It's Time To Make Maryland Great Again
And just like that, another disappointing season of Maryland basketball has come to an end. Same ol’ story as always. Tons of talent on the team, extremely underwhelming and underperforming season. I feel like I’ve written this same blog every year for 4 years. “Look how much talent we have! Maryland is going to be a force! *Fast forward to tournament season* “andddddddd Maryland’s out”.
Even without Justin Jackson, Maryland had more than enough talent on this team. They had a talented team last year. And the year before. And that Diamond Stone/Melo team. It goes on and on and on. 7 years under Turgeon, no results. NOTHING. One Sweet 16 appearance in 7 years. That wouldn’t fly at Kentucky. That wouldn’t fly at UNC. That wouldn’t fly at Duke. And it should not fly at Maryland. We used to be in that discussion of elite basketball schools. The Duke/Maryland games were must-watch. The environments were insane. The teams hated each other. The players hated each other. The fans hated each other. It was a blood war. JJ Redick called Maryland the hardest place to play.
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And now? Well…now we can’t even win an opening round game in the Big 10 Tournament. Mark Turgeon runs one play called “hold the ball at the top of the key”. To his credit, he brings in great talent. 5 and 4 star recruits as far as the eye can see. I love the guys he brings in. But he never has been able to coach these guys to their fullest potential. He never makes proper in game adjustments. You can watch his brain melt, multiple times per season, as he gets outcoached by guys like Izzo and Beilein.
So we need to make Maryland great again. Get back to having the basketball powerhouse identity. Get back to parties on Route 1 and kids crying in the stands.
Joining the Big 10 sucked, but it’s not the only issue. If anything, it should have been easier to establish a winning culture in the Big 10 instead of competing every year with Duke and Carolina.
Instead, this has been the results in the B1G:
One Sweet 16, a first round knockout, a 2nd round knockout, and this year will be a big blank space.
And the 3 years before that in the ACC?
Blank, NIT semifinals, blank.
I don’t hate Mark Turgeon. think Mark Turgeon is a good guy. I’ve heard only good things about him. But I think he’s proven he can’t coach at this level. It just is what it is. The proof is in the pudding. I guess he’s under contract for a zillion more seasons without a buyout clause, which puts Maryland in quite a predicament. Maybe our AD can figure it out….OH WE DON’T EVEN HAVE ONE THOSE! What a disaster!
There is a small but passionate sect of people who keep telling me “we’ll be good next year”. I mean, these people just want to believe, and will ignore 7 years of non-improvement. Sure you can say Justin Jackson will be back next year, hopefully. Heurter and hopefully Bruno too. And a top 15 class coming in. But how many years in a row can we say “we’ll be good next year” until it’s clear we won’t be good next year? Because Maryland has had some really, really stacked teams that have gotten nowhere. Some really great players coming out of high school who never lived up to the hype. And after seeing it time and time again, it’s hard to believe things will change.
I don’t know what Maryland can do, nor what they will do, but something has to be done. We have to make Maryland great again. We have to. Elite programs make big changes when they have to. It’s time to find out if we are one of those programs or not. Until then, please stop emailing me and asking for money. It’s a give and take, and I haven’t gotten anything in return in quite a while. I want current students, current high school students, current toddlers, to look at Maryland the way I did as a kid. As a powerhouse basketball school. A school you want to go to so you can be drunk in that crowd yelling nonsense at the opposing players. Losing in the first round of the Big 10 tournament doesn’t do that. So enough is enough. We need to MMGG.