like to bounce back from a dagger like that and win in overtime. What a job by her and what a job by Brenda to console her. And, of course, what a job by the rest of her teammates. This keeps getting more special. Again, my mind is blown.
--Kim Rodgers deserves her own bullet (or two dashes, in this case.) Whenever I think of her, I immediately think back to the first women's basketball game I broadcasted this year, which was the Loyola game back in early December. That was when Rodgers scored her first career college points on a three...and then she hit another...and then she hit another..and then she hit another. It was easily the most heartwarming, pleasantly surprising moment of the season. I remember making the point on air that if Maryland could get production from unexpected sources like Rodgers, the sky was their limit.

Little did I know that it would take until the second weekend of March to materialize.

I don't know what Kim Rodgers ate down in Greensboro but whatever they fed her, they need to make her eat it for every meal of every day. She was just unbelievable this weekend. She had 7 points in 10 minutes on Friday, 11 points in 21 minutes on Saturday, and 12 points in 21 minutes yesterday. She got progressively better and progressively more important as the games did. All of this for a reserve player who had only done mop up duty in blowouts prior to this weekend. Can you believe that? I know I certainly can't. And what wasn't noted in any of the box score is all the little things she did and how important those little things were. The 12 points in 21 minutes yesterday, for example, doesn't note how she had four of those points in quick succession in the first half to put the Terps on top, or how three of them came at the end of the half to turn a 37-36 lead in to a 40-36 halftime advantage, giving Maryland all the momentum going in to the locker room. Her great defense on Abby Waner and Jasmine Thomas isn't reflected in the final stats. She was just one of many, MANY people who stepped up huge for this team this weekend and, going back to the D-Back one more time, the Terps certainly aren't ACC champs without her.

--Did I really go this long without mentioning Marissa Coleman? 28 and 15 (and 6) is just historic. ACC tournament MVP and deservingly so. Honestly, at this point, you can't tell me there are five better players in the country. I will give you Maya Moore, Courtney Paris, and Angel McCoughtry. But other than those three, I can't think of a single player who's definitively better than her. With how good she has been down the stretch, she has truly earned an All American spot. I hope she gets one.

--HAL DECOURSEY GOT A BALLOON!!!!!!!!!!

--Anyone who heard the WMUC Sports broadcast understand that and is laughing right now. If not, you're sitting there stunned. Oh well.

--Auburn lost last night, by the way. As if the Terps' # 1 seed in Raleigh couldn't be more sealed up, it just was. At this point, they have to be considered the second best team in women's college basketball and if UConn didn't exist, the Terps would be the runaway favorites to win it all. Talk about peaking at the right time.

--How many people dreamed that Maryland would be the second best team in women's basketball after... (a) opening night vs TCU (b) the disaster in Pittsburgh (c) getting mostly dominated by Duke in Durham and (d) the meltdown in Charlottesville? Talk about resiliency. And yes, I've made that point about a million times both on here and over the air, but I don't care. It's worth restating again and again.

--Overtime really is their time.

--1) April 2-4, 2006
2) March 6-8, 2009

Nothing else is even close.

--What a weekend. What a special season. It's been an honor and a privilege to cover this team, write for this blog, and broadcast for this radio station. Thank you for reading, listening, watching, and supporting. And once again, congratulations to the Maryland Terrapins, your 2009 ACC Tournament Champions. Time to set their sights on another title. We'll be with them the entire way. Thanks again.

Maryland Terrapins: 2009 ACC Tournament Champions

Just had to see how that looks in print.

Oh, does it look good.

Maryland won the ACC tournament championship today in a 92-89 overtime thriller over Duke. It's their first ACC tournament championship since 1989.

To put it in a nutshell: this was one of the greatest games in (a) Maryland Terrapins women's basketball history, (b) Women's ACC tournament history, and (c) women's basketball history.

Much, much, MUCH more later on.

Congratulations to the Maryland Terrapins, your 2009 ACC tournament champions.

GAMEDAY: ACC Championship

Here. We. Go.

Maryland/Duke. Round 3. The winner gets the ACC tournament championship.

There's really not much to say that hasn't already been said. This game is very likely going to change lives. The Terps are coming off a 72-70 survival of Wake Forest in the quarterfinals and then a 95-84 triumph over North Carolina in the semifinals. The Blue Devils blew out Virginia 76-53 in the quarterfinals and then pummeled Florida State 75-57 in the semis.

This should be epic. The national anthem is being sung as I type this. We're a couple minutes away. A couple keys for each team:

1) GUARDS - Kristi Toliver and Marissa Coleman against Jasmine Thomas and Abby Waner. I'm pretty sure I've said literally everything that can be said on Toliver and Coleman. We know how good they can be. Coleman had 29 yesterday and Toliver, despite not making a three, had 21. UNC couldn't stop them and that's why they're on their way back to Chapel Hill as I write this. As for Thomas and Waner, they were a combined 3/26 in the last meeting between the Terps and Blue Devils and Duke had no chance. Waner and Coleman are best friends, so that's always an interesting dynamic, wheras Waner and Toliver have been rivals since their freshman seasons.

2) POST PLAYERS - Lynetta Kizer has been dominant so far in this tournament. Chante Black has been dominant all season. I talked last week about Kizer needing to be able to be dominant against the best of the best post players in women's basketball. She was able to do that yesterday against UNC's Jessica Breland. If she can do it again today, the Terps might be lifting that ACC title.

3) TITLE GAME EXPERIENCE - Duke's been in this game 8 of the past 10 years. Before UNC's four year win streak, the Blue Devils took this title five years in a row. On the other sideline, Maryland was last here in 2006 and has not won this title since 1989. Advantage Blue Devils you would think, but we shall see. Whoever can overcome the nerves and play their best game should come out on top today.

We're underway in Greensboro. I'll be back a little later today to wrap it all up.

Welcome... to the big show

...or the ACC Championship. Your trusty broadcasters John Willmott, Rob Dawson and myself have been here all weekend, and we'll be here today as the Terps chase down their first ACC Championship since 1989 against the Duke Blue Devils.

Coming into today, the only thing I'm thinking is that we couldn't have this any other way. Maryland-Duke has been such a great rivalry over the past three-four years that something like this had to happen.

The importance of this game today to seniors Kristi Toliver and Marissa Coleman goes without saying. But they know a victory today likely cements their legacy as two of the top three players in program history. They will be the only ones to have won a National Championship and an ACC Championship. They both said to me last week that a win today could separate them from Crystal Langhorne, Laura Harper and Shay Doron and really add to their legacy. I'd look for both of them to throw everything they have out there today.

Maryland has beaten Duke pretty well 3 out of the 4 halves they've played this year. In both matchups (with Duke winning at Cameron and Maryland winning at Comcast), Maryland has put together a very strong second half. I wouldn't be surprised to see it, but, like yesterday against UNC, I'm expecting a very quick start from this team; 10 points in the first few minutes. They will have to stay hot from the field; against Wake and UNC, they went through cold spells. The defense has been there, their opponents have just not been able to miss. If Duke goes cold, they're in trouble.

Our good friend Andy Gripshover will hopefully check in before the game with his thoughts, then he'll get it started at 12:30 from College Park with the pregame show, leading up to a 1:00 tip.

It's Maryland-Duke for all the marbles. Get pumped for this one.

--Hal DeCoursey