Women's Hoops Blog

Inane commentary on a game that deserves far better


Wednesday, March 21, 2007

The defending champs are finished. In an unbelievable game, Ole Miss took down the Terps.

The game was won -- and lost -- in the first half. The Rebs got into passing lanes and ran the floor. The Terps were careless and stupid, throwing the ball away 20 times, allowing the underdog to build a substantial lead.

Maryland staged a furious comeback in the second. Dominance on the offensive glass and timely shooting cut the lead to 6 with two minutes left. But then after getting a stop, Maryland couldn't get the board. Doron committed a dumb foul. The lead was back to 8. Time ran out.

"We just felt like we were so much better than this team," said Doron. "It was just a matter of us playing so bad, and we just had to flip it over. . . . We just dug ourselves in too much a hole."

It's still hard to figure out what went wrong. Maryland is a fabulously talented team. It returned just about everyone from last year. But this year, it never came together the same way.

Too much confidence? Too much pressure? Subtraction by addition?

Maybe it's just that in March, it only takes one bad game to end a season.