A Look Back At Thursday

Over the last few years there has been a lot of talk about the Basketball Gods and LeBron James kicked in in a way by nominating himself for basketball's Mount Rushmore.

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But who are the Basketball Gods? We'd like to suggest that the spirits of Red Auerbach, Bill Russell, Jerry West, Michael Jordan, Willis Reed, Phil Jackson, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson are the Olympian figures of the sport. Charles Barkley can be the Falstaffian figure and Earl Manigault can be Pan, as in half-wild and half trickster.

Whoever they are, the Basketball Gods were clearly not amused with Maryland this season. They've tormented the Terps relentlessly, knocking balls off of rims and dangling games close enough to be taken before yanking them back. But rarely have they been crueler than in Maryland's last trip to Greensboro.

Boris Bojanovsky, Florida State's 7-3 center, is built like an extra tall 16-year-old. It's going to take him years to catch up to his body. His legs are so skinny that they look like a drawing from Beavis and Butthead.

Yet there he was, with 0.4 on the clock, flushing the dunk that would end Maryland's ACC membership, that would possibly end the Terp's season, that would have them back on the bus home to College Park and on to the Big Ten.

John Feinstein, as far as we have seen, had the definitive piece on Maryland's loss and sad farewell to the ACC, which we'll get back to in a minute.

This game ended with real anger and frustration for the Terps. Dez Wells had to be brought back out to the handshake line. And Turgeon, according to Feinstein, kept saying, over and over again, "point-four seconds." It reminded us a bit of Jerry Tarkanian in 1991, after losing to Duke, and muttering "Augmon, f****ng nothing. Eackles f****ng nothing."

Whether it's the Basketball Gods or Karma or just plain bad luck, Maryland's final ACC season has been a lot like many recently: mediocre and unfulfilling.

Now it's off to the Big Ten, which is bringing in Maryland and also Rutgers.

Rutgers, playing transitionally this year in the AAC, had an astonishing game against Louisville, losing 91-32. Louisville could have declined to shoot at all in the second half and still would have won by 27 (halftime score was 58-16).

Pretty clearly it's not Duke or UNC, but the Terps will get them next year.

Meanwhile, Louisville will slide over to the ACC, taking Maryland's spot and bringing a higher standard of excellence.

We'd have been very happy to continue on with Maryland in the ACC, but since that can't happen, there's no reason not to improve yourself.

Back to Feinstein, who wrapped his article with this incredible comment from Chuck Walsh, who used to be the Maryland SID but who now has the same job with FSU: "I guess the only thing left to do is go take their banner down."

In Thursday's other games, Pittsburgh just annihilated Wake Forest, 84-55. If Jeff Bzdelik was hoping for some Greensboro-based vindication, he lost whatever he gained when Wake beat Notre Dame. Wake Forest was just awful.

SI.com reported on Thursday night that Steve Donahue would return next season as B.C.'s coach. Bzdelik has not yet been fired, but he's become even more unpopular among Wake fans. Another year won't change that much.

Miami, using a variety of defenses, managed to keep TJ Warren under 30, but he still scored 24 on 9-18 shooting.

Miami can finish no worse than .500, and that's if they get a bid to the NIT or the CBI. It's a remarkable achievement really for a team that lost everyone of consequence from last year.