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UVA @ MD 06

By Chris B.

Congrats Gary.  You are now the all time winningest Coach in Maryland history.  It was a long time coming, but you have done much for the University, let alone the basketball program.  You have brought the program back from the Bob Wade debacle, and delivered D7 with many memories we are thankful for.  However, you've to get this team to the Big Dance.  The game started and I felt like I was in Byrd.  13-0 football score, 13-3 football score.  21-6 football score. That's right folks we were down 21-6 before we even knew we were actually in Comcast.  UVA hit everything and we hit zippy.  Garrison came in and made some big buckets in the first half to give the Terps a much needed lift, and actually got some life out of the crowd.  It just seemed like every time we would get it to 5, UVA would score.  We finally got the lead down to 3, with a little less than 3 minutes left.  But have no fear, our recent trend of falling apart before the end of the half continued and before you knew we were going into halftime trailing by 8.

The second half didn't start much better than the first.  Reynolds hit a 3 and the lead was back to 11.  A Mike Jones 3, and a Canner-Medley dunk cut the lead to 6,but UVA built it back up to 9 with about 10 minutes left.  You could feel the tide starting to turn, but they just couldn't get over the hump.  Then Garrison scored, Gist on an alley-oop from Parish Brown, and an Ibekwe basket cut it to 3.  Then finally, after missing several open looks at three earlier in the game, DJ Strawberry caught fire.  His first three tied the game at 51.  His second three put the Terps up by one, and then the play that I thought was going to define the season happened.  Mike Jones gets free on a fast break, and goes for the reverse windmill dunk, and boink, he misses it.  Shocker, Singletary comes down and nails a three for UVA.  Quickly a 3 point lead turns to a 2 point deficit.  Had the remote been in my hand, it probably would have been in pieces after that sequence.  Have no fear though,  minutes later with the Terps up 2, Mike Jones drills a three from the corner that would be the beginning of the end for the Hoos.  From that point on MD would take control building the lead as high as 14 in the closing minutes, before finishing the game with the 76-65 win.  A win that will forever put the Gary in "Garyland".  It was a nice comeback, a nice win, and coach GW seemed very emotional by it all.  Everyone has his criticisms of the man, but he bleeds MD red, and deserves to be remembered for what he has done.  Lets just hope he is not quite done writing his legacy yet!

D7 MVP:  This was a tough one, because everyone who comes to mind had moments that drove me nuts.  Nobody played a perfect game, but in the end there were some people who filled the stat sheet, or maybe just made the right play at the right time.  To me it really comes down to two players.  DJ scored a career high 19 points, hit some big buckets when we really needed them to get the run going in the second half.  However, I think I am going to go with Ekene Ibekwe.  I find that hard to believe, because on two occasions I found myself upset that he was checking in, and I said "oh no!"  That being said he got a double double with 13 points and 14 boards.  It wasn't just that he got 14 boards, but the way he got them.  He fought hard for them, I even saw him box out a couple of times, instead of just trying to jump and get them.  He was a steadying force in the paint, against Mikaluskas, and Dirty Sanchez (Cain). 

Honorable Mention D7 MVP- Gotta go with DJ here.  Big baskets when we needed them most.  It takes a lot of courage to keep pulling those three's after missing them early. 

Random Thought of the Day:  If Duke and UNC is the "premier" rivalry in College Hoops, how is it not in High Def?  I had another one, but I couldn't remember. 

The "It Could Be Worse" Section-  You think we have it bad.  Have you seen Louisville lately?  They have not lost any players, yet get this.  They are in trouble of not qualifying for the tournament, THE BIG EAST TOURNAMENT!  That's right in that "super conference" only 12 of the 16 teams earn the chance to play in Madison Square Garden.  I'll have to check on this, but I believe L'Ville was a top 10 team earlier on.  YIKES!

Factoid Alert:  Number 2.  That's right number 2 DOOK (he he) comes to town Saturday.  The place should be rocking, our boys seem to turn from Clark Kent to Superman when they come to town.  Lets hope they can find a phone booth to change in.  (Have you tried to find a phone booth lately?)

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