Maryland Preview

I remember the game with Maryland last year at the Assembly Hall, and it was a tough loss for the Illini, to lose their winning streak against non-conference opponents. Greivis Vasquez was incredibly tough for the Terrapins in that game, and it was a key victory for Maryland in their comeback year to return to the NCAA tourney.

This year they have less experience, having lost three seniors from last year, DJ Strawberry, Ekene Ibekwe and Mike Jones. They have two sophomore guards returning, Vasquez and Eric Hayes, a point guard. Vasquez is a guy who drives to the hoop or shoots, and Hayes is a traditional point guard. Their front line includes James Gist, who is a 6-8 forward who is an athletic scorer, and Bambale Osby, a big 6-8 250 pound forward and Landon Milbourne, a 6-7 forward. Coming off the bench are Braxton Dupree, Adrian Bowie, Cliff Tucker and Dave Neal.

For the Illini, they are likely to go with a deep rotation of players, based on recent comments from Coach Weber. Brian Randle is expected to play, and either Trent Meacham or Calvin Brock will start at shooting guard.

The biggest challenges for the Illini in this game:

1. Dealing with the crowd in the first tough road game of the young season.
2. Avoiding long scoring lapses similar to last season. We need dependable scorers.
3. Finding someone to match up with Vasquez, the 6-5 shooting guard from Venezuela.

While Randle, Brock or Alexander may be up to the task, Maryland normally plays two guards and three forwards, making match-ups tricky for the Illini. Basically if Randle takes Vasquez, we will have a guard on one of their big forwards, not a good match-up. If we go with three guards, we may also suffer on defense. I think Illinois needs to play only two guards against Maryland and avoid bad match-ups. Brock should be able to match up with Vasquez for part of the game, and they can try McCamey as well.