Boston College-Maryland Preview

BC will travel to College Park to take on the Maryland Terrapins tonight at 7:30. Maryland is fresh off a 85-44 thrashing at the hands of Duke, so look for them to come out firing. Maryland is tough at home, 11-1 this year, and the home crowd can be loud and intimidating at times.

The good news for the Eagles is that I think we match up very well with Maryland. Guard Greivis Vasquez. Vasquez leads the team in points (16.3), rebounds (5.7), and assists (4.6). He makes the team go. When you contain him, Maryland has very few other scoring options.

Maryland also lacks size and a quality big man, which works in BC's favor. If Boston College can rebound as well as they did against NC State they will be able to easily control the glass. To make up for their lack of size Maryland uses plenty of full court pressure. This will be a real key for BC in this game. If Boston College is able to break the press consistently, they could get some good open looks around the hoop. Otherwise, we may see what happened against Georgia Tech.

I think BC will go to Josh Southern early inside and try to exploit the team's advantages in the paint and on the glass. Whoever matches up with Vasquez will have a huge responsibility to contain him and force his teammates into action.

Ultimately, I think this is a very winnable game for the Eagles. We cannot afford to slip up against any of these middle of the pack teams the rest of the way. I would like to see the team play with a sense of urgency and get off to a good start like last game.