BALTIMORE, Maryland February 16, 2016 - He can't change his mind. But Maryland Coach Mark Turgeon should not have suspended Diamond Stone for Thursday's game at Minnesota. I know a lot of people will praise Turgeon for putting the school's reputation above the interests of his basketball team. In fact, they already have. The university and its athletic director supported Turgeon. Vitto Brown supported Turgeon. Turgeon called Badger coach Greg Gard, and Gard said he supported Turgeon. The conference also supported Turgeon. There is some reason to believe that the Big Ten would have taken some action if Maryland had not. But I think it was a mistake all of the way around. I believe that if any action were taken, it should have been a first half benching during Thursday's game at Minnesota. In the long run, the school's reputation will not benefit if Stone feels betrayed and leaves, not for the NBA, but for another school, come the end of the season. I don't think anything Stone did was that serious, at least not in the big scheme of things.
There were less than five seconds left in the first half when Stone and Brown became entangled and fell to the floor. Then Stone pushed Brown's face to the floor. No punches were thrown and no blood was let. There were no injuries. Stone was called for a flagrant foul and Wisconsin's Charlie Thomas, who came to Brown's assistance, was also 'T'd up'. Both teams ended up shooting two free throws, and then the half came to an end. Nothing happened in the second half, and with these two teams, nobody even thought anything would happen.
Before the suspension, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Stone telephoned Brown and apologized. Brown said "You could sense the sincerity in his voice. He is young. He is a freshman in a big role at a big university.
"I understand that the emotions can get to you," Brown added. It's no big deal for me."
I bet. He isn't suspended. He had a great game, a game no one expected from him, as he hit a number of three-point shots in a big game for the first time in his career. Stone, also, played well, but Maryland lost at home to a team they had beaten on the road.
Maryland's Athletic Director, Kevin Anderson, called Wisconsin AD Barry Alvarez. That should have been the end of it.
Were I Turgeon, I'd have called John Thompson, Sr., if he was available, to ask what he would've done. If he wasn't, I'd have called someone else who could put themselves into that scenario and offer advice. Were Thompson available, he might have asked these questions before voicing his opinion:
What was the lead-up to the fracas? I'm willing to bet the films will show Stone was being banged real good by Vitto Brown and other Badgers. Stone is a highly recruited freshman and budding superstar. If he was being banged without the officials intervening - and who would be surprised by that? - that must be taken into consideration. Or, maybe, just maybe, the officials did see what led up to it. They have been criticized for not ejecting Stone. One would think there was a reason that Stone wasn't tossed. In the end, Maryland and Wisconsin received basically the same penalty. The officials did not remove Stone from the game. They obviously saw Stone play before the double technical. They saw the replays of the incident. They did not remove either player and they did not act only against Stone; they believed that both Stone and Wisconsin were equally responsible. If the rest of the team agrees with Stone and thinks Turgeon is going way too far, what will this do to team unity? As I wrote yesterday, I believe the Minnesota game has become one of the most important of the season. Maryland played poorly at season's end last year. They desperately want to avoid that same finish to this season. A losing streak will not help and may hurt those necessary goals. Maryland has sunk to 6th in the new AP Poll, from no. 2 last week, when they also received over a dozen first place votes. They can get back into the AP top 5 and earn a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament with determined and successful play from here on out. Winning the Big Ten Tournament is a huge but reachable goal. A sweet 16 finish is a must. A final four finish is within reach also if they can play to their potential. In fact, Maryland is potentially the national champion. The key word, of course, is potentially. Maryland is not a sure thing. Even though their team defense has improved dramatically - before Saturday's home loss to Wisconsin - since early in the season, they do have a weakness. The Terps have shown the sad ability to go cold from the outside as a team. They must learn to handle this. I don't know how Turgeon is handling this. I hope the guys who are expected to hit from the outside, especially in crunch time, are getting in a lot of extra shooting practice. I hope they are studying films to see if there is a technique issue. Jared Nickens seems to speed up his shot under pressure. So does Trimble. I hope they know that when they go cold from the outside they need to slow down in a set offense and try to get the ball inside to Stone and Robert Carter, Sr. I never thought I'd say this, but Damonte Dodd is showing promise in the mid-range.
What is to be learned from this? I suppose the answer is that Maryland players cannot push an opponent's face into the floor. I hope, for Turgeon's sake, that the other players learn the lesson really well, because if another Maryland player acts in self-defense in a tournament game, will he, too, be suspended? I don't believe that Stone was on thin ice for this type of incident. There is no way I need to know the answer to this and I hope Turgeon keeps it all in-house. But assuming Stone has no history, how does a first time offense, when no punches were thrown, no blood was let and no one was hurt, earn this type of penalty?
I think Greg Gard, the Badger coach, told the Wisconsin players to do everything in their power to get under Stone's skin. I bet they practiced it. I wouldn't blame them if they did. Was this taken into consideration by Turgeon in determining the freshman's penalty? The penalty imposed had to be the most severe that was under consideration. What lesser penalties were considered? How did they arrive at a full game suspension as the penalty for an incident in the lead up to the tournaments. Let's see: handle a whole lot of pressure really well, but after taking a lot of grief all season, make one mistake and get paraded around publicly like you really really screwed up.
I really hope Turgeon didn't do this because he thinks Maryland will win the Minnesota game without Stone. As I reported yesterday, Minnesota is playing well and is losing to really good teams on the road by a couple of points. Thursday they will be at home in front of a national television audience. It might be an ambush. And Maryland won't have Diamond Stone, an increasingly important weapon on the low post, in the middle of a team-wide shooting slump.
I'm not approving of Stone's behavior. I believe Turgeon should have spoken to him and laid down the rules. If it happens a second time under similar circumstances, action would have to be taken. What was wrong with a first-half benching for a first time offense? (To be honest, I think even that would be too much.) Turgeon knows if he can get through to Stone about how serious he thinks the action was. If he is getting through, then I believe Turgeon should not have done what he did. He might have come in for criticism from the politically correct crowd. He would still have the backing of his players. I bet Rasheed Sulaimon and Melo Trimble would have let Stone know that there is too much at stake to risk it on something stupid.
It's just my opinion. I am fully supportive of Turgeon, who looks like a better and better choice as head coach with each passing day. I hope Stone isn't adversely affected. I hope Maryland wins going away in Minnesota and Stone returns for the following game and has a great game. I hope Maryland starts hitting their open shots. I hope they win all of their remaining games.
But I am merely an alumni and a fan.
Five Big Ten Teams In AP Top 25, With Two Other Teams Getting a Lot of Votes. As stated above, Maryland slipped to no. 6 in the current AP poll. Iowa, however, remained at no. 4. Michigan State is tied with Xavier at no. 8. Purdue is up one spot to no. 17 and Big Ten co-leader Indiana returns to the poll at no. 22.
Two other Big Ten Teams are among the dozen-plus schools receiving votes for the top 25, without getting quite enough to crack the top 25. Wisconsin, which stunned then-no. 2 Maryland at College Park on Saturday and was the national runner-up in 2015, would be no. 29 if the poll was extended. Michigan would be no. 32 if the poll was extended, tied with Syracuse of the ACC.
Here is the entire AP Top 25 - which we have extended to a top 41. For the record, there are 351 schools playing Division I basketball.
1. Villanova: 22-3, 1601 points
2. Kansas: 22-4, 1578 points
3. Oklahoma: 20-4, 1471 points
4. Iowa: 20-5, 1349 points
5. North Carolina, 21-4, 1343 points
6. Maryland: 22-4, 1248 points
7. Virginia: 21-5, 1188 points
8. Tie Michigan State: 21-5, 1174 points
Xavier: 22-3, 1174 points,
10. West Virginia: 20-5, 1094 points
11. Miami (Florida): 20-4, 1036 points
12. Arizona: 21-5, 823 points
13. Iowa State: 18-7, 742 points
14. Kentucky: 19-6, 692 points
15. Dayton: 21-3, 681 points
16. Oregon: 20-6, 529 points
17. Purdue: 20-6, 497 points
18. Louisville:19-6, 494 points
19. Notre Dame: 18-7, 489 points
20. Duke: 19-6, 462 points
21. SMU: 21-3, 441 points
22. Indiana: 20-6, 232 points
23. Providence: 19-7, 125 points
24. Texas: 16-9, 123 points
25. Baylor: 18-7, 97 points
26. Texas A & M: 18-7, 90 points
27. Utah: 19-7, 75 points
28. St. Joseph's: 21-4, 57 points
29. Wisconsin: 16-9, 47 points
30. South Carolina: 21-4, 39 points
31. Southern California: 18-7, 30 points
32. Tie Michigan: 19-7, 17 points
Syracuse: 18-8, 17 points
34. Wichita State: 19-7, 14 points
35. Stony Brook: 22-4, 13 points
36. Monmouth: 22-5, 10 points
37. California: 17-8, 8 points
38. Hawaii: 20-3, 5 points
39. UNC-Wilmington: 20-5, 4 points
40. Tie Yale: 17-5, 3 points
San Diego State: 19-7, 3 points
41. Cincinnati: 19-7, 2 points
A Baker's Dozen (Plus One) of Other Schools to Keep An Eye On: Temple is 19-7 overall and in first place in the American Conference, one-half game ahead of No. 21 SMU, and one full game ahead of No. 41 Cincinnati and Connecticut, 18-7. Connecticut is another team to keep an eye on. They play a powerful non-conference schedule and have an RPI of 42, while Temple's is 60. I've sung the praises of Valparaiso before. They have a two-game lead in the Horizon League and a record of 21-5. Princeton and Yale are second and first in the Ivy League, respectively. They both play a very good non-conference schedule, and this is reflected in their RPI. Princeton is at 41 - amazing - and Yale at 61. In the conference standings, Yale is 8-0 and Princeton is 6-1. The two teams play Friday night at Princeton. Yale won an earlier meeting. Akron is 20-5 overall and in first place in the venerable Mid-American Conference. Chattanooga is an absurd 23-4, with a stunning RPI of 33. The Zips lead the Southern Conference with a 12-2 league mark. And yet, not a single AP vote is directed to them. Why?
People will giggle when they see me putting Stephen F. Austin in this post, what? with their 111 RPI. But they are 19-5 and lead the Southland Conference by 2 and one-half games, one of the largest conference leads in the nation. A team you might remember from last season's NCAA tournament is South Dakota State. Well, the Jack Rabbits are back (or is it Jackrabbits?). This season they are tied for the lead in the Summit League with IPFW, and have an overall record of 20-6. They have beaten a Big Ten School (Minnesota) and a Big 12 school (Texas Christian). Another ridiculous Division I record, 22-3, belongs to Arkansas-Little Rock. The school leads the Sun Belt Conference by two games and yet doesn't get a single vote in the AP Poll. Only one of Arkansas-Little Rock's losses was in the non-conference portion of their schedule. New Mexico State is 18-9 and in first place in the WAC, one-half game ahead of Grand Canyon, 22-4 overall. The Aggies have a history of success in the NCAA tournament. Grand Canyon doesn't. Watch out for both. Finally, I think you need to be aware of Gonzaga and St. Mary's. The 'Zags are 20-6 and until recently a Top 25 member. St. Mary's was also in the Top 25 earlier. They are now 20-4. The Zags lead the WCC while St. Mary's is second.
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