The Starting Five

Let’s look at two words by definition.

*Throw – To propel something through the air by movement of an arm or hand. Example: “I threw a brick through the window (or backboard, for our purposes).

*Shoot – To take aim at a target while kicking, launching or hitting a ball in an attempt to score a goal or point.

Now with that in mind, which of these best defined Saturday’s Georgia Tech-Maryland basketball game, especially as it pertained to the Terrapins.

Need help? Well, Maryland shot (threw?) 31 percent for the game, including a 10-for-40 performance (25 percent) in the first half.

Maryland looked like it was at a wedding reception instead of a basketball game. At least if the Terps were throwing (shooting) rice, they would have hit something … maybe.

It was amazing watching the Terps as they shot (threw) against Georgia Tech, which had its own issues on offense. Rarely did it seem like Maryland shooters would square up to shoot (throw). Many times, shots (throws) were just thrown (shot) in the general direction of the basket.

From my living room (and I admit, I was not at the game), Maryland never ran an offensive pattern to create a shot. Many attempts came off of one pass and a shot – like center Dave Neal shooting (throwing) a 3-pointer at a 1-of-7 success rate – or point guard Greivis Vasquez trying to create his own shot (throw).

It wasn’t the type of shooting (throwing) effort that will win many ACC games.

But then, there was Georgia Tech, which committed 28 turnovers, 17 of them in the first half to keep the Terps in the game. Those bobbles negated all the work the Yellow Jackets did on the inside to get the lead.

So Maryland got a shot (throw) to grab a win.

And Georgia Tech probably got a dictionary of its own to look up “possession” and “carelessness.”

In summary, Georgia Tech threw away all chances to win and the Terps tried to shoot themselves in the foot and luckily missed.