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VT @ MD 06 Recap

By Chris B.

Marcus Vick Returns Home

 After Turning Himself In

This was a must win for the Terps.  A home game, against a team that was winless in conference, even though they are much better than there conference record shows, it was a must win!   Well our boys took care of business.  Since el wife, wasn't feeling up to snuff, she said to order the ESPN Full Court package so we could stay home, hence I am taking care of the write up.  Well I sent out a feeler text message to Bob, John, and Brian to see if they were for drinking Terps bball.  Do we really need to discuss Bob's  response.  Next thing you know Brian checks in, as did Kristin.  I had McCray, and Garrison as my reserve, Bob had DJ, and Parish Brown (no burn), Brian took NCM and Sterbo, while Kristin had Ibekwe and Mike Jones, who?  Anyway the drinking game was a blast, despite being 432.56 miles apart (thanks to www.mapquest.com).  Rules were added, as the thing went along, and much drinking was done by all parties. Text messages kept the game rolling.  Rebounds, points, assist, blocks, steals, were all original rules. Added in the mix were misses, TO's and double for "bone headed" TO's.  Anyway , here is the last response from Bob on the text message "hammertime at Fairhope".  I am not going to lie, Southie, is not much better.  Any who a good time was had by all.  On to the "real" game.  Gist started in place of Garrison again, (two in a row Gary, keep it rolling) and things started out with back and forth action.  Coleman Collins scored VT's first 12 points, but enter Wilbo.  Wil Bowers came in and played EXCELLENT D on the interior, and provided enough "o" not to be a liability.  Caner-Medley will most likely be the MVP, but Wilbo made his presence known, and was a key part of the game.  VT made several runs at the Terps, but every time they did, they were answered.  Be it Ibekwe, in between the foul trouble, or NCM who was very consistent tonight, or McCray sinking FT's at crunch time (what time is it?), or even Gist with some big buckets early made sure we were going to take care of business at home.  Tonight we did the little things that made the difference.  This was far from a perfect outing, but there were many good things to take away from the performance tonight. 

We trailed by one at the half, but came out strong early in the second half, and held the lead from then on out.  The defensive effort was much better in the second half, and the offense was not so shabby either.  The Terps held on with some big buckets and answers along the way.  The final score was 81-72, and you can really thank the FT shooting in the final minute for that score.

D7 MVP-  Tonight there were several options, but as one of my messages stated early "NCM is making me drunk".  That's right folks, Nik Caner-Medley was the D7 Tailgate MVP.  His effort was evident throughout the game.  Early it was hustle and rebounding, and the scoring picked up as the game went along.  He finished with 23 points, 8 boards, 1 assist, 2 blocks, 1 steal, and more importantly 1 TO!  For the most part he played within the system, and if this is what we are going to see from here on out we will be in good shape. 

Honorable Mention-  This is going to go Chris McCray.  21 points, clutch FT's at crunch time, and the chance that nasty little rumor going around could be true, help propel him to HM D7 MVP.

Random thought-  PG's are important in the ACC.  See VA with Singletary at 3-2 out of nowhere to be tied with the beloved Terpies.  See Wake with no PG, and Justin Gray and company playing point by committee at 1-4 in the conference.

It could be worse section-  Rumor of McCray could be true.

Random Thought part deux-  If Villanova had Curtis Sumpter, they would be a threat to win it all.

IT could be worse section part deux-  We could be Wisconsin losing at home to North Dakota State, who is currently making the jump from D2 to D1.  Ouch!

ACC Standings Updated Through Saturday Night

Bubble Watch-

13-4 Bad losses-none to date, Key Wins- BC (looking better), Arkansas, Minnesota (looking less and less impressive)

Report Card