March 14, 2004

(For Maryland) . . . a better victory in the ACC tournament was probably never. Wha? Maryland defeats NC State 85-82, tying a tournament record by overcoming a 19 point second half deficit. It was a good game, but I'm surprised it broke a record. What would you take if the over/under for greatest half time comeback in Final Four history was set at 15 points? How about if the all time men's Division I comeback was set at 30 points? These answers and more at the NCAA record book site.

posted by danostuporstar to basketball at 12:53 AM - 12 comments

Holy Crap, Maryland won that!?! I switched off that one at half figuring it was all over but the crying. I should have known better, it's March. Best I ever saw was the '94 Kentucky/LSU game where Kentucky came back from 31 down (thanks to dano's link for the fact check on the numbers) in the second half with 15 mins left. Was unbelievable watching that.

posted by pivo at 01:42 AM on March 14, 2004

The most impressive one in the books was New Mexico State trailing 28-0 to start the game (in '77), before beating Bradley by eight points.

posted by jackhererra at 12:00 PM on March 14, 2004

Slightly OT, but on the theme of idiot announcers, could Dick Vitale and Mike Patrick be any worse? Mike Patrick just said that's why Duke is so tough, if Reddick is off, Ewing can step up Really Mike, so you're telling me Duke is good because they have a lot of good players? Thanks for the cutting edge analysis. And Vitale just said How much fun is it watching Duke make their move Duke didn't score for 3:30 afterwards. And BTW, Dick, since I hate Duke it's not fun at all. Seriously, Vitale and Patrick need to dial down the Duke cheerleading by a couple notches.

posted by Mike McD at 02:12 PM on March 14, 2004

Let's Go Maryland! Let's Go maryland! TERPS TERPS TERP!!!!!!! I am so happy!!!!! :)

posted by scully at 05:32 PM on March 14, 2004

Well earned. Gilchrist was a stud and should have earned tournament MVP even if JJ had come through on the game-winner. Hope the Terps carry the ACC banner well with their four seed; I'm tempted at this point to call them a team of destiny and mark them through to the FF.

posted by tieguy at 06:49 PM on March 14, 2004

Maryland so did not deserve a 4 seed Signed, A Pissed Off Big 10 Fan

posted by gyc at 07:21 PM on March 14, 2004

Talk to me when your conference is ranked higher than fifth by Sagarin.
Signed, A Smug ACC Fan [Seriously, Wisconsin did get screwed, but your beef should be more with Providence, Florida, Syracuse, or particularly Illinois than with a team that beat a #1, a #3, and a #4 to win the ACC title, and which has beaten 9 top 50 Sagarin teams during the season. Wisconsin, by comparison, has beaten 2 top 50 Sagarin teams all year.]

posted by tieguy at 09:20 PM on March 14, 2004

Fear the turtle!!!

posted by Mike McD at 09:40 PM on March 14, 2004

BTW, spofi Total Trash Talk Tourney Bracket is now available for people to join.

posted by tieguy at 09:46 PM on March 14, 2004

What tieguy said. Maryland earned their ranking. In addition to the stats tieguy mentioned, Maryland also beat Florida when they were #1, beat Wisconsin when they were #15, beat North Carolina when they were #9, beat North Carolina State when they were ranked #14. In their last 5 games Maryland beat NC State twice, beat Wake Forest (when they were #14), and beat Duke (a number 1 seed in this years NCAA). As the the chairman of the NCAA men's basketball committee, Bob Bowlsby, said: "I'm not sure if there is anyone playing better basketball than Maryland right now in the country. I think people have great respect for Gary Williams and the job he does at Maryland. There was some consideration given, obviously, to the strength of the ACC. It was a terrific league this year. There isn't any doubt about that. It's going to get anybody's attention when a team plays its way through arguably the toughest conference there is." FEAR THE TURTLE!!!

posted by scully at 07:31 AM on March 15, 2004

NB: one cold night by Gilchrist and the Terps are toast.

posted by tieguy at 07:41 AM on March 15, 2004

Dear Maryland: Hello from the Sweet 16. Hope you enjoyed your bus ride back home. Sincerely, Illinois

posted by gyc at 05:18 PM on March 24, 2004

You're not logged in. Please log in or register.