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Maryland @ Dook 1/26/05
By Chris B.
Wow. That is all I have to say, that was a game for the ages last night. First of all there were rumors about lineup changes, but I don’t think any of expected anything like a line up of Bowers, NCM, McCray, Jones, and Gilchrist. I was thinking to myself, wow not only do Bowers and Jones get their first career start, but they have to do it at Cameron. Well I heard the other day that UNC had a surprise visitor to practice. None other than Air Jordan himself. I was thinking to myself, hmmm must be nice to have the greatest bball player of all time stop by. Gary goes out and gets Dixon, Blake and Profit to stop by practice and tell them that they look like they are not having fun playing, how much they missed playing in college, and how you never get these years back etc. etc. Genius. They came out playing defense with an intensity I have not seen from this team since the Memphis game. I was shocked. I was thinking like Brian, we jumped out to an 8 point lead early, and we were not playing well at all. I could hear him now. We should be up at least (insert your favorite number > 8 < 25) by now. Duke couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a boat. Luckily for them we were willing to give the ball back to them quite a bit as well. Things were going along pretty well; some usual calls in favor of Duke along the way were no real shock. Then we forced a turnover and while trying to coral it, it winds up in J.J.’s hands and he nails a three, and I began to think well maybe this is too good to be true. As the half wore on Bowers was playing well against Williams, Gilchrist was hitting key baskets to stop Duke runs from starting and Caner-Medley was playing well. We wind up down by 4 at the half, and I think back to the year where the team leading at the half never won, and said well if that is the case we have a chance.
The second half belonged to the man who was on the acc trading block about 3 weeks ago for a “can of meat”. Nik came to play despite the chants of “I’m from Maryland, and you can’t beat me”. Did you see the way they were all over Grinnon while he was stretching (sorry out of order here, but while I’m on the subject of those fools)? I wish he would have had his ACC Championship ring on to show them all. I was glad to see he got a couple of real minutes in there. Anyway Nik was the man, hitting a couple of three’s one NBA deep with JJ in his face. How about the whirling dervish move he had and banked it off the glass. I was not thrilled when it left his hand, but if he was a cyber player, he would have been blinking! McCray also stepped up nicely in the second half. As we got the lead back I just couldn’t imagine us hanging on with the way the officials were calling the game. They were unbelievable last night. The no call on Randolph clearing out, so he could get his weak kissing diseased body enough room to lay the ball in. I’m not sure how he contracted the kissing disease though, since his mom threw him under the bus in that article stating girls didn’t figure into his life! Ouch Mom, BURN. I guess if you are 6’10” and have someone cut your meat for you girls wouldn’t figure into your life. The no call on the “blocks” Chewy Williams had, and the one against Gist. There was just a part of me that thought something was going to happen where the official would hook dook. Ibekwe gave us the lead for good on a nice inbounds play where he muscled it up on the inside. With a 4 point lead Melchionni missed a three for DOOK and the train to the foul line ensued. We were amazing from the line at crunch time last night converting 9-10 in the last minute plus. Even Ibekwe, nailed all 4. We hung on for the impressive win. Dookie Vitale was singing the praised of Gary, and trying to defend Dook, saying this is not your normal DOOK team. Well I have news for all the dook fans out there, there schedule was light in the first half of the ACC, they are going to have a long road ahead of them rest of the way!
Report Card.
John Gilchrist- B The good: 10 points 9 board, hit shots at important times. The bad: 3 assist 3 TO’s
Travis Garrison- C+ The good: 9 points, made FT’s at crunch time. Had his first dunk in recent memory! The bad: got demoted, possibly only for this game due to match ups.
Nik Caner-Medley- A+ The good: Carried this team in the second half. Clutch shots when we needed them. The bad: injured ankle and hopefully is back at full strength.
Ekene Ibekwe- B+ The good: Did not shoot a three, therefore he got a passing grade! Made the big bucket that put us ahead for good. 15 points 9 boards. Came off the bench with a great attitude. The bad: Can we expect this type of performance night in and night out? 4-12 shooting from the field.
Chris McCray- B- The good: Forced JJ into 8 turnovers! Added 7 points 6 boards The bad: 2-7 from the field. Doesn’t look comfortable catching and shooting. Needs to show he has the gumption to knock down the big shot! DJ Strawberry- INC
Sterling Ledbetter- INC The good: The bad: no burn
James Gist- C The good: Got some experience at Cameron The bad: 1-2 Ft’s
Mike Grinnon- C The good- Got some burn in the first half, The bad: Nothing stands out about his play except he didn’t pull the trigger on a wide open three.
Mike Jones- B- The good- Got the start due to DOOK’s lineup, converted two tough inside buckets. The bad- airballed wide open three at the start of the game. Will Bowers- B+ The good- Did a nice job d’ing up Williams, as a physical player. The bad- Offense is a little bit awkward. Didn’t take the 10 ft jumper.
Gini Chukura- inc
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