Brenda Frese Under Fire......Really??????

After 1-seed Maryland's loss to Jeff Walz's 3-seed Louisville in the NCAA Tournament, many fans and writers are questioning Frese's ability to coach during that game. The main point was on the zone defense and how it not only did not stop Louisville but also did not change, so the Cardinals were able to take advantage of it. But this is not the only time Frese's coaching has come into question, and many are continuing after this game. Rick Maese of the Baltimore Sun wrote a column about it plus message boards are talking about it too.

Apparently Maryland fans are not happy with a women's basketball coach who got the first ACC title in the sport in 20 years. Not happy with a national championship and two elite eights in the past four years, with that national title happening with a starting lineup of all non-seniors. Or a 31-5 record this season that included two wins each against Duke, North Carolina, and Virginia. Or not losing a game in the Comcast Center in the last two seasons. Or constant top-10 recruiting classes.

I agree that there are certainly some questions to stem from that game. But Louisville was a great team from the Big East with a first-team All-American a coach that knew Maryland's best players very well. It is very hard to be entirely ready when the opposing coach who used to be Frese's right hand man knows the heart and soul of the team while the other does not have such a luxury.

Coming into this season, Maryland had the difficult task of replacing Crystal Langhorne and Laura Harper from the starting the lineup plus Jade Perry and Ashleigh Newman from the bench. Lynetta Kizer and Dee Liles both had very slow starts, but eventually Liles became a huge player down the stretch and key in the Maryland frontcourt. Anjale Barrett started to come into her own as a point guard. And Kristi Toliver and Marissa Coleman had great seasons, both getting to be All-Americans. This team did something that Langhorne and Harper could not, win a conference title. Frese may have had some difficulties with coaching, but she did a great job all season molding this team considering its options.

Also consider what happened to the conference during the tournament. 1-seed Duke, 3-seed UNC, 3-seed Florida State, 5-seed Virginia, and 7-seed Georgia Tech were all gone before the Sweet 16. No ACC team other than Maryland went past that mark. None. Maryland almost had a slip up in the Sweet 16 against 4-seed Vanderbilt, but Marissa Coleman took over and Maryland won. That is a coaching aspect too; when you need a win a team needs to rely on its stars and not panic, and that is what Maryland did. This is a team that did great things, and Frese deserves a lot of credit, not attacks.

Obviously it is disappointing that Maryland did not reach the Final Four and have a chance at Oklahoma or Connecticut, but this was a great season, and Frese did a wonderful job with this team. This program has won 13 NCAA Tournament games in the last four years plus a national title. Congratulations to the Maryland women's basketball team, good luck to Kristi Toliver and Marissa Coleman, and we will see the rest of the team next year.

(Photo credit: AP)

Okay So... Orioles Now, Huh?

It seems like Maryland sports did us good these last few months, which if you had asked me in December I thought we would have the most active spring training analysis out there. The lack of which was a result of all the other great achievements that pushed the upcoming 60-70 win season to the backburner. While we are all in mourning over the Lady Terps’ fall in the Elite Eight, let’s appreciate the run that they made and the excitement that the men’s team gave us in miraculously making the tournament and upsetting Cal in the first round.

However, I have to say a bit about the Louisville game last night. When a team gets accustomed to coming from behind like Maryland had this NCAA tournament, fans will wait and wait for that big run to come. A few times I thought it was there- when Krisit Toliver made a three pointer followed up by the supporting cast putting together a nifty layup. At the end of the day, a team’s stars have to come through and make the plays to create momentum and take the game over. The Cardinals did an excellent job of stifling Toliver and Coleman for the most part and forcing the other role players to keep the Terps in the game. And they did, for the most part. The intensity however was clearly on the side of the Cardinals and every time Maryland looked to make a run Louisville didn’t flinch. I don’t know how much the variety of defenses Louisville threw at Maryland was the result of their Coach Jeff Walz’s tutelage at the hands of Brenda Frese, but it was effective. This was a terrible way for Marissa Coleman and Kristi Toliver to end their careers at Maryland, that is all I can say.

Now I suppose, with about a week left until Opening Day, we are finally compelled to turn our eyes to the Orioles and the disastrous starting rotation, the Matt Wieters-watch, and look once again for improvement. It seemed like last year we entered the season with the same sort of patience, but fans quickly grew restless when the expected outcome actually came to pass. Fans said before the season that they knew the Orioles would be awful but were happy with the direction it was going; they were essentially told it would get worse before it got better. And yet as the trade deadline approached there were many Baltimore fans who wanted the Orioles to make a move; to add a bat to strengthen the middle of the lineup or make a push for a high quality shortstop. This year could even be worse than last year if the pitching staff plays to most people’s (not mine) expectations. Let’s hope that patience keeps up this time around.

The most exciting and most hyped part of this season (both locally and nationally) is the arrival of Matt Wieters in Baltimore sometime this summer. He is being hailed as the next Longoria, or even more incredible- the best catcher in the American League (yes, including Joe Mauer)! We often forget how young Wieters is and how much development he may need- hitting against real major leaguers is much different than spring training or AA work, and catching against some of the smartest hitters in the game is a tremendous challenge for a rookie catcher. Look, I am certain he will do well in the long run, but how will fans react if he is hitting .220 a month into his time with the O’s? I don’t think it will happen, but if he does struggle the fan base will have to restrain themselves and keep up the patience a bit longer.

Since the last baseball season ended for the Orioles, we have seen Joe Flacco lead last year’s 6-10 club to the AFC Championship game. We have also seen the Maryland football team play erratically game to game en route to a Boise, Idaho bowl win. The Men’s basketball team disappointed then massively improved to squeak into the NCAA tournament, and the Women’s team played out of their minds until coughing it up in the Elite Eight. And of course along the way Maryland soccer picked up a national championship. All of the teams we closely follow here on ATH made the postseason, something rather incredible considering how negative the news seems at the time. Now we enter a season that seems slated to test our resolve for rebuilding. Whether we like it or not it’s Orioles time, brace yourself.

Lady Terps Aim For the Final Four

On the women's side of the NCAA Tournament, the 1-seed Lady Terps are one game away from the Final Four in the Raleigh Bracket. At 7:00 PM they will go against 3-seed Louisville for a trip to St. Louis.

Against 4-seed Vanderbilt, Maryland nearly blew it, going down 18 points early. But Marissa Coleman took over, scoring a clear career high 42 points and the Terps got the lead just in time, winning 78-74 over the Commodores. This was the second straight year the Lady Terps defeated Vanderbilt in the Sweet 16. Last year they lost to Stanford in the Spokane bracket, this time they face Louisville in the Raleigh.

Louisville has a very big weapon, their head coach Jeff Walz. Coach Walz was Maryland's primary assistant to Brenda Frese just two years ago and was a key recruiter of the 2006 National Championship team. Most of the current Maryland players that were recruited during Walz's time in College Park still talk to him and even attended a Louisville game this season. These players include Marissa Coleman and Kristi Toliver. Although Walz did not recruit a few of Maryland's key players, including the down low players Lynetta Kizer and Dee Liles, Coleman and Toliver are the main players on this team. It will be interesting to see if this relationship is a big factor.

The game tonight is at 7:00 PM. The winner goes to the Final Four, and the Terps are looking to defend their one seed.

(Photo credit: AP)