So who has watched Maryland
- Thread starter BleedsGreen33
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They’re extremely talented but extremely young. All of Maryland's top six scorers this year were top 75 recruits and Jalen Smith (who is a freshman) was a five star kid.
If Huerter would have stayed in school they’d likely be a top 10ish team.
I think we'll give them a game they're not expecting. It could very well be decided in OT. jmo
I watched some of Maryland and Hofstra... Maryland is really athletic. You can tell they are still getting to know each other, kindof the opposite of our guys who have played 2-3 years together.
By the end of the year Maryland should be one of the better teams in the Big10.
Keys for Marshall will be the same as every other game this year... Dont turn it over... Dont get way behind early... Shoot a high percentage from 3... Rebound as best they can despite a size disadvantage.
By the end of the year Maryland should be one of the better teams in the Big10.
Keys for Marshall will be the same as every other game this year... Dont turn it over... Dont get way behind early... Shoot a high percentage from 3... Rebound as best they can despite a size disadvantage.
I think it will all come down to who is making their shots. Both teams look very equal on paper with the experience factor in our corner and recruiting stars in theirs. If we come out on fire shooting and don't play sloppy then it could more than their youth can overcome. If we play sloppy and hit very many dry spells this could be a tough loss filled with what might have been. The way Bennett looked tonight he could be a big x factor for us getting those points in the paint and opening up the outside shots that we will need to make consistently in order to win.
I've seen parts of a couple of their games on the B1G network, but mostly highlights of their games on the B1G Show. As Chris stated, they're very talented, but young. As of now, they haven't gotten it all together, similar to WVU, but once they gel, they should be formidable. I think they were pre-season ranked to finish like 5th in the B1G, which is pretty decent. Fernando Bruno is a returning player, and a beast inside, which likely cause problems for the Herd, particularly with defending the Terps, and keeping them from getting 2nd looks. Anthony Cowan is their other returning starter, and he's tough as hell. Jalen Smith is likely a future all B1G performer, and is probably their most talented player, and like Bruno, will cause problems for the Herd on the interior. All told, in my opinion, the Herd is going to have to shoot lights out to come away with a win, and limit Maryland's 2nd and 3rd chance opportunities. The Herd's big men are going to have to try to stay out of foul trouble, which won't be easy against a team with talented, oversized bigs.
NC A&T was a common opponent(who isn’t that bad when you look at their schedule), and we dominated them more then Maryland did.
Of course A&T, Hofstra and Mount St Marys are common opponents since we have all been in the same Global event. The margin of victory for both MD and us is pretty much the same. Of course that means little. We could have beaten the MSM and A&T by 40 but didn't finish as can be expected. I would imagine Maryland was in that same boat.
ESPN's %age chance of winning, football and basketball, is this Nate Silver character, he is a stat geek that started out predicting politics. Unlike real pollsters he makes up a %age chance of each thing happening, and then however it turns out can say "see, I said there was a chance". He is a dope and, like most political pollsters, wrong as often as he is right.
ESPN converted his methods into sports. The people running the operation are not even sports people, just stat geeks. Probably could not tell you want state Marshall is in, who Hal Greer was, or name five players on any college team. Likewise this crew is wrong as often as he is right in close games.
In both sports and politics he claims this big winning streak by predicting stuff like Alabama-Citadel and the like, which anybody can do.
Wait for LV to post a line. I would say we get 8 to 10 points.
The comparative scores actually favor Marshall slightly. They beat Hofstra by 11 and we beat them by 4. But we beat A&T by 1 more point than they did and we beat MSM by 8 more than Maryland did. So in the comparative score category we were better in two out of three. Offensively Maryland has averaged 85 points against the common opponents and Marshall has averaged 90. Defensively Maryland has given up 68 points per game and Marshall has given up 72.
So if the transitive property could be applied to basketball, count us as a slight favorite. However, that isn’t the reality. Basketball is about matchups. We have the likely advantage at guard. But where we are deficient is in the paint. Maryland has two 6’ 10” guys that could give us fits. Bruno Fernando is big at 240 lbs. and averages 16 points and 8 rebounds. Jalen Smith is smaller at 215 and averages 14 and 8. Both get about 25 minutes.
We are really going to need for Bennett to keep out of foul trouble early and give us around 20 minutes. He will need to use his body to keep Fernando from getting the ball too low in the post. I have no clue what the spread will be but I’m guessing that Maryland will be favored, but not overwhelmingly so. Marshall is going to need to shoot well and defensively need to continue the havoc type turnovers they get from their guard play. West, Watson, and Burks are very good defensively, but Elmore is sneaky and crafty defensively. My fear in this matchup is that Maryland will get too many second and third chances with offensive boards. This is really where we will need IB to block out and keep Maryland off the board. He doesn’t necessarily need to get the rebound, just keep the Maryland big bodies away from the rim so Jannson, George, or one of our guards can get the rebound.
This game is winnable but we will need to shoot well and create open floor turnovers. I’m looking forward to it.
So if the transitive property could be applied to basketball, count us as a slight favorite. However, that isn’t the reality. Basketball is about matchups. We have the likely advantage at guard. But where we are deficient is in the paint. Maryland has two 6’ 10” guys that could give us fits. Bruno Fernando is big at 240 lbs. and averages 16 points and 8 rebounds. Jalen Smith is smaller at 215 and averages 14 and 8. Both get about 25 minutes.
We are really going to need for Bennett to keep out of foul trouble early and give us around 20 minutes. He will need to use his body to keep Fernando from getting the ball too low in the post. I have no clue what the spread will be but I’m guessing that Maryland will be favored, but not overwhelmingly so. Marshall is going to need to shoot well and defensively need to continue the havoc type turnovers they get from their guard play. West, Watson, and Burks are very good defensively, but Elmore is sneaky and crafty defensively. My fear in this matchup is that Maryland will get too many second and third chances with offensive boards. This is really where we will need IB to block out and keep Maryland off the board. He doesn’t necessarily need to get the rebound, just keep the Maryland big bodies away from the rim so Jannson, George, or one of our guards can get the rebound.
This game is winnable but we will need to shoot well and create open floor turnovers. I’m looking forward to it.
Thank you for taking my post, and re-writing it with charisma and charm. This is why you make the big bucks as one of WV's finest educators.
Honestly...I really didn’t pay much attention to your post. Great minds?
Edit to add...those who can, do, and those who can’t teach. Right?
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One additional suggestion, & an area I didn't think would need to be addressed - make your damn fouls shots! That will cost us some close ones if we underperform....jmo
"Edit to add...those who can, do, and those who can’t teach. Right?"
I would add to the above quote that those who "do" were taught by teachers !
I would add to the above quote that those who "do" were taught by teachers !
I agree. But many of the players missing shots were decent foul shooters last year. I think it will even out for them. Bennett has been the one that has really struggled that concerns me. I think his rotation is fine, but he certainly hasn’t found the mark yet. He doesn’t need to shoot 80% to be effective but needs to improve enough to keep opponents honest when they’re fouling on purpose at the end of a close game.
Looking at comparative scores is about as worthless as shaking a magic 8-ball to see whats going to happen.
Mt. St. Marys is not good, NC A&T is awful and neither we nor Maryland played starters the entire game. Those scores were the product of a good team getting ahead of a bad team and running the rest of the game out... I would maybe give a little more credence to Hofstra as a comparable, since they are pretty decent and the starters played the whole game, and in those games Marshall won by 4 and Maryland won by 11.
If I were guessing... I would bet Vegas makes Maryland a 5-7 point home favorite over us.
Mt. St. Marys is not good, NC A&T is awful and neither we nor Maryland played starters the entire game. Those scores were the product of a good team getting ahead of a bad team and running the rest of the game out... I would maybe give a little more credence to Hofstra as a comparable, since they are pretty decent and the starters played the whole game, and in those games Marshall won by 4 and Maryland won by 11.
If I were guessing... I would bet Vegas makes Maryland a 5-7 point home favorite over us.
Sam C, seems like you don’t know how statistics work.
Line should be Maryland by 9 points. I think Herd would be a good bet in that one.
Line should be Maryland by 9 points. I think Herd would be a good bet in that one.
