Maryland’s men’s basketball team has done it to me again. I came into their matchup against Indiana thinking they had righted the ship on offense after the last three games. Anyone paying attention to the game knows their opponents weren’t exactly world-beaters, but sometimes you just have to see the ball go in the bucket to build confidence in your offensive execution.
Unfortunately, it appears that hitting the reset button against a few creampuffs was not enough to break Maryland out of their funk. I’m writing this at the under 12 timeout of the 2nd half against Indiana where the Terps are down by 21 points. I repeat, 21 points. There’s so many adjectives appropriate to describe this but the one I keep falling back to is “depressing.”
So who should fans look to in order to place their blame for the early season struggles? The first name anyone should jump to is Donta Scott. The Super Senior has continued a career of mediocrity that infuriates anyone who is aware of just how much potential he possessed. Had Scott become what I feel like he was capable of becoming he could’ve been a potential 1st-Team All Big Ten type of player and attracted a lot of NBA scouts. Instead, he has 2 points on 1-8 shooting with 3 rebounds and 1 assist with 8 minutes remaining in the game now. That’s never gonna cut it from a captain.
The second name is a painful one for me to say, Kevin Willard. I was one of the loudest proponents of Willard after seeing the exciting brand of ball be brought in his first season. Now in year two, the confidence and joy I felt watching all of last season has been brought back to an all-too-familiar feeling of pure pessimism.
After loudly calling for the head of former coach Mark Turgeon, I promised that I would be just as critical of his replacement should it be necessary. This has not been a pleasant start to the season for the Terps, and Willard has to wear it. Unlike the NBA where the players are the most important aspect, coaches hold a ton of influence in college. Willard has to figure this out and quickly because he’s the most influential piece of the puzzle. I’m not ready to say I’m off the bandwagon, but this is heading down a Turgeon-esque path and it would be irresponsible of me to ignore it.
This program needs to be better because it’s supposed to be better. There’s too many reasons that should create the chance for a dominant program in College Park. Unless our fearless and fiery leader can figure out a fix to the offensive struggles it won’t be long until the entire fanbase sours on the Willard experience.
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