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| Will They Repeat? Written by David Munn Maryland's chances of repeating next year won't be great. Their four seniors will have to step up big for them. They will have a pretty strong inside game with up and coming seniors Tajh Holden Brian Randle. They will also get the 6'9" All-American power forward Travis Garrison. Their guards won't be very bad either. They will have Steve Blake and Drew Nicholas in the back-court. Nicholas is a great shooter and along with Tahj Holden, he is capable of being a dominant scorer. Steve Blake will still need to distribute the ball, but the team needs him to step up the scoring. He's a pretty good shooter and can take it to the hole. He will need to do it more next year. Maryland is also getting the 6'4" guard Chris McCray. McCray and Garrison have been best friends since they were 11 so they should play well together. Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles have shown us how important good chemistry is to a team's success. People compare Garrison to Danny Ferry because of his ability to score from the low post and hit the midrange jumper. People compare McCray to Juan Dixon. He can absolutely sky to the hole and is deadly from beyond the arc. Maryland will be lacking a go to scorer next year, like they had in Juan Dixon or Lonny Baxter. Most people think Blake will need to step up the most. I think he just needs to find his game and play it. He needs to work on his decisions on the floor. If he keeps making plays and adding to his assist record, he should emerge as one of the top PGs in the country. I think the X factors for Maryland next year will be Tajh Holden and Drew Nicholas. Tajh Holden started at the beginning of the season this year and he can score. In addition, Drew Nicholas took some big shots, which demonstrates the confidence Maryland needs to get back to the Final Four. If he continues to do that next year, he may become a leader on the Maryland squad. However, all seniors will have to play big next year. After losing Chris Wilcox and Lonny Baxter, their young frontcourt will need to come up big. Although those are some big shoes to fill, all they really need to do is rebound and play solid D. Maryland will still be one of the ACC's top teams. Duke shouldn't be as strong as they were this year. Mike Dunleavy Jr. entered the NBA draft but he may play for Duke if he is not picked by the "right team." Although neither Maryland nor Duke will be as strong as they were this year, they will still be on top of the ACC. Maryland has significantly improved their scouting. They continue to get better, so in years to come, look for Maryland to be back on top. Although Maryland is getting one All-American, they have proved that they can win with out a single high school All-American on their Championship team this year. They are the only team to win a National Championship without a high school All-American since the high school All-American team was created in 1978. |