The End of the Road

Well now, this wasn't supposed to happen.

The really disappointing part of all of this is that Maryland didn't even play a bad game - on the contrary, they played pretty well. It just so happened that Stanford played out of their minds. Even after having seen lord knows how many games this season, including some of the marquee matchups featuring some of the best teams in the nation, the Cardinal may have played the best game I've seen all year. Period. Obviously it's tough to keep up the same momentum for another two games, especially with a week off in between, but if Stanford plays this way in Tampa, you've got your national champions. Nobody could have beaten them last night, and nobody will beat them if they play up to that level again.

There's no doubt that the Terps are left feeling unfulfilled - after all, the goal this year was a national championship, and nothing short of that. If anything, that shows the growth that this program has undergone in the last few years, because only a couple of teams in the nation can legitimately say that their seasons don't live up to full expectations if they don't win the whole damn thing. With that said, Maryland should still hold their heads high. A 33-4 record is nothing to scoff at, and all four losses were to teams who were among the final 12 teams still playing in the tournament.

Still though, we're all left wondering what might have been.

Obviously this marks the end of the road for us as well. One thing's for sure: It's been one hell of a ride. Scott and I are going to collect our thoughts and come back for an epilogue of sorts to completely cap off the season in a day or two.

Congrats to the 2007-2008 Maryland Terrapins for all they accomplished, even if it wasn't quite what they wanted the ending to be.

Final Chance to Pray to the Deity of Your Choice

The fans are starting to file in, the media has taken their places, the cheerleaders are warming up, the bands are playing for the crowd, the coaches are preparing their final strategies, and the players are shooting around. If there's anything left to be done, this is the only time left to do it.

Tip time has been moved to 6:42 local time - that's 9:42 for all of you back in Maryland. We'll be here. Make sure you are, too.

Judgement Day is Upon Us

In approximately four and a half hours, both Stanford and Maryland will be getting ready to head back to their respective campuses. One will head back overjoyed and preparing to head to the fun and sun of Tampa, as well as a bid to the Final Four. The loser will head back feeling rather disappointed and unfulfilled, having their dreams end one step short of the promised land.

Recent history is not on Stanford's side. The Cardinal have not made it to the Final Four since 1997, despite being in the tournament each of the years between now and then, including a trip to the Elite Eight every year since 2004 except for last season. In fact, no team further west than Oklahoma has made it to the Final Four since Stanford's trip in 1997.

While it's not because of the recent inability for western teams to make it further than this round of the tournament, Scott and I both seem to think that this game looks good for a Maryland victory, especially if they play like they did against Vanderbilt. Why? Well........you'll have to listen in for that. Hal DeCoursey, Dave Vatz and Rob Dawson start off the festivities at 8:30 ET/5:30 PT for an hour-long pregame show, with Scott and myself taking over at 9:30.

The Only Analysis That Really Matters

You know, we can and have spent tons of time breaking down the matchups of each different game. What we haven't done yet, however, is take a look at the most important matchup of the Spokane regional.

That's right, folks: we're talkin' mascots!

Now this may come as a little bit of a surprise to some of you, that I'd be willing to discuss mascots at all, considering what happened during HokieGate a couple months back. For those of you who aren't in the loop, during the Terps' win at Virginia Tech, the Hokie Bird unplugged our equipment no less than three times during the broadcast. I've not had much of a taste for mascots since then.

Until now.

Let's take a quick look at each of the four mascots here representing the competing teams. Mascots will be judged on three criteria: creativity, energy when performing, and likelihood that it'll kill me in my sleep. You can also click each picture to get a larger view of each mascot.

Pittsburgh - Roc The Panther: Blah. Admittedly, you don't have much to work with when your nickname is the Panthers, but there's really not much here that's too terribly memorable about Pitt's mascot. Credit is due, however, in the energy category; Roc certainly does work for his......uh......what do panthers eat, anyway?

And let's also make it clear, Roc isn't some cutesy panther, either. Props to Pitt, whose mascot scores very high on the "holy crap, it's going to eat me" scale.



Vanderbilt - Mr. C: What the heck is this? An old man? Vandy's nickname is the Commodore; sirs Merriam and Webster define this as a captain in the navy in command of a squadron. I can see that with the hat, sure. But the warmup shirt and the shorts? Does anybody else see that and think of their senile grandfather who sits around talking about how much harder it was back in his day?

And what's with the nickname in general? What navy is Vanderbilt supposed to command in Nashville, Tenn.? Awful mascot, awful nickname, although I suppose it gets creativity points because nobody else is dumb enough to have an old man as their mascot.

Stanford - The Stanford Tree: Making a tree as Stanford's mascot actually makes some sense, since there is a big ol' tree in the middle of the "S" in Stanford's logo, but why is there a tree there to begin with? Oh well. The creativity here really soars off the chart, almost to a fault. Is it possible to look at this thing and not think that somebody had some......chemical assistance......when they designed it?

Where Stanford really scores high is in the energy category. The only reason I couldn't get a great shot of the Tree is because it was constantly moving around. Bravo, Stanford. Bravo.

Maryland - Testudo: If you don't know who Testudo is, you're not a Maryland fan. Period. The clear winner here in creativity, since it's original in a non-"what the heck were they smoking?" kind of way. Testudo also does pretty good in the energy category, pumping up the crowd without overdoing it.

Scott does, however, point out that Testudo could use a little bit more bulk on his frame. "Not steroid-ish, but just a little more flattering. A little more muscle mass. Meat."

Now I realize that Testudo looks so cute and adorably cuddly, but don't be fooled. Get too close to that beak (yes, it's a beak, not just a mouth), and you'll be one-handed for the forseeable future. Fear the turtle - literally.

And the winner is......: Call me biased, but Maryland's beloved turtle has to come out on top here. Roc and Mr. C lose out based on their lack of creativity and general suckitude, respectively. In the battle between the Tree and Testudo, the Stanford Tree is just simply too friggin' weird to come out on top here.

Will the actual game hold to form? We'll have to wait until tomorrow night to see, but I think I hear Testudo sharpening his axe as we speak......

Langhorne to Vandy: My Better is Better Than Your Better

There were more than a couple of questions raised after the opening weekend of the tournament regarding the Terps' play. Were they actually worthy of that #1 seed? How could they let Coppin State and Nebraska hang around for so long? How could they be playing basketball this mediocre at this point in the season?

Guess what? They heard everyone. Loud and clear, it would seem.

Let's not beat around the bush here: Maryland has not looked this dominant against a team of Vanderbilt's caliber possibly since the win over LSU. I'm not going to jump the gun here and guarantee a trip to the Final Four here, but you cannot possibly read this and say, along with Stanford's struggles for much of their game against Pitt, that Monday's game against the Cardinal looks a lot more winnable.

Crystal Langhorne obviously led the way with 28 points, but here's what's the most impressive part: Vandy plays a matchup zone that, in theory, causes headaches for players down low. And give the Commodores credit, because they surrounded Langhorne all night long. Crystal did not, however, let it bother her, as she fought through the increased attention like an A-list celebrity working their way through Hollywood paparazzi.

That's not to say that she did everything for this team, though: Kristi Toliver had one of her better games as a point guard since fully assuming the duties this year, dishing out eight assists against just one turnover, and Marah Strickland finally seemed to come out of the shell she was in during the first two rounds, not being afraid at all to pull the trigger on her jumpers, along with solid performances from the other two starters.

The fact, however, is that against Vanderbilt, it was Crystal Langhorne's world, and we were all just living in it. She's so good, her spin move smells like French toast.

......French toast?