This is your Morning Commute. Make the jump for more links.
Yesterday, I planned my entire day around the Terps game. I set dinner with my girlfriend so I could have time to drive out to College Park and watch it with my former roommates who still live there. I was very excited. But about midway through the second half, I could barely watch. I was doing the "hand in front of my face, but with my fingers apart so I could still watch" thing.
This was a tough game to watch for a few reasons. First of all, the Terps can't make a jump shot. Notice I said "can't" instead of "couldn't," because this was not limited to just this game. Then, there was Duke's perimeter shooting which made Maryland's perimeter defense look terrible, and embarrassed Maryland's offense.
But this one was really hard to watch because Duke was just a better team. There weren't any extenuating circumstances to blame for Maryland losing, they just simply lost.
They played with pretty good effort. Of course you can always play harder, but I felt that they wanted to win this game. They didn't get jobbed by the refs, even though it felt that way sometimes. I wish there was something I could blame this loss on, because that makes it so much easier to swallow. But this one just falls on the Terps.
When Maryland and Duke took the court last night, it was a true measure of their ability as teams. And Duke proved that they are leaps and bounds above them. I'm not sure how the Terps get better. There aren't a lot of players on the team capable of doing the things the Terps lacked last night. So this might no be their year. But with everything else out the window, the Terps just weren't good enough to compete last night.
Must reads from around the SB Nation network:
- Don't take my word for it. Testudo Times has a full recap.
- Hogs Haven takes a look at how the Franchise Tag may be used around the league.
- Scott Boras explains Jayson Werth's enormous contract, from Federal Baseball.