Diamondback Blogs

The Terp men’s lacrosse team has already played on two days or less rest three times this season.

The No. 9 Terps have responded well, winning all three games, two of which were bounce-back games after losses.

And the flurry of early season action is no accident, according to coach Dave Cottle. He said the schedule was designed to benefit his young team.

“We had to teach our guys how to play first and be able to adjust on the fly,” Cottle said. “Now we’re getting into the preparation phase a little bit.”

The Terps are finished with mid-week games, and they have at least six days between games for the remainder of the regular season.

But that doesn’t mean they’ll get a break. The Terps (5-2) are about to hit the part of their schedule that sees them play top-10 teams in four consecutive weekends, starting Saturday at No. 5 North Carolina.

Cottle said his team needs the time to prepare. He stressed that playing teams that are so evenly matched makes preparing for each game supremely important.

After Sunday afternoon’s home win against Air Force, the coaches spent part of the evening breaking down film on North Carolina. While the players got Monday off from playing after a pair of weekend games, they spent time that day watching film as well.

Not exactly Academy Award-winning viewing but nearly as much of a reward for the Terps at this point in the season.

“We played so many games on short rest, we look forward to having the luxury of a full week to prepare,” Cottle said.

edetweilerdbk@gmail.com

As predicted in Friday’s paper, the Terrapin women’s basketball team will be headed to Spokane, barring another early round upset.

But, as predicted by practically nobody, the Terps won’t be going as a No. 2 seed.

The Terps–not Stanford–were named the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament’s Spokane region tonight, one of the biggest surprises of Selection Monday.

The Terps thought they had left their hopes of a top seed behind in Greensboro last week when they lost to Duke in the ACC semifinals, but their early-season body of work was apparently good enough to carry them to a No. 1.

They will play Coppin State in the first round on Sunday.

Coach Brenda Fraser (as Selection Show host Trey Wingo called her) had been hyping the Terps’ bulked-up out-of-conference schedule all season, and apparently it paid off.

Selection Committee chairwoman Judy Southard, appearing on the show, cited the Terps’ strength of schedule as a deciding factor.

Assuming they get past the Eagles, the Terps will play either No. 8 Nebraska or No. 9 Xavier on Tuesday.

The No. 2 Cardinal, feeling snubbed, and No. 3 Baylor lurk on the bottom half of the Spokane bracket.

At first glance, there doesn’t appear to be any reason why the Terps can’t make it back to the Final Four this year.

In other news, Terp fans will get another chance to heckle Duke when the No.3 Blue Devils play their Oklahoma City region first round game against No. 14 Murray State at Comcast Center on Sunday.

Oklahoma City’s No. 6 Arizona State and No. 11 Temple will also be playing at Comcast.

Let the games begin.

schimmeldbk@gmail.com

At least one Terps team got the job done down in North Carolina this weekend. The Terrapin baseball team beat Wake Forest 8-2, behind a complete game, one earned-run performance from sophomore starting pitcher Scott Swinson. It’s the first complete game thrown by a Terps pitcher since 2004.

Obviously, this could be a big lift for the Terps as they look to win this weekend’s series against Wake. If the Terps want to reach the ACC Tournament in Jacksonville, Fla., the Demon Deacons are a team they are going to have to beat. But this is also a big lift for Swinson, the George Washington University transfer and the Terps No. 1 starter.

“I was able to locate everything, unlike the past two starts,” said Swinson, who threw first-pitch strikes to 20 of the 34 batters he faced. “I was dissapointed because I wasn’t throwing like I should, but I made some adjustments with [pitching] coach Farr. Today was probably my best outing so far.”

The Terps look to carry over today’s momentum to Saturday’s game, scheduled for a 1 p.m. start time.

akrautdbk@gmail.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Well, for your Terp fans desperate for any possible good vibes, here’s one:

Outside of Charlotte Bobcats Arena is a big videoboard, which has been reliving ACC moments from the past years. As I was driving to the media parking lot, the highlights being shown were from the 2004 ACC Tournament championship game.

I saw the second-half highlights, where John Gilchrist complete took over and the Terps came back to force overtime and then beat Duke.

So… good vibes? Maybe. Coincidence? Probably.

zuckermandbk@gmail.com

A Crummey Pro Day
Guard Andrew Crummey had a short Pro Day workout.

The All-ACC performer fractured his left leg in January’s East-West Shrine Game, and he wasn’t able to compete in any of the Pro Day events except the bench press — the first event — as a result.

Crummey was at one time considered one of the elite offensive guards in the country. But the injury coupled with a fractured fibula during last season have hurt his draft stock and made it tough for him to improve things. When I spoke to him, Crummey was clearly upset in not being able to compete.

“It’s definitely hurt [my draft stock]. It’s definitely a mark next to my name,” Crummey said. “But it doesn’t end my status, it doesn’t stop me from getting drafted. I lose a little of prestige, a little ground. But it’ll heal. In the long term, it’s not an issue.”

I talked to Crummey about what he might be doing for the draft. He admitted his plans have changed some with the injury.

“If I hadn’t got hurt, maybe. What I’ll probably have is just some family and friends back in Ohio,” Crummey said. “It’ll be decent-sized for me, but it’ll be small compared to some other guys.”

Crummey is a proven veteran in the trenches, but he is nearly completely unknown in workouts. It should provide an interesting draft saga to watch for over the course of the next month-plus.

Styles Upon Styles
The 40-yard dash workouts in Cole Field House wound up being more like a compression-shorts fashion show.

Cornerback Isaiah Gardner had a particularly unique set. He meshed silver with black in a futuristic blend. The black fabric had ripples of silver all around the back. It made him look even faster than his team-best 4.41 time would indicate.

Tight end Jason Goode had a nice pair of silver track shoes too.

After leaving Cole for the practice field and positional drills, most of the players threw on some Under Armour sweatshirts and pants to better cover themselves.

But safety Christian Varner had other things in mind — other sources of motivation. He threw on a blue Superman hoodie as he stretched and jogged before his drills came up, a la Dwight Howard in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest.

Tough Drills
One common theme after the position drills was a bunch of exhausted players.

In particular, defensive linemen Dre Moore and Carlos Feliciano took on some difficult tasks. At the end of their session, they did a pass-rushing drill that apparently got the best of both.

Moore was so out of breath he asked me to wait 5 minutes so he could catch his breath. And as I finally started interviewing him, Feliciano began vomiting just three feet away. Other players seemed utterly exhausted after their drills as well.

ajosephdbk@gmail.com