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2006 Season Recap         

          Annapolis, MD

                By Bob W.

“The good thing about the 2005-06 season is that it can’t possibly be any worse than 2004-2005, right?!”

                        -Bob (Circa Mid-Night Madness)

Here it is a beautiful spring day and I’m stuck inside writing the Basketball season recap.  Sigh.  Well I think we can all agree, things in 2006 didn’t really pan out much better than they did in 2005.  This was going to be the sleeked down version of 2005, no trouble makers, no in-fighting, this squad was all going to be about the team.  Well that’s fine and dandy, but it helps to have a competent point guard to run the show.  Not to take anything away from Strawberry, the kid did as best as he could and showed the true meaning of the word “Team”, but the guard position was a source of frustration all season long. 

Another highlight, or low light of the 2006 season was the culmination of the class of 2006.  These were the guys who were going to take Maryland to the next level.  They came in highly touted and went out with a whimper.  Gilchrist ripped the team apart, then left early (to no ones disappointment).  McCray got the distinction of being the first Terp to fail off the team in the Gary Williams era, and Travis Garrison showed little improvement from day one.  And that brings us to Nik.  I love to cuss Nik, he represents that class and therefore I sometimes take out all my frustration with the team, on him, but that isn’t really fair.  I mean afterall Nik is still there, he is out there still trying, he didn’t flunk out, he didn’t put himself in front of the team, and he developed into a senior throughout his career.  Put Nik in any other class and he would be a celebrated Terp Alum.  But unfortunately fate lumped him in the class of ’06, and for Caner-Medley, that’s unfortunate.

D-7 MVP-  This was an easy choice.  Looking at the grades all year long there was one guy who kept it up for most of the year.  Sure he disappeared a few games, but he was never billed as a super star.  The 2005-06 D-7 MVP Award goes to Nik Caner-Medley.  Not counting Gini, only 2 guys even managed a B average, and Nik’s 2.8 was by far the highest grade in the bunch (not unlike Bobby Moe 3.0 in D-7 during the fall 94 semester!).  So best of luck to you Nik in whatever endeavor you pursue.  You’ll forever be remembered as the guy who shouted “I’m from Maryland, you can’t beat me!”, and that in itself is MVP worthy.

Final ACC Standings:

            Team                Conf Red         Overall

            Duke                14-2                 27-3

            UNC                12-4                 21-6

            BC                   11-5                 24-6

            NC State          10-6                 21-8

            FSU                 9-7                   19-8

            Maryland          8-8                   18-11

            UVA                7-9                   14-13

            Miami               7-9                   15-14

            Clemson           7-9                   18-11

            Va Tech           4-12                 14-15

            GT                   4-12                 11-16

            Wake               3-13                 15-15

Random Thought of the Year:  I would like to find the guy who’s idea it was to have Amanda Bynes dress up as a dude for that movie.  That has just totally ruined me.  Sorry, the season recap doesn’t really need a Random Thought section, but I just had to get that out.

Nostra-dum-ass’s-  If you remember back to the beginning of the season when Bixler was harassing  you on your cell phones to get your pre-season picks in, well this is why.  It is time to see how we all did in our predictions. As you can probably figure out Wake and UNC were by far the biggest surprises of the year.  UNC for good reasons and Wake for Terrible, TERRIBLE reasons.  Here is how each one of us fared in the preseason pick

Scores were determined by how many spots in the standings you were off for each team.  For example, Wake finished last, if you had them in 4^th  like my dumb ass, you got 8 points (FYI- like golf here you want the lowest score possible).

Here is how our All ACC Team looked:

D-7 All ACC                                       The Real All ACC

JJ Reddick                                           JJ Redick

Craig Smith                                          Tyler Hansborough

Sheldon Williams                                  Sheldon Williams

Justin Gray                                           Craig Smith

Guillermo Diaz                                      Sean Singletary

The Future is Now!...................Ok, the future is in October, but the incoming Freshman Outlook is Now!

            By Bix

Well as this year (and last) has brought the basketball team back down to middle of the pack, these four commits are the building block of the future.  After this season, James Gist, and David Neal will be the upper classmen.  Scary thought.  That puts more than enough pressure on this group.  In fact if Gary wants to make another final four push, the next two classes most likely will have to be the foundation of that run.  Here are the commits entering campus in the fall.

Lanodon Milbourne  **** 6’7” 200 LBS SF (#17 SF) 

Oak Hill Academy,  AAU- Georgia All Stars

Has excellent 3 point range, and is hustle guy who makes a living on the offensive glass.  Plays on a loaded Oak Hill team, Averaged 23 and 9 before heading to Oak Hill for his senior year.  Is another lefty at the small forward spot.  Chose MD over Georgia, Tennessee, and Colorado.

Eric Hayes  ****  6’3” 160 LBS PG (#18 PG)

Potomac HS,  AAU  Boo Williams

Has a high basketball IQ, his father is his HS coach, as a sophomore hit 92 of 101 FT’s.  His strength is getting other people involved.  Is skilled at the technical aspect.  If he can play well enough to allow DJ to play the SF, that will be our best chance to win.  My opinion he is the most important recruit, because we lack that person who can handle the ball and keep the half court offense flowing.  Chose MD over Georgetown, NCST, Miami, BC, and Ohio St. 

Grievis Vasquez  *** 6’5” 175 SG/PG

Montrose Christian HS, AAU Boo Williams

His strengths are listed as ability to create, high basketball IQ, and coachability.  (Do you think Gary has gotten tired of stupid play?)  Was a key part of Montrose Christian’s upset of the top ranked Oak Hill.  Plays PG at Montrose, but SG on Boo Williams as a teammate of Eric Hayes.  Plays hard all the time on the court.  Averaged 12 points, 6 assist as a junior for the highly ranked Montrose team.  Native of Venezeula, chose MD over Gonzaga, NCST, and GT (all teams who know something about guards).

Jerome Burney  6’8” 210 lbs

Westlake (GA) HS  AAU Georgia All Stars

As a junior 12 points 13 boards and 6 blocks, had season highs of 19 points, and 15 blocks.  I read somewhere his goal for his senior year was to average a triple double for the season.  AAU teammate of Landon Milbourne.  Became more of an offensive threat over the summer before his senior year.  A bit of a project on the offensive end that can play solid D and rebound.  Chose MD over Alabama, Clemson, and UAB.

There are the players entering in the fall.  As for the next class, we already have some verbals, and looking to add another player or two.

Dino Gregory (PF), Jeff Jones, (SG), and Braxton Dupree (C) from Calvert Hall have all committed.  The other two listed with high interest are Kosta Koufous 7’ (C) and PG Malcom Delaney from Towson Catholic.  It seems Keith Booth has helped us get back in the door with Baltimore, getting interest from the areas top prospects.  

Well lets hope these two classes are the start of something big in Comcast!