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George Washington MCI Center By Chris B.
Well I took the opportunity with the wife working and some available tickets to catch the Terps hoop squad in person for the first time this season. The day started out great. Justin hooked us with some great parking only a few blocks from the phone booth. The weather was great walking around the district and we laughed to ourselves how bad the Michigan State fans must have felt having to play George Mason in the consolation game. We headed to Fado, and woofed down an App sampler while we were waiting for Cory, Forrest and Kevin. The app sampler was great and went well with Harps I was enjoying. We quickly found out the RFD had $2.00 Yuengling’s and 10cent wings. Natch. Anywho, we enjoyed ourselves at Fado and eventually made our way to RFD for a few minutes. Once inside we climbed to upper deck of the MCI Center and watched the Terps flounder around for the first half, playing just well enough to keep themselves in striking distance. GW was helped by some wonderful bounces on many a shot attempt. They were banking free throw’s, getting shots off the rim from three to fall, you name it and they found a way to score. We found ourselves down by 8 at the half thanks to some shoddy shot selection. When did Ekene Ibekwe think he became someone with the outside shooting touch as other great Terp big men like Joe, Mario, Hot Rod, Tahj, and even Travis? I was just beside myself that he was attempting three’s (0-4 on the day). His shot looked more like Donny Judd banking one high off the top corner of the backboard to send Cole into a state of Euphoria! In the second half Mr. goto John Gilchrist found himself on the bench for a long period of time after commiting numerous turnovers. With DJ checking in and Snively’s boy Jist, I mean Gist coming in we made a nice run and eventually took a one point lead. However, that was short lived, we could not get enough stops on the defensive end, and as Gilchrist attempted to put the team on his back he was getting to the line and playing very effectively. Except for one key point. He forgot that you have to make those free throws down the stretch. He finished the day 6-11 from the stripe, and FT’s again made the difference in the game. This team’s M.O. seems to be lets get down a bit, make a valiant come back and see if we can’t pull it out in dramatic fashion. NEWS FLASH: D-7’ers thoroughly enjoyed the display of basketball you guys had against Memphis. We don’t need to be on the verge of cardiac arrest to enjoy ourselves watching you play! In wrapping up the trip we headed back to Annapolis and hit up the money China Buffet, with Snively and Bob, to help soften the sting of losing again to GW in the BB&T Classic. FYI Gary said we are going to have to reevaluate Md’s participation in the tourney if they can’t land two national powers each year. Doesn’t sound like he enjoys losing to the local yocals!
Report Card:
Travis Garrison: B- The Good: 12 points 7 boards. The Bad: Had to play in foul trouble much of the game. Nik Caner Medley: B - The Good: 4-9 from the bonus sphere and 2-2 FT 16 TP. The Bad: Took 9 three’s! Get to the lane without charging! 1-6 from 2.
Ekene Ibekwe: C- The Good: 8 boards The Bad: Foul trouble, 0-4 from three (see above rant) 10 points
John Gilchrest: C The Good: 23 points, tried to single handedly win the game for Terps. The Bad: 5 assists 5 TO’s (and they are not Time Out’s!) 6-11 FT’s * tried to single handedly win the game for Terps at Crunch time (while admirable, this is not the way to succeed unless your first name is Air. John’s First Name is not Air anything, other than I hope he doesn’t shoot and AIR ball from the Free Throw line!) * Note- if you don’t shoot over 65 from the line you will never get higher than a C from me.
Chris McCray: C- The Good: 9 points I guess? The Bad: Only took 7 shots, fight through picks and get open! Needs to become the goto guy we all think he can be!
DJ Strawberry: C The Good: 10 points, helped get the Terps back into the game early in the second half. The Bad: 5 TO’s, 2-6 from the line.
Sterling Ledbetter: Incomplete
James Gist: A The Good: 12 points on 6-7 shooting in 20 minutes. Played well while Garrison and Ibekwe were in foul trouble. The Bad: Only played 20 minutes.
Mike Jones: D The Good: Zippy The Bad: Scored the dreaded box score number of 1,000,000,000,000,000. As in 1 minute played, and zero’s on everything out. Some deep bench we have going 7 deep huh?
Will Bowers: INCOMPLETE The Good: DNP The Bad:
Hassan Fofana: Incomplete The Good: DNP THE Bad:
There you have it, another report card, and another loss. FYI if anyone scores tickets to anything else in Calendar year 04, Bix is not interested in attending. I am a combined 3- 5 this year thus far, when in attendance. Lets hope ’05 is a better year for me! (WINS: 04 BBALL VS FSU, FOOTBALL VS TEMPLE, AND FOOTBALL VS WAKE LOSSES: VT FOOTBALL, WVU FOOTBALL, GT FOOTBALL, NCST FOOTBALL, AND GW BASKETBALL) This is not acceptable!
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