Tobacco Road Report

By Michael

In our preview of this game we said that the priority for the Terrapins was to slow down Butler's production from the three point arc. Evidentally, this is easier said than done. Butler made 12 of 26 from deep on their way to a 62-59 victory that sends them to their second sweet-16 since 2003.

Maryland did most of what they needed to do to win this one. They controlled the glass, rebounding 76 percent of Butler's misses and grabbing 50 percent of their offensive rebound opportunities. They were effective inside with Ibekwe and Gist getting 21 points and 6 blocks between them. And Mike Jones got going offensively, scoring 21 points and hitting 5 of 6 three point attempts. All this resulted in an EFG of 53 percent and 1.0 point per possession.

However, the Terrapins turned the ball over 17 times to Butler's 12 and let Butler get off from deep. Half of Butler's field goal attempts were from three, and their excellent rate of conversion led to an EFG of 56 percent and 1.04 points per possession.

Maryland bigs didn't do a good enough job of showing on pick-and-rolls and I didn't like how the defense collapsed on drives in the paint. I thought Maryland should have stayed at home more on defense even if it meant giving up a few open looks inside. Offensively, Vasquez and Strawberry never looked in sync. The duo only scored 14 points on 5 of 15 shooting.

That said, Maryland had a chance to win this one. The Terrapins only hit 7 of 15 free throw attempts and Butler had some basketball karma on its side. Some of the threes -- including the ultra deep bomb by Crone -- seemed to have a remote guidance system in place.

In the final analysis, credit Butler for out-executing the Terrapins and credit the Terrapins for salvaging their season with an excellent second half run. Not advancing to the sweet-16 in the tournament hurts now, but a tournament bid and first round victory looked like pie-in-the-sky talk just one month ago.